I agree that ... it depends. On the specific lender as well as the nature of the relationship and the overall credit profile. By nature of relationship, I mean factors like the age of it, the depth of it (the size of deposits or size of loans), the diversity of it (number of accounts; business as well as personal?), and the quality of it (are all transactions managed responsibly?) This where someone that thinks they can open a couple of accounts with $100 or even $2000 and expect it to open the floodgates for credit in 30 days is probably wrong. It takes time and depth.
With some lenders, the threshold to make a difference may be low in the above considerations and for others, nothing may matter. A large bank is probably harder to impress than a smaller regional bank or credit union.
I agree that Bank of America is relationship-based and seems to open the doors more to seasoned clients. Their Premium Rewards credit cards are difficult to achieve without relationship, possibly to protect the high SUBs on those cards. And getting their $99.9K TCL which is typical upper lending limit for many clients (absent very large investments) is also difficult without relationship combined with the right profile. I also believe that Wells Fargo is relationship-based and I'm presently greasing the skids with them on some banking before applying for another card.
I've also seen posts where it appears Chase Bank may be more likely to approve a first card to a young, undeveloped, thin, profile if they are a banking client.
We have one legendary long-time member who is known for the tactic of establishing banking with large deposits before applying for cards, and his success seems amazing at times. But I believe he opens business and personal accounts, and I imagine the deposits are quite large.
One benefit, regardless of enhancing approvals, is simply putting yourself on the lender's radar as a customer where you may receive targeted pre-approvals. You may even receive offers not available to the general public. But as noted in the example above, unless your relationship is exceptional you would still need to meet underwriting standards. Those targeted offers may not consider new accounts, inquiries, or details from a report that might concern an underwriter.
So, as always with credit, YMMV depending on all of the above.
