topic Re: Pelican Credit Union - Smoothest Credit Union online new membership application experience I've in Personal Finance

Pelican Credit Union - Smoothest Credit Union online new membership application experience I've seen

Royalbacon — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 02:52:44 GMT

I didn't even know this place existed until I saw some of @AndySoCal post that he joined them for a CD and that they didn't check Chexsystems. I can confirm and second the fact that they do not check Chexsystems as of January 2026. They also just rebranded literally a couple months ago from Pelican State Credit Union to just Pelican Credit Union with a very nice new logo and website and some very nice branding.

Keep in mind this is relatively an extremely tiny credit union, under $1 billion in assets and only around 85,000 members and I joined out of state from the Midwest far away from Louisiana. Filled out the application, they had a process to photograph my drivers license and instantaneously verify my drivers license and identity and accounts were immediately opened with account numbers and member number given. Afterwards I was able to immediately proceed to register for online banking and immediately access my new accounts!

Afterwards, it gave me an option to choose which debit card deisgn I wanted, along with instructions that if you'd like an instant issued credit card in branch instead, simply skip this step. A very nice touch. You really don't ever see a bank or credit union give you the choice to choose what debit card design you want as well as the option to skip it and pick it up in branch instead if you live close to a branch.

Afterwards the next day I got an automated welcome email as well as a message recommending me I send a photo my id in a secure message in online banking for them to keep on file for security purposes. I messaged my midwest drivers license and very promptly got a very friendly thank you secure message in return. Online banking is phenomenal as well along with option to request withdrawal by check. A very nice feauture, not that I'll ever use it personally, though. And they also offer Zelle and Shared branching as well.

I joined them because they have one of the best Kasasa product offerings I've seen out of any financial instituiton with 4% cash back with your debit card with a max cash back amount of $10 per month. 4% is pretty freakin' good with a $10 cap. And a great kasasa savings account too. Only downside is 15 debit card purchases required each month so keep that in mind if you decide to open a Kasasa account yourself.

I also see they have an interesting credit card with free Walmart + with a $95 annual fee (Walmart+ cost $98 per year if you pay in full annually) so that could potentially be a very good credit card to have if you're a Walmart+ Subcriber.

But it's just crazy how this rinky dink, tiny credit union with less than $1 billion in assets has such a smooth online opening account experience and such good online banking. When some of the top 10 largest or top 20 largest Credit Unions like BECU and San Diego County Credit Union (SDCCU) have such awful, convoluted, complicated, archaic online account opening procedures along with outdated and archaic identitiy verification and riciulous hoops to jump through have to mail colored copies and fax in color documents over, it's refreshing to see a small institution put them to shame.

Re: Pelican Credit Union - Smoothest Credit Union online new membership application experience I've

AndySoCal — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 20:56:26 GMT

@Royalbacon @There account opening process is smooth there a couple of other credit unions who are also smooth Commonwealth Credit Union Ky and Langley FCU. Langley I do not recommend see posts in credit cards forum.
I left Pelican a few months ago. The reason was I had a CD that matured. About a week or two before it matured they dropped rate a quarter of a point. I asked if they could give me the old rate the answer was no. So I said good bye and got the rate I asked for at Hughes FCU which was their posted rate. The accounts requiring debit card usage is a no go for me because I cannot regenerate that much usage. I also do not like having the possibility of some hacker drain my checking because the hacker has the card and pin.

Re: Pelican Credit Union - Smoothest Credit Union online new membership application experience I've

TrapLine — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 03:09:42 GMT

@AndySoCal

FIfteen Debit Card transactions I have seen at several Credit Unions. Besides the risks, what about the potential credit card rewards that may not be acquired? A nonstarter for me.

In my area the banks and credit unions seem to be having to tell the customers about scammers a lot. One bank I left was forcing me to change the security questions every one to three months and the login information sporatically. It got so I could not stand it and closed the bank down after fourteen years.

Re: Pelican Credit Union - Smoothest Credit Union online new membership application experience I've

Royalbacon — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 03:36:12 GMT

@TrapLine wrote:
@AndySoCal

FIfteen Debit Card transactions I have seen at several Credit Unions. Besides the risks, what about the potential credit card rewards that may not be acquired? A nonstarter for me.

In my area the banks and credit unions seem to be having to tell the customers about scammers a lot. One bank I left was forcing me to change the security questions every one to three months and the login information sporatically. It got so I could not stand it and closed the bank down after fourteen years.

Fifteen isn't that much for me. It comes down to your personal usage and how often you use your card and spend each month but 15 isn't a lot for me.

And it's 4% cash back. I don't know about you, but i'm not earning more than 4% cash back on every single one of my credit card transactions... not even close.

5% cashback on everything and anything credit cards don't exist.

