So, I joined PenFed on Thursday, using the military families' association, and I called today to find out my account number so that I could set it up on the computer. The very helpful (and incredibly skillful!) CSR persuaded me to go ahead and apply for the 5% gas card now. I told her that I had planned to wait two more weeks for the 30-day to go over 12 months, and she checked with the supe to see if it would be beneficial. She came back to say that actually, they like to see no lates within 2 years, although maybe if there was just the one late, it might be OK. "Just one late," LOL. Not hardly. So I figured that I might as well get the bad news now, so that I could bully DH into joining, and we'd do a joint app with his report, and she punches the button, and approved! $5K CL (which was all I asked for) in my name.
So then she says that because of my excellent credit history (???), I'm also approved for a new car loan up to $35K at 5.39%, and would I be interested? Well, a month ago I wrote a check for $12K for a 2002 Accord and covered it from the HELOC, and I really wanted to get that off of there. Penfed has an online-only 4.99% new or used auto loan rate, so I asked if there was any way that I could get the 4.99%. More consultation, and the answer was yes.
So after a total of around 25 minutes on the phone, I now have a Visa with 5% cash back on gas, 2% on supermarkets, and 1.25% on everything else with DH as AU, and a 4.99% car loan in my name for my new-to-me car.
These people are great! 24/7 US customer service, fantastic rates. They pulled EQ when I joined on Thursday, and she warned that there was a slight chance that the computer would pull again, but probably not (and I don't care anyway.) Here's what they saw on EQ:
classic FICO of 728 (my lowest score, as always)
only 1 inq (theirs)
30 day late March 07
30-60-90 day late February 06 and a 30-day in June 06
5 random 30-days on a gym membership (shows as local bank Visa) in 2004 and 2005
no charge-offs, no collections, no BK's, no public records
revolving util way under 1% ($45 on total $52K CL)
balances on mortgage and HELOC
a student loan balance of $1800, but is paid and hasn't updated
only auto loan history was a Honda lease 2001 - 2004, all clean
I am one happy camper! And yes, I'm going to go enter it on WhoGaveMeCredit. Woo-hoo!
Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 02-16-2008 09:20 PM
So then she says that because of my excellent credit history (???), I'm also approved for a new car loan up to $35K at 5.39%, and would I be interested? Well, a month ago I wrote a check for $12K for a 2002 Accord and covered it from the HELOC, and I really wanted to get that off of there. Penfed has an online-only 4.99% new or used auto loan rate, so I asked if there was any way that I could get the 4.99%. More consultation, and the answer was yes.
So after a total of around 25 minutes on the phone, I now have a Visa with 5% cash back on gas, 2% on supermarkets, and 1.25% on everything else with DH as AU, and a 4.99% car loan in my name for my new-to-me car.
These people are great! 24/7 US customer service, fantastic rates. They pulled EQ when I joined on Thursday, and she warned that there was a slight chance that the computer would pull again, but probably not (and I don't care anyway.) Here's what they saw on EQ:
classic FICO of 728 (my lowest score, as always)
only 1 inq (theirs)
30 day late March 07
30-60-90 day late February 06 and a 30-day in June 06
5 random 30-days on a gym membership (shows as local bank Visa) in 2004 and 2005
no charge-offs, no collections, no BK's, no public records
revolving util way under 1% ($45 on total $52K CL)
balances on mortgage and HELOC
a student loan balance of $1800, but is paid and hasn't updated
only auto loan history was a Honda lease 2001 - 2004, all clean
I am one happy camper! And yes, I'm going to go enter it on WhoGaveMeCredit. Woo-hoo!
Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 02-16-2008 09:20 PM
wtg
it pays to be patience...
it pays to be patience...Thanks! Man, I'm a wreck... And my ear is still all sweaty from the long phone call!
@Anonymous wrote:
wtg
Now thats what I'm talking about MOD!!!!!! YES!!!!! WTG.....
Finally something positive happened to you besides your USAA Amex card.
Super Congrats there.... Did I say YES..... YES!!!!!
We all soooooo happy for you. BTW your scores are dynamite MOD
@Anonymous wrote:
Hauling - impressed that you are still at 728+ with that many baddies, 30 days + late payments, etc...But sounds great.
It should probably be more like 703. Sears/ Citi (my 30-day from March 07) has an on-line message option, and I asked twice for GW on the late. Both times I got answers explaining how to dispute, even though on my 2nd message, I specifically said that I WASN'T disputing.
On 12/18, all 3 reports started showing that the account was disputed by consumer, and I got 25 points across the board. When an account is disputed, unless it is a public record or (I think) a collection, it isn't included in scoring, so the late didn't get counted. I called Sears/ Citi, and they had nothing on their screen showing a dispute, and I know that I didn't enter it. I think that their online message center is actually some sort of word-recognition software which spits out canned answers, or possibly off-shore contractors with really bad English. (You should see my messages--there's no way of interpreting them as disputes.) At any rate, something generated this non-dispute.
So for two months now, I've been regarding my scores with a 25-point asterisk, but in fact, the late hits 12 months next month, and that would probably be good for 15 - 20 points anyway. (The initial hit was 50 points.) This is why I was trying to hold off until March. So the real EQ score should be 718 - 723 next month, and I can live with that!
So anyway, more blathering--sorry, I'm still pretty revved! This is the first credit that I've gotten based on my scores and history in forever, and boy, does it feel good! And it's all because of what I learned here since late August 2007.
May 2007 EQ: 590
edit to add: I don't think that everyone would get 25 points for having an under-one-year late be disputed. I'm in a score bucket of loooooong history (18 years), and it seems that in this bucket, lates just aren't done, dahling, so they get penalized HARD. And I'm really nervous about this dispute being entered, because I'm afraid that I will acquire the "frivolous" label, and genuine disputes will be ignored. So don't everyone run out and dispute please. Signed, the mod.
Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 02-16-2008 03:27 PM
Oh hauling! Super congrats! You've done so well in one year's time. You deserve it!
Your self-discipline in holding off applying for cc's have paid off for you. And you are choosing wisely where you app.
Your self-discipline in holding off applying for cc's have paid off for you. And you are choosing wisely where you app.