Author Topic: Credit check before opening a new Vanguard account?  (Read 3737 times)

TwistedEther

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Credit check before opening a new Vanguard account?
« on: September 22, 2018, 09:13:20 AM »
Does anyone know if Vanguard would want me to be full time employed before allowing me to open a new account with them?  It seems to me that usually, financial institutions do a hard credit report pull when you open a new account with them.  So let's say I decided to quit but I have money to deposit in the Vanguard.  So even if I had money to spare and money to fund, could Vanguard say no to me because I don't have a full-time job?

Laserjet3051

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Re: Credit check before opening a new Vanguard account?
« Reply #1 on: September 22, 2018, 10:01:12 AM »
I opened up two accounts at Vanguard recently for two different family members, neither of which have full time jobs; one of them in fact has zero earned income. VG did do a credit check for at least one of these two people, zero problem.

Why would you think anyone needs to be employed to open an account?

TwistedEther

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Re: Credit check before opening a new Vanguard account?
« Reply #2 on: September 22, 2018, 10:10:29 AM »
I opened up two accounts at Vanguard recently for two different family members, neither of which have full time jobs; one of them in fact has zero earned income. VG did do a credit check for at least one of these two people, zero problem.

Why would you think anyone needs to be employed to open an account?

Thank you for the quick response.  The reason I asked about whether one should be employed has to do with financial health checks the institutions do.  Could an investment institution deny me if they decided that I was not financially okay because I don't have the job?  Even if I had money to invest with them?

Billy B. Good

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Re: Credit check before opening a new Vanguard account?
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2018, 10:49:39 AM »
If your check clears you are good to go.

MustacheAndaHalf

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Re: Credit check before opening a new Vanguard account?
« Reply #4 on: September 23, 2018, 10:09:06 AM »
Vanguard isn't lending you money when you open an account, so I don't follow why they'd investigate your credit.  Most often, your money flows into Vanguard funds, and waits for you to sell it at a future date.

Vanguard does have an option to open a checking account, and do offer "margin loans" if you sign an agreement and have assets to loan against.  But they aren't relying on your creditworthiness.  Even for margin loans, they are loaning you based on assets you hold at Vanguard.  If you don't pay the margin loan, they sell your assets to pay it back.

TwistedEther

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Re: Credit check before opening a new Vanguard account?
« Reply #5 on: September 23, 2018, 01:26:03 PM »
Vanguard isn't lending you money when you open an account, so I don't follow why they'd investigate your credit. 

I think the same way. I recently opened a brokerage account with Charles Schwab. They did a hard pull. So that got me wondering.

Paul der Krake

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Re: Credit check before opening a new Vanguard account?
« Reply #6 on: September 23, 2018, 01:29:46 PM »
My educated guess is that brokers don't want unreliable customers who cost more to support.