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What's Up with the PENFED Hard Pull just to join??

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unusuallyconfused
Regular Contributor

What's Up with the PENFED Hard Pull just to join??

While I'm happily at USAA, I decided to join PENFED on the 31st of March of this year (used my NCOA membership). I put $50 into the share account and sent in the form for an ATM card for that account.

 

In April 2014 I'll app for a credit card from them so I'm setting myself up early by positioning myself now...BUT...

 

What's up with the hard pull of my Equifax report just to join???

 

Anybody know why they do that? What are they saying, that you can be denied a PENFED membership based on your credit report/score alone?

 

Anybody know about this??

USAA Rewards VISA (7,500 - 03/2013) / DiscoverIT (6500 - 03/2013) / Cap One Platinum MC (2750 - 03/2013) / Credit One Platinum VISA (750 - 03/2013) / First Premier Bank MC (300 - 02/2013) / FingerHut/WEBBANK (5200.00 - 02/2013) / Victoria's Secret/Comenity (1500 - 03/2013) / PayPal Smart Connect/GECRB (2900 - 03/2013) / Lowe's/GECRB (2800 - 03/2013) / Amazon.com/GECRB (4500 - 03/2013) / Chevron Texaco/GECRB (1950 - 03/2013) / J.C. Penney/GECRB (2150 - 02/2013) / Target (750 - 07/2013) / Abercrombie & Fitch/Comenity (1850 - 07/2013) / CareCredit/GECRB (4500 - 08/2013) / DCU Visa (2000 - 11/2013) / NFCU Sig cashRewards Visa (7000 - 11/2013) - MilitaryStar/Chase (4700 /12/2013)

Message 1 of 12
11 REPLIES 11
Shogun
Moderator Emeritus

Re: What's Up with the PENFED Hard Pull just to join??

Absolutely they do a HP to join.   Almost every CU does. 

Starting Score: 504
July 2013 score:
EQ FICO 819, TU08 778, EX "806 lender pull 07/26/2013
Goal Score: All Scores 760+, Newest goal 800+
Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge

Current scores after adding $81K in CLs and 2 new cars since July 2013
EQ:809 TU 777 EX 790 Now it's just garden time!

June 2017 update: All scores over 820, just pure gardening now.
Message 2 of 12
unusuallyconfused
Regular Contributor

Re: What's Up with the PENFED Hard Pull just to join??

That explains a lot - I didn't know that credit unions do a HP just to join! I still would have gone through with it had I known, but I was surprised afterwards to find out.

 

Either way, I think joining a credit union is a great idea so I'm happy to be with PENFED.

 

Any cases of anybody ever being denied for this because of their credit score??

USAA Rewards VISA (7,500 - 03/2013) / DiscoverIT (6500 - 03/2013) / Cap One Platinum MC (2750 - 03/2013) / Credit One Platinum VISA (750 - 03/2013) / First Premier Bank MC (300 - 02/2013) / FingerHut/WEBBANK (5200.00 - 02/2013) / Victoria's Secret/Comenity (1500 - 03/2013) / PayPal Smart Connect/GECRB (2900 - 03/2013) / Lowe's/GECRB (2800 - 03/2013) / Amazon.com/GECRB (4500 - 03/2013) / Chevron Texaco/GECRB (1950 - 03/2013) / J.C. Penney/GECRB (2150 - 02/2013) / Target (750 - 07/2013) / Abercrombie & Fitch/Comenity (1850 - 07/2013) / CareCredit/GECRB (4500 - 08/2013) / DCU Visa (2000 - 11/2013) / NFCU Sig cashRewards Visa (7000 - 11/2013) - MilitaryStar/Chase (4700 /12/2013)

Message 3 of 12
guiness56
Epic Contributor

Re: What's Up with the PENFED Hard Pull just to join??

Message 4 of 12
koky
Frequent Contributor

Re: What's Up with the PENFED Hard Pull just to join??

From what am hearing on the CC board, PENFED likes to Play hard to get.. They only accept people with 700 FICO or higher....
Message 5 of 12
bettercreditguy1
Established Contributor

Re: What's Up with the PENFED Hard Pull just to join??

Yes to all! There have been persons on this board denied membership and Yes, most CU's do a credit HP for membership. ( I belong to more than one CU). For one HP you can get approved as a member, possibly a loan, and get their sponsored Credit Card. Once you have a working relationship, they offer lots of other services as well. PenFed has offered me 1.49% on a new auto loan and they have been very good at increasing my cli on my Visa Card. (edited for grammar)

Updated scores 3/7/21 TU 849, EQ 829, Ex 818 (all Fico scores) Remember the Three P's: Pay early in Full, Pay on Time, Patience
Message 6 of 12
unusuallyconfused
Regular Contributor

Re: What's Up with the PENFED Hard Pull just to join??

