topic Re: BECU Membership Approved + DP's in Personal Finance

BECU Membership Approved + DP's

TheFIGuy — Fri, 31 May 2019 03:29:59 GMT

Hey myFICO Family,

I wanted to help out anybody looking to join BECU with some Data Points.

Location: SoCal

HP or SP for Membership: SP (TU)

tl:dr - BECU membership is doable but you should have a Utility bill within last 30 days, SSN, and NWCUF membership all matching current DL. BECU has been having FRAUD issues and ALL online application go through a manual review.

A. 05/27/19 @0300hrs - Applied and paid for NWCUF membership **If you don't live in the state of Washington, have a family member who is apart of BECU, or work for Boeing this is your ONLY way in as of now. I'm sure if myFICO members start applying like we did with Navy League this process will be evaluated and shutdown so YMMV.

$20 Membership and select BECU as the organization you're looking to apply for in the application process
Received "Thanks for signing up to be a friend of the Foundation!" 10min after payment with my confirmation code
Saved email for refrence

B. 05/27/19 @0320hrs - Applied for BECU membership through iOS application

Application was EASY and asked basic questions **Didn't ask anything about NWCUF membership or eligibility
End of application asked for a picture of my DL for verification.
Application went PENDING with decision within 24-48hrs.

C. 05/28/19 @N/A - Recieved an email from BECU Membership Department ask for the following:

Copy of SSN uploaded to secure portal
Utility Bill in the last 30 days with address matching DL **MUST MATCH DL

Well of course I don’t pay utilities and they’re included in my rent. So I called to explain, they stated I needed to upload a copy of my lease agreement. I uploaded a copy of my lease agreement and it was determined it was to OLD—(Lease agreement must be signed within the last year) I have been living at the same place for 3+ years month to month.

Talked to CSR, who called BECU Membership Department—(They have a special group of people who handled just new online applications). They said I could turn in all of the following: current bank statements with address matching, car insurance statement with address matching, and credit card statement with address matching and I would be considered for approval.

D. 05/30/19 @1700hrs - Got an email “Welcoming me into BECU and to setup my online account”.

Hopefully this helps somebody who might be thinking about joining BECU. I now have BECU and NFCU and I’m thinking of skipping PENDREAD—(reading these forums they have been much more conservative lately)

Of course YMMV and this process would have been MUCH smoother if i had a Utility bill.

Question to current BECU members: Obviously YMMV

BECU PLOC - Credit Bureau Pulled, Scores typically needed?
BECU CBV (Cash Back Visa) - Credit Bureau Pulled, Scores typically needed?
BECU Checking account help with PLOC or CBV approval?
Anything I should know?

Re: BECU Membership Approved + DP's

19eighty5 — Fri, 31 May 2019 04:50:54 GMT

Thank you for sharing all of this data with us! Congrats on your membership approval.

Re: BECU Membership Approved + DP's

Anonymous — Fri, 31 May 2019 06:39:44 GMT

So they finally got a secured document service now? No more faxing? They put me through absolute heck back in April.

I had a similar situation - no utility bill, no lease. They wanted my social security card, my SSDI award letter for this year, my NFCU membership card, my drivers license, my Comcast bill, and a letter of intent for joining the CU. I asked them in advance if I could use an online faxing service and take pictures of all my stuff, went through all the hassle of failed and retrying faxes, just for them to turn around and tell me they can’t take pictures of my documents. Hours of my time wasted. And in my case I had actually been activated and was able to transfer $5 into both the checking and savings to get it established and when I got mad and told them to just mail me a check and close the account because I wasn’t going to be able to go to fax the crap with my agoraphobia they tried to tell me I have to mail them a letter.

I finally got them to close it out but I was pretty ticked off. Fortunately I complained to NWCUF and got my $20 back so it only cost me $.98 for the faxes, a migraine, and a few hours of my time across a few days to deal with.

I decided to stop joining CUs for awhile after that one.

