How Important is Banking Relationship?

[Credit12Fico]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Credit12Fico wrote:

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I have come across rejection letters posted online where a reason listed is "No deposit accounts" from BOA and "Low balances in deposit account" from Wells Fargo as one of the reasons along with other reasons for denial.

For certain banks, it's not just "personal experiences" or speculation. It's what the banks are writing in their denial letter. 

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I don't doubt that, but I agree with kforce above that those are just fluff denial reasons when the "real" reason is that overall profile is too weak.  There are certainly plenty of people out there that have obtained BoA, WF etc. products without an issue without having any prior relationship.  If you're talking someone that's on the cusp and feel that the banking relationship would tip the scales in an otherwise 50/50 outcome probability, my advice would be different.  I wouldn't suggest opening an account prior in order to reduce the chances of denial, I'd suggest taking the necessary steps prior to strengthen one's overall credit profile to increase approval chances.

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I thought I was pretty clear in my post that you don't need a relationship to get cards from those banks but other than that, I agree. Ultimately it seems we have different tolerances. I don't know why anyone would not open a checking account that they were being paid to open. If you were credit seeking, sign up bonus on the checking account seems like it would be of benefit. If you don't care about the bonus, sign up, get it , and donate it to someone in need.

[Kforce]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Credit12Fico wrote:

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I have come across rejection letters posted online where a reason listed is "No deposit accounts" from BOA and "Low balances in deposit account" from Wells Fargo as one of the reasons along with other reasons for denial.

For certain banks, it's not just "personal experiences" or speculation. It's what the banks are writing in their denial letter. 

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I don't doubt that, but I agree with kforce above that those are just fluff denial reasons when the "real" reason is that overall profile is too weak.  There are certainly plenty of people out there that have obtained BoA, WF etc. products without an issue without having any prior relationship.  If you're talking someone that's on the cusp and feel that the banking relationship would tip the scales in an otherwise 50/50 outcome probability, my advice would be different.  I wouldn't suggest opening an account prior in order to reduce the chances of denial, I'd suggest taking the necessary steps prior to strengthen one's overall credit profile to increase approval chances.

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+100

Expressed  much clearer than my post.

[Anonymous]

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@Credit12Fico wrote:

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I don't know why anyone would not open a checking account that they were being paid to open.

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Maybe because they already have a checking account or multiple checking accounts that they're currently happy with and don't want to bother with another?

You could say the same statement quoted above about any CC that comes with a SUB and of course [most] people don't just keep opening them.

[Remedios]

Or maybe because chasing checking SUBs isn't without repercussions down the road once person arrives at "You over did it"

Plenty of people on this forum have an issue or few with joining CUs (and some banks) because their Chex looks like my TU.

Or maybe because once you open one too may, EWS pullers realize all you're doing is opening accounts for subs, then abandoning them .

EWS report contains all deposits, all withdrawals, average daily balances, etc, and that's without mentioning negatives. 

As far as what constitutes "one too many", that will vary from lender to lender, but inevitably , one will shoot their own foot. There is one thing banks don't like, and that's losing money. Sooner or later, those with most lucrative SUBs will place restrictions on DDAs just like they did with cards. 

Id rather not burn bridges over trivial amounts. 

[MJ-san]

I can attest to the fact that banking relationship matters to BofA. I don't know _how much_ though.

Because we have all our investments with Merrill, we qualify for their "Wealth Management" tier and that means my investment advisor has a banking specialist on her team who handles everything related to BofA. They have their own specialists in the credit card division and they do look at total balances when they make credit decisions.

[Anonymous]

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@Remedios wrote:

Here I am, in my corner waiting for someone to announce they got approved with "I don't bank with this lender, that must be why I got approved!" 

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I have deposits with a few banks who won't give me their credit card on the oh-so-convenient grounds that I don't apply for one.  And not even a denial letter.  Pretty telling IMO.

[Credit12Fico]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Credit12Fico wrote:

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I don't know why anyone would not open a checking account that they were being paid to open.

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Maybe because they already have a checking account or multiple checking accounts that they're currently happy with and don't want to bother with another?

You could say the same statement quoted above about any CC that comes with a SUB and of course [most] people don't just keep opening them.

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I think things are being taken slightly out of context here judging by the fact that you erased the rest of my post to quote this particular sentence.

Assuming you are someone in need of credit, it seems odd to turn down a handout from the checking account. The proposal was not to randomly open checking accounts. The proposal was if you had your eye on a card from one of those 5 banks, you might as well get their checking account. The credit card is managed in the same mobile app. It's all quite trivial.

But anyway that wasn't the motivation. It was simply that a banking relationship certainly does not hurt a credit card application (unless you overdraft or bounce checks), in fact you might even be paid to have the banking relationship so why not if the opportunity is there.

[Anonymous]

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@Credit12Fico 

Assuming you are someone in need of credit, it seems odd to turn down a handout from the checking account. The proposal was not to randomly open checking accounts. The proposal was if you had your eye on a card from one of those 5 banks, you might as well get their checking account. The credit card is managed in the same mobile app. It's all quite trivial.

But anyway that wasn't the motivation. It was simply that a banking relationship certainly does not hurt a credit card application (unless you overdraft or bounce checks), in fact you might even be paid to have the banking relationship so why not if the opportunity is there.

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This makes sense to me

[Remedios]

There is no relationship!!!

[Anonymous]

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@Credit12Fico wrote:

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But anyway that wasn't the motivation. It was simply that a banking relationship certainly does not hurt a credit card application (unless you overdraft or bounce checks), in fact you might even be paid to have the banking relationship so why not if the opportunity is there.

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Yes, but presumably opening a checking account just before apping for the credit card isn't going to do a whole lot, and, in theory, could hurt because it looks rather transparent.   And, as others have implied, it's not really scalable.   Enough of these "can't hurt" accounts can prevent me getting an account I might really want.   Yes, might be a handful of lenders now, but as time goes on and we hear "relationship bank"

Also, IMO, "can't hurt" is too weak a justification for doing very much!