Charles Schawb Hard Inquiry?

[Anonymous]

This morning I was doing some research, and wanted to open up a brokerage account. Charles Schwab seemed ideal, and when I start signing myself up just a minute ago, I learn that Charles Schwab makes a hard inquiry! Is this normal? OY!

[compassion101]

Not all will. Just as some banks do hard inquiries for checking accounts, some brokerage houses do the same. It's understandable if you are applying for a margin account (they extend you credit) but otherwise not understandable to me. I know that TDAmeritrade did not do a hard pull to open an account and neither did Sharebuilder when I opened those. Never had one with Schwab

[sky_king03]

Yeah I was a little put off when I inquired about the hard inquiry. The customer service rep indicated it's for security reasons to validate your identity. I went ahead anyways. I liked the low expense ETF and mutual fund schwab accounts. Plus their worldwide ATM fee re-imbursement for their checking accounts is awesome. I have checked my reports after opening an account. I did not see any schwab hard inquiry noted. So something to think about.