Apply to Navy Federal, First tech or a combo? Looking for advice

[Dsc123]

Looking for general advice on who to apply to first for the best chance at the best (largest) approval amounts etc through Navy Federal Credit Union and First Tech Fed Credit Union.

I have a solid business venture that we need short term cash flow for (would love 75K total but less will still work too).  Looking to have me only (not the wife on the loan/cc,) get either a loan, credit card/s or unsecured line of credit (no house-Bay area- housing is crazy here). Not wanting to add my wife to the mix as a greater percentage of the CC debt is in her name. 

Lot of questions, hoping someone has thoughts, ideas, suggestions etc to help guide us)

1. Wondering who we apply with first (who is more sensitive to inquiries)

2. Which product (cc vs loans or both) we apply to for the best possible outcome (guesstimated outcome)

3.  Thinking we don’t apply for the Odyssey card (even though we need that high possible ccl) because we owe the IRS money (unemployed, 

      ugh).  Guessing that would come up and might shut us down entirely for ANY card or loan?  

4.  With first tech the hard pull is good for 30 days.  So if we apply to Odyssey and get turned down due to IRS owed, then apply for a different

     product does that IRS info hurt us all across the board?

At this point, my wife is thinking maybe we apply for the Choice Rewards and a line of credit/personal loan with First tech and a credit card with Navy Federal…thoughts?

First Tech

My wife has been a member for more than 40 years.  We have been married 34 years.  I got my own account because I got an auto loan through them maybe 18 years ago (which means I am a member in my own right, not just an add on to my wife's membership). My account basically had a deposit and zero activity over the years.

We jointly had 3 auto loans over the years (paid and closed, most recent closed 1 yr ago, no lates etc)

I had 1 auto loan (paid and closed) through them

When my wife was 18 she did a savings secured loan with them to get her credit history going.

We have jointly have 1 checking account (+ 4 joint checking accounts with children through my wife's membership)

3 savings accounts (+3 joint savings accounts - again kids) 

Navy

Zero history with them.  Would be joining and applying for card/loan at same time this week (through child of military member to join them).

My Data Points (per MyFICO reports)

Excellent Banking/Loan History with First tech)

FICO - Experian bank score 733 (per Myfico) (First tech pulls EX in our area)

General FICO                 EQ 725.     TR.  742.       EX 733

Loan FICO 9.                 EQ 760.      TR  763.        EX. 764

Bandcard score 8.        EQ 732.      TR.  747.      EX 738

Income 175 appox. (Self employed - this is gross income)

CCL about 40K. (With auth user it jumps to 64.5K)

Revolving Util 13% (per MyFico)

Debt to income more like 30-33% (My calc - Very high-using combined debt with wife) 

Just got Credit reports 100% clean (yah, past the 7 yr mark!)

Credit length 5 yrs 1 month (good but not great)

Age of most recently opened act - 1 yr 8 months

Credit mix - no current installment loans (so good but not great either)

[AverageJoesCredit]

Navy is not too inq sensitive whereas First Tech may be? You have history with First Tech  so i would shoot your shot first there see what falls from the tree. Then go for Navy. Id also look into Penfed as they have been pretty good with their members these last couple months imo. 

[Dsc123]

Thanks, I think that is a good plan.  Think I'll join Navy Monday and after a week, I'll appy for a card.  Wife has a PenFed 3 or 4 years now (10K) but it's pretty much maxed out, so not really an option unfortunately.  She's never asked for a CLI because she carries such a high balance. 

Actually I'm not on her PenFed cc, maybe I apply for my own membership and CC (Ill have to check and see if I'm on her membership too), hmmm....

[AverageJoesCredit]

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@Dsc123 wrote:

Thanks, I think that is a good plan.  Think I'll join Navy Monday and after a week, I'll appy for a card.  Wife has a PenFed 3 or 4 years now (10K) but it's pretty much maxed out, so not really an option unfortunately.  She's never asked for a CLI because she carries such a high balance. 

Actually I'm not on her PenFed cc, maybe I apply for my own membership and CC (Ill have to check and see if I'm on her membership too), hmmm....

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Im not 100% sure having her card maxed would be a bad thing when asking for a cli. If she doesnt mind using up a hp, i would either ask for a cli or even better apply for another cc. They might suprise you. If you are good on your payments, that might be important to them. I now carry half my debt with Penfed lol. 

