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@DaveInAZ wrote:Well yes, in very limited situations. As in BrutalBodyShot's OP example : Amex has has an existing creditor relationship with EX, that's what they pulled and they provide monthly EX Fico scores, but they have no existing creditor relationship with EQ or TU so I don't believe they could SP them. Barclays has an existing creditor relationship with TU, that's what they pulled and provide TU Fico scores, but have no existing relationship with EX or EQ. Same for Synchrony. Discover card provides TU Fico scores, but through their scorecard service provides EX scores so they could probably SP EX, but would have no existing relationship to SP EQ.
That's... not how that works.
A lender has a relationship with YOU, not with your file at a specific CRA.
Once they have the relationship, they have PP to pull your report from ANY CRA for an AR, at will.
They can choose to use that ability during a customer-initiated request if they want to, a freeze or "lock" doesn't affect that at all.
@DaveInAZ wrote:And even with an existing creditor relationship some SPs require a CRA to be unlocked. MyPayPal Cashback MC pulled TU when I app'd last year and provides monthly TU Fico scores. But when I requested a CLI last fall it was an instant denial and when the letter came is said "unable to obtain credit report". So I unlocked TU and app'd for a CLI again - instant approval, with no HP. So apparently a SP other than an account review can require a CRA to be unlocked/unfrozen.
Well yes, a lender can choose to require anything (within the law) that they want to require for a request. If that requirement includes an unlocked report, they are still free to choose to code the resulting pull as soft... That does NOT mean that the CRA blocked the SP on the frozen report. The lender did, based on internal requirements.
Regardless - the point here is that an existing lender can SP any of your reports, at any time, for whichever (legal) reasons they want to. Freezes/locks have zero impact on this.
Good feedback above. Off-topic here, but what about lenders that you don't have an existing relationship with? I've never had a BoA card for example, but receive a mailer from them every couple of months with a pre-selected offer or something. I always just toss them. I assume they're hitting me with a SP on one bureau prior to sending me the mailer. If they wanted to, could they SP either of the other 2B just the same?
@Anonymous wrote:Good feedback above. Off-topic here, but what about lenders that you don't have an existing relationship with? I've never had a BoA card for example, but receive a mailer from them every couple of months with a pre-selected offer or something. I always just toss them. I assume they're hitting me with a SP on one bureau prior to sending me the mailer. If they wanted to, could they SP either of the other 2B just the same?
That's a different kind of SP - promo pulls like that aren't individual pulls. Instead, the lender defines a list of criteria that they would like to match (score range, geographic area, types of accounts, balance info, etc), and the CRA provides a list of names and addresses that match those criteria. But they aren't getting a full report as part of that process, just that list.
It's quicker and cheaper for the lender, and for the small percentage of mailers that get a response, then they have PP to pull a full report (which could be coded as HP or SP at their discretion, although usually it's an HP at that point).