Re: Pelican Credit Union - Smoothest Credit Union online new membership application experience I've

AndySoCal — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 04:39:28 GMT

@Royalbacon @TrapLine My Walmart One Pay I receive 5% cash back on purchases due to my being a Walmart plus member. My Citibank Custom Cash currently used for groceries is 5% cash back. US BANK cash+ I recieve 5% cash back on fast food. I do not have any possible path to get 15 debit card transactions a month. I have seen other credit unions with similar rates requiring X amount of debit card transactions. Also, there is a stipulation with some high yield checking accounts if you do not meet the debit card requirements you do not get the high rate either. Not sure if that is true at Pelican. The type of you have may work for you but I know it will not work for me. If it did I would have gotten one quite a while back. Except for 4 credit cards everything else is at a credit union banking wise.There a couple of credit unions that have I high yield checking accounts that do not have the debit card transactions requirement. The link below is just an example only not to be intrepreted as a recommendation.

https://www.penair.org/personal/checking/high-yield-checking/

Fraud is rampant and it is getting worse. I do not access my banking apps in public places only at home where the data coming in and going out are passing through two firewalls. The only exception to the rule above is if I need to put a freeze on a credit card.

Re: Pelican Credit Union - Smoothest Credit Union online new membership application experience I've

hdporter — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 07:22:31 GMT

@Royalbacon wrote:

Keep in mind this is relatively an extremely tiny credit union, under $1 billion in assets and only around 85,000 members

Just had to check this stat against my modest CU which is my primary fin inst., and chuckled to read this:

"XXXX is one of the largest credit unions in the country and serves 64,000 members throughout the United States."

Re: Pelican Credit Union - Smoothest Credit Union online new membership application experience I've

TrapLine — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 18:32:10 GMT

@AndySoCal

Do not do five credit card transactions in a month and I do have 5% ... but I would not accept the risk of a Debit Card. Note, one of my Debit Cards was hacked last year and then my related credit card got hacked ... not a happy person.

My utilization pattern never would have hit ten or fifteen Debit transaction a month. A non-starter for sure.

Re: Pelican Credit Union - Smoothest Credit Union online new membership application experience I've

ptatohed — Sun, 25 Jan 2026 06:54:37 GMT

I remember someone posting about the Premier card some time ago. That lame slider thing they have is very misleading. When they tell you 39,600 points are worth $675, one might think that points are worth 1.7c each. But the weasels are basing it on only the first year with the 30,000 welcome offer and assuming WM+ and TSA credits. Nowhere does it say that slider is for the first year only.

I assume the WM+ credit is ongoing annually but I couldn't find anything to completely confirm that.

I like the WM+ credit but I don't think I'd get anything else out of the card so paying $95 to get a $98 credit wouldn't make sense for me. And I would suspect that big travelers are getting more than 3% CB on their travel. And all of us can do better than 2% CB on dining.

https://www.pelicancu.com/premier

Re: Pelican Credit Union - Smoothest Credit Union online new membership application experience I've

BearsCubsOtters — Sun, 25 Jan 2026 16:18:50 GMT

I absolutely get a kick out of Royalbacon's obsession with credit unions. Not meant to be disrepectful, I just get a kick out of it. I used to love credit unions but NFCU ruined all others for me.

Re: Pelican Credit Union - Smoothest Credit Union online new membership application experience I've

Royalbacon — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 11:31:32 GMT

@TrapLine wrote:
@AndySoCal

Do not do five credit card transactions in a month and I do have 5% ... but I would not accept the risk of a Debit Card. Note, one of my Debit Cards was hacked last year and then my related credit card got hacked ... not a happy person.

My utilization pattern never would have hit ten or fifteen Debit transaction a month. A non-starter for sure.

You have a flat 5% cash back card that gives 5% cash back on every single purchase? I don't go on MyFico anywhere near as much as I used too so I'm not up to speed on the current FOTM cards but i'm pretty sure a 5% cash back card would be, by far, the most popular card in MyFico history and would be pretty hard to miss. Would also be wildly unsustainable and be nerfed insanely quick if some financial institution would actually be insane enough to ever offer one.

Not all products fit all people. For you, fifteen debit card transaction is an astronomical amount you'd have to go way out of your way each month to do. For me, I blow past that. My breakroom at my work sells snacks/beverages/fruit dirt cheap and has a little self checkout kiosk. I swipe my card there numerous times per week. Also stop at a gas station down the street from me, and frequently grab a 25 cent banana, 50 cent small snack size bag of carrots, a beverage, etc. frequenty.

And I'm not missing out on credit card rewards/cash back. It's 4% cash back, max of $10 each month so I can do $250 worth of transactions each month from merchants that i'd otherwise only earn 1.5% or 2% on if I were to use a credit card instead. I'm not doing the Kasasa account that earns 4% APY and using this as a glorified savings account. The Cash back checking account is a completely different prouct.

And your concerns about debit card fraud and fraud in general are very valid and legitimate, no disagreement there. But I'll just be direct depositing a couple hundred each month to utilize the 4% cash back. It won't be storing my emergency fund or entrie life savings.

transactions

Re: Pelican Credit Union - Smoothest Credit Union online new membership application experience I've

JamesS84 — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:59:48 GMT

I like the name. Makes me think of my guy Derrick Queen. They don’t have any weird membership requirements?

