So, in early December I get a pre-approval mailer for a Visa Gold CC from Vantage West Credit Union, a CU in Tuscon & Cochise County in SE AZ, where I live. Pretty good terms - 4.99% intro APR first 6 billing statements, then 10.25%, based on Prime Rate, and never a fee for BTs or Cash Advances. So I app & request a $4k SL and get a "we'll call you tomorrow". Next morning I get call, rep asks if approved if I'd do a $2800 BT to payoff my Cap One Quicksilver and then close the account. I start be telling her no way I'd close that card as it has my highest CL of $10k. I offer to close my Merrick Bank Visa instead - it has $3100 CL but always reports $0 balance as I've outgrown it but as it has no fees I keep it active w/small monthly bills I PIF before statement. She ignores that, but asks again if I'd do a $2800 BT payment on QS. I reply "No, I don't go over 50% of CL as it dings my credit score. I'll do a $2000 BT if you approve the $4k CL, or if you would approve a $6k CL I would do a $2800 BT. She says they'll call me back.
A half hour later a senior CA calls back and tells me they'll approve the $4k CL w/$2k BT. I ask about closing Merrick and he says they decided not to require closing any CCs. So I agree and he tells me I need to open an account for membership - I have accounts at 2 CUs but not them. I open a savings account online, breeze through the Chexsystems screening (never had a banking problem) and fund it with a debit card from my bank account. Within 10 minutes I check my new account and see the new Visa CC account, already with a $2k balance from the BT. So I initiate a transfer in from my bank account to pay it down a couple hundred so it won't report @ 50% util.
Well, the next Sunday I log into my Credit Karma account for the weekly report and my Fako scores dropped 20 pts, from 717 to 697!!! Vantage West reported the new CC account the very day they opened it, with 50% util from the $2k BT!!! 
Yeah, I know it's only temporary - I already paid it down to $1100 so it reports under 29% when the first statement cuts. And great terms. But I still think it's pretty crappy they reported it the very day they opened it with the $2k BT they pushed on me. 
BTW, the QS balance was 0% until May, but I thought it worth it to get in with VW - I have a BK7 that will be 5 years post discharge Jan 31, so still rebuilding.
I debated whether to post this, but with the holidays posting slump thought I'd go ahead with myh little rant. 
Credit Unions can all have their quirks. With that CU you're talking about, it's not just the instant reporting, but the requiring of a balance transfer and closing another account that are all weird. I've had experiences with CUs that ask to fax in all kinds of ID, etc. Each does things their own way.
That said, if your goal is to establish a relationship with them, you're in so congrats. The util issue will go away as soon as it reports again.
@lincar66 wrote:
Took like a 20pt hit for just that card was at 0$ balance
Took a 20 pt hit for a card that had a sizable balance, but with 6 months left on the promo 0% APR. The Quicksilver card actually had a $4800 balance, it just hadn't reported yet. Cap One offered a 15 month 0% BT and I took it. The CU was looking at the previous month CR w/$2800 balance reporting, and I wasn't going to correct them.
The 20 pt hit will go away as soon as the CU reports the new balance of $1100, which should be in the next week or so. I got a Barclays NFL card in May for the 15 mo 0% BT, to pay off a Prosper loan. I had it up to 65% util and took a 25 pt hit, my score bounced back as soon as I paid it down under 29%. The point of my post was I just think it was crappy for them to report the new account & balance the same day they approved it & posted the BT. As indicated in the post above - yeah, Barclays is fast to report a new account, within a few biz days of approval, but not the same freaking day they approve the card.
