I have a question about applying online for a new credit card while my EX report is frozen.

[Anonymous]

I have my Experian report frozen because T-Mobile and Experian had a data breach recently and ALL their customer data, including mine, was stolen and quite frankly I do not trust EX. They provided some credit monitoring to me, but I'm pretty upset about it and do not want to use EX out of principle since they lost my sensitive data. If I apply online for a Citi credit card and they decide they want to pull EX, will they default to TU or EQ or will they insist I unlock my EX? I suppose I could refuse, but, will this freeze complicate the process a lot? Or is it automated online? Like just entering my PIN to unlock my EX report, or will I have to call and do it all on the phone? Thanks for any insight you can provide.

[Anonymous]

You can temporarily unfreeze it to app and then it will freeze again automatically after you are done. I had all mine frozen due to my city had a breech and many had their ss#  etc. stolen. I unfroze it last year for 5 days or so, to run a credit check for an auto loan. If I remember correctly, you can set it for how ever many days. 

[Skye12329]

When you apply. The computer is going to pull whatever bureau it wants. If it can't get the bureau that it wants then its going to say like decline or pending. Which would usually be a letter stating please unfreeze EX and reapply or give us the pin. Generally it's unfreeze and reapply.

With Citi though it's a crapshoot who they pull. For myself in Midwest they like to change it up on me. However it seems it's primarily EQ or TU. As suggested just do a temp unfreeze.

[ddemari]

Depending on where you live, Citi has always pulled a EQ/EX combo for me. I tried to apply once with EQ on ice and was told to unlock. 

With EX on ice, i would only apply for the TU only cards out there unless u wanted to unfreeze. 

[Anonymous]

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@Skye12329 wrote:
When you apply. The computer is going to pull whatever bureau it wants. If it can't get the bureau that it wants then its going to say like decline or pending. Which would usually be a letter stating please unfreeze EX and reapply or give us the pin. Generally it's unfreeze and reapply.

With Citi though it's a crapshoot who they pull. For myself in Midwest they like to change it up on me. However it seems it's primarily EQ or TU. As suggested just do a temp unfreeze.

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Thanks. If I apply with my EX frozen and they decline my application because of the freeze, would that hurt my chances of being approved if I unfreeze it and apply again? I mean, will that decline count against me somehow with Citi? I think I'd rather just apply and see if they will approve me with my EX frozen rather than paying the bureau who lost my data to begin with. As I said, it's the principle of the matter for me. Especially sicne EX refuses to waive the freeze/unfreeze fees until my credit is compromized and I file a police report. I am pre-approved for a couple of their cards and I want it to use for Samsung Pay until Navy Federal, PenFed and Discover support Samsung Pay. I'm not desperate to get approved for a Citi card, but it would be nice because I want to close my BoA checking account (which I currently use with Samsung Pay).

[Anonymous]

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@ddemari wrote:

Depending on where you live, Citi has always pulled a EQ/EX combo for me. I tried to apply once with EQ on ice and was told to unlock. 

With EX on ice, i would only apply for the TU only cards out there unless u wanted to unfreeze. 

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Thanks for that info, it shouldn't hurt me if I apply and they want me to unfreeze my EX, right? Worst they could do is ask me to apply again with it unfrozen, right?