List of banks, credit unions and trust companies that pull soft credit inquiries | General financial discussion | Discussion forum

Having opened an Ally high interest savings account in early September and subsequently requesting my annual consumer disclosure report from Equifax and TransUnion at the end of October 2009, I was pleasantly surprised that when I applied for the Ally account all the inquiries appeared as "non-credit related inquiries" reported only to me on my consumer disclosure and not disclosed on my public credit bureau. These type of inquiries have historically been used by potential employers for credit reference checks, landlords and property management firms seeking tenant's history, pre-approved credit card solicitations and address updates by firms. These types of checks are known as "soft credit checks". If anyone knows what sort of information cannot be found on a "soft credit check" that is available on a full, "hard credit check" (or credit-related inquiry), I'd much appreciate it. Anyone?

I didn't realize banks, credit unions and trust companies had the capability to do "soft credit checks" on new account openings, having always believed they were of the "hard" variety. (Which begs the question, why not always do a "soft" check unless someone's applying for credit, such as an overdraft or no/reduced holds on their account?) It was good news to me, too, since Ally had made several pulls in a short time span and had they been "hard", it would have severely impacted my flawless credit score and rating. I would've then had to file a dispute with the major credit bureaus. Thankfully, this isn't the case. I had even asked Ally how their credit checks show up on my consumer disclosure and they confirmed this in advance but being a bit cynical, I wanted to verify it for myself.

Now, to the question. Has anyone been able to find or compile a list of banks, credit unions and trust companies (in their experience or from others' experiences) that do "hard credit checks" for new account openings and which ones do "soft credit checks"? Your information is most appreciated and I'd appreciate you sharing your list(s). This anecdotal information could even be added as a column to Peter's great comparison chart on "highinterestsavings.ca".

Cheers,
Doug