CU Question

[Anonymous]

I'm interested in joining a CU, but I was wondering if they do a hard pull on my CR when I apply. I'm hoping to buy a new car in two or three months, and I'm trying to avoid any inquiries on my CR. I have one from December of last year. Will another hurt me any?

[Jazzzy]

Hi texaslady, and welcome to the forums.

When I joined PenFed, they pulled an inquiry when I opened a savings account. They used that same inquiry within the next couple of months for a VISA and for a used auto loan.

I would call the CU you are thinking of applying with. Ask them if they do a hard pull when you join, and then ask them how long they will use that same pull if you decide to apply for a car loan at a later time. We got 2 tradelines after the pull for the savings account, all on one hard pull.

I don't believe another hard pull will hurt you. You have to have some hard pulls in order to grow your credit. Also, remember that there are 3 CBs from which they can pull, so you may not even end up with multiple pulls on the same CB.

[MarineVietVet]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I'm interested in joining a CU, but I was wondering if they do a hard pull on my CR when I apply. I'm hoping to buy a new car in two or three months, and I'm trying to avoid any inquiries on my CR. I have one from December of last year. Will another hurt me any?

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Hello and welcome to the forums.

What I would do is call the CU I am interested in and simply ask them if they do a hard pull. I am a member of a local CU but it's been so long since I joined I can't remember if they hard pulled or not. I'm sure there are members here who can give advice on specific CU's.

Another inquiry might cost you a few points but that would soon recover. In my opinion that would be worth joining a good CU.

From a BK years ago to:
7/09 TU-742 EQ- 779
8/09 TU-765 EQ- 783
9/09 EX pulled by lender 802

You can do the same thing with hard work

Once again Lynette beat me to it!!! 

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Message Edited by marinevietvet on 02-14-2010 01:44 PM

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the quick replies! I'll give them a call tomorrow.

[LIGHTNIN]

Hi and welcome texas lady,

My DS just join the CU a few months back, and yes they did a hard pull.

But a hard pull will only hurt by a few points for 1yr, then the next year doesn't hurt much.

Hard pulls report for 2 yrs. 

The CU is the #1 place to go for auto loans.. 

[Anonymous]

I joined Navy Federal and all I got were a couple of soft inquiries.  No hards.

But I didn't apply for any credit at Navy.  Back when I applied, I opened 3 deposit accounts.   They asked if I wanted a LOC but I declined.   Most of the time LOC overdraft protection doesn't report to the bureaus, so there wasn't an advantage of having it FICO-wise.

[geronimo2008]

Both my HELOC and my Checking LOC form NFCU have alwys shown up on all reports I ahve pulled.  In addition the NAVCHEk LOC isa nice safety valve.  i know that even if i receive an unexpected bill one month I have a way of paying it on time.

These days NFCU seems to pulaa hard inquiry for just about everything.    i am mildly surprised that they did nto dfo one even fora deposit account.  

[Anonymous]

A quick update... I joined a credit union here and I explained that I was trying to avoid any more inquiries. They said no problem, they would run my app through Chexsystem instead of pulling my CR, which I really appreciate.

I got set up with both a checking and savings account, and they said whenever I'm ready for a new car to call them.

I'm kicking myself for not joining a CU before now.

[Anonymous]

I joined a local CU SEFCU and there were no hard pulls when I joined.

[RobertEG]

How any creditor codes any inquiry based on any business transaction intiated by the consumer is not regulated by the FCRA, and is totally at their discrection. Some report hard, some soft.

Navy Fed is the biggest CU in the world, and if they dont report as hard pulls, that is great!

I belong to Tower Fed CU, which is the largest CU on the east coast, and they do hard pulls for almost everthing.

new accounts, new loans, new CC applications.

But I dont fret those inquiries.  The lower rates and better service offered by my CU is will worth the 12-month ding of around 5-pts on my credit score. 

For example, I recently applied to Tower FCU for a Master Card on my account.  Yes, they did a hard inq., but it gave me a new card with a $14,000 CL, no balance transfer fees on later transactions made on the account, no annual fees, and a guaranteed fixed 9.99% APR.  And they report to the CRAs, which some smaller CUs dont.

It is ultimately money in my pocket.