topic Re: Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning in Personal Finance

Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 02:36:47 GMT

I was researching BOA credit cards and came across Early Warning, which is a financial credit bureau of sorts. I ordered my report and holy smokes. BOA reports each month the balance in my checking and savings accounts, all my ACH's, including account numbers at other banks, amount of payments, etc. All the data since I opened my account YEARS ago. It's like a running tab of my checking account activity. Same for USAA, PNC, Chase and Capital One bank. I had no idea this type of data was being shared.

Others may have heard of this but I'm shocked. Not all banks report to this service. I'm going to find one that doesn't.

Re: Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning

SOGGIE — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 12:46:16 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I was researching BOA credit cards and came across Early Warning, which is a financial credit bureau of sorts. I ordered my report and holy smokes. BOA reports each month the balance in my checking and savings accounts, all my ACH's, including account numbers at other banks, amount of payments, etc. All the data since I opened my account YEARS ago. It's like a running tab of my checking account activity. Same for USAA, PNC, Chase and Capital One bank. I had no idea this type of data was being shared.

Others may have heard of this but I'm shocked. Not all banks report to this service. I'm going to find one that doesn't.

Very disturbing, isn't it? I too was stunned when I reviewed my Early Warning Consumer Report recently. I'm not comfortable with that. I noticed that my CU accounts don't report, but my bank accounts do. I plan on freezing EW, xferring my bank funds to my CU accounts and closing my bank accounts.

Re: Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning

SOGGIE — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 12:52:06 GMT

Not sure why this thread was moved to Personal Finance as opposed to General Credit, being that the topic here largely deals with consumer reporting.

Re: Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning

DaveInAZ — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 14:12:54 GMT

@SOGGIE wrote:
Not sure why this thread was moved to Personal Finance as opposed to General Credit, being that the topic here largely deals with consumer reporting.

Because Early Warning System, EWS, has nothing to do with extending credit, it's for deposit accounts, checking & savings accounts. And you can't freeze EWS, they claim an exemption to freezing that the feds allow. Doctor of Credit has a list of banks that use EWS, it's a fairly long list but Chase, Wells Fargo, BoA are among the biggest banks. I primarily use credit unions and I don't see a single CU that uses EWS, but I open a Chase checking around once a year for the SUB and it's now down to a $5 balance as I prepare to close it. Yikes, I had no idea they report balances! I've seen my Chex System report and all they report is inquiries and any negatives. I think I'd better pull my EWS report. I can't believe they report ACH transfers w/ account number to external banking accounts. That would be like credit card companies reporting where & what your purchases were.

Re: Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning

SOGGIE — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 14:36:21 GMT

@DaveInAZ wrote:
@SOGGIE wrote:
Not sure why this thread was moved to Personal Finance as opposed to General Credit, being that the topic here largely deals with consumer reporting.
Because Early Warning System, EWS, has nothing to do with extending credit, it's for deposit accounts, checking & savings accounts. And you can't freeze EWS, they claim an exemption to freezing that the feds allow. Doctor of Credit has a list of banks that use EWS, it's a fairly long list but Chase, Wells Fargo, BoA are among the biggest banks. I primarily use credit unions and I don't see a single CU that uses EWS, but I open a Chase checking around once a year for the SUB and it's now down to a $5 balance as I prepare to close it. Yikes, I had no idea they report balances! I've seen my Chex System report and all they report is inquiries and any negatives. I think I'd better pull my EWS report. I can't believe they report ACH transfers w/ account number to external banking accounts. That would be like credit card companies reporting where & what your purchases were.

$#%%! Thanks for the info Dave. Just re-read the attachments to my report. Thought there was an option to freeze, but there is only an option to opt out. Whyyyy? Yes...that is likened to a card issuer reporting your purchase payments on your credit reports. Sucks majorly!

Re: Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 14:44:03 GMT

@DaveInAZ wrote:
@SOGGIE wrote:
Not sure why this thread was moved to Personal Finance as opposed to General Credit, being that the topic here largely deals with consumer reporting.
Because Early Warning System, EWS, has nothing to do with extending credit, it's for deposit accounts, checking & savings accounts. And you can't freeze EWS, they claim an exemption to freezing that the feds allow. Doctor of Credit has a list of banks that use EWS, it's a fairly long list but Chase, Wells Fargo, BoA are among the biggest banks. I primarily use credit unions and I don't see a single CU that uses EWS, but I open a Chase checking around once a year for the SUB and it's now down to a $5 balance as I prepare to close it. Yikes, I had no idea they report balances! I've seen my Chex System report and all they report is inquiries and any negatives. I think I'd better pull my EWS report. I can't believe they report ACH transfers w/ account number to external banking accounts. That would be like credit card companies reporting where & what your purchases were.

