What Credit Bureau Does Citibank Pull?

Introduction

In this post we will look at what credit bureau Citibank pulls for credit card applications. We’re only going to look at data from 2014 onwards that is listed on the creditboards credit pulls database.

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 458 data points sourced from the Credit Boards Credit Pull page. Of those applications:

  • 241 or ~52.62% of all applications pulled an Experian credit report
  • 175 or ~38.21%  of all applications pulled an Equifax credit report
  • 42 or ~9.17% of all applications pulled an TransUnion credit report
Abbrevation State Name Credit Bureau Pulled
AL Alabama  EQ: 1
AK Alaska  NI
AZ Arizona  EX: 3 EQ: 3 TU: 1
AR Arkansas  TU: 3
CA California (CA)  EX: 48 EQ: 16 TU: 6
CO Colorado  EX: 2 EQ: 1
CT Connecticut  EX: 3 EQ: 6 TU: 1
DE Delaware  EX: 3 EQ: 5
FL Florida  EX: 17 EQ: 14 TU: 1
GA Georgia  EX: 7 EQ: 3
HI Hawaii  EQ: 3
ID Idaho  EX: 1
IL Illinois  EX: 10 EQ: 13 TU: 1
IN Indiana  EX: 3 TU: 1
IA Iowa  EX: 2
KS Kansas  NI
KY Kentucky  EX: 4 EQ: 4
LA Louisiana  EQ: 1 TU: 2
ME Maine  EQ: 1 TU: 1
MD Maryland  EX: 7 EQ: 3
MA Massachusetts  EX: 4 EQ: 3
MI Michigan  EX: 10 EQ: 7 TU: 1
MN Minnesota  EX: 1 EQ: 3
MS Mississippi  NI
MO Missouri  EX: 2 EQ: 1 TU: 1
MT Montana  EQ: 1
NE Nebraska  NI
NV Nevada  EX: 3 EQ: 3
NH New Hampshire  EX: 2 EQ: 4
NJ New Jersey  EX: 4 EQ: 1 TU: 1
NM New Mexico  EX: 1
NY New York  EX: 18 EQ: 14 TU: 8
NC North Carolina  EX: 12 EQ: 13 TU: 2
ND North Dakota  NI
OH Ohio  EX: 6
OK Oklahoma  EX: 2 EQ: 4
OR Oregon  EX: 7 EQ: 3 TU: 1
PA Pennsylvania  EX: 22 EQ: 2 TU: 5
RI Rhode Island  NI
SC South Carolina  EQ: 1
SD South Dakota  EX: 2 EQ: 1 TU: 1
TN Tennessee  EX: 2 EQ: 6 TU: 1
TX Texas  EX: 32 EQ: 10 TU: 2
UT Utah  TU: 2
VT Vermont  NI
VA Virginia  EX: 5 EQ: 7 TU: 1
WA Washington  EX: 8 EQ: 7 TU: 4
WV West Virginia  NI
WI Wisconsin  EX: 3
WY Wyoming  NI
DC District Of Colombia  EX: 3

What Happens If Your Report Is Frozen?

If you have a frozen report with Citibank, they are unwilling to pull a different report unless that report is Experian. You can give them a PIN to access the report they want to pull, allowing you to keep that report frozen.

Our Verdict

Citibank will mostly use your Experian report – with Equifax also being quite likely. In rare cases they will pull your TransUnion report instead.

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92 Comments
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X
X (@guest_1927447)
October 7, 2024 14:57

In CA: Citi pulled Equifax for Simplicity. Pleasant surprise as CA is so Experian-heavy across almost all major card issuers.

Peej
Peej (@guest_1913658)
September 17, 2024 16:15

In TX: Citi pulled Equifax for AAdvantage Business. I asked to use Experian instead since I had EQ frozen, but they wouldn’t switch.

Will
Will (@guest_1895062)
August 18, 2024 15:02

In FL: Citi pulled Equifax for AAdvantage Biz card.

Barry
Barry (@guest_1893964)
August 16, 2024 11:12

In WI: Citi pulled Equifax for AAdvantage Platinum Select application.

tonytoetap
tonytoetap (@guest_1863748)
June 23, 2024 22:42

In NY: Pulled Experian for Strata Premier. Had it frozen but Citi asked to unfreeze. Other two were not frozen

Wavy
Wavy (@guest_1860121)
June 15, 2024 14:08

In IL (Illinois): Pulled Equifax for both Citi Double Cash and Strata Premier

boo...
boo... (@guest_1859106)
June 12, 2024 19:51

6/12/24 – WA

Froze Experian. Citi asked me to unfreeze so they could pull Experian.

Beargrease
Beargrease (@guest_1829860)
April 12, 2024 09:32

In VA: Pulled Eq for AA Platinum, all three bureaus unfrozen.

Lana44
Lana44 (@guest_1788297)
January 29, 2024 22:59

1/28/24, NY: Froze Experian, Pulled Equifax for Citi Custom Cash

Bobby
Bobby (@guest_1777050)
January 13, 2024 11:17

CA * 2: Citi business AA did a soft pull from EQ.

When applying for the card, Citi surprisedly asked to unlock Equifax (while our EX was unfrozen). After the cards were approved for a day, I still didn’t see any inquiry.

Bobby
Bobby (@guest_1777854)
January 14, 2024 20:06

Update: Just got a notification of a new inquiry from Equifax 3 days later. Oh well 🙂