Credit freeze and applying for credit

[tpdtopcop]

Have a freeze with TransUnion and to see if the freeze works I applied for a card and a hard pull was generated? How is this possible with a freeze in place?

[grower1]

Very interesting, did you at least get the card? Which bank/card was it?

I've applied and been approved for an Amex with a credit freeze in place, but that could be because they do not typically do HPs for existing card members.

In the past when I have failed to lift a freeze with other lenders, I'm am promted to do so before they can move forward on the request, with no HP or impact to my profile.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

How long after the freeze before you applied? It's supposed to be instant, but has taken a while before. That's why the terms freeze and thaw are used. It wasn't always instant. I'm even wondering if the bureaus will start dragging out freezes and thaws to force people to subscribe to their services for locking and unlocking.

[tpdtopcop]

Froze my TU yesterday morning and applied for card this evening. Credit sesame and credit karma sent me notifications that a hard pull was done by creditor.

[Anonymous]

What method did you use to freeze your TransUnion report?

Are you sure TransUnion was pulled? Did the alert specifically say TransUnion? Because Credit Karma will send an alert if EQ is pulled. Some lenders will pull EX or EQ if TU is frozen. Also I believe Credit Karma will let you know if a hard pull was attempted but unsuccessful because of the freeze.

[tpdtopcop]

Yes TU was pulled per credit karma.

[DJRobbieD]

OP, I believe credit freezes can take a few days to kick in, whereas credit locks/unlocks are instant.  

I'd recommend using TU's free TrueIdentity service and EQ's free Lock-and-Alert service for credit locking/unlocking.  Unfortunately, EX makes you pay to access their credit lock service, CreditWorks.

[tpdtopcop]

I signed up with true identity and when I login it said my report was locked

[Anonymous]

Yeah I think TU was having issues this weekend. I put my freeze back on Saturday and I got hit with a HP from Citi on Sunday from a CLI request I made on Friday. They didn't put my freeze back into effect until yesterday afternoon when it was supposed to be there on Saturday at midnight. 

I will make sure to manually remove my lift from now on when I'm done seeking. I knew Citi would be a no after all my credit seeking shenanigans this weekend and wanted to avoid a wasted HP. 

This is the first time in like a year that I have had any issue though, normally it works fine. 

[Loquat]

OP,

Sucks and a hard way to learn that the freeze wasn't in place. PSA, don't apply even with a frozen report or you would risk getting hit with a HP!