Re: Pelican Credit Union - Smoothest Credit Union online new membership application experience I've

AndySoCal — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 02:10:07 GMT

@JamesS84 @Here is the link to membership page. Scroll down to here it talks about 80,000 plus members.

https://www.pelicancu.com/join-pelican

Most credit unions have geographic live and work qualification for membership. If you do not meet that qualification you can do so by becoming a member of partner organization. This is true for Pelican Credit Union.

If you would prefer not to do the partner organization route. There are credit unions that do not have the geographic or partner qualifications for membership. I would join either of these credit unions if I needed another credit union in addition to the six I have already.

The residence qualification is true for regional banks as well. For example I could get a credit card or having a banking relationship with TD Bank because California is out of their branch network. The credit union offers the partner organization as an alternative method to become member

The links are below

https://dowcreditunion.org/

https://www.veridiancu.org/belong/membership/become-a-member

Re: Pelican Credit Union - Smoothest Credit Union online new membership application experience I've

Royalbacon — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 03:42:20 GMT

@JamesS84 wrote:
I like the name. Makes me think of my guy Derrick Queen. They don’t have any weird membership requirements?

No they do not, $5 donation to an organization you make as you're filling the membership application out.

They also do NOT pull ChexSystems.

I am in the process of trying to get my EWS (Early Warning Services) report since I've joined numerous banks and credit unions recently that haven't pulled Chex and I'm curious to see how many of them pulled EWS. Unfortunately, EW makes it extremely difficult to get your disclosure from them and they have a very convoluted, complex, frustrating and user unfriendly process to do it.

Re: Pelican Credit Union - Smoothest Credit Union online new membership application experience I've

MeowingTheCat — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 23:44:23 GMT

I have similar smooth online new application membership experience for CommunityAmerica Credit Union (which they merged with Unify Federal Credit Union although they will retain the CommunityAmerica name with $9 billion assets combined) and they also don't pull ChexSystems. I was approved immediately after ID verification and submitted application.

The nice thing about is it you don't need to donate it. You can join Friends of Hobbs if you don't meet any requirements for membership, and it is open for everyone. They will deposit the share account on your behalf.

I opened Free Checking and NFL team Kansas City Chiefs checking with a debit card featuring QB Patrick Mahomes.

As for online banking, they offered Zelle. They don't have CO-OP Shared Branch but they do have CO-OP ATM supported.

Re: Pelican Credit Union - Smoothest Credit Union online new membership application experience I've

Royalbacon — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 23:39:31 GMT

I already did CommunityAmerica for the $300 new account bonus via DoctorofCredit. And I used to live in Kansas City, im very familiar with CommunityAmerica and their merger with Unify and lack of Chexsystem checks when you open an account. I also can't stand Patrick Mahomes so I'd rather have a debit card with a picture of dog poop on it instead of him.

Re: Pelican Credit Union - Smoothest Credit Union online new membership application experience I've

MeowingTheCat — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 10:31:59 GMT

@AndySoCal

Does Hughes FCU pull Chex and hard pull? Because I can see that it is open for everyone with a $10 donation.

Re: Pelican Credit Union - Smoothest Credit Union online new membership application experience I've

AndySoCal — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 15:19:51 GMT

@MeowingTheCat Yes they pull Chex. They have very good CD rates. If your interested Mountain Amaerica Credit Union also has some very good CD Rates as well. Chex pull is yes

Re: Pelican Credit Union - Smoothest Credit Union online new membership application experience I've

Guyatthebeach — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:46:36 GMT

@Royalbacon,

What accounts did you open with Pelican? Did you get a credit card with them? If so, how was the application process?

Any feedback on them would be appreciated. This CU caught my attention.

Thanks!

Guyatthebeach

Re: Pelican Credit Union - Smoothest Credit Union online new membership application experience I've

IcyCool7227 — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 09:08:53 GMT

@Royalbacon wrote:
@TrapLine wrote:
@AndySoCal

FIfteen Debit Card transactions I have seen at several Credit Unions. Besides the risks, what about the potential credit card rewards that may not be acquired? A nonstarter for me.

In my area the banks and credit unions seem to be having to tell the customers about scammers a lot. One bank I left was forcing me to change the security questions every one to three months and the login information sporatically. It got so I could not stand it and closed the bank down after fourteen years.
Fifteen isn't that much for me. It comes down to your personal usage and how often you use your card and spend each month but 15 isn't a lot for me.

And it's 4% cash back. I don't know about you, but i'm not earning more than 4% cash back on every single one of my credit card transactions... not even close.

5% cashback on everything and anything credit cards don't exist.

Oh but you are wrong. They do exist such as at People Caring More credit union in the Fox Cities, WI area but that's a very limited membership field they have there. Citi Custom Cash comes closest.

Re: Pelican Credit Union - Smoothest Credit Union online new membership application experience I've

Royalbacon — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 09:32:50 GMT

@Guyatthebeach wrote:
@Royalbacon,

What accounts did you open with Pelican? Did you get a credit card with them? If so, how was the application process?

Any feedback on them would be appreciated. This CU caught my attention.

Thanks!

Guyatthebeach

Just the Kasasa Cash Back checking, Kasasa Saver savings account, and the mandatory share savings account. They've been fantastic so far! No I haven't applied for a credit card.