CREDIT UNION MEMBERSHIP - HARD OR SOFT INQUIRIES?

[MCM1]

If anyone has knowledge of which CU's do soft credit inquiries instead of hard can you please let me know?  I am considering moving accounts to CU's and would like to find 4-5 CU's that I could start relationships with.  But i prefer not to have hard inquiries to start.  THANK YOU for any info you can provide. 

[KanesInferno]

Not sure where you're located but I have experience with these three:

Hughes Federal Credit Union - Soft IQ in 2018 (not sure if they've changed since then)

TruWest Credit Union - Soft IQ in 2018

Credit Union of Georgia - HARD IQ in 2021 (pulled Equifax)

I have great experiences with TruWest and Hughes (I've even used them for auto loans), both are for banking. I ended up not going with a membership at CU of Georgia after they presented my options and didn't tell me about the hard pull (upset doesn't even begin to describe how I felt). 

[Anonymous]

@MCM1  The following offer a prequalification tool for credit/loans which perform a soft pull:

Dover FCU

NASA FCU

US Alliance FCU

No credit pull for secured credit/loans:

Andrews FCU

But with that said, I am unaware if any that I listed perform a soft pull/hard pull for membership.

[SouthJamaica]

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@MCM1 wrote:

If anyone has knowledge of which CU's do soft credit inquiries instead of hard can you please let me know?  I am considering moving accounts to CU's and would like to find 4-5 CU's that I could start relationships with.  But i prefer not to have hard inquiries to start.  THANK YOU for any info you can provide. 

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IMHO the best way to go about this is to find some credit unions you like, and then email them asking "Is there a hard credit pull for membership applications?"

I can point to some which last I heard do not do a HP for membership, but these things change, and the info may not be up to date:

Dept of Agriculture, Andrews, BECU, Digital, First Tech, Members 1st (PA), Patelco, SECU MD, Service, Technology, US Senate, Virginia CU.

[Priory_Man]

I just joined Penfed direct from their website on Monday and no HP.

[Zoostation1]

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@Priory_Man wrote:
I just joined Penfed direct from their website on Monday and no HP.

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I'll second the no HP from joining Penfed. I opened up a PenFed savings account via the website to get memberhsip earlier this month and it was a SP for EQ and EX (nothing shows on TU).

[Cory88]

DCU FCU was a SP for me last year in Jul 2021 and good credit offers after 6m membership (DCU told me that it takes about 6m to get any offers for most people).

[ThomasJNewton]

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@Zoostation1 wrote:I'll second the no HP from joining Penfed. I opened up a PenFed savings account via the website to get memberhsip earlier this month and it was a SP for EQ and EX (nothing shows on TU).

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That is a welcome change. They were a hard pull when I joined (and a nightmare for a few reasons), but great to deal with as a customer.

Also, someone said that BECU is a soft pull, but I was just told by them yesterday that they were a hard pull, so I am not sure which is right.

[mrshardy3022]

These the credit union so just gotten an no hard pull 

penfed

nfcu

alliant fcu

Dcu

signature fcu 

GreenState cu 

Langley fcu 

all soft pulls 

[SouthJamaica]

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@ThomasJNewton wrote:

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@Zoostation1 wrote:I'll second the no HP from joining Penfed. I opened up a PenFed savings account via the website to get memberhsip earlier this month and it was a SP for EQ and EX (nothing shows on TU).

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That is a welcome change. They were a hard pull when I joined (and a nightmare for a few reasons), but great to deal with as a customer.

Also, someone said that BECU is a soft pull, but I was just told by them yesterday that they were a hard pull, so I am not sure which is right.

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For me they were SP for membership.  Less than a year ago.