I guess considering where I was credit score/credit wise just two plus months ago, I'm pretty grateful for the PENFED membership then!

 

I didn't join right off the bat and expected to be offered any credit of any kind (I'm highly inquiry heavy at the moment and opened quite a few new credit accounts recently), but I'm positioning myself a year early to app for PENFED next April! 

 

I guess there's not too much further this topic can go, so I thank everybody for the general knowlege about credit unions and PENFED specifically!

USAA Rewards VISA (7,500 - 03/2013) / DiscoverIT (6500 - 03/2013) / Cap One Platinum MC (2750 - 03/2013) / Credit One Platinum VISA (750 - 03/2013) / First Premier Bank MC (300 - 02/2013) / FingerHut/WEBBANK (5200.00 - 02/2013) / Victoria's Secret/Comenity (1500 - 03/2013) / PayPal Smart Connect/GECRB (2900 - 03/2013) / Lowe's/GECRB (2800 - 03/2013) / Amazon.com/GECRB (4500 - 03/2013) / Chevron Texaco/GECRB (1950 - 03/2013) / J.C. Penney/GECRB (2150 - 02/2013) / Target (750 - 07/2013) / Abercrombie & Fitch/Comenity (1850 - 07/2013) / CareCredit/GECRB (4500 - 08/2013) / DCU Visa (2000 - 11/2013) / NFCU Sig cashRewards Visa (7000 - 11/2013) - MilitaryStar/Chase (4700 /12/2013)

Message 7 of 12
fishbjc
Senior Contributor

Re: What's Up with the PENFED Hard Pull just to join??

NFCU did do a HP for me, but it was really to offer me credit with them.  I did it all at one time.

Message 8 of 12
Ubuntu
Regular Contributor

Re: What's Up with the PENFED Hard Pull just to join??

This is very interesting.

 

Last June (2013) I found myself in a situation where my Equifax FICO was 779 in my Experian PLUS/FAKO was 801.

 

I assumed I'd be approved for any credit card and applied for a PenFed Platinum Rewards Visa Signature but was turned down.  The problem was that my credit scores were bogus because they were based entirey on two old and perfectly managed AU accounts in my fiancee's name and actual lenders were considering me a thin file. Then I went to Chase where I bank regularly and have a sizeable amount of cash parked.  The banker I talked to was sure I'd be approved for a Sapphire but again I was TD. The banker reconed for me and after a lot of back and forth they finally gave me a Freedom with a $1k CL. Out of the blue about 3 months later they offered me a Sapphire with a CL of $10k.

 

Since then I've been gardening but I'm getting ready to app for an Amex because I recently found out about backdating and I had opened an account with them in 1994.

 

In prep for the Amex app, this week I pulled full EX PLUS/FAKO (801) and TU FICO (814) reports.  The strange and pleasantly surprising thing is that there are no hard inquiries from PenFed.  There isn't one for opening the account with them or even one for the Visa Signature app.  I joined and apped at the same time in early July 2013 so they should be on there.  I have my current EQ FICO score from ScoreWatch (802) but not my full report so I guess it's possible that PenFed only pulled EQ.  I'll be getting a full report from EQ in about two weeks and I'll reply here if the PenFed pulls show up on there.

 

Has anyone noticed that soft pulls aren't showing up on their reports? My TU report say "You have no inquiries affecting your FICO score" and my EX report shows only two Chase hard pulls... apparently I got a two for one on the original Sapphire decline / Freedom approval. I just found a direct from EQ FICO from May 2013 that shows soft pulls.  Maybe reports from MyFICO aren't showing soft pulls these days?

Message 9 of 12
OneDay_750
Frequent Contributor

Re: What's Up with the PENFED Hard Pull just to join??

NFCU hard pulled my TU to join.  I was able to open a second savings account using the same pull.  My CC applications with them and LOC each came with their own HP.  Guess CUs are HP happy.


CURRENT SCORES: EQ: 628 (12/14/14); TU: 628 (12/10/14); EX: 636 (12/13/14)--All myFICO
STARTING myFICO EQ SCORE:: 507 (11/2013); GOAL SCORE: 700--(All CRAs); GARDENING SINCE: 10/5/14
Message 10 of 12
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