Its not really that uncommon for people to not have a lease or utility bill these days when people are renting rooms out of their houses just to try to make ends meet. I live in a private residence that my roommates lease and they sublet to me (with the landlord’s blessing) - there is no paperwork and since I pay the $140 for the internet which we all use, they don’t charge me utilities.

Glad to hear that they implemented a secure upload and you got in when it was all said and done. I ripped them apart over not offering a secure document upload service, I was through being nice when I was on the 5th phone call. If SSFCU has one with as small as they are, BECU being one of the largest in the country had no excuse for not having one.

Re: BECU Membership Approved + DP's

TheFIGuy — Fri, 31 May 2019 07:02:32 GMT

@Saeren

Yes, they have a secured document service now.

I literally wrote this post for you!!—(so happy you saw it). I read your experince with them and it was so BAD. I can say they really don't like outside people joning, but once you're in their so NICE!

I'll be applying for a BECU CC and PLOC once this Charge-Off I paid posts to my Credit Report + my new NFCU Platinum card for 15k.

I'm curious if they will ever expand their CC's and offer more like a NFCU or PenFed.—seeing their one of the LARGEST CU's in the country.

Re: BECU Membership Approved + DP's

Green456 — Fri, 31 May 2019 12:05:00 GMT

@TheFIGuy wrote:
Hey myFICO Family,

I wanted to help out anybody looking to join BECU with some Data Points.

Location: SoCal
HP or SP for Membership: SP (TU)

tl:dr - BECU membership is doable but you should have a Utility bill within last 30 days, SSN, and NWCUF membership all matching current DL. BECU has been having FRAUD issues and ALL online application go through a manual review.

A. 05/27/19 @0300hrs - Applied and paid for NWCUF membership **If you don't live in the state of Washington, have a family member who is apart of BECU, or work for Boeing this is your ONLY way in as of now. I'm sure if myFICO members start applying like we did with Navy League this process will be evaluated and shutdown so YMMV.
$20 Membership and select BECU as the organization you're looking to apply for in the application process
Received "Thanks for signing up to be a friend of the Foundation!" 10min after payment with my confirmation code
Saved email for refrence
B. 05/27/19 @0320hrs - Applied for BECU membership through iOS application
Application was EASY and asked basic questions **Didn't ask anything about NWCUF membership or eligibility
End of application asked for a picture of my DL for verification.
Application went PENDING with decision within 24-48hrs.
C. 05/28/19 @N/A - Recieved an email from BECU Membership Department ask for the following:
Copy of SSN uploaded to secure portal
Utility Bill in the last 30 days with address matching DL **MUST MATCH DL
Well of course I don’t pay utilities and they’re included in my rent. So I called to explain, they stated I needed to upload a copy of my lease agreement. I uploaded a copy of my lease agreement and it was determined it was to OLD—(Lease agreement must be signed within the last year) I have been living at the same place for 3+ years month to month.

Talked to CSR, who called BECU Membership Department—(They have a special group of people who handled just new online applications). They said I could turn in all of the following: current bank statements with address matching, car insurance statement with address matching, and credit card statement with address matching and I would be considered for approval.

D. 05/30/19 @1700hrs - Got an email “Welcoming me into BECU and to setup my online account”.

Hopefully this helps somebody who might be thinking about joining BECU. I now have BECU and NFCU and I’m thinking of skipping PENDREAD—(reading these forums they have been much more conservative lately)

Of course YMMV and this process would have been MUCH smoother if i had a Utility bill.

I applied via their iOS app. I put int my DL number, Social Security and current address. They never required me to send them in any documents. I was apporved immediately without any questions. I even emailed them and asked them if they needed me to mail in anything. They said no.

I feel like such an odd ball here.

Im glad they improved their application process. Their mobile app is really well developed, they have okay rates and their credit cards are not bad.

@TheFIGuy wrote:
Question to current BECU members: Obviously YMMV
BECU PLOC - Credit Bureau Pulled, Scores typically needed?
BECU CBV (Cash Back Visa) - Credit Bureau Pulled, Scores typically needed?
BECU Checking account help with PLOC or CBV approval?
Anything I should know?