When reviewing that list on DoC that you'd linked, NFCU seems to use EWS.

I don't know if they report to EWS as well, but I'd assume they'd report to whom they're pulling from as part of an agreement.

"We'll let you use our reports to evaluate perspective customers/members if you report your data/info to us in return for utilizing our tool."

Not a true quote, just a hypothetical example of what could be going on in that case. I also don't know if you use NFCU or not. But figured I'd interject that in there.

Re: Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 16:12:29 GMT

@DaveInAZ wrote:
@SOGGIE wrote:
Not sure why this thread was moved to Personal Finance as opposed to General Credit, being that the topic here largely deals with consumer reporting.
Because Early Warning System, EWS, has nothing to do with extending credit, it's for deposit accounts, checking & savings accounts. And you can't freeze EWS, they claim an exemption to freezing that the feds allow. Doctor of Credit has a list of banks that use EWS, it's a fairly long list but Chase, Wells Fargo, BoA are among the biggest banks. I primarily use credit unions and I don't see a single CU that uses EWS, but I open a Chase checking around once a year for the SUB and it's now down to a $5 balance as I prepare to close it. Yikes, I had no idea they report balances! I've seen my Chex System report and all they report is inquiries and any negatives. I think I'd better pull my EWS report. I can't believe they report ACH transfers w/ account number to external banking accounts. That would be like credit card companies reporting where & what your purchases were.

USAA is a credit union and they report to EWS.

Re: Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 16:56:24 GMT

FYI: Data remains on your early warning report for 7 years (accounts you've opened and closed) and 5 years (money owed to other banks, unpaid overdrafts, etc. )

Inquiries remain for one year.

Re: Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 17:20:12 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@DaveInAZ wrote:
@SOGGIE wrote:
Not sure why this thread was moved to Personal Finance as opposed to General Credit, being that the topic here largely deals with consumer reporting.
Because Early Warning System, EWS, has nothing to do with extending credit, it's for deposit accounts, checking & savings accounts. And you can't freeze EWS, they claim an exemption to freezing that the feds allow. Doctor of Credit has a list of banks that use EWS, it's a fairly long list but Chase, Wells Fargo, BoA are among the biggest banks. I primarily use credit unions and I don't see a single CU that uses EWS, but I open a Chase checking around once a year for the SUB and it's now down to a $5 balance as I prepare to close it. Yikes, I had no idea they report balances! I've seen my Chex System report and all they report is inquiries and any negatives. I think I'd better pull my EWS report. I can't believe they report ACH transfers w/ account number to external banking accounts. That would be like credit card companies reporting where & what your purchases were.
USAA is a credit union and they report to EWS.

To clarify, USAA is not a Credit Union. It is, in fact, a bank. It is commonly mistaken for a CU due to having the strict joining requirements and the fact that they call their customers "members", but it is technically treated as a bank and filed as a bank. They are for profit.

USAA is FDIC insured, which is the federal insurance for *banks*.

NavyFed, PenFed, CUs etc are insured by NCUA, which is the federal insurance for *credit unions*.

Their name for their deposit side of things is truly named "USAA Federal Savings Bank". They are just referred to as USAA for simplicity/shorthand.

Whereas NFCU, PenFed, etc... are "Navy Federal Credit Union", "Pentagon Federal Credit Union", "State Department Federal Credit Union", "Boeing Employees Credit Union", "First Tech Credit Union". Just to name a few examples.

Re: Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 23:34:21 GMT

NFCU does use EWS based on my personal experience when I opened saving account with them January 2018.

Check my posting below:

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Personal-Finance/NFCU-Navy-Federal-DOES-Check-EWS-Early-Warning-System/m-p/5149488#M21304

Re: Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 01:48:46 GMT

I had no idea that they did this. I find this appalling. Of course my bank has to be on that list so it may be time for me to do some searching for other less intrusive options.

Re: Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 11:49:44 GMT

@Asgardian

Thank you so much for starting this thread!

As a 25 yr veteran, I'm absolutely appalled that both

USAA and Navy Federal subscribe to this service.

What's the point of "serving those who serve" with

one hand, while reporting all of their transactions

without their expressed permission with the other?

The upside is that I see Pen Fed is not on the list.

I'm 8 months away from my BK13 discharge, and I'm

sad to admit that I burned Navy Fed for about 13k.

But now that I know they report to EWS, I won't be

making any attempts to rekindle my relationship with

them. Pen Fed and other CU's will be getting my business.

Thanks again for the heads up. This is incredibly valuable info!

Re: Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 13:54:16 GMT

@AllThingsInTime:

You're welcome. I'm also a member of NFCU and like you, I'm also appalled. It's one thing for Bank of America and Wells Fargo to do this kind of crap but NFCU? Unbelievable.

