topic Re: Navy Federal CU: New Accountholder Data Points in Credit Cards

Navy Federal CU: New Accountholder Data Points

Aim_High — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 20:03:19 GMT

I'm specifically interested in other member's experiences on credit limits with Navy FCU as a brand-new accountholder. (If you've banked with them for years, it seems your experience will be totally different.)

My Data Points:

Thick 35+ year file.

Prior active duty military veteran.

830+ credit scores.

Low Debt to income.

Strong six-figure income.

Highest Credit limit 70K.

Lowest Credit limit 9K.

Average Credit limit ~30K.

I opened checking and savings with them in October 2019 with about $1500 in total deposits. I waited one month and then applied for the Platinum card at the end of about a 10-new-account spree over 18 months. I was approved for $10K at lowest available APR. Not a bad SL, but not as high as some have gotten, regardless of FICO, income, and other limits. I imagine the limit was influenced by being new-to-Navy and all the other recent new accounts. I transferred $9800 in balances to the card with their 0% and no BT fee offer to build payment history. I also moved more money into my Navy accounts over time.

I paid off the BTs over three months, waited for statement cut with "0" balance due and credit score to rebound to 848, then applied for CLI at 4 statement cuts/136 days. Approved for $8K increase to $18K! Not bad, but still was hoping they'd hit more in the ball park of my other credit limits. I had asked for $40K and hoped to maybe get $20K to $30K.

Since they gave me less than I asked for, I got the explanation letter yesterday.

It reported with score of 848 and my key factors were:

- Proportion of balances to Credit Limits too high on revolving accounts (probably due to recent BT with Navy)

- Length of time Revolving accounts have been established (four new about 5 months ago)

- Time since most recent account opening is too short

- Too many accounts recently opened (4/6, 7/12, 10/24)

- Number of inquiries on credit bureau report (2/24, 2/12, 2/6 on EQ)

It is a lot of new accounts but one in last six months was just AU and another was opened and then closed, althought I don't think they care if it's closed regarding new accounts.

The denial reason was something I've seen other members post over and over with Navy:

"You've reached Navy Federal's maximum unsecured credit limit."

I was surprised to see this explanation given my credit factors and limits with other lenders. Navy is known on the forums for being super generous with credit limits, but that seems to be only with relationship and history. Chase, meanwhile, gave me a $35K SL on a CSR almost two years ago. I can only imagine it's because I've only had account history with Navy for less than six months that explains why $18K is the maximum unsecured limit. That's still one of my lowest limit cards and my debt payments are only 7.5% of my income. (Revolving utilization normally kept at 1%.)

For other members who have opened accounts with Navy Federal and then applied for credit within the first six months of relationship, what were the starting limits and how long did it take for reaching higher limits? I know from postings that their maximum limit per card is $50K except Flagship and maximum total limit is $80K. I'm still far from that, of course. I hear over and over that they "open the floodgates" on card #2, but seems more the case on the lower starting limits (under $10K or especially under $5K.) I do plan to apply for the Flagship and/or perhaps the AMEX More Rewards.

For anyone with top limits or close to those, how long did it take you to get there? I'm willing to build the relationship but just wonder what to expect. Thanks!

Re: Navy Federal CU: New Accountholder Data Points

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 20:23:50 GMT

From my experience with NFCU and from what I have seen. A new card will always yield higher limit than a CLI.

Re: Navy Federal CU: New Accountholder Data Points

Gmood1 — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 20:42:51 GMT

As Steve says, this was also the case for me.

I'm not a 1% like yourself.

First CC started at $15 or $16k.

Second CC was $25 off the rip and 3rd was $22k if I'm not mistaken.

I built mine slowly with Navy. Well slowly compared to members here.😆

So I may not be a good example.

I waited two years before grabbing #2 and #3. But acquired both within 6 months of the other.

I'm at max exposure for the credit cards now, which is $80k across all three.

