So I've been repairing my credit his year from a bad 2009. Was at 630 in jaunaury and 5 Derogs and had it up to 690's this August.. My DW and I have always been exposed to catastrophe by not having a lot of savings and only a 1k card. I know they say not to add things too quick, but I felt like I needed to get what I needed and then let it age. I had already added a Cap1 in January ($750sl) and a SYNC ($3.3k sl)...oldest account 10.2 yrs, AAoA 4.2yrs...tcl in Aug16 $9k
What my plan was get a new car (current car had 100,000 mi), add 2 more rewards cards, then go into the garden. We did the car the first of August, then applied and approved for a AMEX BCE and a CSP. The car and inq's dropped scores down about 10 pts. I only have 1 derog left and it falls off in November. The Chase reported last week when i PIF'ed it, BCE should report after the 16th of this month..TU dropped 4 pts, EQ dropped 4, EX went up 1. Anxious to see what the amex does when it reports!
So Im feeling pretty good now..I have 16k tcl, a BoA Rewards Plus, a CAP1 QS, a SYNC for 5.3k, a BCE that should be at 6k (after my 3x next month) and my favorite CSP at 5k. If I have an emergency I can leave a $4k balance for awhile and not be over 30% util...but then it dawned on me...if I do, I'll be paying 23% apr. I do have 0% for one year with BCE, but I wanted a long term solution. I was firm on sitting in the garden ( inq's TU-9, EX-6, EQ-3), but if I could get a good BT, I was willing to get one more HP and I would be set.
So I looked and looked and I couldn't find anything that was below 13%apr (with really good credit) . A Slate would be easy for me to get, but the aprs look the same as my CSP. Then a started looking at CU's and found the State Department FCU...WOW...low rates down to 7.25%, no BT fee, no Foreign fee, chip + pin EMV, and the solice to know I would be with an organization that our government employees use over seas. I found that would be comforting to have in my wallet.
It didn't take me long to decide that it would be worth a HP to get this puppy. I tried to read all I could before I apped to give myself the best shot, I did still have the one derog left, but its 6yrs, 11 1/2 months old now. I read from numerous people that an old derog was not a killer with SDFCU, but that they didn't like new accounts and inq's. SO I called and spoke to a LO and I told him my score was around 680 (They pull EX), but that a did just get 2 new cards, one hadn't reported yet, told him my inq's and he didn't seem too concerned...he said they don't like 20 hps and many new accounts. I asked if he thought a 5k sl would be reasonable and he said that it shouldn't be a problem.
So I start the app process and this is what I want to share. I got my CSP in about 8 minutes total, the ap process with SD took about 8 days, so it's a long haul commitment to go for this card. I could not find anywhere that lays out the instructions on the process, so you have to dig and ask and wait. In hind site, the info is there, I think they like to see poeple work for it and to cut out app spree's. The quick net of it is....
1. If you are not affiliated with a Government entity, then you have to join an organization called ACC for $15
2. With this you, need to apply to JOIN the CU
3. After you apply, you will be emailed a "DocuSign documents" you can electronically sign and attach documents ( POI and DL)
4. After you join, then you can apply for their Visa card.
5. Once again, they send you "Docusign" documents to sign. You will at this point have an account you can sign into to check things. Your application will say "pending" at this point. They may have an 'auto-approved" feature, but it looks like they have an UW review things first.
I applied on 10/5 and didn't make it to this stage until 10/10 (because I didn't understand the proper steps. I also drafted a letter to the UW telling my reason for wanting the card and that I was not a card collector. I also want them to understand that I had two new cards that was dropping on my CR, so it didn't look like I was trying to pull anything. I thought that would be starting out on the wrong foot.
Another thing to note, was everytime I signed the documents, I would get an email early am (like 5:00am) the next day saying the documents were not complete. On Tuesday, 10/11, I get the 2 emails, one saying the application to join was not complete and the Visa app was not complete? So i called Tuesday morning and they said everything was fine, that it just needed to go to the UW. Finally! I get to thinking maybe she did something then with it, so I checked the status on-line and there it was "Referred" which means the UW is reveiwing it. Awesome! It wasn't 30 minutes later, I get a call from the State Department, she asked if a had a few minutes to talk, which I said of course! She then explained to me I was denied because of my derog and too many new accounts...
I was crushed and speechless. She said she read my letter and took everything into account, but could not approve me for the reasons stated. I was stunnned and I had co-workers around me, so I couldn't go into much detail. I thanked her and told her I would be back when things improved. I did call back again the next day and talked to a LO and made sure they understood my derog was going to drop off in November, and was told they couldn't do anything with that on my CR. I think it is important to understand when people relay their experiences on this forum, that every little detail matters. I did read on SDFCU threads where people were approved with derogs, but I don't think they ever said if they were open or closed. I assume at this point, theirs were closed, as mine is still open. I think that was what killed me. I also wonder if my letter didn't help...maybe I should have just let things ride...
I am still determined to get on board with SD. I asked the second LO if I could re-apply after my derog fell off and he sorta hesitated and said, you can apply...and left it at that.
My plan is to let things sit until after the first of the year...the derog and some inq's should fall off leaving me clean, I have 6+ years perfect payments and my scores should be up over 700 solid by then. Then I will re-apply. I know now I should have waited in the beginning, but I felt from my reading I had a good shot at it. Hope I didn't screw up with them.. I welcome any suggestions or comments. If anyone wants more detailed information on the process, I will be glad to share what I know.
Should I go ahead and join?open an account or maybe even the secured card?
BTW, my EX score they used was Fico Ver 2: 671
Sorry about the denial but thank you for sharing. Im sure this will help those wanting to apply. Best of luck on getting your card you put so much effort into trying to obtain
I joined at the start of my rebuild and opened a secured card for $250 just to get a positive trade line going with them and to hopefully get an unsecured with a larger limit some day as they have a great interest rate.
They don't do credit checks for the secured, so that's a bonus, but it doesn't graduate. The secured goes up to $20,000 and you make interest on the deposit. It sits in a savings account that you can see when you login online.
I haven't had luck getting the unsecured version, but I have an absolutely immense number of inquiries, and a boat load of new accounts in the last 18 months.
Also, I had 4 or 5 open collections (since paid) when I opened the savings and secured card accounts.
They don't do credit checks for the secured, so that's a bonus, but it doesn't graduate. The secured goes up to $20,000 and you make interest on the deposit. It sits in a savings account that you can see when you login online.
I haven't had luck getting the unsecured version, but I have an absolutely immense number of inquiries, and a boat load of new accounts in the last 18 months.
Also, I had 4 or 5 open collections (since paid) when I opened the savings and secured card accounts.
