Patty, out of curiosity, how many credit unions are you a member of.
Pattyâs issue is with ChexSys, not the credit bureaus.
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can you check ChexSys record like the CBs? how many acct.s are too many, like CC?
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Is this because of opening accounts (checking/savings/CDs) with too many banks? Iâve heard of issues when you apply for too many credit cards. Didnât know the same could happen with regular savings products.
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I think that is right. Or maybe just on account of opening too many accounts period.
I belong to at least twenty-five credit unions and do business at a number of banks as well. Exact numbers are unknown to me because I donât really keep track. But it would be fair to say I am active in this arena. Everybody here knows pattyb53 is also active.
Some financial institutions donât like it when you are (what they consider to be) too active. Other financial institutions simply do not care.
Chexsystems exists supposedly to allow financial institutions to avoid doing business with new people who have a record of fraud, other dishonest dealings, or practices which would be costly to a financial institution. I have never done any of that stuff. But like pattyb53 I do open a LOT of accounts and Iâm always out there looking for deals. Apparently, for some financial institutions, those practices are off limits. Itâs infuriating, but what can you do.
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You are permitted to request a copy of your Chexsystems report. Trouble is, at least for honest folks, it is the interpretation of that report that matters at some financial institutions. And when youâre trying to open an account with a new (to you) financial institution, it is impossible to know in advance how they are going to interpret your Chexsystems report.
Of course if you have a record of dishonesty you can figure why it is you are persona non grata. But if youâre an honest person who never cheated any financial institution, itâs much more difficult to know in advance the exact criteria that is forming the basis for your rejection. And being able to review your Chexsystems report doesnât really help a whole lot.
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Yes, you can get your ChexSys report, just like a credit report. But it only includes inquiries, it does not include a record of current and prior accounts. So if, as can be common, you open lots of CDs and the bank(s) pull a chexsys report for each one, anyone looking at your report cannot tell those inquiries were for CDs rather than a crapton of checking accounts. And banks prefer customers who use them as their only bank as lifetime customers, not rate/bonus chasers who will harvest the benefit then move on to other banks.
Iâve tended to experience that if a bank cares about inquiries, they care when the count gets to around 4-5. But on the whole, most dont really care about inquiries, and primarily check the report for negative info like overdrawn accounts.
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âExact numbers are unknown to meâ
You know youâve arrived when you donât know how many credit unions you belong to. 
I belong to around 15 and thatâs far more than I would like. Itâs becoming a pain in the ass to monitor them, since each one of them requires some activity before they start charging fees. I have accumulated this number over time span of 15 years. Nowadays, I will only apply for membership at a new credit union if the deal they are offering is exemplary and I am going to invest a sufficient amount of money to make it worthwhile.
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Thanks. I did not know that.
I have to take the opposite side of that. Have profited mightily from my credit union memberships over the years. However, there is a wrinkle:
Itâs impossible, at least for me, to know in advance which membership(s) is/are going to lay the golden egg during any interval of time. You end up having to work the ensemble, which I do with a very kind assist from my membership at Alliant. However that forces disclosure of yet another wrinkle, a relatively recent one:
The limitation imposed by Alliant on linked accounts is burdensome to say the least . . . . and it hurts. So am doing the best Iâm able under the circumstances.
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I donât know how long Penfedâs been charging 2.00 for paper statements â but I got a cd maturity notice from them yesterday that should have come in an email. (I donât think they charged for the maturity notice, but I signed up for paperless statements a long time ago and getting it through the mail bugged me).
Anyway I had to log in and reenlist for paperless notifications. --Just a heads up that might save you a couple of dollars if you were switched to paper like I was.
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So will my move to nearly all cash this week into many CDs at many institutions via brokerage accounts boost my Chex tally ?
If you were buying brokered CDs, I doubt it. As far as the banks are concerned, it was your broker buying the CDs.
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We finally smashed through the 4% barrier with a 4.5% 37-month CD at some small credit union in Idaho. Apparently, if you live in a few counties in Idaho and the state of Washington you qualify for membership. It says worshiping, volunteering or owning a business in the aforementioned areas also qualifies. Generally, if you try to go down this path, it doesnât work. Hopefully, this may be the opening of the spigot of 4% plus deals.
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Exactly. Also, if youâre buying them at your main bank, with which you have a longstanding relationship, they may not run a lot of credit checks.
However, if youâre like Shinny Shinny Bang Bang, and buy CDâs frequently and spread out at various institutions, you may be persona non grata at some institutions.
It would be interesting to know if @shinobi has noticed any negativity on his credit report/score in relation to his CD activities. I know we were talking about Chex, but wonder if there is also a credit issue in combination with the Chex.
Short answer - No. Long Answer - Onenote explained it well.
Addendum - If you buy a xx year note or bond today, and interest rates take a swoon next summer, you can sell your bond and then will have cap gains in addition to your interest. Somehow, I donât think thatâs what you were asking, but wanted to mention it.
It depends on which entity is doing the reporting. But, yes, my very active CD purchasing definitely scorches my credit score in some instances. It used to annoy me. But by now Iâm accustomed to it and I ignore it.
No, thereâs no effect. A credit union may check your credit when joining, or obviously when applying for a credit card, otherwise it has no effect on your credit report. Credit reports and ChexSys reports are not integrated or co-dependant at all.
Edit: The effect Shinobi mentions is due to having balances reported on his credit cards, from funding the CDs. Not from the new CDs themselves.
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Agreed
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NFCU has, indeed, extended availability of this deal to the end of September.
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