I do recall a member here who had an income above $500k a year. Navy handed him a $1k SL!!

He was furious!!😂

Even after reconsideration, they still wouldn't budge. I'm not sure if he kept his Navy account after that.

Re: Navy Federal CU: New Accountholder Data Points

AverageJoesCredit — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 20:57:38 GMT

@Gmood1 wrote:
As Steve says, this was also the case for me.
I'm not a 1% like yourself.
First CC started at $15 or $16k.
Second CC was $25 off the rip and 3rd was $22k if I'm not mistaken.
I built mine slowly with Navy. Well slowly compared to members here.😆

So I may not be a good example.
I waited two years before grabbing #2 and #3. But acquired both within 6 months of the other.

I'm at max exposure for the credit cards now, which is $80k across all three.

I do recall a member here who had an income above $500k a year. Navy handed him a $1k SL!!
He was furious!!😂
Even after reconsideration, they still wouldn't budge. I'm not sure if he kept his Navy account after that.

$500 = $1k i remember that . I seem to recall poster did not take @Aim_High approach and understand $ doesnt = instant $ all the time.

My issue i guess with seeing give me $25k limits NOW! approach is most of the time, and im just as guilty as many here, the cards are not used heavily if at all. Its more i have so and so on this card and i want max. Thats all good, i love my feeling of actually achieving a $25k card , but in reality we should all use our Navy cards more to earn those limits.

Re: Navy Federal CU: New Accountholder Data Points

Gmood1 — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 21:01:10 GMT

@AverageJoesCredit

When Navy adds external account auto pay. They'll get more use from me.

Don't understand why the largest CU in the world doesn't have this? Kinda ridiculous to me 😆

Re: Navy Federal CU: New Accountholder Data Points

Aim_High — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 21:07:05 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
From my experience with NFCU and from what I have seen. A new card will always yield higher limit than a CLI.

@Gmood1 wrote:
As Steve says, this was also the case for me.
I'm not a 1% like yourself.
First CC started at $15 or $16k.
Second CC was $25 off the rip and 3rd was $22k if I'm not mistaken.
I built mine slowly with Navy. Well slowly compared to members here.😆

So I may not be a good example.
I waited two years before grabbing #2 and #3. But acquired both within 6 months of the other.

I'm at max exposure for the credit cards now, which is $80k across all three.

I do recall a member here who had an income above $500k a year. Navy handed him a $1k SL!!
He was furious!!😂
Even after reconsideration, they still wouldn't budge. I'm not sure if he kept his Navy account after that.

I know, right? "First-World problems." Thanks for the replies, guys. It does seem that multiple cards, approved slowly over time, yields the best results. (You may get approved sooner but leave some money on the table.) I can wait them out.

Discover did that exact same thing to me. It's that closed account I referenced above. I had a $50K limit card with them, then applied for the IT Miles card. Got a $1K limit. Say What?!? I was beyond insulted, TBH. Then my DW applied with much lower personal income, no prior Disco history, and lower credit score applied and they gave her $9K. Go figure. I knew the $1K would grow (eventually) but I just didn't want to fool with it. (I got it more for the first year bonus anyway.) So I closed mine and had her add me as AU to hers. (I can only imagine it was a combination of "maximum exposure reached" with Discover or else the other new accounts I had recently added.)

Re: Navy Federal CU: New Accountholder Data Points

WTL1 — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 21:10:13 GMT

Hmmm. I'm one heck of a lurker here, not all that chatty about my own situation, but your post begs for my DP.

My AoOA is 10 years, AAoA is just below 3 years, 3 accounts opened in 2019. My visa/MC account limits are typically $8K-10K limits currently, I have an Alaska Visa that's $12K

I joined Navy mid-Oct. Savings and checking, token amounts deposited, no real use since then. Jan 4, got the bug, apped for Platinum Visa online. Instant approval, $15,000 @ 14.49%. TU F8 763. Current DTI was ~6%, plus I have a PL with Lending Club I took out for debt consolodation in July '19, $24K@6.5%APR that was about 45% paid down.

