Navy Federal CC - Finally...Success after Failure

[Arailah]

Howdy All!

I mostly lurk, but every once in a while will poke my head out in hopes that my story encourages others who are rebuilding.

To get the magnitude of this success story I'm going to give a little background.

Bad decisions at 18-22 have made credit rebuildling miserable at age 30.  I've been spending the past year trying to fix past mistakes and bounce back.

In June of 2012 I had a 540 Equifax (CU Acct Opening Pull) and had a bunch of charge offs, collections and late payments on my student loans (they were rehab'ed out of default) and car loan.  I looked absolutely terrible from a lending stand point on paper - rightfully so. I made bad choices. 

After getting a small $500 CU and a small auto loan (had to put $2,000 down to get it) I was slowly trending upward.  I had tried unsuccessfully two times to apply for a Navy Federal Credit Card and was denied.  In September I opened a $500 secured card with them just to get a relationship started.  I have had it 3 months.

Today I have:  $1,000 CU credit card, $700 Amazon Store Card, $300 Paypal Smart Connect ("store line"), a $300 Cap One Credit Steps card that was *just* increased to $1,300 automatically, a $500 Capital One Credit Steps card that is pegged for an auto increase in two months, $300 Wal Mart Store Card, $6000 auto loan that is 7 months old, a share secured loan, and small unsecured loan.  I have not had a late payment since rebuilding the past year. I have also kept an eye on all my medical bills and mail to keep any collections of my CR.  I have 16 inquiries from my attempt to rebuild.

Currently, my scores are below average (Eq: 621 - Ex: 610 - Trans: 634)

So there are not really any high limits on my card, and I have way too many inquiries.  I told myself I would give Navy Federal a shot *one more time* this year before gardening the next 12-24 months.  So I did.

Received a message this morning, expecting a denial.  Saw  "Approved" as the status, became happy and expected maybe at most a $1,000 credit card.

Nope.

$7,500 credit card. 

Woo Hoo!!  Validation that I'm on the right path!

I just wanted to share - it is hard work rebuilding, but keep trying. Positive payments and Time are your biggest allies.

If I can find success, you can.  Keep pushing!

[baller4life]

Great story. Thanks for sharing! I LOVE Navy Federal. They gave me my first unsecured card in years. And very first 4 digit credit limit EVER!!!

[Scupra]

Woo! Congrats on the approval and the progress you have made. That card with NFCU is sure to grow with your credit profile!

[CreditJunkie917]

Congrats!!! Keep up the good work!!! Nice CL!!

[FinStar]

Nice progress indeed!

[JediNeo]

Congrats! Keep up the good work.

[gdale6]

Good job, keep up the great work

[hot4u]

Congrats...

NFCU Treat them right you will see more offers down the road .

Instant boost in Utilization..

Try not to get caught up in applying for awhile with all your Inquiries ..

In future with your High Limit this will help in getting higher Credit limit offers.

Again Congrats

[Arailah]

@hot4u

You are absolutely right.

I'm done applying for a long while.  Majority of my inquiries were from this year so it is time to garden them off for the next 24 months and let these cards just age a bit.

My hope is in 2 years, my credit will be built up, and almost all my old baddies will have fallen off - so at that time I hope to trade up some of these store cards for a Discover and Amex =)

I may have to disappear from the forums to remain strong next year. Sometimes reading other success stores gives me a false inflated sense of hope and then I get hit with a denial.  So I'm done =) Ha

[alvon123]

WOW!!! Great job!!!