PenFed ran a hard inquiry to open a SAVINGS account

[iltph]

I just opened a savings account last week with PenFed and noticed they ran hard inquiry with EQ. Does anyone know why they would do this for this type of account? Has this happened to anyone else? I'm thinking it was just so they could see if my credit was good to offer me pre-approved services?

[llecs]

Most banks will do that. BofA did that for me as well. I guess they do that to stave off any potential loss from that account if it were to ever go negative (e.g. you deposit a hot check, withdraw funds, and let the bad check bounce and ignore new neg. balance).

Good news is you can app for new credit (last time I checked) and they won't pull another inquiry so as long as it is done within 60 days.

[iltph]

It's tempting, but after what I've read here you really need at least a 700 to get a CC with them and I also have a few baddies, and on top of that they pulled EQ, which is my worst one.

[smallfry]

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@iltph wrote:
It's tempting, but after what I've read here you really need at least a 700 to get a CC with them and I also have a few baddies, and on top of that they pulled EQ, which is my worst one.

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Well I still think all things being equal they will approve with EQ 680. At any rate since you already took the hard for the savings account you might as well go for a card.

[haulingthescoreup]

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iltph wrote:
I just opened a savings account last week with PenFed and noticed they ran hard inquiry with EQ. Does anyone know why they would do this for this type of account? Has this happened to anyone else? I'm thinking it was just so they could see if my credit was good to offer me pre-approved services?

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Were you joining PenFed at the same time? Or had you already been a member for a while?

PenFed does a hard when you first join (and open the mandatory share/ savings account), but that counts for up to 90 days, covering any other apps during that time.

[iltph]

I was just signing up to join PenFed. Unfortunately, my score with EQ when they did the inquiry was only 621.

[iltph]

So I decided what the heck and applied and got a big fat INSTANT DENIAL! On top of that, I got a big fat DENIAL from NFCU for a Visa nRewards card as well. What a bugger -- at least I got approved for a $500 Macy's and $3,000 Kay's after I applied for the other two.