I did 2 BT in Jan and 1 in Feb, highest amount owed on card reached `$8500 in mid Feb, so a little more than 50% of CL

Paid down card with multiple payments totaling $1850 in Jan, $1450 in Feb, $3450 in Mar

Besides the BTs there were minor additional charges, my primary CC is an Airline card (hence the BTs)

And now the meat: at 95/3 via the web page request (not via the mobile app) I requested CLI to $45K (it showed a max allowed request amount of $50K).

There was no immediate response, but about an hour later available credit showed an increase of $8K. The next day the credit line showed a limit of $23K.

And that's it! I'll try again in 6 months. The only other CC I'm interested in is possibly the Flagship, but not really sure I can use the points.

Re: Navy Federal CU: New Accountholder Data Points

Aim_High — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 21:12:56 GMT

@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
@Gmood1 wrote:

I do recall a member here who had an income above $500k a year. Navy handed him a $1k SL!!
He was furious!!😂
Even after reconsideration, they still wouldn't budge. I'm not sure if he kept his Navy account after that.
$500 = $1k i remember that . I seem to recall poster did not take @Aim_High approach and understand $ doesnt = instant $ all the time.

My issue i guess with seeing give me $25k limits NOW! approach is most of the time, and im just as guilty as many here, the cards are not used heavily if at all. Its more i have so and so on this card and i want max. Thats all good, i love my feeling of actually achieving a $25k card , but in reality we should all use our Navy cards more to earn those limits.

Thanks AJC. Yes, $ doesn't always = $ all the time. I'm willing to groom my Navy FCU relationship. I wasn't willing to groom that small Discover card. I did something similar with Capital One (grew a Platinum with $1K SL to QS with $25K limit) and it was ridiculously painful. Don't want to do that again on such a small limit. So ... it just depends. I understand not getting maximum exposure out-the-gate but $1K is insulting on a major bank card when your other limits are $10K and much higher.

Yes, I know Navy wants to see some use so I will give that to them and build even more payment history. I'm also thinking about a mortgage refinance soon while rates are low. They would love me for that. Lol

Re: Navy Federal CU: New Accountholder Data Points

Cred4All — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 21:28:38 GMT

There were a few of us here I can recall right off the bat... (not naming names though as they can speak up if they wish)... me being one of them. Similiar scenario as you in that I joined Navy one day, apped the next day for the Flagship, and although my income / scores / cards were all in great shape I was given the lowest APR and $10k limit. Alot of great folks across MyFico, many starting with that $25k limit, but I didn't receive that until I earned it with them the hard way, a few CLI's later... and then my 2nd card finally yielded the $25k amount. Can't explain what they look at exactly but, still a phenominal CU to be a part of!

Re: Navy Federal CU: New Accountholder Data Points

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 21:29:36 GMT

$8K seems to be the CLI cap from what I've seen. Each CLI request can yield $8K but I can't think of many examples where someone got more than that at once. That's still $16K of new credit per year without having to open a new card. If you want to leapfrog, open a new card and ask them to merge the old into the new one.

Re: Navy Federal CU: New Accountholder Data Points

Aim_High — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 21:32:09 GMT

@WTL1 wrote:
Hmmm. I'm one heck of a lurker here, not all that chatty about my own situation, but your post begs for my DP.
My AoOA is 10 years, AAoA is just below 3 years, 3 accounts opened in 2019. My visa/MC account limits are typically $8K-10K limits currently, I have an Alaska Visa that's $12K
I joined Navy mid-Oct. Savings and checking, token amounts deposited, no real use since then. Jan 4, got the bug, apped for Platinum Visa online. Instant approval, $15,000 @ 14.49%. TU F8 763. Current DTI was ~6%, plus I have a PL with Lending Club I took out for debt consolodation in July '19, $24K@6.5%APR that was about 45% paid down.
I did 2 BT in Jan and 1 in Feb, highest amount owed on card reached `$8500 in mid Feb, so a little more than 50% of CL
Paid down card with multiple payments totaling $1850 in Jan, $1450 in Feb, $3450 in Mar
Besides the BTs there were minor additional charges, my primary CC is an Airline card (hence the BTs)
And now the meat: at 95/3 via the web page request (not via the mobile app) I requested CLI to $45K (it showed a max allowed request amount of $50K).
There was no immediate response, but about an hour later available credit showed an increase of $8K. The next day the credit line showed a limit of $23K.
And that's it! I'll try again in 6 months. The only other CC I'm interested in is possibly the Flagship, but not really sure I can use the points.

