Credit Card Issuers That Don’t Do A Hard Pull If You’re Denied

We’re reposting this as it seems Bank of America also doesn’t do a hard pull when you’re an existing customer and you’re denied.

When you’re signing up for a lot of credit cards, one of the things that you want to minimize is the number of hard pulls on your credit report. This is because hard credit pulls (or inquiries) affect your FICO score, unlike soft pulls. A hard credit pull stays on your credit report for a period of two years and will affect your FICO score for one year.

[Read: How to get your FICO score for free]

We’ve talked about tactics to minimize hard pulls in the past, sometimes it’s possible to get multiple inquiries from the same bank combined if you apply for multiple cards in the same day for example. As part of my credit card strategy, I also try to spread my inquiries over all three of the credit bureaus as well.

When you get denied for a credit card, it’s a double whammy. Most credit card issuers will do a hard pull on your credit report, not like what they see and then deny you. This leaves you with a hard pull on your report and no sign up bonus to show for it. Fortunately not all credit card issuers do this, some will do a soft pull to see if they will approve or deny you and then only do the hard pull when they approve you.

Let’s have a look at the banks that won’t do a hard pull if you’re denied. Since most financial institutions don’t do this, we will only list the ones that do. If we’re missing any, please let us know in the comments.

Contents

American Express

If you read Frequent Miler’s blog, you’ll probably already be aware of this as I shared this with Julian in the past for a Bet You Didn’t Know Post? If you’re an existing cardholder with American Express they will use your existing credit report they have on file to see if you’re eligible, if you pass this check they will do a hard pull to recheck your credit report before finally approving you.

This means that most of the time if you’re denied, no hard pull will have been done as they will have denied you based on the existing information they already had access to. If there has been a significant change to your credit report between when they last did a soft pull and when you applied for the card, it’s possible that a hard pull will be done and you will be denied but in most circumstances this will not be the case.

American Express usually do a soft pull once a month or so to check everything is in order, so the chances that your credit has changed drastically in one month that you would go from being approved to denied is small. Keep in mind this only works if you’re a current American Express cardholder (and the card must be issued by American Express and not just running on their payment network).

Barclaycard

Barclaycard seems to work the same way as American Express, as long as you’re an existing cardholder and you’re denied a soft pull will be done unless your credit has changed significantly recently. One thing to keep in mind is that Barclaycard is quite inquiry sensitive, so if you’ve recently applied for a lot of cards you might be denied and still receive the hard pull as they will consider this a significant change and deny you when they repull your credit report.

Bank of America

There are now two separate reports (1 ,2) of Bank of America not doing a hard pull if you’re denied and have at least one credit card with Bank of America already.

Other Card Issuers

Have you received a soft pull when you’ve been denied with any other card issuers? If so let us know in the comments below. As always, all of this stuff is your mileage may vary, if you’ve had a different experience than listed above then let us know as well as any ways your credit might have changed a lot just before you applied for the card (e.g high credit utilization, late payment, lots of applications etc etc).

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Amanda
Amanda (@guest_1465717)
October 14, 2022 22:52

Venmo says that they don’t do hard pulls if you’re declined for their credit card.

DP
DP (@guest_1063514)
September 27, 2020 16:31

Apple Card doesn’t if your are denied or you are approved but do not accept their offer

Anonymous166
Anonymous166 (@guest_804757)
August 30, 2019 03:44

I can confirm that BoA did not do a second hard pull on my second application with them. At least, it hasn’t shown up yet in my report, and it has been two months since denial.

Irritated Consumer
Irritated Consumer (@guest_754622)
May 1, 2019 13:57

I opened a prepaid citi it card which clearly stated that they only do a soft pull, especially because you’re dealing with people with poor or no credit. Well,….. after my approval and receiving the card they pulled a hard inquiry on my credit report. Ugh! So pissed. AND I only have a credit line of $500 of my OWN MONEY.

Irritated Consumer
Irritated Consumer (@guest_754625)
May 1, 2019 14:00

Correction: It’s the DISCOVER IT card.

Ralph
Ralph (@guest_654608)
October 9, 2018 10:03

I have an excellent rating on almost anything from fico 804, V 3.0 803, TU 760, EF 762 ,EX 724. Due to only having a PO Box and having to use my workplace of 20 years as a physical address on some applications or not receive cards and or statements. my credit union only reporting to TU it confuses and makes lenders very weary and suspicious of my applications. I’ve recently in the last year bit the bullet and took a handful of hard inquiries applying for cards to increase my balance vs available ratio substantially. With each new card I’ve gained I’ve rotated use to build point or cash back and make sure to pay them off in full before the closing date. I have 4 hard hits currently with a new auto loan only showing on Experian. An existing 60 month @ 1.99% with 22 months remaining with perfect history & a personal loan @ 3.5% with 4 months left also with a perfect history. At this credit union I’ve held 3 other vehicles loans and a mortgage all paid in full with 100% perfect history.
My point to all this is, depending on who I apply for credit with and who they report and or pull from deviates wildly on what kind of borrower I am.
-On time history (100% on all)
-years of credit (1 1/2 yrs to 14 years) depending on bureau
-Available used 3%-22% depending on bureau
– derogatory marks 0
-total accounts (17-25) 8-11 open

My point being Banks of America denied me with a hard pull on Experian

Nunnally
Nunnally (@guest_544421)
December 30, 2017 20:01

Just applied to the second card from Barclays (my first one is Aviator, and I want to get Uber card).
Was punished by a hard pull and got 10 days notice. Don’t know if this denial or request to prove the address (I moved a couple months ago).

lisa
lisa (@guest_478261)
September 17, 2017 00:44

Does anyone know if Chase does a hard inquiry?

P
P (@guest_458588)
August 14, 2017 17:07

DP: Just applied for Barclays Arrival Plus. Same as last year, got denied again. But Transunion was pulled.

P
P (@guest_458597)
August 14, 2017 17:18
  P

Currently an Aviator cardholder.

P
P (@guest_458575)
August 14, 2017 16:53

DP: Bank of America did an Equifax hard pull when I got denied for the Business Alaska card on 8/12/17. I have 3 other cards open with them. Last application and approval was 2/26/17.

P
P (@guest_466332)
August 26, 2017 17:44
  P

Also Business and Personal inquiries may not be merged. Personal inquiries are always Experian in my case, but the business is Equifax.

Max
Max (@guest_383047)
April 4, 2017 13:51

I have been HPed for everything upon denials, including Barclays and BoA. The only provider who does not HP me on denial is Amex.