Remember what your wife carries has no bearing on what they give you unless you are joint account holders. Some people have been able to get 2 ccs with Penfed more or less at same time so thats also a possibilty for you. Best of luck

[SouthJamaica]

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@Dsc123 wrote:

Looking for general advice on who to apply to first for the best chance at the best (largest) approval amounts etc through Navy Federal Credit Union and First Tech Fed Credit Union.

I have a solid business venture that we need short term cash flow for (would love 75K total but less will still work too).  Looking to have me only (not the wife on the loan/cc,) get either a loan, credit card/s or unsecured line of credit (no house-Bay area- housing is crazy here). Not wanting to add my wife to the mix as a greater percentage of the CC debt is in her name. 

Lot of questions, hoping someone has thoughts, ideas, suggestions etc to help guide us)

1. Wondering who we apply with first (who is more sensitive to inquiries)

2. Which product (cc vs loans or both) we apply to for the best possible outcome (guesstimated outcome)

3.  Thinking we don’t apply for the Odyssey card (even though we need that high possible ccl) because we owe the IRS money (unemployed, 

      ugh).  Guessing that would come up and might shut us down entirely for ANY card or loan?  

4.  With first tech the hard pull is good for 30 days.  So if we apply to Odyssey and get turned down due to IRS owed, then apply for a different

     product does that IRS info hurt us all across the board?

At this point, my wife is thinking maybe we apply for the Choice Rewards and a line of credit/personal loan with First tech and a credit card with Navy Federal…thoughts?

First Tech

My wife has been a member for more than 40 years.  We have been married 34 years.  I got my own account because I got an auto loan through them maybe 18 years ago (which means I am a member in my own right, not just an add on to my wife's membership). My account basically had a deposit and zero activity over the years.

We jointly had 3 auto loans over the years (paid and closed, most recent closed 1 yr ago, no lates etc)

I had 1 auto loan (paid and closed) through them

When my wife was 18 she did a savings secured loan with them to get her credit history going.

We have jointly have 1 checking account (+ 4 joint checking accounts with children through my wife's membership)

3 savings accounts (+3 joint savings accounts - again kids) 

Navy

Zero history with them.  Would be joining and applying for card/loan at same time this week (through child of military member to join them).

My Data Points (per MyFICO reports)

Excellent Banking/Loan History with First tech)

FICO - Experian bank score 733 (per Myfico) (First tech pulls EX in our area)

General FICO                 EQ 725.     TR.  742.       EX 733

Loan FICO 9.                 EQ 760.      TR  763.        EX. 764

Bandcard score 8.        EQ 732.      TR.  747.      EX 738

Income 175 appox. (Self employed - this is gross income)

CCL about 40K. (With auth user it jumps to 64.5K)

Revolving Util 13% (per MyFico)

Debt to income more like 30-33% (My calc - Very high-using combined debt with wife) 

Just got Credit reports 100% clean (yah, past the 7 yr mark!)

Credit length 5 yrs 1 month (good but not great)

Age of most recently opened act - 1 yr 8 months

Credit mix - no current installment loans (so good but not great either)

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1.  I'm sorry but I think your expectations are unrealistic.

2.  If you want to build up your scores a little before you apply you could do an SSL loan with NFCU (deposit 3100 in a savings account, take out SSL loan against it for 3100, then with money from the savings account pay the loan down to 280 or so).

3. With both NFCU and First Tech your best option would be to take out a non-rewards platinum card with no balance transfer fee and no cash advance fee.

[Dsc123]

Thanks for the response.  I like honesty.  If we go the loan route, how long do we hold the loan before it's at about 280?  You don't mean make one payment bringing it down, right.  I'm assuming you mean make several payments over months until it reaches 280.  I don't mind doing that but the business venture unfortunately won't wait that long.  So while we may do that, we also will need another avenue for credit cards or a line of credit as we don't want our cash tied up for 4-6 months until we see a payment through the company that we are invoicing.  We have P.O. with them so it's a sure thing not a fly by night venture we are talking about here.  The only downside is that we understand the company can take up to 4 months and sometimes 6 months before paying.  I'm a General Contractor so while we have some cash, we can't have it tied up that long as I have jobs I need to work on in those months.  

I was thinking that maybe we could apply for the Choice Rewards with First Tech as we have a solid history with them in length and loans, but you are suggesting we apply for the Platinum.  Would love to more feedback about why that one?  We also know someone at the Credit Union who told me years ago (about 15+ years ago) that it was super hard to get a card and not to apply at that time.  He is now works in the Mortage area so while I'm going to give him a call, I'm not sure he's going to know much about the CC arena at this time....Wondering what you know or think based on your experience?

