NFCU Flagship -- Should I apply?

[Jarheadmajor]

Would like to get my 2nd card with Navy Fed but not sure if it's the right time.  I have been a member since 1991.  I got a GoRewards card in Jan 2022, SL $3500.  Got a CLI to $7500 in April but didn't apply for another card at that time.  I currently have a Flagship checking (opened this month) and savings account, direct deposit of retirement every month; however, the balances of both accounts is low right now.  I did have a rough loan history in the past but has been paid off.  As of January, internal score was 249.  TU FICO 8, 702; Bankcard 8, 711; FICO 9, 671.  CU is sitting around 34%, CU for the GoRewards is 25%.  Income is a bit north of $200k.  Pre-qualify tool shows I'm qualified for all the NFCU cards.  Should I pull the trigger, wait or maybe apply for the Cash Rewards instead?

[keekers]

If it were me I'd get the utilization down before I applied for the Flagship card; NFCU is big on DTI (that should boost your FICO scores a bit as well). I'm not an expert on the NFCU internal scores but 249 seems average I believe (someone else chime in here if I'm off base) but I'm guessing that was before your Flagship checking (no clue how much that will raise your internal score). All that said, you would of course have a better shot at the Cash Rewards card since the UW is looser.

[Anonymalous]

249 seems a bit low. A lot of the successful applications seem to be closer to 300. And given your income, that's a fairly low SL. Do you have the ability to bring down your utilization?

[Jarheadmajor]

The overall CU I can bring down a bit.  Was planning to drop the OneRewards down to <= to 20% since it's the NFCU one.  It was a low SL but I think that's probably because of the consolidation loan that hit several bumps.  However, the CLI at 91 days went off without a hitch.  I tried to call/message to get my updated internal score with no luck.  Frankly, I was trying to get a 2nd card in hopes of a banging SL which would drop my CU and then cancel some builder cards i.e. Credit One.

[Anonymalous]

Navy doesn't share their internal score unless you apply for credit. And they've been giving out +$8000 CLIs (I got one in Feb), though they also seem to limit it to triple your SL (so +$7000 in your case). If they only gave you +$4000, you might have hit the max credit they're willing to extend you at this time.

[Jarheadmajor]

CORRECTION:  I doubled checked and my GoRewards SL was actually $2500.  So, my CLI in April actually tripled the CL to $7500.  Not sure that changes anything but wanted to correct it.

[kilroy8]

Why not MoreRewards?

IMO, a much better card.

[Jarheadmajor]

Because it's an AMEX.  I think I've been painted by them for bad history.  Long ago history but was denied last year for an AMEX Hilton Honors and the rep pulled up said history.  Thought that was the reason for the denial.

[pizzadude]

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@Jarheadmajor wrote:

Because it's an AMEX.  I think I've been painted by them for bad history.  Long ago history but was denied last year for an AMEX Hilton Honors and the rep pulled up said history.  Thought that was the reason for the denial.

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AMEX won't be involved in the approval / underwriting process for this, it's only NFCU, so any prior bad history with AMEX cards won't be counted against you other than what might be showing on your credit reports. 

[Jarheadmajor]

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@pizzadude wrote:

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@Jarheadmajor wrote:

Because it's an AMEX.  I think I've been painted by them for bad history.  Long ago history but was denied last year for an AMEX Hilton Honors and the rep pulled up said history.  Thought that was the reason for the denial.

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AMEX won't be involved in the approval / underwriting process for this, it's only NFCU, so any prior bad history with AMEX cards won't be counted against you other than what might be showing on your credit reports. 

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Thanks for this I didn't realize that.  But, I assume that the UWs will be more strict like with the Flagship, yeah?