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Banks, including Capital One, generally do not disclose internal creditworthiness methods. The next most reliable way to find out which credit bureau a bank uses is to ask those who’ve applied for a card from that bank. Since applicants will see a hard inquiry made on their credit reports, anecdotal data can be gathered to determine which credit bureau a bank pulled the report from. For Capital One, the data available shows the bank seems to use the three major credit bureaus with about the same frequency: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
These companies provide consumer credit reports to companies or other authorized parties who use the information to predict risk—whether it be money lending or property and auto leasing. The industry turns a hefty profit each year from selling credit information, which is normally provided to agencies by banks and other lenders.
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Capital One Credit Cards Overview
Capital One offers a variety of credit cards for both consumers and businesses. The bank markets no annual fee cards for everyday spending and high-fee cards for those seeking big rewards, as well as co-branded cards with a variety of partners. Capital One is perhaps most well-known among credit card fanatics for its lineup of high-yield reward, benefit-loaded card options including the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, but it also offers several cards for those without the excellent credit necessary to qualify for higher-end cards.
Which Credit Bureau Does Capital One Use?
Capital One appears to pull from any of the three major credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Though all evidence is limited to anecdotal data, Capital One does seem to rely on specific bureaus in some states, though this is not a guarantee.
Credit Bureau Used by State
Unless the bank tells you it’ll pull your report from one agency or another there’s no way to know for sure which consumer credit reporting agency will see a request from Capital One when you apply for a credit card. That said, our data suggests that Capital One favors one bureau over another in some states.
For example, the bank seems to pull more reports from Equifax in Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota and Tennessee. In Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington, it appears that Experian reports are ordered more frequently. Residents of Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia may be more likely to see a hard inquiry on a TransUnion report when applying for a Capital One credit card.
When Does Capital One Report to Credit Bureaus?
Our data suggests that Capital One reports to all three major credit bureaus once per month—typically at the same time as a cardmember’s monthly billing statement is issued. Your credit report may reflect changes immediately in some cases. In others, changes may take more than a month to appear on a report.
Which Credit Bureau Is Most Accurate?
Reports on the same individual pulled from different bureaus are likely to differ slightly. Reports are different for a variety of reasons. Because of this, it’s nearly impossible to determine which credit bureau is the most accurate. Most credit bureaus will rate your credit based on a standardized FICO Score system. Major U.S. lenders are likely to use this score to assess your credit and base lending decisions on it.
Since each score falls within a range—for example, a score between 670 and 739 is considered a good credit score—extreme differences between FICO Scores issued by credit bureaus are unlikely. Minor differences may occur due to differences in the way the score is tabulated.
How To Get a Credit Report
A free and easy method to obtain a credit report involves using AnnualCreditReport.com—the only website authorized to generate free reports. Forbes Advisor has a guide to help you through the process. You can also call AnnualCreditReport.com directly at 1-877-322-8228.
By law, consumers are entitled to at least one free credit report per year from each of the three major U.S. agencies. Reports may be requested at any time during the year and consumers are not obligated to request reports all together—meaning someone could ask for an Equifax report first, then an Experian report a few months later.
Credit bureaus offer options to generate credit reports if you sign up for subscriptions on their websites, but keep in mind this service usually requires a one-time or subscription fee and will not be likely to provide you access to reports from any other bureau.
How To Dispute Information on Your Credit Report
You can open a dispute in the event you find an error on your credit report. Prepare your personal information and sufficient documentation of the error before you submit a dispute. You can dispute errors with each credit bureau online, by mail or by phone. The bureau you file a dispute with should investigate your claim and release its findings after about 30 to 45 days.
If the results lead to a change in your credit report, you should receive a free, updated copy of your report—but this may take another 45 days. If unhappy with the results of the dispute, you can resubmit your dispute with any additional supporting information to help your case.
Bottom Line
If you’re concerned about your FICO Score while applying for a Capital One credit card, you’ll probably want to pull all of your credit reports to see what data the bank will be most likely to base its decision on—and so you can catch any errors before the bank mistakes them for a poor credit reputation. You can also try Capital One’s preapproval process to see which of its cards you’d most likely be eligible for.
If you’re not certain your score is good enough to be approved, it may be a smarter option in the long run to focus on rebuilding and strengthening your credit score across the board.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Does Capital One report authorized users to credit bureaus?
Capital One reports authorized users to all three of the major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion). Authorized users are only reported if they are at least 18 years old and if the account in question is not delinquent.
Which credit bureau is used the most?
The credit bureaus lenders use varies. Lenders will instead typically consider a consumer’s FICO Score, which is provided by each of the three major credit bureaus. That being said, individual lenders—like Capital One—may have a specific credit bureau and scoring model in favor. In order to maximize your chances of approval for a credit card, research which credit reports a lender will most likely base their decision on and work on improving your credit profile. Capital One appears to use all three major credit bureaus—Equifax, Transunion and Experian.
How do I improve payment history on my credit report?
Pay your bills in full and on time. Late or underpaid payments impact your credit score negatively, so the fewer you have, the better your score will be. Pull and check your free credit reports throughout the year in order to catch and dispute any misreported payments or errors negatively impacting your credit score.
Does Capital One make a hard inquiry?
Capital One will more than likely make a hard inquiry on at least one of your credit reports. To get a good idea of whether or not you should risk the hard inquiry, try getting preapproved for a card. A preapproval will not usually make a hard inquiry against your credit.
