Freezing the credits after Applying for a credit

[Anonymous]

has anyone ever tried this?

I am getting a lil bit creative here, so I applied for the Amex Blue Cash Preferred today and I got the approval.

can I freeze my credit now, so they won't be able to do a hard enquiry in 20 days from now?

are they going to close my account?

I need my credit file now or maybe in a month, and I can't afford to have a hard enquiry on it.

[sznthescore]

Freezing/locking and unfreezing/unlocking your credit is totally at your discretion.  Seeing as they have already granted your approval, IMO I would say that it is safe to now re-freeze/re-lock your report(s). 

If a lender needs to look at your file again, and sees that it is frozen, they'll reach out to you for you to unfreeze/unlock.

[Anonymous]

so you would think freezing my files will prevent them from putting a hard enquiry?

and this is not new to me, although I have never tried it to see if it works, for exmaple arond a year ago I applied for a loan and I got instant approval for 30K unsecured.

and they hard pulled my credit 3 weeks later, I was like if I knew I would have locked my credit.

any actual experience?

So this is the formula: 99% of instant approvals whether loan or a CC doesn't involve a hard enquiry until later(3 weeks usually)

but the ones that tell you we got to look further, they put a hard enquiry on your report instantly...

[sznthescore]

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@Anonymous wrote:

so you would think freezing my files will prevent them from putting a hard enquiry?

and this is not new to me, although I have never tried it to see if it works, for exmaple arond a year ago I applied for a loan and I got instant approval for 30K unsecured.

and they hard pulled my credit 3 weeks later, I was like if I knew I would have locked my credit.

any actual experience?

---

O I C I've never experienced something like that.  I'm under the impression in order to say that you are approved your credit file had to be evaluated.  Within three weeks the card should be in your hands.  I don't see a need to hard pull your credit file again. Even if so, their now a creditor and can soft pull your credit at anytime hence "Account Review".  Maybe we can get some help from EXPERIENCED AMEX accountholders to chime-in on their experiences.  This is new to me.  I've NEVER had an Amex.  My information was in general....

[coldfusion]

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@Anonymous wrote:

so you would think freezing my files will prevent them from putting a hard enquiry?

and this is not new to me, although I have never tried it to see if it works, for exmaple arond a year ago I applied for a loan and I got instant approval for 30K unsecured.

and they hard pulled my credit 3 weeks later, I was like if I knew I would have locked my credit.

any actual experience?

So this is the formula: 99% of instant approvals whether loan or a CC doesn't involve a hard enquiry until later(3 weeks usually)

but the ones that tell you we got to look further, they put a hard enquiry on your report instantly...

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That isn't how things work.   Your application gives them permissible purpose to perform an inquiry in order to make a credit decision but once they made the decision, whether approval or denial, the permissible purpose no longer exists (unless you ask for a reconsideration of a denial).     It may have taken 3 weeks for the inquiry to be reported and/or detected by whatever tool(s) you use to monitor your credit activity.

Since you've been approved it's OK to re-freeze your reports.  Having your reports frozen won't prevent AMEX from performing their normal monthly soft pulls in order to review the current status of your credit profile.

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:

has anyone ever tried this?

I am getting a lil bit creative here, so I applied for the Amex Blue Cash Preferred today and I got the approval.

can I freeze my credit now, so they won't be able to do a hard enquiry in 20 days from now?

are they going to close my account?

I need my credit file now or maybe in a month, and I can't afford to have a hard enquiry on it.

---

Congrats on the BCP approval.  

Can you expand on the scenario where a single HP on EX makes any difference to another lender? 

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

Hard inquiries are instant. The only time I've seen a delay is with the Apple card which could be a few hours to a couple days. The only way your scenario would come into play is if an app went to review and the underwriter pulled a second time.

[GatorGuy]

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@Anonymous wrote:

has anyone ever tried this?

I am getting a lil bit creative here, so I applied for the Amex Blue Cash Preferred today and I got the approval.

can I freeze my credit now, so they won't be able to do a hard enquiry in 20 days from now?

are they going to close my account?

I need my credit file now or maybe in a month, and I can't afford to have a hard enquiry on it.

---

Amex is more than fair with their SP vs HP. After you are approved for your first card, everything after is usually only a SP including applying for new cards and CLIs. 

I don't understand your concern but once approved you definitely can freeze your accounts.

[joltdude]

@Anonymous 

You already took the HP for the application if there was going to be one....

You can lock your report but now they can SP to their hearts content .....

BTW your not being creative, or clever ... you apped for credit, you should expect an HP... if the reports are locked, and they can't HP, they will notify you and possibly close the account... but that is not absolute ...locking your reports after an approval usually is trying to close Pandora's Box... 

That said some folks have tried before apping... and rare instances its worked, but the usual result is, call you to unlock reports or even closing your account... 

-J

[xenon3030]

Lock/freeze your credit profiles after completing any CC or loan application (after receiving the approval letter). If they want follow-ups after, they will contact you later.  

It is better to treat the credit profile as a personal property and allow access to it only at the time that you approve.