That is very helpful! Thanks for those data points. Your experience sounds very very similar to mine. I had a somewhat higher credit score and older file, so it sounds like those helped me to get the better APR. But I think my recent app-spree & new accounts may have kept me from getting the higher $15K SL they offered to you. We both did BT on significant part of our limits and then both got the $8K increase, which is what I've read is typical for the maximum increase they'll normally offer at one time.

Re: Navy Federal CU: New Accountholder Data Points

Aim_High — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 21:38:40 GMT

@Cred4All wrote:
There were a few of us here I can recall right off the bat... (not naming names though as they can speak up if they wish)... me being one of them. Similiar scenario as you in that I joined Navy one day, apped the next day for the Flagship, and although my income / scores / cards were all in great shape I was given the lowest APR and $10k limit. Alot of great folks across MyFico, many starting with that $25k limit, but I didn't receive that until I earned it with them the hard way, a few CLI's later... and then my 2nd card finally yielded the $25k amount. Can't explain what they look at exactly but, still a phenominal CU to be a part of!

Yes they are and worth putting in a little effort to build the relationship with them. It sounds like my experience is very typical for new account holders but that the limits do loosen up with time and history. I didn't realize until fairly recently how much they value relationship. For that matter, I'm learning that most banks value relationship much more than I ever knew. Opening banking or other credit accounts with most lenders seems to lead to the higher limits over time. And SLs with a FI you already have history with are typically higher than those with a new FI.

Re: Navy Federal CU: New Accountholder Data Points

Aim_High — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 21:40:38 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
$8K seems to be the CLI cap from what I've seen. Each CLI request can yield $8K but I can't think of many examples where someone got more than that at once. That's still $16K of new credit per year without having to open a new card. If you want to leapfrog, open a new card and ask them to merge the old into the new one.

Thanks, @Anonymous. That's what I planned to do eventually. Open maybe three cards and eventually consolidate the limits back to two cards. I did (and am continuing to do) something similar with Chase and it works well with them too.

Re: Navy Federal CU: New Accountholder Data Points

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 21:42:11 GMT

@Aim_High wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
$8K seems to be the CLI cap from what I've seen. Each CLI request can yield $8K but I can't think of many examples where someone got more than that at once. That's still $16K of new credit per year without having to open a new card. If you want to leapfrog, open a new card and ask them to merge the old into the new one.
Thanks, @Anonymous. That's what I planned to do eventually. Open maybe three cards and eventually consolidate the limits back to two cards. I did (and am continuing to do) something similar with Chase and it works well with them too.

Seems to be very efficient for all of the banks that offer it. I did it twice with Capital One too before they got rid of that feature.

Re: Navy Federal CU: New Accountholder Data Points

Wavester64 — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 21:52:05 GMT

@Cred4All wrote:
There were a few of us here I can recall right off the bat... (not naming names though as they can speak up if they wish)... me being one of them. Similiar scenario as you in that I joined Navy one day, apped the next day for the Flagship, and although my income / scores / cards were all in great shape I was given the lowest APR and $10k limit. Alot of great folks across MyFico, many starting with that $25k limit, but I didn't receive that until I earned it with them the hard way, a few CLI's later... and then my 2nd card finally yielded the $25k amount. Can't explain what they look at exactly but, still a phenominal CU to be a part of!