[coldfusion]

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@Dsc123 wrote:

Thanks for the response.  I like honesty.  If we go the loan route, how long do we hold the loan before it's at about 280?  You don't mean make one payment bringing it down, right.  I'm assuming you mean make several payments over months until it reaches 280.  I don't mind doing that but the business venture unfortunately won't wait that long.  So while we may do that, we also will need another avenue for credit cards or a line of credit as we don't want our cash tied up for 4-6 months until we see a payment through the company that we are invoicing.  We have P.O. with them so it's a sure thing not a fly by night venture we are talking about here.  The only downside is that we understand the company can take up to 4 months and sometimes 6 months before paying.  I'm a General Contractor so while we have some cash, we can't have it tied up that long as I have jobs I need to work on in those months.  

I was thinking that maybe we could apply for the Choice Rewards with First Tech as we have a solid history with them in length and loans, but you are suggesting we apply for the Platinum.  Would love to more feedback about why that one?  We also know someone at the Credit Union who told me years ago (about 15+ years ago) that it was super hard to get a card and not to apply at that time.  He is now works in the Mortage area so while I'm going to give him a call, I'm not sure he's going to know much about the CC arena at this time....Wondering what you know or think based on your experience?

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I suspect where he is going is along the lines of being able to leverage the Platinum's 0% APR balance transfer option.

Off the top if my head I see a couple of potential concerns.

You're self-employed.  That in and of itself can tend to make credit unions a bit skittish.

The amount of unsecured credit you're looking for is nearly double that of the aggregate limit across all of your existing cards (AU is discounted because you aren't personally liable for the debt)

The positive history with the auto loans is relevant but by the same token those are secured loans so YMMV how an underwriter would factor them in.

I would follow up on your idea of having an informal chat with your contact at the CU.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Dsc123 wrote:

Thanks for the response.  I like honesty.  If we go the loan route, how long do we hold the loan before it's at about 280?  You don't mean make one payment bringing it down, right.  I'm assuming you mean make several payments over months until it reaches 280. 

No, you pay it down immediately. Only when you get under 10% do you get the nice score bounce.

I don't mind doing that but the business venture unfortunately won't wait that long.  So while we may do that, we also will need another avenue for credit cards or a line of credit as we don't want our cash tied up for 4-6 months until we see a payment through the company that we are invoicing.  We have P.O. with them so it's a sure thing not a fly by night venture we are talking about here.  The only downside is that we understand the company can take up to 4 months and sometimes 6 months before paying.  I'm a General Contractor so while we have some cash, we can't have it tied up that long as I have jobs I need to work on in those months.  

I was thinking that maybe we could apply for the Choice Rewards with First Tech as we have a solid history with them in length and loans, but you are suggesting we apply for the Platinum. 

What good is a rewards card to you? You're looking for money to put into the business.

Would love to more feedback about why that one?  We also know someone at the Credit Union who told me years ago (about 15+ years ago) that it was super hard to get a card and not to apply at that time.  He is now works in the Mortage area so while I'm going to give him a call, I'm not sure he's going to know much about the CC arena at this time....Wondering what you know or think based on your experience?

What I know is that (a) low interest credit union PLOC's and (b) credit union non-rewards low interest platinum cards with no cash advance fee or balance transfer fee, are the best ways I have found to borrow money as needed, and that both First Tech and NFCU have products like that.

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[Dsc123]

SouthJamaica asked, "What good is a rewards card to you? You're looking for money to put into the business."

I think our thinking was we could get a higher starting limit with the other card.  We can either use it to pay for parts or use it to pay for the production of the parts on the P.O.'s we have.  Not interested in the rewards part of the card at all.  I think that car has a starting limit up to $35K the Platinums will only go to $25K, so even if the starting limit isn't that high, we have the potential to drive it up higher over time with CLI.

Thanks for your helpful info and thoughts, appreciated!

[Dsc123]

As an aside, logged into my AMEX SCP card and requested credit limit from 4K to 12K as I have had the card for a few years and never asked or gotton a CLI.  Immediatedly approved!  Trying to figure out which cards are SP, to also increase them for the business expenses.

Thinking might also apply for a 3rd card with AMEX. or do the count AU users on my wifes Macys AMEX which would be our 3rd card with them.  I also wonder about applying for a business card, do they even look at the personal AMEX cards you already have when you do that?