Navy Federal journey

[BrotherArt]

Whats up everyone. This is my first post on here. Want to start by thanking the community for all the info on here. Been lurking for a couple years whenever I needed advice but this year I'm finally fixing my credit. Was in the 400s less than 2 years ago. Currently at 634 fico on experian, 682 and 684 on credit karma. Was a bit higher until my recent app spree.

Anyways. I saw someone post on here about their navy Federal application. I did some DD and decided to join (dad was a marine). I got a checking account and applied for a credit card, knowing I would get denied but wanted to see what proprietary score they would give me. I'm actually pleasantly surprised at the results. 

Score is 216

(For anyone who doesn't know, their scores range from 100 up to 450)

I have many delinquent payments (cosigned for friends car few years back. I know, I know. Stupid) low age of history (opened like 7 accounts in the past year, 4 of them less than 2 months old and an amex that hasn't reported yet)

Navy Federal didn't use any of that in their decision. Shocking. 

The key factors in their decision were

1) balance of navy Federal accounts

2) number of inquiries on credit report 

3) direct deposit status with navy fed

4) insufficient variety of secured loan accounts (this one shocked me) 

I was trying to transfer money to this account last week but my other bank account was grayed out and unselectable. Will go to the nearest location and deposit cash some time this week.

Just set up direct deposit immediately after reading the letter.  

I'm gonna try again in a few months. But other than that, I'm gardening until new years day. Hoping to break into 700 territory by then

[DONZI]

Welcome!

I'm new at Navy also and suspect you'll find joining a good decision.

Unless your denial was for their secured card, you might want to call or message them to see about getting their nRewards card to add some additional activity with them.

[BrotherArt]

Thanks. It was for the regular cashRewards card. Was trying to avoid any more secured cards, seeing as I just got the blue delta amex, discover secured it, and a best buy visa.  Plan was to garden with those to boost scores high enough to get a standard card with navy. Assumed that would work out quicker than having to play around with a secured card for half a year. 

Do you have any info or data points on the secured card? Would mainly like to know about how long (with responsible use) would it take for secured card to be graduated 

Also what card did you get and what was your credit score with them? I'll have to do more research because this proprietary score is interesting

[DONZI]

I seem to recall reading some nRewards cards were graduating at 6 months.

My experience with that card is 0 -- but I'd assume it can be obtained without a credit check since it's secured.

If you search the forum for "nRewards" or "NFCU nRewards", etc your sure to find a slew of DP and experiences with that card.

My internal score when I was approved for the More Rewards card was 284. This they extrapolate with at least the applicants FICO TU score -- version 9 as I understand it. Not sure if that is simply "9" or "bankcard 9" or other.

FWIW, at approval myFICO showed that my TU8 was 769 and my TU9 was 817 -- bankcard variety TU scores were (v8) 829 and (v9) 826

[BrotherArt]

I went ahead and applied for the secured card earlier. Instant approval. It was a hard pull on transunion. 

I did the minimum $200 deposit for now, may raise it in the near future. 

I'll report back here in the future with any updates on graduation or approval for a different nfcu card

[WowCool]

Welcome!!! And congrats on your new nRewards card!!

[TekkenQQ7]

Congratulations.

[DONZI]

Congrats on the instant approval and the nRewards headstart with NFCU !

Although 2 (?) cards are secured, from what I read the Disco and NFCU secured are among the best available and both have useful unsecured cards to graduate into.

Having acquired 7-8 cards in a year sounds great considering "many delinquent payments" and low AAoA.

[BrotherArt]

Having acquired 7-8 cards in a year sounds great considering "many delinquent payments" and low AAoA.

---

Age of oldest account is over 6 years, the delinquent payments were 29 late payments in the last 5 years, 26 of which are from my friends auto loan. Other 3 are from beginning of the covid pandemic.. So I guess it's not affecting my credit too bad.

Fortunately the friends car is almost paid off. They ruined my credit. I was 22 with 5 credit cards, 2 of them chase. Had just hit 700 score. Watched it fall to 400 in just a few months. Crushed me.

After that, capital one canceled both cards I had with them (said something like "you no longer fit our criteria) and then I stopped paying chase.  I let the balances go into collections. Made the mistake of giving up.

Fast forward, Paid that all off this past winter and started my credit journey over after being dormant for several years. 

Once experian fico hit around 650 in May I went on an app spree, wanted to get as many "good" cards I could while I could. I was relying on credit one and self lender to keep me afloat this whole time   wanted to get my foot in the door and start gardening ASAP.

Sorry for all the extra info but just trying to give some background on how/why I am where I am.

[DONZI]

That's too bad what happened with the credit, I hope the friendship didn't tank too.

Your young enough to watch your credit speedbumps fade away as time goes on. IMO, better than watching friends fade away.

edit: thanks for the additional info. That does add more perspective, which often helps the credit gurus here jump in before noobs like me.