Bank of America, USAA and Early Warning

[Anonymous]

I was researching BOA credit cards and came across Early Warning, which is a financial credit bureau of sorts. I ordered my report and holy smokes. BOA reports each month the balance in my checking and savings accounts, all my ACH's, including account numbers at other banks, amount of payments, etc. All the data since I opened my account YEARS ago. It's like a running tab of my checking account activity. Same for USAA, PNC, Chase and Capital One bank. I had no idea this type of data was being shared. 

Others may have heard of this but I'm shocked. Not all banks report to this service. I'm going to find one that doesn't. 

[SOGGIE]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I was researching BOA credit cards and came across Early Warning, which is a financial credit bureau of sorts. I ordered my report and holy smokes. BOA reports each month the balance in my checking and savings accounts, all my ACH's, including account numbers at other banks, amount of payments, etc. All the data since I opened my account YEARS ago. It's like a running tab of my checking account activity. Same for USAA, PNC, Chase and Capital One bank. I had no idea this type of data was being shared. 

Others may have heard of this but I'm shocked. Not all banks report to this service. I'm going to find one that doesn't. 

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Very disturbing, isn't it? I too was stunned when I reviewed my Early Warning Consumer Report recently. I'm not comfortable with that. I noticed that my CU accounts don't report, but my bank accounts do. I plan on freezing EW, xferring my bank funds to  my CU accounts and closing my bank accounts.

[SOGGIE]

Not sure why this thread was moved to Personal Finance as opposed to General Credit, being that the topic here largely deals with consumer reporting.

[DaveInAZ]

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@SOGGIE wrote:
Not sure why this thread was moved to Personal Finance as opposed to General Credit, being that the topic here largely deals with consumer reporting.

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Because Early Warning System, EWS, has nothing to do with extending credit, it's for deposit accounts, checking & savings accounts. And you can't freeze EWS, they claim an exemption to freezing that the feds allow. Doctor of Credit has a list of banks that use EWS, it's a fairly long list but Chase, Wells Fargo, BoA are among the biggest banks. I primarily use credit unions and I don't see a single CU that uses EWS, but I open a Chase checking around once a year for the SUB and it's now down to a $5 balance as I prepare to close it. Yikes, I had no idea they report balances! I've seen my Chex System report and all they report is inquiries and any negatives. I think I'd better pull my EWS report. I can't believe they report ACH transfers w/ account number to external banking accounts. That would be like credit card companies reporting where & what your purchases were.

[SOGGIE]

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@DaveInAZ wrote:

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@SOGGIE wrote:
Not sure why this thread was moved to Personal Finance as opposed to General Credit, being that the topic here largely deals with consumer reporting.

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Because Early Warning System, EWS, has nothing to do with extending credit, it's for deposit accounts, checking & savings accounts. And you can't freeze EWS, they claim an exemption to freezing that the feds allow. Doctor of Credit has a list of banks that use EWS, it's a fairly long list but Chase, Wells Fargo, BoA are among the biggest banks. I primarily use credit unions and I don't see a single CU that uses EWS, but I open a Chase checking around once a year for the SUB and it's now down to a $5 balance as I prepare to close it. Yikes, I had no idea they report balances! I've seen my Chex System report and all they report is inquiries and any negatives. I think I'd better pull my EWS report. I can't believe they report ACH transfers w/ account number to external banking accounts. That would be like credit card companies reporting where & what your purchases were.

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$#%%! Thanks for the info Dave. Just re-read the attachments to my report. Thought there was an option to freeze, but there is only an option to opt out. Whyyyy? Yes...that is likened to a card issuer reporting your purchase payments on your credit reports. Sucks majorly!

[Anonymous]

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@DaveInAZ wrote:

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@SOGGIE wrote:
Not sure why this thread was moved to Personal Finance as opposed to General Credit, being that the topic here largely deals with consumer reporting.

