A method and decoder are provided to decode a Low Density Parity Check codeword. An additional check processor performs hard-decision processing functions on the LDPC codeword in order to avoid running unnecessary decoder iterations. The method comprises: receiving the ECC codeword at a memory, the received ECC codeword comprising ECC data bits, ECC parity bits, and error detection code bits; soft-decision decoding the received ECC codeword at a soft-decision decoder, to update the ECC codeword according to ECC parity check equations; hard-decision processing the received ECC codeword at a check processor, while the soft-decision decoder performs the soft-decision decoding, to verify the ECC data bits using the error detection code bits; terminating the soft-decision decoding when the ECC data bits are verified, regardless of whether the updated ECC codeword satisfies all of the ECC parity check equations; and, outputting the decoded ECC codeword from the memory after termination of the decoding.