I just got their membership 6 weeks ago or so. They offered me what looks like pre-approval for their baisc 9.15% APR credit card but I declined it as I recently opened 3 new credit accounts and didn't want another hard pull at this time without being 100% sure that I will get what I want. I am planning to app for their cashback credit card 6 months from now, depending how I enjoy my membership with them and how I like them as my primary financian institution. And maybe also PLOC.

Re: BECU Membership Approved + DP's

TheFIGuy — Fri, 31 May 2019 15:03:48 GMT

@green456

Also somebody I wanted to see this thread. Woot. Did you call in for the pre-approval or did it pop up when you logged In?

- I bank primarily with NFCU because they give .40% on the Flagship Checking + I have a NFCU CR & PL. I calculated my average daily balance would get more interest from NFCU, BECU is 4.07% only on first $500 so I’m going to throw 1k over to the BECU Checking—4.07% and Savings—~6% for interest and to look good haha.

- I’m thinking of applying for the BECU CBV in 6 months and then trying to use the same HP for a PLOC.

Please if you don’t mind keeping me updated with your success! I’m trying to build a NFCU CLI thread for BECU. There isn’t much information on these forums about them sadly.

Re: BECU Membership Approved + DP's

Green456 — Fri, 31 May 2019 15:40:18 GMT

@TheFIGuy wrote:
@green456

Also somebody I wanted to see this thread. Woot. Did you call in for the pre-approval or did it pop up when you logged In?

- I bank primarily with NFCU because they give .40% on the Flagship Checking + I have a NFCU CR & PL. I calculated my average daily balance would get more interest from NFCU, BECU is 4.07% only on first $500 so I’m going to throw 1k over to the BECU Checking—4.07% and Savings—~6% for interest and to look good haha.

- I’m thinking of applying for the BECU CBV in 6 months and then trying to use the same HP for a PLOC.

Please if you don’t mind keeping me updated with your success! I’m trying to build a NFCU CLI thread for BECU. There isn’t much information on these forums about them sadly.

The pre-approval came in when logging in. I didnt call in or anything. Yeah there isn’t much info on BECU in these forums. I will definitely post an update 6 months from now when I apply for their CBV. I really like them because of very very few fees they have. Their checking and savings can be really kept at Zero and you will not incure fees. They also don’t seem to have account inactivation fee. In general they pride themselves to have as few fees as possible.

For now I’m going to continue building my relationship with them.

Re: BECU Membership Approved + DP's

TheFIGuy — Fri, 31 May 2019 17:13:49 GMT

Opened up a chat message in the iOS application—I love how you can just chat with them via the app and get all questions answered. They even transferred me to the Member Lender Department where I chatted with a Back-house lender.

CC and PLOC DP — as long as you apply for a CC via phone with the member lending team they can use the same HP for the PLOC. They also like to see 50% or less DTI and have approved people with FICO 689 TU scores + baddies like CO’s and BK’s. She actually said a 689 was GOOD. Almost got me to apply but I backed down and ran Into the garden FAST!

Question, does the iOS app ask for security questions or SMS verification all the **bleep** time. I know their working on it from what I have read.

Re: BECU Membership Approved + DP's

Green456 — Fri, 31 May 2019 17:48:58 GMT

@TheFIGuy wrote:
Opened up a chat message in the iOS application—I love how you can just chat with them via the app and get all questions answered. They even transferred me to the Member Lender Department where I chatted with a Back-house lender.

CC and PLOC DP — as long as you apply for a CC via phone with the member lending team they can use the same HP for the PLOC. They also like to see 50% or less DTI and have approved people with FICO 689 TU scores + baddies like CO’s and BK’s. She actually said a 689 was GOOD. Almost got me to apply but I backed down and ran Into the garden FAST!

Good to know. Hopefully they dont hold my student loans against me.

@TheFIGuy wrote:
Question, does the iOS app ask for security questions or SMS verification all the **bleep** time. I know their working on it from what I have read.

