I’m convinced NFCU hates me + nRewards Secured Card policy change.

[CurlyShirley]

I’ve had my nRewards secured card for a year now. My 13th statement cut this morning and I’m still secured. The guy I spoke to yesterday said that they now review accounts after 6 months and there is no cap on when they graduate. Anytime after 6 months. They look at the credit score from the bureau. She said Fico does not matter. I told her my scores are all different: Them, discover, credit karma, Fico, and the actually credit bureaus site.

I have never been late. I have 0 late payments since my discharge and my utilization is under 40% overall. The only high utilization is the card that I am an authorized user on (56%). I pay navy in full every month and even over pay sometimes. Currently I’m sitting on a $50 credit. My discover graduated at 7 months and my utilization is barely 3% on my 1st statement after graduation. I only have 3 regular credit cards, nRewards, Discover it, and Merrick. Others are store cards.

I have a secured loan with navy, always on time. All my banking is done through navy. I did what the guy yesterday told me to do. Simply app for a different card. Well, it was denied on the spot. I have no clue what I’m doing wrong? They pulled Transunion. My highest of all 3. Yet, I was still denied. I’m convinced they hate me.

I’m frustrated and I’m wanting to give up. My scores are not moving. 16 almost 17 months post and my Ficos are 638 Trans, 628 Ex, and EQ is the lowest at 601.

My Equifax still has a collections account that I cannot for the life of me get off. It’s showing open with a 0 balance, but included in BK. They will not remove or show it as closed. Ive disputed it 4 times already.

[CreditSweeper]

Just a few thoughts...

NFCU uses Equifax FICO9 for account reviews and CLI decisions. What’s your EQ FICO9 score (they provide this score to you on the website/app)?

NFCU also relies on their own proprietary risk score for credit decisions.

NFCU is big on DTI calculations. What’s your DTI?

And finally, that 40% UTI is a bit high. Even though it may be largely from an AU account, it will still factor into their decision.

[TexasFamMan]

I definitely can feel your pain on this one.  We got our BK7 discharge in April 2018 and within a month I got approved for my Discover it Secured, and in July my wife got approved for the NFCU nRewards Secured card.  My Discover is still secured despite paying the statement balance each month, making multiple payments to do so.  We use that card for all of our recurring charges to limit what's being pulled out of our bank account.  We often run the balance up to 80% of the credit line but that's just because of the recurring and automatic payments from some of our utilities, but again we pay the statement balance and have never paid any interest despite me passing my 9th statement with no luck.  My wife is an AU of this card.

On my wife's NFCU card we use it for gas and odds and ends purchases, often getting up to 80% of the credit line (this one is a lot lower than the Discover) but paying the statement balance each month making multiple payments to do so.  She just passed her 7th statement and it's still secured.  I am an AU on this card.  We also swapped our banking to NFCU after our last credit union of over 15 years wouldn't put preventative measures to stop our debit cards from getting hacked.

We have established postive credit since our discharge yet I can't get Discover or NFCU to graduate us to an unsecured.  I have tried a few times with an auto refi, a credit card, and the checking line of credit with NFCU and they all are denied.  The auto refi denial makes me scratch my head though.  I finally got someone to tell me that NFCU won't approve an unsecured credit card until 1 year post discharge.  Seeing that they denied yours after 1 year makes me think this will happen to me too.  Discover just can't give me a straight answer saying it's all computer driven and they can't tell.  Scores for both of us are in the low to mid 600s depending on the bureau.

See if your BK lawyer can help with that collection but my understanding is that won't just go away since it was included in the BK until 7 years have passed.

[JTC-137]

Don’t give up OP, it sounds like you’re rebuilding beautifully thus far. I know it stinks not having the numbers to show it. Your collection should read CLOSED $0 BALANCE, IIB. If it’s showing open that could be costing you some points.

Also you’re over a couple scoring thresholds on aggregate and individual util. There may not be much you can do on your AU card but try employing AZEO. You’re bound to see a decent gain there.

Like @TexasFamMan I opened my discover close to a year ago and it’s still secured. So you do have that going for you to show some progress is being made. I’m not sure what all of your installment loans add up to or what your income is, but I do think DTI really does play a major role with Navy. If the percentage is high-ish that could certainly be a contributing factor. I’m not sure if their policy changed tho...I recall one poster that had their secured nRewards for a little over 2 years.

Good luck and hang in there

[barbdaboss13]

Don't give up. I started with the secured nrewards card. I only utilized 10%. My chapter 7 discharge was 12/17. I had a whopping 545 at the time. After 6 months mine graduated to nrewards unsecured with a $2000 limit. Just 2 days ago they increased it to $3000. My FICO 9 says it's a 678. Just a little over a year.

[TexasFamMan]

My wife's NFCU nRewards is in the process of graduating as yesterday morning she logged in and noticed her credit line changed to $2,000 but it still shows Secured.  Finally something good is happening to move things forward!  This would be statement number 7 that just cut this weekend.  I'm now back in the Hang In There camp!

Hopefully with yet another big payment to pay the statement balance on my Discover (again for the 9th month in a row) hopefully it will graduate come early in March when the statement cuts.