Contents
Introduction
In this post we will look at what credit bureau (consumer reporting agency) American Express pulls for credit cards that they issue (the credit bureau that is used for third partner American Express cards/cards that run on the American Express payment network will depend on who issues those cards).
With American Express the bureau they use is normally Experian, but in some cases they will use another bureau depending on what state you live in largely depends on what state you live in, we’ve compiled the following information from the start of 2014. Â Feel free to add your data points in the comments and we’ll add them to this post.
You can also read other posts in this series by clicking below:
Table Key & Combined Stats
To keep things easy, we will use the following acronyms.
EX = Experian
EQ = Equifax
TU = TransUnion
NI = No information
The number next to the acronym represents the number of data points we have. In total we have 390 data points sourced from the Credit Boards Credit Pull page. Of those applications:
- 372Â or ~95% of all applications pulled an Experian credit report
- 9 or ~2.5%  of all applications pulled an Equifax credit report
- 9 or ~2.5% of all applications pulled an TransUnion credit report
It was also interesting in that with data points where a TransUnion/Equifax credit report was used, the applications were usually denied. I assume this is because these secondary reports were pulled when there was significantly doubt on whether an applicant should be approved or not.
The Table
| Abbrevation | State Name | Credit Bureau Pulled |
| AL | Alabama | Â EX: 2 |
| AK | Alaska | Â NI |
| AZ | Arizona | Â EX: 6 |
| AR | Arkansas | Â EX: 3 |
| CA | California | Â EX: 41Â TU: 2 EQ: 1 |
| CO | Colorado | Â EX: 16 |
| CT | Connecticut | Â EX: 4 TU: 1 |
| DE | Delaware | Â EX: 5 |
| FL | Florida | Â EX: 27 TU: 1 EQ: 1 |
| GA | Georgia | Â EX: 18 TU: 2 |
| HI | Hawaii | Â NI |
| ID | Idaho | Â EX: 2 |
| IL | Illinois | Â EX: 19 |
| IN | Indiana | Â EX: 2 |
| IA | Iowa | Â NI |
| KS | Kansas | Â EX: 1 |
| KY | Kentucky | Â EX: 5 |
| LA | Louisiana | Â EX: 1 |
| ME | Maine | Â NI |
| MD | Maryland | Â EX: 7 |
| MA | Massachusetts | Â EX:12 |
| MI | Michigan | Â EX: 9 |
| MN | Minnesota | Â EX: 4 |
| MS | Mississippi | Â EX: 2 EQ: 2 |
| MO | Missouri | Â EX: 3 |
| MT | Montana | Â NI: 0 |
| NE | Nebraska | Â NI: 0 |
| NV | Nevada | Â EX: 2 |
| NH | New Hampshire | Â EX: 4 |
| NJ | New Jersey | Â EX: 16 |
| NM | New Mexico | Â EX: 2 |
| NY | New York | Â EX: 38 TU: 2 |
| NC | North Carolina | Â EX: 12 |
| ND | North Dakota | Â NI |
| OH | Ohio | Â EX: 8 |
| OK | Oklahoma | Â EX: 3 |
| OR | Oregon | Â EX: 6 |
| PA | Pennsylvania | Â EX: 9 |
| RI | Rhode Island | Â NI |
| SC | South Carolina | Â EX: 6 |
| SD | South Dakota | Â NI |
| TN | Tennessee | Â EX: 7 |
| TX | Texas | Â EX: 43 TU: 1 EQ: 1 |
| UT | Utah | Â EX: 3 |
| VT | Vermont | Â NI |
| VA | Virginia | Â EX: 4 EQ: 2 TU: 1 |
| WA | Washington | Â EX: 15 EQ: 1 |
| WV | West Virginia | Â NI: |
| WI | Wisconsin | Â EX: 4 |
| WY | Wyoming | Â NI: |
| DC | Capital | Â EX: 3 EQ: 1 |
What Happens If Your Experian Report Is Frozen?
American Express does not allow frozen credit reports unfortunately. So you would need to unfreeze that report first.
Our Verdict
American Express will almost always pull your Experian credit report. It looks like in some fringe cases they’ll pull Equifax or TransUnion, but there are no states where that is the normal. If you want to learn more about American Express credit cards, I’d read our piece on things everybody should know about their cards. You might also be interested in our credit card reference page.
