I'm at month 52 of 60 in an open Ch13. I REALLY wanted to wait until discharge but I'm in need of a new vehicle. I inquired with my Trustee who cleared me to shop for an auto loan AND unsecured credit considering I'm at the tail end of my case with flawless payment history. During my Ch13 I established a relationship with Navy Federal. I have 2 Navy Secured cards (initially Trustee only approved Secured cards <$500) which both graduated to unsecured with the typical $2,000 CLI where they have remained for years. I haven't heard success with Navy Federal for loans with an open case, but have heard many success stories with PenFed so I looked that direction.
Applied for a PenFed new auto loan (prior to opening any other accounts) and was approved for the $40K that I requested at 4.44% for 72 months. Selected the blank check option since I hadn't decided on a specific vehicle yet. Thinking this had to be a mistake, I tried not to get my hopes up. I mean, I'm in an open Ch13 and there was no request for a Trustee/Court approval, so it had to be an error right?. In the mean time I opened a checking and savings online with PenFed and created an online account. I then received an e-mail saying my auto loan check was on it's way with instructions to provide it to the dealer upon selecting a vehicle. Checking online the application status says "Fully Approved" and "Booked Draft". Again, thinking there had to be a mistake I called customer service who confirmed the approval and that the check was on it's way. Needless to say I'm pleasantly surprised! Auto loan application was a HP on Eq. No HP noticed for membership, but maybe the auto loan HP was sufficient?
Based on other reports of PenFed using a single HP for up to 30 days, I applied for the Platinum Rewards credit card and was approved for $6,000. Unfortunately this drove a second HP on Eq. I'm not complaining though because these will be my only HP with no plan to seek any other credit for as long as possible.
I'm unsure as to my Eq FICO but will update once I receive the notice from PenFed. My FACO says Eq is 723. Flawless history prior to Ch13 and with credit during the case. I've never had an affiliation with PenFed prior to these 2 incredibily suprising victories.
I, of course, will inform my Trustee of all actions to update them with the information but it seams they wont have to take any other action.
Anyone else have a success story like this? I'm left wondering when I will wake up from this dream.
