Hello, all,
I've been a member of this site for years, and have learned lots of great information from everyone sharing their stories, tips, and watchouts. I had some some pretty tough credit issues about 10 years ago, and have been on a process to come out from that. I worked hard to rebuild and five years ago, was able to build my first home five years ago. Since that time, I had a couple of setbacks due to one CC that I was 30 days late on twice, simply because I forgot to pay the bill (being super busy with work)! Silly mistake I know. My credit took a deep hit from that and I've been yet again trying to rebuild from that. Right now my FICO 8 scores are: EQ 629 TU 635 EX 642.
One of the issues I'm trying to tackle now is reducing my utilization, so I decided yesterday to apply for some additional credit to get access to more credit limits and reduce my overall utilization % while also paying down existing cards. I joined Navy Federal as a member back in 2017, applied for the flagship card at that time and got denied, even after recon. Yesterday, I decided to try again since I've had a relationship with them for a while now. Applied for the CashRewards card and immediately got approved for $20K!! I was very shocked and grateful! I've been reading on here about the 91/3 process for a CLI so once that time hits I plan to ask for a CLI on this card and apply for a 2nd card.
I also went ahead and applied for membership at PenFed, since I've read over the years how happy everyone is with them. I was immediately approved to be member, so I decided to try for a couple of cards there too. I applied for both the Power Cash Rewards card and the Promise card. Both of my applications went under review with UW, so I got a little nervous that I got a little too zealous with the apps. I hoped my hard pull was not going to be for nothing. Hours later, I received text messages that I had been approved for both cards! Granted, the CL is only $1000 for each of them (I was hoping for higher), but I'm in now and have the chance to get CLIs over time! So, I got $22K worth of additional credit in one day. I'd say that was a success. I'm going to stop there for now. I will charge lightly and PIF each month on these to help me with CLIs later, while paying down my other cards. I just wanted to share my story in case it helps someone here. Good luck to everyone!
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