Introduction
I was traveling over Memorial Day and applied for a checking and savings account at a local credit union, but I was on Gogo in midair. My application went to pending. Two business days later, the bank calls me and says, “Your application was flagged because we noticed your IP address was 250 miles from WA state. Were you on your work laptop?” Talk about leading a witness… I of course was on my work laptop and told her I was traveling at the time (all true,) and she said okay.
She then said I had applied for other credit unions lately and that’s also a red flag, but then asked, “Are you just shopping around?” Jeez, I wish Chase would do this right with their reconsideration applications. I naturally said YES I WAS. She did say that’s usually a red flag rejection, but she said that because it was just recently, then it was okay (I guess it would have been an issue if I had applied months ago?)
Lastly I asked her if there was a HP. She said no it was just a SP and a Chexx pull, and that’s how she saw the other CU application.
Lessons Learned
When applying for a bank account, make sure your IP address in near your home address!
I’ve applied for multiple bank accounts from overseas (with a U.S. address, but foreign IP), as well as credit cards. Between a third and half get flagged, but none has ever been rejected after the briefest of exchanges. I have used a VPN before, but that was flagged because it turned out to be a well-trafficked VPN and applications were flying in from the IP.
do u intentionally eff stuff up? So many unforced errors by you
Maybe me eff’ing stuff up helps you not eff stuff up. Ever considered that?
I didnt mean for that to sound mean. I just meant you seem to not be on the ball with detail thingies
This is the first time a bank has IP checked me to see if I was within the same state, so didn’t think it’d be an issue. Most banks haven’t had issues before, so it caught me off guard.
Also, don’t log into your financial accounts when abroad without VPN-ing to your home town first. Made that mistake 3 weeks ago and had to make a bunch of midnight phone calls back to the East Coast while on vaca to unlock accounts.
Speaking of VPN, really a good idea any time you’re away from home.
Which VPN do you use and how much is it?
Do you chase bank bonuses? I’ve been making a killing this year.
Yeah trying to get more into it this year
Did you hit the MTB ones? Those were about as easy as it gets!