NFCU Included in BK

Anonymous · ‎08-09-2015

I have been reading these forums for the last 2 days and I have learned so much.

I am honestly suprised that NFCU has been so great to people post BK. They weren't very good to us when we fell on hard times. We are in the process of filing BK and NFCU is going to be burned.

They repoed our car (we let that happen because we were severely upside down (owed more than 50% kbb value) and needed a new power steering pump and transmission work we can't afford) It has been a couple months since and we haven't recieved a letter regarding the sale of the car and what we still owe but the loan has been removed off of our online access.

Depending what they sold the car for, I will owe them max $17.k for the car and a credit card. Thats with the full balance of the car not the adjusted balance after the sale.

My husband is in a little worse with them (14k credit card) plus he is a co-signor on the loan.

Is it in our best interest to try and have a relationship with them post BK if it means paying back what we owe them? Are the benefits of an NFCU membership worth paying back money that is discharged?

We are a military family and USAA is also going to get burned and I know regardless of them being included in BK, they won't touch you for 10 years post BK or until it's off your credit report.

We are just in the beginning of this and we want to have a strong rebuild. I am trying to process all of this info about credit I never knew before reading these forums. TIA

CH-7-Mission-Accomplished · ‎08-09-2015

Navy is known to play hardball if you go into default with them. They are very forgiving of people with BK's, but totally unforgiving forever if you owe them (unless you pay them back everything).

Lots of people like Navy as a CU. The reason they are so popular with people with fresh BK's is that you can get a secured card with them and then in 6 to 12 months you can wind up applying for another card and getting 15K to 20K. Also it seems virtually everyone at Navy gets the full 15K line of credit attached to your checking account.

So Navy is known for allowing people with newish BK's, less than two years old, to get high credit limits. That's all.

Lately people have been getting high limits from Capital 1. I had three cards just combined to create a 28K limit on one card. So Cap 1 lets people get high limit cards in addition to Navy.

The way it used to work was for people not in with Navy, they would have to muck around with a 1K card from Barclay's, a 1K card from Discover, and other low limit cards, so it would take time to get the limits up. Higher limits lead to higher limits on other cards, so everybody wants high limit cards. Plus it's a lot easier to manage three or four 10K cards than 20 cards with 1K or $500 limits.

All that said, I would not use that money to pay Navy back. I know you don't owe 17K on the car, but assuming you were willing to pay Navy back the 17K plus 14K for your husband's card, you would have paid them back 31K, and you will never see that money again. But with that same 31K (or a lesser or greater amount) you could open a secured card with State Dept Fed CU (no credit check), and used that 30K card to entice others to give you high limits. Then after a year or two, you could close out that SDFCU secured card and get your 30K back.

Some folks who burned Navy for under 1K find it well worthwhile to pay them back to get back in, but for the amount you owe, Navy is just another CU and your money could be used to further your own interests.

paula629 · ‎08-10-2015

I burned Navy Federal for $1,400....it was easy to repay and get back in their good graces. In talking to a Supervisor, Navy typically extends personal, car, CLOC loans between the 6-12 month mark after BK. i agree with the amount that you owe, i wouldnt even attempt to pay them back. I am also a member of SDFCU, they arent as BK friendly as NAVY, but they will work with you. Get a secured card first, then start building with SDFCU.

TRC_WA · ‎08-10-2015

@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:

Lots of people like Navy as a CU. The reason they are so popular with people with fresh BK's is that you can get a secured card with them and then in 6 to 12 months you can wind up applying for another card and getting 15K to 20K. Also it seems virtually everyone at Navy gets the full 15K line of credit attached to your checking account.

Pretty ridiculous when you think about it... but hey, Navy has the portfolio to take the risks. I find it extremely odd that they will give out such large limits to people with profiles that don't support it... i.e. a wallet full of $1k cards and get a $10k-$20k limit with a recent BK7.

I'm with BECU (4th largest US CU) and they made me go with CapOne for 6 months before they'd even give me a CC... and over the last 18 months since they opened a $7k account for me I've got CLIs to $8.5k and 6 months later $10k on my card. No LOC unfortunately either.

It's too bad all CUs aren't the slot machine that is NFCU.

FICO8 current as of : 2-1-26 EQ: 713 TU: 702 EX: 705
Hard INQs last 12 months: EQ: 1 | TU: 2 | EX: 1
Verizon Visa $8500 Amex Delta Gold $10,000 Care Credit $18,000
NFCU CashRewards $13,500 Apple Card $7000 Best Buy $8000 Amazon $5000
STCU auto loan (2026 Hyundai Palisade Hybrid) 6.24%
HDFS motorcycle loan (2024 Harley Davidson Road Glide) 9.45%
Total CL: $70,000 --- Total CC UTI: 31% --- AAoA: 6.5 years --- Income: $257k
Last app: 1-31-26

CH-7-Mission-Accomplished · ‎08-10-2015

Hey TRC,

I'm in Seattle and also got in with BECU, but not until 12 months post discharge and a 620 TU score. They won't give a secured card below 620 TU. So I could not get a secured card with them, but they gave me a 5K limit at 12 months. I have not yet asked for a CLI and haven't used it much and it sits at 5K. Need to hit them up.

