HP's to open a savings account?

[MileHigh96]

Since when did they start doing a HP just to open a savings account?  I've never had this happen before.  I wanted to open an account at another credit union and I applied to open one at NASA FCU and I went thru the application process and they needed more information that I had to physically mail to them.  Okay, that seemed odd, but whatever, I had no problem with doing it (it was proof of identity stuff, they said they couldn't verify my identity during the application process).  So I mailed it to them last week.  This morning I get an alert from CK saying that a 'mortgage lender' had done a HP on my credit.  Well, I'm not shopping around for a mortgage so I found that very odd, so I logged in to see what it was and it was the CU doing a HP on my EQ report.
 
Nowhere during the application process see that there was going to be an actual HP on my credit and I have never had this happen before in opening an account at any financial institution that didn't involve applying for credit.  If it stated this on the application then I completely missed it, but is this a new thing for just opening a simple old savings account?  Seems a little excessive for this type of account and I probably would have gone somewhere else if I knew there was going to be a HP.
 
Thanks for any insight.

[Alephbet]

I have only joined one FCU lately (I've been a member of another since I was a kid) and it was AOD FCU. They do an HP on EQ5 to join and you can use that same HP for 30 days to apply for whatever else. I applied for a savings account and also the AOD Visa Signature but didn't add a checking account. I emailed them about 28 days after joining and asked to open a checking account. They said I had just made it before the 30 day deadline or they would have had to do another HP. I have also read that they do an HP for any CLIs as well. I think this is more typical of FCUs from what I have gathered on the forums here but this is my only experience.

[FinStar]

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@MileHigh96 wrote:

Since when did they start doing a HP just to open a savings account?  I've never had this happen before.  I wanted to open an account at another credit union and I applied to open one at NASA FCU and I went thru the application process and they needed more information that I had to physically mail to them.  Okay, that seemed odd, but whatever, I had no problem with doing it (it was proof of identity stuff, they said they couldn't verify my identity during the application process).  So I mailed it to them last week.  This morning I get an alert from CK saying that a 'mortgage lender' had done a HP on my credit.  Well, I'm not shopping around for a mortgage so I found that very odd, so I logged in to see what it was and it was the CU doing a HP on my EQ report.
 
Nowhere during the application process see that there was going to be an actual HP on my credit and I have never had this happen before in opening an account at any financial institution that didn't involve applying for credit.  If it stated this on the application then I completely missed it, but is this a new thing for just opening a simple old savings account?  Seems a little excessive for this type of account and I probably would have gone somewhere else if I knew there was going to be a HP.
 
Thanks for any insight.

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NASA FCU does HP for membership and it is disclosed on the application process.  A long, long while ago it used to be SP for membership.

[CreditPacMan]

I've heard of some CUs doing that, generally small ones so I'm not surprised. 

[OmarGB9]

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@FinStar wrote:

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@MileHigh96 wrote:

Since when did they start doing a HP just to open a savings account?  I've never had this happen before.  I wanted to open an account at another credit union and I applied to open one at NASA FCU and I went thru the application process and they needed more information that I had to physically mail to them.  Okay, that seemed odd, but whatever, I had no problem with doing it (it was proof of identity stuff, they said they couldn't verify my identity during the application process).  So I mailed it to them last week.  This morning I get an alert from CK saying that a 'mortgage lender' had done a HP on my credit.  Well, I'm not shopping around for a mortgage so I found that very odd, so I logged in to see what it was and it was the CU doing a HP on my EQ report.
 
Nowhere during the application process see that there was going to be an actual HP on my credit and I have never had this happen before in opening an account at any financial institution that didn't involve applying for credit.  If it stated this on the application then I completely missed it, but is this a new thing for just opening a simple old savings account?  Seems a little excessive for this type of account and I probably would have gone somewhere else if I knew there was going to be a HP.
 
Thanks for any insight.

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NASA FCU does HP for membership and it is disclosed on the application process.  A long, long while ago it used to be SP for membership.

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This. It's been around for a while. It's not really an HP for the savings account itself, perse, but rather an HP for membership into the CU as mentioned above.

