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+1
I think I want to do this also? Can't wait to hear the answers!
@Anonymous wrote:
I'm thinking of making the $15 donation to join and open a savings account. Depositing money every month for about 6-12month to establish a relationship and then try to open a credit card with them. Would that work? Has anyone tried that before?
PenFed pulls EQ for membership you can use that same report to see if you can get a credit card or any loan as log as you do it with in 30 day of opening membership. That is what I did and I got membership and a small loan.
I asked this a while ago too but really I think the short answer is no, it won't make that much difference. Unless you banked with them with a full checking package for a while or had a sizeable amount of money sitting in your account I don't think it will influence their decision. They are a very conservative CU. From what I've seen in the approvals DB you probably need low 700s (720-730 at least) or to be on the safe side more like 750 and above, no derogs, and a solid employment history.
Keep in mind also I believe the cutoff is >=700 Fico if you want to join and be able to use their checking and savings (other than loan products and your share account). If you have lower than that they will put your account in a limited status and you will need to request reconsideration 6 months later to have this lifted.
To the OP. I'll give you my experience with them as what you are asking is about the way started with them myself. I've been primarly an Alliant member for the past three years. Around July of last year I decided to try for a PenFed account and opened up a savings only. Funded it with $100 out of my Alliant account. My EQ FICO at the time was about 670.
It was mostly a placeholder for me in the event I wanted to try to use them in the future and pretty much ignored the account for six months. After I closed on a condo in Feb of this year I decided to give them a better look. I app'd to open a checking, credit card and refi my car loans with them. My EQ FICO was 701 basd on lender pull in January for the condo and had about 13 inquiries. Not sure what it was at time PenFed pulled but imagine it was pretty close to the same. They approved all three and am now using them as my primary institution.
For history purposes I've never filed BK, no charge offs, nothing in collection. Just some late payments in 2005 and 2006 but all brought back current and lines kept open. It didn't seem to matter to them that I had no activity on the account but only that I was a member for six months or longer. So far I am VERY pleased with them.
Starting Score: 594 (Dec 10, 2010)
Score: 758 (March, 2013
Goal Score: 730 on all (by end of 2012)
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@cahiatt wrote:To the OP. I'll give you my experience with them as what you are asking is about the way started with them myself. I've been primarly an Alliant member for the past three years. Around July of last year I decided to try for a PenFed account and opened up a savings only. Funded it with $100 out of my Alliant account. My EQ FICO at the time was about 670.
It was mostly a placeholder for me in the event I wanted to try to use them in the future and pretty much ignored the account for six months. After I closed on a condo in Feb of this year I decided to give them a better look. I app'd to open a checking, credit card and refi my car loans with them. My EQ FICO was 701 basd on lender pull in January for the condo and had about 13 inquiries. Not sure what it was at time PenFed pulled but imagine it was pretty close to the same. They approved all three and am now using them as my primary institution.
For history purposes I've never filed BK, no charge offs, nothing in collection. Just some late payments in 2005 and 2006 but all brought back current and lines kept open. It didn't seem to matter to them that I had no activity on the account but only that I was a member for six months or longer. So far I am VERY pleased with them.
Wow that's really encouraging! I did the same thing opening a share account with them in 2010.
@Anonymous wrote:
Thank you guys! I got some ways to go for now, not at 700 yet, but I think I will open a savings account with them though.
I opened a savings account with them back in July with $100 and I set up my direct deposit so $5 from my paycheck goes into that account every 2 weeks. Like other have said Ive heard theyre very conservative so Ill wait until im in the mid 700s before apping for their CC