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Because Early Warning System, EWS, has nothing to do with extending credit, it's for deposit accounts, checking & savings accounts. And you can't freeze EWS, they claim an exemption to freezing that the feds allow. Doctor of Credit has a list of banks that use EWS, it's a fairly long list but Chase, Wells Fargo, BoA are among the biggest banks. I primarily use credit unions and I don't see a single CU that uses EWS, but I open a Chase checking around once a year for the SUB and it's now down to a $5 balance as I prepare to close it. Yikes, I had no idea they report balances! I've seen my Chex System report and all they report is inquiries and any negatives. I think I'd better pull my EWS report. I can't believe they report ACH transfers w/ account number to external banking accounts. That would be like credit card companies reporting where & what your purchases were.

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When reviewing that list on DoC that you'd linked, NFCU seems to use EWS.

I don't know if they report to EWS as well, but I'd assume they'd report to whom they're pulling from as part of an agreement.

"We'll let you use our reports to evaluate perspective customers/members if you report your data/info to us in return for utilizing our tool."

Not a true quote, just a hypothetical example of what could be going on in that case. I also don't know if you use NFCU or not. But figured I'd interject that in there.

[Anonymous]

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@DaveInAZ wrote:

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@SOGGIE wrote:
Not sure why this thread was moved to Personal Finance as opposed to General Credit, being that the topic here largely deals with consumer reporting.

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Because Early Warning System, EWS, has nothing to do with extending credit, it's for deposit accounts, checking & savings accounts. And you can't freeze EWS, they claim an exemption to freezing that the feds allow. Doctor of Credit has a list of banks that use EWS, it's a fairly long list but Chase, Wells Fargo, BoA are among the biggest banks. I primarily use credit unions and I don't see a single CU that uses EWS, but I open a Chase checking around once a year for the SUB and it's now down to a $5 balance as I prepare to close it. Yikes, I had no idea they report balances! I've seen my Chex System report and all they report is inquiries and any negatives. I think I'd better pull my EWS report. I can't believe they report ACH transfers w/ account number to external banking accounts. That would be like credit card companies reporting where & what your purchases were.

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USAA is a credit union and they report to EWS. 

[Anonymous]

FYI: Data remains on your early warning report for 7 years (accounts you've opened and closed) and 5 years (money owed to other banks, unpaid overdrafts, etc. )

Inquiries remain for one year. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@DaveInAZ wrote:

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@SOGGIE wrote:
Not sure why this thread was moved to Personal Finance as opposed to General Credit, being that the topic here largely deals with consumer reporting.

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Because Early Warning System, EWS, has nothing to do with extending credit, it's for deposit accounts, checking & savings accounts. And you can't freeze EWS, they claim an exemption to freezing that the feds allow. Doctor of Credit has a list of banks that use EWS, it's a fairly long list but Chase, Wells Fargo, BoA are among the biggest banks. I primarily use credit unions and I don't see a single CU that uses EWS, but I open a Chase checking around once a year for the SUB and it's now down to a $5 balance as I prepare to close it. Yikes, I had no idea they report balances! I've seen my Chex System report and all they report is inquiries and any negatives. I think I'd better pull my EWS report. I can't believe they report ACH transfers w/ account number to external banking accounts. That would be like credit card companies reporting where & what your purchases were.

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USAA is a credit union and they report to EWS. 

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To clarify, USAA is not a Credit Union. It is, in fact, a bank. It is commonly mistaken for a CU due to having the strict joining requirements and the fact that they call their customers "members", but it is technically treated as a bank and filed as a bank. They are for profit.

USAA is FDIC insured, which is the federal insurance for *banks*.

NavyFed, PenFed, CUs etc are insured by NCUA, which is the federal insurance for *credit unions*.

Their name for their deposit side of things is truly named "USAA Federal Savings Bank". They are just referred to as USAA for simplicity/shorthand.

Whereas NFCU, PenFed, etc... are "Navy Federal Credit Union", "Pentagon Federal Credit Union", "State Department Federal Credit Union", "Boeing Employees Credit Union", "First Tech Credit Union". Just to name a few examples.

[Anonymous]

NFCU does use EWS based on my personal experience when I opened saving account with them January 2018.

Check my posting below:

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Personal-Finance/NFCU-Navy-Federal-DOES-Check-EWS-Early-Warning-Sys...