I was wondering if most banks pull a hard inquiry before approving CL increases ? Whenever I apply for a card over the phone, the rep asks me permission to obtain a credit report, but they never ask me this when I request credit increases. Do they just check my payment history with them and then decide to approve or deny ? The reason I'm asking is that I recently got an increase on my AMEX card. The rep checked my payment history and asked for my income and approved the increase. I just hope they didn't add a hard inquiry to my report. I have too many inquiries already.
Amex doesn't pull your report. They base it on your account history with them. I've had four increases with Amex and never once has my report been pulled - hard or soft inquiry. Dani
I have AMEX BLUE...they do a "SOFT" almost every month....AND REFUSE TO DO AN INCREASE IN THE CREDIT LIMIT WITH-OUT A CREDIT REPORT!!!
Amex has pulled credit reports for me when I have asked for increases. Every time except the last time when the increase was in conjunction with a bt. I think if you are preapproved for an increase, they won't pull it, but if you are not preapproved and request an increase, then they do pull one.
I have always initiated the increases and they have never pulled an inquiry on me. They do do annual checks each year on one of my credit reports, but that's it. Dani
AMEX ACCOUNT REVIEW Date: 11/02/2001, 10/05/2001, 07/06/2001, 06/09/2001, 04/19/2001, 03/17/2001, 02/28/2001, 01/23/2001, 01/20/2000, 12/22/1999 I GUESS I AM A BAD RISK...(I GUESS I SHOULN'T HAVE PAID MY BILL THAT ISN'T DUE FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS).
Dani- can you double-check that? Look on the "inquiries only seen by you" section. I've got Amex soft inquiries almost every-other-month. Once I got an increase on Blue w/o an inquiry, once with an inquiry, and once declined with an inquiry. It's a mixed bag- but the best I can recommend (for Amex) is to call during day-time (Mountain time) so the rep you speak with can xfer you right over to the Centurian Bank people and you can discuss it with them live (specifically asking NO hard inquiry). ----- Banks that seem to ALWAYS pull a hard inquiry if you ask for an increase: Chase Discover First National of Nebraska FDS Bank (Macy/Bloomies/Etc. Visa) Fleet NextCard (last one was a soft, 2 others were hard) Banks that haven't pulled hard inquiries for a requested increase FNANB B of A (system has "preapproved" limit increases, ask the rep 1st) Amex (same thing - ask 1st)