Yes.I called their general CSR, they said after a week or two of usage the app should learn. I found it to be partially true. I looked up the issue in their official forum. But I did not bother contacting them again. I changed from phone verification to security question as i find it more convinient and more secure.

https://ideaexchange.becu.org/t5/Ask-The-Community/Check-password-only-once-on-iPhone-app/td-p/3374

Re: BECU Membership Approved + DP's

TheFIGuy — Fri, 31 May 2019 17:52:36 GMT

I think we’re the same person lol. Check your DM about student loans from what I asked from the BECU member lending team.

I also, turned off SMS and use ONLY security questions now. Much, Much easier!

Re: BECU Membership Approved + DP's

Anonymous — Fri, 31 May 2019 22:25:43 GMT

@TheFIGuy thanks so much for sharing, I guess I should have waited a month. 🤦‍♂️

If those credit score requirements are FICO 8 and not the older scores, it seems they definitely like to give out credit there.

Re: BECU Membership Approved + DP's

Green456 — Fri, 31 May 2019 22:46:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@TheFIGuy thanks so much for sharing, I guess I should have waited a month. 🤦‍♂️

If those credit score requirements are FICO 8 and not the older scores, it seems they definitely like to give out credit there.

Try again. Won’t hurt.

Re: BECU Membership Approved + DP's

TheFIGuy — Fri, 31 May 2019 23:12:27 GMT

@Saeren

Yes, I would 100% try again. Be ready to provide the following:

Recent Lease Agreement
Recent Bank Statements
Recent Car Insurance Statement
Recent Credit Card Statements
Recent Student Loan Statements — (If applicable)

** Yes it sucks and I personally find it to be a bit intrusive, but honestly it's an AMAZING bank and I have only been with them for ~48hrs. The small price we have to pay for not paying Utilities monthly.

Why did they shutdown your account before again?

Also, IDK how you guys tag the names but it's cool lol.

Re: BECU Membership Approved + DP's

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Jun 2019 08:52:08 GMT

Here’s my problem.

1. No lease agreement - I have a verbal monthly agreement with my roommates even though I’ve lived here since 2/2016.

2. I can give them bank statements, that’s not an issue.

3. I don’t have a car, haven’t had one since 2012.

4. No problem giving them CC statements.

5. Student loans have been paid since 2014.

Basically I can only give them 2 of those 5 things.

They apparently got spooked because I used Zelle to move $5 into each of the accounts (a normal CU account opening step is a small deposit in the share savings at the very least). The thing is, Zelle gives them full access to Early Warning Services which means they could easily see that the checking account the funds came from was in my name, they could even see the balances and incoming and outgoing ACH (because EWS stores literally every detail). It makes no sense.

Since I already got my refund for my foundation donation and everything, I think I’ll just leave it alone. I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason — the amount of trouble that I went through and still didn’t come out on top makes me question how much of a problem I would have if something went wrong later. I’ll stay with my local bank, DCU, and NFCU for now. Maybe if things are still going smoothly next year I’ll revisit it.

Re: BECU Membership Approved + DP's

Green456 — Sat, 01 Jun 2019 13:15:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Here’s my problem.

1. No lease agreement - I have a verbal monthly agreement with my roommates even though I’ve lived here since 2/2016.
2. I can give them bank statements, that’s not an issue.
3. I don’t have a car, haven’t had one since 2012.
4. No problem giving them CC statements.
5. Student loans have been paid since 2014.

Basically I can only give them 2 of those 5 things.

They apparently got spooked because I used Zelle to move $5 into each of the accounts (a normal CU account opening step is a small deposit in the share savings at the very least). The thing is, Zelle gives them full access to Early Warning Services which means they could easily see that the checking account the funds came from was in my name, they could even see the balances and incoming and outgoing ACH (because EWS stores literally every detail). It makes no sense.

Since I already got my refund for my foundation donation and everything, I think I’ll just leave it alone. I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason — the amount of trouble that I went through and still didn’t come out on top makes me question how much of a problem I would have if something went wrong later. I’ll stay with my local bank, DCU, and NFCU for now. Maybe if things are still going smoothly next year I’ll revisit it.

