NFCU Odds After New Accounts

[Anonymous]

To begin I'm only 23 just graduated college in May and have been working non stop (55-60 hrs/week) because I've got a significant amount of loan debt:
$31k principle + ~$2k interest fed student loans. Says $343/mo come Dec.
$18k principle + ~$3k private student (3 combined Wells Fargo) est. $275/mo
$16k Auto with my local credit union. $284/mo

The student loans are both in grace until the end of November. I've paid $1k interest so far off the private loans and am set to begin auto payments on fed starting September 1. The auto loan is recent from early June and I've began paying that already.

I've had 1 credit card as primary owner using my father as the AU through college. $2.5k CL for about 3 years. Total AAOA is about 2.5 years factoring in the new auto loan. Oldest is federal student loan at 4.5 years.

I was approved for USAA Amex Cashback card end of July with an $8k CL (will use for 5% gas) and today was approved for Amex BCE with a $4k CL (use for groceries).

Now I want to keep a relationship with NFCU but have never had a line with them only check/savings not super active. They denied me for the auto loan in June and I'm wondering if it's worth applying for the 1.5% everything card with them or if opening 3 new CC's would mess anything up.

Currently:
EX: 737
TU: 733
EQ: 742
100% payments. No negatives or lates. Never over 10% UTI; currently around 3-4% because I haven't gotten my 2 new ones yet.

USAA pulled EX @ 707. I don't know what Amex pulled as a score. I checked my EX free report today and it claimed 4 Inq with 1 being an apartment. Everything else still shows between 2-3 Inq but that'll be higher soon. Also working on getting a stupid cable Inq removed; we'll see if my frontier guy can actually do it like he said.

Should I hold off now and wait or is nfcu generous enough to try for it? They denied me for the auto loan due to AAOA. Also, do USAA and Amex get upset at new accounts?

[credit_is_crack]

I think you'll be fine. Reasons are:

1-those 2 recent new approvals are very likely NOT showing on your credit reports yet, and wont for about another month or so. with that said when NFCU pulls your report they'll see the inquiries, but not the new accounts. this is all assumming you're apply in the next 10 days or so

2-NFCU uses TU for new credit cards and most folks with scores in the 620's and up seem to be approved. they are a very lenient and generous lender. you'll find many threads on here of people getting starting lines like $10,000 with scores around 680 and lower at times. your scores are above that so i think you have good odds. i've never personally found NFCU to mention 'too many new accounts' to me and i've had times where i've opened 10-15 accounts within a year (thats just credit card accounts). I've got a signature loan ($8k) and a credit card (flagship @ $25k) with them right now

as always, YMMV but i think you have a solid shot. the auto loan requirements are different than credit cards. its a whole seperate world with their cards. they are about to release a new NFCU AmEx next month (i think rewards on gas, groceries and dining) that might be more useful for you than the 1.5%, but just depends on your spending habits. 

[Anonymous]

The new card does spark some interest to see what they come out with but it sounds like it might be a rewards card instead of cashback. Unless they do something like USAA's limitless cashback, then I'd definitely hold out for that.

Do you have any idea on how sensitive either USAA or Amex are to new accounts? The last thing I'd want to do is get a card closed on me. I'm not really used to what I can and can't get away with when it comes to applications and new lines.

[Anonymous]

If you have USAA I would recommend the Limitless Cash Rewards card (if you live in a state where it is available-and you have their checking account with a $1,000 direct depost/ACH). The Limitless's 2.5% cash back blows pretty much everything else out of the water. Then you could get the NFCU Platinum card for a low APR option. 

[Anonymous]

Do you know how long it would take to register the direct deposit for the 2.5% to work; is it automatic once it's set up or they need to see proof through consistent pay? I've got my direct deposit at my local credit union currently.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Do you know how long it would take to register the direct deposit for the 2.5% to work; is it automatic once it's set up or they need to see proof through consistent pay? I've got my direct deposit at my local credit union currently.

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I believe they would want to see the $1,000 direct deposit before the 2.5% would go into effect. I will defer to the USAA experts here for that answer though. I do believe also, that people have gotten around moving their paychecks to USAA by initiating a $1,000 ACH deposit to qualify for the 2.5%. 

[Anonymous]

They give you 90 days. It is 2.5% unless after 90 days you don't have a qualifying deposit it goes to 1.5%. Anytime you have a qualifying deposit after not having one, it immediately goes back to 2.5%. Forgot to push a payment to them for a single deposit one month that is how I found out the last bit of information.

[Anonymous]

Just a thought if you are VERY financially displined is to get the NFCU Plat Card they are offering a 0% balance transfer offer right now. You can pay off some of your student loan balance this way and save quite a bit in interest. 

[Anonymous]

Alright well my interest got the best of me and decided to go for NFCU cash rewards. Got instant approved 11.6% apr @ $16k. It's funny because now USAA is sending me pre approval offers for the 1.5% visa with 15 months 0% apr no balance transfer, hmm tempting. My thoughts are that I wanted to keep and build a relationship with NFCU so I grabbed that. In a few months before my private loans end grace (still paying off as much interest as possible without dipping into my emergency fund) I will try to refinance those with NFCU or if not then someone else and I really like the idea of using their Platinum to put a manageable amount on it before he apr deal ends.

In 2 weeks I've been lucky enough to increase my CL from $2.5k to $30.5k and I get some cool cashback. My future goals are to grab either the Discover IT/Chase Freedom for the rotating categories of the Chase amazon since I have Prime and use it often.