Most banks, including Chase and AMEX, pull from Experian in NY and NJ when you apply for a card. If they see too many pulls, they are more likely to decline your application. The goal is to have the bank look at a different credit report that doesn’t have as many pulls. This is basically done by putting a security block, or “freeze” your Experian (or other hard hit reports) account. That way, banks are blocked from seeing it.
Obviously, you will not get instant approval and will have to call recon and ask them nicely to pull from a different bureau. Some banks will decline to do so and will require you to give them the pin# you set up when you froze the credit report so they can pull it. When you do call up, make sure you have a good reason for having your report frozen. Tell them there is some incorrect info on your experian credit report and that you don't want to unfreeze it until it gets corrected. DO NOT say that there was a fraud alert so you froze it!!!! This will cause them to freeze your application.
CHASE: Personal- many have reported success in freezing experian and having apps approved. There are recent reports of this not working anymore and customer service requiring the pin to unlock your report so this may require lots of HUCA.One DDFer reports 15 HUCAs (3/19/14) and no luck. It may be dead If you plan on doing a chase 2BM, you might want to call and get both approved in the same call as to avoid multiple pulls. Alternatively, you can just unfreeze it before a 2/3BM. AsherO reports that he had them pull equifax and they pulled transunion 2 days later as well. The best way to avoid a double-pull, is to freeze both Experian + another bureau and have them pull the third.
Business- There is limited reported success getting chase business reps to pull anything other than experian. Only one DDFer reports success and even he admits it was a real pain and lot and lots of HUCA-ing.
AMEX: Unfortunately, it doesn’t work at all for AMEX. They will require your pin so they can pull Experian.
CITI: In NY, Citi pulls from either Equifax or Experian or both. So by freezing experian, you can get them to pull just equifax thus preventing the dreaded double pull. (Many Ddfers have reported that Citi will no longer pull from another report once the original pull has been made).
A few side notes: Freezing your report will automatically opt you out from pre-approved offers. Churners like those so you might want to opt back in. If you have accounts with a bank they can still do a soft pull on your frozen credit report. If you open a new account, it will get reported to the frozen credit report. The report just won’t show a hard pull.