Banks and other institutions are pulling hard credit inquiries on their customers with ever-increasing frequency. Whether its because of 9/11 and the "Know your Customer" regs, or just making sure you arent a fraudster or deadbeat, doesnt really matter, the fact is that its being done regularly.

Too many hard inquiries on one's credit report can be harmful, and can result in higher loan or insurance rates, even for those with otherwise-perfect credit. Most people usually expect hard credit inquiries to occur when they apply for credit, a cell phone, a job, an apartment, or insurance. And these places usually disclose that a credit report is being pulled. Thus, we usually take steps to minimize the # of inquiries.

However, many people are surprised (and displeased) to find out their credit reports have been dinged with HARD inquiries when opening DEPOSIT accounts, such as checking and money market accounts. This can be discussed more extensively in THIS thread. If you wish to discuss your opinions on this practice, please post in this linked thread.

The purpose of this thread is SOLELY TO LIST INSTITUTIONS WHICH PULL hard credit INQUIRIES WHEN OPENING A NON-CREDIT ACCOUNT. Simply name the institution, whether it be a bank, cell phone provider, insurance company, etc. You may also want to state whether they INFORMED you a credit report was being pulled. Please keep posts BRIEF, and limited to the items above, so this thread will be an easy-to-read list. Post all discussion and comments about this practice in the linked thread above.

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List of Institutions in Alphabetical order: (will be updated regularly)

ATT Wireless
Bank of America
Brookline Bank
Brown & Co
Charter One
Chase Manhattan
Cingular Wireless
Citibank
Citizens Bank
Everbank
First American Bank
Harris Bank
Marquette National Bank
Muriel Siebert & Co.
Orchard Bank
Pentagon Federal Credit Union
Presidential Bank
Progressive Insurance
Scottrade
Toyota Dealership
Verizon
Wells Fargo


Credit goes to SIS for posting the original thread on another board... I'm just compiling the info.