Pre Qualification sites

Jarnog · ‎02-28-2015

Just had a question about the pre-qualification sites such as

Amex, Chase, Citi, Cap 1, BofA etc

How often do they 'reset' or update. What I mean is, are they real time.

For example, if I try today and it says it can't find anything. Then tomorrow something changes in my reports that causes significant score bump or something positive, and I try again....will that company see the new information on the prequal. Or will it still be going on the previous information from the one I tried yesterday?

I hope this made sense. And if you need more clarification please ask, and I will try and provide.

Anonymous · ‎02-28-2015

i wouldnt trust those prequa too much. just browse around the credit approval section and see what scores people r geting the card with.

exameple, some credit company pulles only EQ. if u have a strong EQ, then u have a higher chance approving.

Jarnog · ‎02-28-2015

I don't take them to seriously, I just like to see them and use them as a sort of gauge.

I was just wondering, like if I try one morning and it doesn't find anything, but then at noon or something I get major updates to my file (removals, util lessen, score jumps etc), if I try again, will it "look" at the new stuff or still be going off of the one it "looked" at earlier.

Again, if that made sense.

lhcole77 · ‎02-28-2015

@Jarnog wrote:
Just had a question about the pre-qualification sites such as
Amex, Chase, Citi, Cap 1, BofA etc

How often do they 'reset' or update. What I mean is, are they real time.

For example, if I try today and it says it can't find anything. Then tomorrow something changes in my reports that causes significant score bump or something positive, and I try again....will that company see the new information on the prequal. Or will it still be going on the previous information from the one I tried yesterday?

I hope this made sense. And if you need more clarification please ask, and I will try and provide.

Makes perfect sense. I wish I knew the answer. My guess is that, for the majority of them, they go off the info from when they last SPed your report.

I imagine some SP when you actually enter your info. But my guess is most don't.

FWIW I have had offers change over time.

RobertEG · ‎03-01-2015

They cannot make any pull of your actual credit report, soft or hard, unless you have either authorized the inquiry or have taken sume action that provides them permissible purpose to obtain your credit report.

If the consumer initiates a request for credit, they have permissible purpose.

If the consumer did not apply for credit, they cannot pull your individual report. They can only submit criteria to a CRA and request a listting of consumers who meet those creiteria.

That is the so-called promotional inquiry procedure of FCRA 604(c).

The FCRA does not permit potential creditors to submit consumer names and obtain any account specific information unless the consumer has ititiated an actual request for credit.

If you wish to know if you are meeting prequal criteria being submitted to a CRA, then simply do not opt-out (or opt back in) of the section 604(c) process.

All consumers who are identified as meeting the submittted creiteria must be sent a firm offer for credit, so remaining opted-in can be a useful tool in determining if and when you begin to meet usual creiteria for offers for credit.

Jarnog · ‎03-01-2015

I understand everything you are saying. What I was curious about pertains, sort of, to "If the consumer did not apply for credit, they cannot pull your individual report. They can only submit criteria to a CRA and request a listting of consumers who meet those creiteria."

Lets just use Chase as an example. What I was wondering about was, if we go by your explanation, how often does Chase or any company submit for that list of people who might meet their criteria. Like I asked earlier, if I did it today and did it tomorrow, would that be 2 different submittals by the CC company to the CRA to see if I am in their proverbial wheelhouse? Or would they use a "list" they got at the beginning of the month or whenever. Thus any changes might not be reflected on that "list", because they happened after the company got it. So I would (in this scenario) have to wait until the next month when the CC company asks the CRA for a new list.

Again, I hope I made sense LOL.

RobertEG · ‎03-01-2015

That kinda reduces to the questin of how often the CRAs run their software to generate the listings.

I have never seen a CRA disclosure of the details of their processing times/frequency.

bradlin · ‎03-01-2015

I think it depends on a couple of factors. If you are already doing business with a creditor that creditor may have a recent SP since they can pull and do pull by virtue of doing business with you. Some of those have given firm APRs for me. But generally I don't think they are using up to date SPs or real time SPs.

Anonymous · ‎03-01-2015

Based on my experience, it is real time. I have been showing up on Chase's pre-qualifier for a few weeks. I paid off 2 cards (left one card with 4% util) and lost 23 -24 pts across the board. I am not showing up for anything now. I was working on a few things in January and was checking some at that time. When I had a few early removals, I pre-qualified for a few things. When I lost points, nothing showed up.

takeshi74 · ‎03-02-2015

@Jarnog wrote:
What I mean is, are they real time.

Generally no. And, as always, don't rely on prequals and offers. They're just marketing. Don't let them select the cards you apply for. Detemine that based on your needs/wants.