A little off topic. But have you tried First Tech or Alliant?

Re: BECU Membership Approved + DP's

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Jun 2019 22:17:37 GMT

First Tech is conservative, they don’t like extending credit to people with limits in excess of their income which I’m currently close to 3 times mine plus their checking requires 12 debit purchases to earn dividends and Alliant is on the list if I anything happens with my PayPal Cashback (you can never have faith that a Sync card will always be there for you) as a potential for a 2% card but I won’t bank with them because once again, no Zelle.

My bank isn’t perfect but I guess I’ll stick with them. It honestly seems like it’s better to not bank where you have credit anyway.

Re: BECU Membership Approved + DP's

TheFIGuy — Sun, 02 Jun 2019 08:15:38 GMT

Understandable, I'll keep this thread updated with DP as I get them. Hopefully help out you and other myFICO members!

Re: BECU Membership Approved + DP's

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Jun 2019 12:16:23 GMT

i m a member of FirstTech and to my knowledge they are very conservative & uses Experian for credit/ploc n i was awarded $10k with a 720+ experian fico 8 score . The reward points aren't that good but for any CL increases its a hard pull only. They also gave me a 2% reduction on my APR without asking for it.

@Green456 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Here’s my problem.

1. No lease agreement - I have a verbal monthly agreement with my roommates even though I’ve lived here since 2/2016.
2. I can give them bank statements, that’s not an issue.
3. I don’t have a car, haven’t had one since 2012.
4. No problem giving them CC statements.
5. Student loans have been paid since 2014.

Basically I can only give them 2 of those 5 things.

They apparently got spooked because I used Zelle to move $5 into each of the accounts (a normal CU account opening step is a small deposit in the share savings at the very least). The thing is, Zelle gives them full access to Early Warning Services which means they could easily see that the checking account the funds came from was in my name, they could even see the balances and incoming and outgoing ACH (because EWS stores literally every detail). It makes no sense.

Since I already got my refund for my foundation donation and everything, I think I’ll just leave it alone. I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason — the amount of trouble that I went through and still didn’t come out on top makes me question how much of a problem I would have if something went wrong later. I’ll stay with my local bank, DCU, and NFCU for now. Maybe if things are still going smoothly next year I’ll revisit it.
A little off topic. But have you tried First Tech or Alliant?

Re: BECU Membership Approved + DP's

Revelate — Sun, 02 Jun 2019 21:39:29 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
i m a member of FirstTech and to my knowledge they are very conservative & uses Experian for credit/ploc n i was awarded $10k with a 720+ experian fico 8 score . The reward points aren't that good but for any CL increases its a hard pull only. They also gave me a 2% reduction on my APR without asking for it.

First Tech conservative vs. who? NFCU? Not a good comparison.

Vs. Most? Plenty of First Tech approvals which might suggest differently and that certainly hasn't been my experience with them.

They literally handed me a 20k check in the form of a personal loan, with a less than year old 30D late to say nothing of the 25K revolver they gave me when I still had tax liens on file.

Re: BECU Membership Approved + DP's

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Jun 2019 23:05:44 GMT

@Revelate wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
i m a member of FirstTech and to my knowledge they are very conservative & uses Experian for credit/ploc n i was awarded $10k with a 720+ experian fico 8 score . The reward points aren't that good but for any CL increases its a hard pull only. They also gave me a 2% reduction on my APR without asking for it.
First Tech conservative vs. who? NFCU? Not a good comparison.

Vs. Most? Plenty of First Tech approvals which might suggest differently and that certainly hasn't been my experience with them.

They literally handed me a 20k check in the form of a personal loan, with a less than year old 30D late to say nothing of the 25K revolver they gave me when I still had tax liens on file.

But how were your total limits in relation to your income?

It seems they don’t like to lend to people who already have a lot of credit from reports around here but are generous to thinner files.