Re: Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning

DaveInAZ — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 16:43:29 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous:

You're welcome. I'm also a member of NFCU and like you, I'm also appalled. It's one thing for Bank of America and Wells Fargo to do this kind of crap but NFCU? Unbelievable.

Just to clarify, in your OP you said that BoA was reporting month end balances and ACH transfers w/account numbers of external banks, and "Same for USAA, PNC, Chase and Capital One bank". Is Navy Federal reporting the same level of detail?

EDIT: I just called and requested a copy of my EWS report: 1.800.745.1560

It was pretty straight forward: Name, Social #, DoB, Address. Final verification was telling them my Drivers License #. Rep offered to mail or email, I asked if sent by email would it be password protected, was assured it would be encrypted so I oped for email. Rep said it could take up to 15 days to generate. I've never had any banking problems, but I currently have a Chase checking & Discover Savings and within the past few years I've had a BoA & U.S. Bank checking and Cap One 360 Money Market, so interested in seeing the level of detail reported.

Re: Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 16:34:44 GMT

I just opened my acount with NFCU so it wasn't on my report. Others pointed out that NFCU uses Early Warning. I wasn't aware of that fact until now.

Re: Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning

vV35Hszm — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 00:46:07 GMT

@Anonymous
USAA is a credit union and they report to EWS.

FYI... USAA is a "Federal Savings Bank".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USAA

Re: Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 07:15:25 GMT

That amount of info should not be legal. That's just insane. I see Discover is on that list from Doctor's of Credit. I use them as my main savings account. But now I'm not too sure. I use to have Chase and BoA. Have a Cap 360 open that's probably reporting a $0 balance the last few months lol

Re: Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning

Jnbmom — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 07:57:49 GMT

Looks like Navy is on there

Re: Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Jun 2018 06:29:59 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I was researching BOA credit cards and came across Early Warning, which is a financial credit bureau of sorts. I ordered my report and holy smokes. BOA reports each month the balance in my checking and savings accounts, all my ACH's, including account numbers at other banks, amount of payments, etc. All the data since I opened my account YEARS ago. It's like a running tab of my checking account activity. Same for USAA, PNC, Chase and Capital One bank. I had no idea this type of data was being shared.

Others may have heard of this but I'm shocked. Not all banks report to this service. I'm going to find one that doesn't.

Oh ... my, you "knocked my sox off" and left me in shock What do you do for a day brightner? Now I am depressed. What if Early Warning gets hacked? Why are we not entitled to some privacy? This requires some soul searching! Who to bank with?! Thanks for bringing this very significant matter to light ... suspect many of us were in the dark before?! As a follow on this ... ordered up my Early Warning report to see if I should go "dark" ...

Re: Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning

vV35Hszm — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 15:11:59 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I was researching BOA credit cards and came across Early Warning, which is a financial credit bureau of sorts. I ordered my report and holy smokes. BOA reports each month the balance in my checking and savings accounts, all my ACH's, including account numbers at other banks, amount of payments, etc. All the data since I opened my account YEARS ago. It's like a running tab of my checking account activity. Same for USAA, PNC, Chase and Capital One bank. I had no idea this type of data was being shared.

Others may have heard of this but I'm shocked. Not all banks report to this service. I'm going to find one that doesn't.
Oh ... my, you "knocked my sox off" and left me in shock What do you do for a day brightner? Now I am depressed. What if Early Warning gets hacked? Why are we not entitled to some privacy? This requires some soul searching! Who to bank with?! Thanks for bringing this very significant matter to light ... suspect many of us were in the dark before?!

Funny you mentioned this... Early Warning has had major security issues recently. Just a couple weeks ago I got hundreds of emails from them like the one below. Note this was not addressed to me, this is NOT my name... they exposed thousands of names. They're really a mess.

alex.babjak@yahoo.com via Early Warning <transferportal@earlywarning.com>

Jun 3

New Package Notification

A new package has been uploaded for you.

Subject: Dispute ID 568294

Please click the following URL and enter your username/password to view this package over a secure connection. After viewing this package, you may also download any associated attachments or compose a reply within your web browser.

Our secure communication portal is solely for sending/receiving documents, with sensitive personal information, to Early Warning Consumer Services. The portal is not monitored for questions/comments. If you have a question/comment about your consumer report, please call us at 1.800.325.7775. You should recieve your consumer report 15 calendar days from the date of your request.

Exceptions:
4 business days, Rhode Island
5 business days, California, Connecticut, Louisiana
Promptly: Maine

https://consumerservices.earlywarning.com/human.aspx?OrgID=4152&Arg12=message&Arg06=485258499&Arg08=ivc34ekxdv7ulwsu

Regards,
Early Warning