@Anonymous wrote:
Hey folks, do any of you have experience with credit unions that do a soft pull for membership? I'm looking to change my CU to one that isn't as fee happy as my current one but don't want to incur an inquiry just for opening a savings account. I'd eventually like to have credit products, (i.e. CCs, personal loans, etc.) with a potential new CU but just taking it one step at a time. I previously chatted with DCU and they said they only do a chexsystem check but I've read here that they do indeed hard pull for membership. Any insight to offer? Thanks in advance!
While DCU is known for HP membership, I'm a member of DCU and it didn't do a HP for my membership. At that point of time it was considered an anomaly. If you want to be sure, keep your Chexsystems open while the other reports (specifically EQ) frozen. If they indeed try an HP, it will come back as denied w/o a hard pull, and you can then decide whether a HP on EQ is worth it.
As far as I remember, NASA FCU used to be SP for membership (and for cards as well, when the bandwagon rolled in). You need to check with them if it's the same thing now. I opened my NASA Checking in Sep 2014 and it was an SP. Closed it last year because I was ineligible for their credit products (not available to non-permanent residents or non-citizens).
For NASA, I had to unfreeze my EX in order to allow the SP though. It seems while current creditors can SP through a freeze, new creditors cannot. Of course, there are possible technicalities and exceptions but this seems like the general rule with freezes.
My first CU membership at University FCU was also without an SP, but I didn't even have an SSN back then.
There might be others that offer the same membership route, but I haven't dealt with them.
