Does being "frozen" mean one cannot obtain a CLI?

[daisyduke]

Hi,

I'm frozen on two out of the three bureaus. I recently called Bloomingdales for a CLI and my request was denied (frozen on EX)-  the rep had no reason and the letter I recieved had no reason at all, said "sorry we couldn't help you". No reason?

How does a CLI work when one is frozen?  I've read many posts stating when someone asks for a CLI, they will have a hard inquiry on their credit report. What I don't understand is can't a current credit just do a soft inquiry and get what they need?

Maybe I'm not exactly clear on what a current creditor can get out of a hard verus as soft inquiry. What's the difference in what the current creditor has access to?

Can an existing creditor hard pull when your file is frozen?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

[Itsmeagain]

The FCRA allows a company that you have a business relationship with, access to your credit report.  It has been my experience however, that a locked/frozen file will not be available to them except for a soft pull.  Since the new cc law took effect, many creditors have interpreted the law to require a hard pull for any extension of credit, including CLI's.

As for the difference in a hard or soft pull, I also don't understand why the soft pull would not suffice to provide the creditor with the information they need to make a credit decision.  I hope some of our more knowledgeable members will address this question.

The "no reason" is because they could not access your report.  Hence, they had no information on which to base a decision.

[RobertEG]

I am totally unfamiliar with "freezing" of  your entire credit file by a CRA.  I dont know of any statutory authority for such an action.

Allegations of fraud on an account can act to remove an individual account reporting until resolved, but total freezing of all access to ones CR is totally alien to me.

As for access to your CR as either a "hard" or "soft" inquiry, those terms are never even used in the FCRA, and have no legal meaning. 

They are terms used only in reference to credit reporting, and have no legal meaning, whatsoever.

You are correct.  Coding as a soft or hard pull is irrelevant to what they can see in your CR.

They are just codes used by the requestor when accessing your CR.

Both "hard" and "soft pulls can get your full CR, so how they code it is up to them.

The FCRA only stipulates, based on the reason provided for the credit inquiry, how much of your credit file they must provide.

If the request is not intitiated or authorized by the consumer, and is not related to any active account with the consumer or an employment inquiry (FCRA 604(a)(3)). then the FCRA prohibits the enquiree from receivng anything more that your name and address,  This is the only real "soft pull" restriction set forth under FCRA 604(c)(2).

Other inquirees, incuding anyone who you have applied to for credit, any existing creditor who wants to review your CR (including CLI requests), or anyone with whom you have entered into any busness transaction, even though it does not stipulate the specfic advancement of credit (FCRA 604(a)(3)(F)(I)), are entiled to receive a full copy of your CR,

So called "soft pulls" can get the same information as any so-called "hard pull."

The enquiree,. when requesting a pull of your CR, provides a code that FICO then identifies as either scoring in your CR (a "hard pull), or not scoring in FICO (a so-called "soft pull").  That is not regulated by the FCRA, and is at the discretion of the enquiree. Hard and soft is only a coding, and thus FICO scoring, matter, and not a legal matter.  It it commom, and I think universal pratice, for any curent creditor, when simply reviewng your CR for regular review of your current status, to code it as a soft pull, so you are not even aware of such inquiries.  I have never seen a creditor code a normal account review initiated without a consumer request for new or extended credti as a hard.inq.

Most lendors today will choose to code an inquiry based on a request for a CLI as a hard pull code, but again, that is disretionary on their part, and not something that is subject to dispute under the FCRA.  Coded as either a soft or hard pull, they still get your entire CR.

[SpaceCadetSD]

Your situation is an odd one ... I requested a CLI on my Bank of America CC in mid-March (after the new CC laws had gone into effect) and BofA only pulled a soft inquiry from Experian to evaluate the request.  I had my Experian report frozen at the time, so evidently soft inquiries are permitted on frozen reports by existing creditors.

[AndySoCal]

A CLI request is considered persuit of new credit and usually is a hard pull. Soft pulls are usually resereved for pulls that are related to non persuit of new credit like employment acount reviews etc. Get  a PIN from Experian that is for creditor(s) only and give it Bloomingdales and they will be able to access your credit report.