Question for you - are most people (including yourself) getting the NFCU CCs just for the util thus raising their credit scores? I checked their cards and they don't seem to be that special (no offense to anyone, just saying). Looking over your sig IMO you have a lot better cards that what they are offering so I am curious why you got NFCU cards?

I never thought of getting a card just to help with my credit score - but I guess it makes sense to do so if NFCU is willing to give high CL's and make it easy to get multiple cards. I just can't see me getting a card just for the sake of having one and not using it.

Re: Navy Federal CU: New Accountholder Data Points

WTL1 — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 22:06:52 GMT

Utilization is certainly one interest I had, but I opened a Platinum Visa in January because they run a Balance Transfer special for two months, 0% or 1.9% interest for 12 months, no fees.

And, the Platinum and Flagship potentially have quite low APR's.

Re: Navy Federal CU: New Accountholder Data Points

Wavester64 — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 22:11:39 GMT

@WTL1 wrote:
Utilization is certainly one interest I had, but I opened a Platinum Visa in January because they run a Balance Transfer special for two months, 0% or 1.9% interest for 12 months, no fees.
And, the Platinum and Flagship potentially have quite low APR's.

Logical, as Mr. Spock would say

Re: Navy Federal CU: New Accountholder Data Points

SFLSpotter9210 — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 23:07:34 GMT

Well I opened my NFCU account September 2019 and started out with the GR card minimal SL of 1k. Then 91/3 came and I applied for the MR card SL 25k.

After that 91/3 came I appd for the MR card with a SL of 25,000and a CLI for my GR which resulted in a 3X to 3k.

Then for my next 91/3 I applied for the FR card which resulted in a SL of 23,900. And a CLI on my MR that received a 8K increase to 33,000.

Your file is 100X's better than mine so you should be able to do as you wish in my humble opinion.

My utilization is at 8%. My DTI is 8% as well. Good luck with your journey you should be at max exposure in no time.

Re: Navy Federal CU: New Accountholder Data Points

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 23:11:19 GMT

@Wavester64 wrote:
@Cred4All wrote:
There were a few of us here I can recall right off the bat... (not naming names though as they can speak up if they wish)... me being one of them. Similiar scenario as you in that I joined Navy one day, apped the next day for the Flagship, and although my income / scores / cards were all in great shape I was given the lowest APR and $10k limit. Alot of great folks across MyFico, many starting with that $25k limit, but I didn't receive that until I earned it with them the hard way, a few CLI's later... and then my 2nd card finally yielded the $25k amount. Can't explain what they look at exactly but, still a phenominal CU to be a part of!
Question for you - are most people (including yourself) getting the NFCU CCs just for the util thus raising their credit scores? I checked their cards and they don't seem to be that special (no offense to anyone, just saying). Looking over your sig IMO you have a lot better cards that what they are offering so I am curious why you got NFCU cards?

I never thought of getting a card just to help with my credit score - but I guess it makes sense to do so if NFCU is willing to give high CL's and make it easy to get multiple cards. I just can't see me getting a card just for the sake of having one and not using it.

NFCU gives low or no interest BTs every year, they have no BT fees, no CA fees, low APRs, excellent customer service, high credit limits, and decent rewards (the More Rewards is actually a very useful card - it takes three of my other cards to match or exceed the rewards scheme of that single card). My two NFCU cards are also my lowest APRs at 7.49% and 11.15% respectively when my average with my store cards taken out is around 19%. NFCU was the first to break $10K for me and now the first to break $15K too. In my mind, there is no reason to skip getting at least one NFCU card.

Re: Navy Federal CU: New Accountholder Data Points

elixerin — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 00:37:55 GMT

saeren making me want to jump in the army rq >.>

FR tho nice offerings for a CU, has a working app which is big nowadays, High SL's low apr's what else can you ask for rite

its the relationship you are going to get as opposed to the big banks