Apply for NFCU/Amex CC, or wait?

[8bitmachinegun]

A few months back I joined NFCU and got a savings and checking account, though I've used them very little. My membership seems to be accomplishing little at this point. Making them my primary financial institution seems rather inconvenient, since 1) I'm already a member of a local CU and 2) the closest branch is ~100 miles away. Nonetheless, I'd like to put my membership to use by getting a CC, either now or sometime in the future.

Very shortly I will need to be spending ~$15k on house repairs and cleanup. That's a very loose estimate, and the price could get quite a bit higher. Currently I have an AMEX BCE with a $15k CL (12 months remaining on intro APR of 0%), an Apple Card with a $5K limit, and a couple of $500 CL MasterCards. Most of these cards have 20%+ interest, so I'd like to get something a little lower. I'd like to be in a position where my house expenditures only utilize 30% of my total CL, so I guess I'd need $45K+ of available credit. I'm not sure that's even possible with my scores (about 690 across all bureaus) and income (almost exactly $60K.) On the up side, my DTI ratio is 11/22.

I have 2 recent HPs on TransUnion, which I believe is what Navy usually pulls. In another 4-5 months, my 10 year old BK7 should fall off my credit report, which should help my score some. (I would rather be started by then.) Newest account is currently 3 mos old, oldest is 5 years old.

One feature I'd like on any card I get is the extended warranty. A couple of weeks ago I tried to get pre-approved with a SP for the Amex Blue Preferred with EW, and succeeded. I didn't bite though, fearing yet another high APR.

Should I go ahead and try to get an NFCU card with a hopefully reasonable APR, try for an AMEX and hope I get an APR <20%, or just sit on it until the BK7 fades into oblivion?

[AllZero]

All Navy cards are <20% APR. Highest being 18%.

You can always try calling Navy csr and see if you have any pre-approvals.

[8bitmachinegun]

Thanks for the info. I'm a little fuzzy on pre-approvals. Do I have to request a pre-approval, or would I just have one without knowing about it? If I have one, would it show up on the website or mobile app? Would getting a pre-approval trigger a hard pull?

Thanks again...

[Jnbmom]

You can call navy and ask them if you are eligible for any pre approvals. These will not show up on their website. If you apply it was be a HP.

[Shooting-For-800]

Most Navy cards are 0% for 12 months.

Most get much higher limit on second Navy card.

Start now.

GL!

[Anonymous]

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@Shooting-For-800 wrote:

Most Navy cards are 0% for 12 months.

Most get much higher limit on second Navy card.

Start now.

GL!

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+1

[Anonymous]

They're offering 1.99% on purchases and BTs for 12 months on their cards right now which is nice because they don't usually offer promo APRs on purchases. 

Just don't get the Flagship - it's not only harder to get approved as a first card but the normal generous $500 SUB is gone right now in favor of the beginning of the year BT and purchase APR. 

I agree with getting a card ASAP. The first one isn't always a large limit and you have to go 91 days and 3 statements between first and second card approval. 

[M_Smart007]

Glad I got The 0% APR 0% Fee Platinum, Should I need it.

[Anonymous]

I agree with getting your first Navy card now as the second card usually gives the higher CL. Also as was mentioned you can call them and ask them to check if you are pre-qualified for any cards, but for me that wasn't quite accurate (they told me I had no offers, but I applied anyway and was automatically approved).

[Citylights18]

As a NFCU banking veteran they have a generous Checking Line of Credit (CLOC) which will go as high as 15,000. My APR as I just checked is 13.90% with it, not the best but better than commerical bank CCs. What you can essentially do though with it is use it as a cash advance to pay off that tiny mortgage quicker or have it as padding for PIF credit cards if you spend more than you bring in for a month.

Their cards have a good earning rate and you only need 2 of them to cover the areas. Flagship is x3 travel and x2 everything else. Go Rewards is x3 restaurants, groceries, transit and gas while x1 on everything else. They also have a shopping portal to earn more rewards which can work with the x2 everything card the Flagship.

I had the Flagship, Checking and CLOC. I grew the Flagship to 73,000 and at one point I had more than 73k on the card. I started paying the card down with the CLOC with a 12,500 extra payment in addition to what was in my checking. I could afford to do it like once a quarter and in the month I would make the 20k buydown you didn't have to make the minimum on the card which was like 1460. That helped to recover your checking account and if you went over there was 2.5k of margin in the CLOC just in case. The next month the minimum required dropped with a new balance of 53,000 (but I was considering to spend on the card so more like 55,000 plus interest).

What would have been ideal is if I could have moved some of that spend over to a More Rewards Card while I was doing it then funneling the cash back to make payments on my balance. That way I wasn't as accruing as much interest from my spend. It would have reduced my buydown to 18k but reduced my blance each quarter by 2k while alllowing me to rack up more cash back to paydown the debt.

Instead I decided to open up cards with Chase, not unlike what the OP is suggesting for AMEX with the idea of picking up some airline points. While NFCU doesn't have airline transfer partners you can still double dip the airline shopping portals for miles. It won't quickly deliver the points in airline account to put you on a plane like a CSP can do but if you don't fly its not a big consideration. But it could funnel 700 or 800 in cash back a year to help with paying down your balance.

AMEX and Chase are designed for the PIF consumer looking for travel perks. NFCU is good for managing household expenses. Free ATM and low AF cards. CLOC which a lot of issuers don't have. Good starting limits on NFCU cards that are growable.