The thing about NFCU is that they are massive in size for a credit union. They are the Chase of credit unions, and their losses are substantially lower than many of the smaller ones who are tighter with credit. In terms of the top five credit unions in size:

NFCU = $58.1 billion

State Employees NC = $28.3 billion

Pentagon Federal = $17.6 billion

BECU = $12.6 billion

Schools First = $10.3 billion.

So NFCU is about 5 times larger than BECU.

The Feds started requiring the same stress tests for the largest credit unions (those over 10B assets) in 2014. The top four CU's were subject to the tests. The stress test results are not released as with the big banks, but the top four CU's are under much more scrutiny due to their size and potential impact on the financial system.

By comparison, Chase is $2.4 trillion

NFCU = $58.1 billion

My point is that I think Navy knows what it's doing. Sometimes little rinky dink local CU's have crazy tough underwriting guidelines. I'm not sure how well that serves them when it comes to profits.

TRC_WA · ‎08-10-2015

@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:
Hey TRC,

I'm in Seattle and also got in with BECU, but not until 12 months post discharge and a 620 TU score. They won't give a secured card below 620 TU. So I could not get a secured card with them, but they gave me a 5K limit at 12 months. I have not yet asked for a CLI and haven't used it much and it sits at 5K. Need to hit them up.

The thing about NFCU is that they are massive in size for a credit union. They are the Chase of credit unions, and their losses are substantially lower than many of the smaller ones who are tighter with credit. In terms of the top five credit unions in size:

NFCU = $58.1 billion
State Employees NC = $28.3 billion
Pentagon Federal = $17.6 billion
BECU = $12.6 billion
Schools First = $10.3 billion.

So NFCU is about 5 times larger than BECU.

The Feds started requiring the same stress tests for the largest credit unions (those over 10B assets) in 2014. The top four CU's were subject to the tests. The stress test results are not released as with the big banks, but the top four CU's are under much more scrutiny due to their size and potential impact on the financial system.

By comparison, Chase is $2.4 trillion
NFCU = $58.1 billion

My point is that I think Navy knows what it's doing. Sometimes little rinky dink local CU's have crazy tough underwriting guidelines. I'm not sure how well that serves them when it comes to profits.

Oh yeah, never doubted that. The numbers aren't surprising for a CU that is coast to coast and not just in 1 state like BECU.

As for me... I was discharged Ch 13 in May 2013 with scores 630 or so. I declined BECU's offer of a secured card and went with their advice of CapOne. (Yes the rep told me to apply with CapOne... LOL) I used CapOne for 6 months and then got the BECU card in December 2013 followed by the 2 CLI's (HP) and also had my previous car loan with them as well. I plan to refi my current car loan with BECU once my TU report is clear and I get a boost over 700... which should be next month with EE. BECU's best rate is 1.99%.

They've been good to me... but not as good as NFCU is to people... LOL

Thanks for the post. Lots of good info.

FICO8 current as of : 2-1-26 EQ: 713 TU: 702 EX: 705
Hard INQs last 12 months: EQ: 1 | TU: 2 | EX: 1
Verizon Visa $8500 Amex Delta Gold $10,000 Care Credit $18,000
NFCU CashRewards $13,500 Apple Card $7000 Best Buy $8000 Amazon $5000
STCU auto loan (2026 Hyundai Palisade Hybrid) 6.24%
HDFS motorcycle loan (2024 Harley Davidson Road Glide) 9.45%
Total CL: $70,000 --- Total CC UTI: 31% --- AAoA: 6.5 years --- Income: $257k
Last app: 1-31-26

ezdriver · ‎08-10-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
I have been reading these forums for the last 2 days and I have learned so much.

I am honestly suprised that NFCU has been so great to people post BK. They weren't very good to us when we fell on hard times. We are in the process of filing BK and NFCU is going to be burned.

They repoed our car (we let that happen because we were severely upside down (owed more than 50% kbb value) and needed a new power steering pump and transmission work we can't afford) It has been a couple months since and we haven't recieved a letter regarding the sale of the car and what we still owe but the loan has been removed off of our online access.

Depending what they sold the car for, I will owe them max $17.k for the car and a credit card. Thats with the full balance of the car not the adjusted balance after the sale.

My husband is in a little worse with them (14k credit card) plus he is a co-signor on the loan.

Is it in our best interest to try and have a relationship with them post BK if it means paying back what we owe them? Are the benefits of an NFCU membership worth paying back money that is discharged?

We are a military family and USAA is also going to get burned and I know regardless of them being included in BK, they won't touch you for 10 years post BK or until it's off your credit report.

We are just in the beginning of this and we want to have a strong rebuild. I am trying to process all of this info about credit I never knew before reading these forums. TIA

I will answer your specific question. NO!

If you are filing for ch7 bankruptcy, it means that you have no reasonable option to repay the debt that you owe ... to NFCU and all other creditors. Forget about which institution you will loook to when you begin rebuilding your credit profile. Focus on thebankruptcy and then worry about the repubing phase. All thebest to you.

Anonymous · ‎09-28-2015

I can't get sh*t from NFCU and I use to work for them. Finally, after applying for multiple loans and being denied, they approved me for a line of credit.