TruStone Financial Credit Union

Minnesota's second largest credit union, $6 billion in assets and 221,000 members, started in 1939 by eight schoolteachers. It is the only institution we track whose own documents describe screening deposit applicants, authorizing both an account history check and a consumer report for share accounts, though it never names the vendor. Its bonus carries a lifetime lockout rather than a look-back window: having ever held a TruStone checking account rules you out permanently. Membership covers roughly 24 Minnesota counties and six in Wisconsin.