What Credit Bureau Does American Express Pull?

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.  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:

  • 372 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  EX: 2
AK Alaska  NI
AZ Arizona  EX: 6
AR Arkansas  EX: 3
CA California  EX: 41 TU: 2 EQ: 1
CO Colorado  EX: 16
CT Connecticut  EX: 4 TU: 1
DE Delaware  EX: 5
FL Florida  EX: 27 TU: 1 EQ: 1
GA Georgia  EX: 18 TU: 2
HI Hawaii  NI
ID Idaho  EX: 2
IL Illinois  EX: 19
IN Indiana  EX: 2
IA Iowa  NI
KS Kansas  EX: 1
KY Kentucky  EX: 5
LA Louisiana  EX: 1
ME Maine  NI
MD Maryland  EX: 7
MA Massachusetts  EX:12
MI Michigan  EX: 9
MN Minnesota  EX: 4
MS Mississippi  EX: 2 EQ: 2
MO Missouri  EX: 3
MT Montana  NI: 0
NE Nebraska  NI: 0
NV Nevada  EX: 2
NH New Hampshire  EX: 4
NJ New Jersey  EX: 16
NM New Mexico  EX: 2
NY New York  EX: 38 TU: 2
NC North Carolina  EX: 12
ND North Dakota  NI
OH Ohio  EX: 8
OK Oklahoma  EX: 3
OR Oregon  EX: 6
PA Pennsylvania  EX: 9
RI Rhode Island  NI
SC South Carolina  EX: 6
SD South Dakota  NI
TN Tennessee  EX: 7
TX Texas  EX: 43 TU: 1 EQ: 1
UT Utah  EX: 3
VT Vermont  NI
VA Virginia  EX: 4 EQ: 2 TU: 1
WA Washington  EX: 15 EQ: 1
WV West Virginia  NI:
WI Wisconsin  EX: 4
WY Wyoming  NI:
DC Capital  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.

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39 Comments
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Lana44
Lana44 (@guest_1788295)
January 29, 2024 22:56

1/28/24, NY: Pulled Transunion and Experian for Amex Everyday

A
A (@guest_1687708)
September 7, 2023 00:28

NV: EX and TU. Shame on me for having all of them open.

fdic
fdic (@guest_1491180)
November 18, 2022 13:25

Is it me or almost every single bank wants to pull Experian for me? Or they will pull multiples but Experian will always be there 🙂
I have way too many inquiries on Experian now

bob
bob (@guest_1186901)
May 5, 2021 20:29

Amex Plat pulled TU and appeared immediately on credit karma

Iks
Iks (@guest_987298)
May 27, 2020 05:16

HI – EX for personal and biz

Emmanuel
Emmanuel (@guest_922094)
February 27, 2020 11:21

Wisconsin pulled EX for the BCE April 2018 and the Delta Gold Business May 2018

SeanK
SeanK (@guest_804194)
August 28, 2019 18:40

Ah good to know AmEx almost always pulls Experian. I have the most inquiry on Experian so something to keep in mind. Thanks!

Pat
Pat (@guest_752322)
April 25, 2019 12:17

Applied for an Amex Blue Cash Everyday card with Experian thawed and EQ and TU frozen. Hard pull on Experian, application denied. Letter in the mail said I had credit frozen but did not inform me which bureau, only that LexisNexis Risk Solutions Bureau LLC were the ones that reported my frozen credit. So ostensibly they tried to pull either EQ or TU, sorry I cannot determine which. Located in Connecticut.

TimberMeadow
TimberMeadow (@guest_748080)
April 13, 2019 21:19

Alaska: EX for both personal charge & credit. Apps were two days apart and resulted in separate HPs.

Tyler
Tyler (@guest_662642)
October 24, 2018 17:24

PA. SPG Biz pulled Experian only.