[SouthJamaica]

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@MileHigh96 wrote:

Since when did they start doing a HP just to open a savings account?  I've never had this happen before.  I wanted to open an account at another credit union and I applied to open one at NASA FCU and I went thru the application process and they needed more information that I had to physically mail to them.  Okay, that seemed odd, but whatever, I had no problem with doing it (it was proof of identity stuff, they said they couldn't verify my identity during the application process).  So I mailed it to them last week.  This morning I get an alert from CK saying that a 'mortgage lender' had done a HP on my credit.  Well, I'm not shopping around for a mortgage so I found that very odd, so I logged in to see what it was and it was the CU doing a HP on my EQ report.
 
Nowhere during the application process see that there was going to be an actual HP on my credit and I have never had this happen before in opening an account at any financial institution that didn't involve applying for credit.  If it stated this on the application then I completely missed it, but is this a new thing for just opening a simple old savings account?  Seems a little excessive for this type of account and I probably would have gone somewhere else if I knew there was going to be a HP.
 
Thanks for any insight.

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Some credit unions do a hard pull for membership, some don't. I always ask before applying.

[Anonymous]

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@MileHigh96 wrote:

Since when did they start doing a HP just to open a savings account?  I've never had this happen before.  I wanted to open an account at another credit union and I applied to open one at NASA FCU and I went thru the application process and they needed more information that I had to physically mail to them.  Okay, that seemed odd, but whatever, I had no problem with doing it (it was proof of identity stuff, they said they couldn't verify my identity during the application process).  So I mailed it to them last week.  This morning I get an alert from CK saying that a 'mortgage lender' had done a HP on my credit.  Well, I'm not shopping around for a mortgage so I found that very odd, so I logged in to see what it was and it was the CU doing a HP on my EQ report.
 
Nowhere during the application process see that there was going to be an actual HP on my credit and I have never had this happen before in opening an account at any financial institution that didn't involve applying for credit.  If it stated this on the application then I completely missed it, but is this a new thing for just opening a simple old savings account?  Seems a little excessive for this type of account and I probably would have gone somewhere else if I knew there was going to be a HP.
 
Thanks for any insight.

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I just experienced the same thing with Wings Financial Credit Union. I have belong to three different local credit unions, and I've been around the block a few times with accounts at various financial institutions over the years, and I have NEVER heard of one doing a HP just to open a checking or savings account. Wings is not local for me, but I was looking for a card issuer who would not charge a BT fee — just in case I don't get my current Discover BT paid off before the intro APR expires. Anyway, I called to ask and got the run around and they said they'd get back to me. They didn't. So I called again, and they had some pat answer that really didn't answer my question of what the rationale is for such an action. Said they'd research that and get back to me. LOL. Yeah right. Nothing but crickets from them. The thing that miffed me the most is that while the fine print does say they might check my credit report, it said NOTHING about doing a hard pull so I assumed it would be a soft inquiry. I do my best to research everything regarding my credit before I make any decisions. As I had just opened a BofA cc to do a BT, I may not have considered opening a checking account with Wings FCU when I did if I had known they were going to do a HP. To add insult to injury, they also coded it as being done for reasons of taking out a LOAN — which is not the case. So two things: a) Full and accurate disclosure was lacking and b) erroneously reporting the reason for the HP. I checked several of my credit reports and I guess the reason for a HP must not matter because in some instances, the reasons for various HPs aren't even listed. So go figure. A HP is an HP and that's that?! That said, even if someone finally got back to me with their rationale, I'm sure they're not going to back the HP off my CR, so I guess I'll get over it but at least the next time I'll be aware.

[Wavester64]

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@Alephbet wrote:

I have only joined one FCU lately (I've been a member of another since I was a kid) and it was AOD FCU. They do an HP on EQ5 to join and you can use that same HP for 30 days to apply for whatever else. I applied for a savings account and also the AOD Visa Signature but didn't add a checking account. I emailed them about 28 days after joining and asked to open a checking account. They said I had just made it before the 30 day deadline or they would have had to do another HP. I have also read that they do an HP for any CLIs as well. I think this is more typical of FCUs from what I have gathered on the forums here but this is my only experience.

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That is correct 

[MileHigh96]

Well, I heard from them this morning and they granted membership and opened my savings account, so at least it wasn't for nothing. But **bleep** that was a lot of hoops to jump through just to open a savings account 😂