Consumer complaint received 2020-03-25
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Opening an account — Unable to open an account
Company: BOEING EMPLOYEES CREDIT UNION (WA)

On XX/XX/XXXX, I applied to open a checking account with BECU. I currently have a checking account ( and associated debit card ) with XXXX  XXXX XXXX, and have had since XXXX. I planned to use this second checking account ( an interest-bearing account ) primarily as a savings account, with some occasional debit card activity. To my shock and surprise, my BECU checking account application was declined - and I was told that the declination was the result of a low Consumer Score ( XXXX ) I was assigned, as BECU 's minimum acceptable score is XXXX. This low score ( according to BECU ) was being assigned as a result of information provided by an agency known as XXXX. I had never heard of this agency before, but following the instructions provided in the BECU declination letter, that same day I made an online request to XXXX  for a free copy of the exact report/information they had provided BECU. Several days later I received a report from XXXX in the mails, with absolutely no negative, derogatory, or adverse information on it! Confused, I decided to make an appointment with a BECU banking representative ( at the local XXXX  XXXX office ) - I showed him the XXXX  report I had received, and he said he could see nothing that would cause concern, and he even " looked '' at my XXXX  record from the Credit Unions ' access side - then he said something that caused me a lot of concern - he said he had never seen a record like that - that usually there were notations of NSFs or other adverse activities - but on my record, there was nothing. He then suggested that I contact XXXX, and try to get an explanation from them. That idea proved to be absolutely worthless, as the XXXX rep just told me I could dispute anything on the report - but wait! - what can I do if there's no negative information to dispute?? They also told me I could dispute the previously-assigned score. So I did both those things, but the reports came back with no new information, and the score came back only 3 points higher ( XXXX ). I decided to speak to someone at BECU one more time, to see if perhaps I was overlooking something on the report. I also wanted to try and get some guidance on what my next steps should be. I met with a district branch manager at BECU 's corporate headquarters in XXXX. This proved, once again, to be an exercise in frustration, as she looked over the XXXX report very carefully, but could find nothing of concern. She asked me who I currently banked with, and I told her that I had banked with XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX for the last 10 years. After spending an hour with her, as she looked up terms used on the XXXX  report trying to determine what might be causing the low scoring, the only thing she ended up suggesting is that I go to XXXX XXXX XXXX, and ask them to file a formal dispute with XXXX, as there must be something that they're reporting in error. Of course, she was working under the assumption that XXXX was indeed reporting some misinformation - so my next meeting was with a XXXX branch manager at the XXXX  branch in XXXX  XXXX  ( where I first opened my account back in XXXX ). This meeting also became a frustrating experience, as this manager was insistent that the bank was reporting no derogatory information to XXXX, so she was not able to dispute anything - once again saying that this XXXX  report I had was very unusual. Then she actually told me that I should now seek legal counsel and protection under the consumer protection laws, and file a formal complaint under the FCRA. So, here we areI 've been unfairly denied the opportunity to establish a checking account with BECU because of an unwarranted decision made by BECU ( which BECU says is based on information given to them by XXXX ), and neither XXXX, nor BECU seem to be able to provide me with a verifiable reason that I was not allowed to establish a checking account with BECU at this time.