Around 2017, I lost my job which led to a number of charge-offs to hit my credit report as I couldn't pay them back whatsoever. It caused hell on my reports and I've slowly been rebuilding since by opening secured cards and having them outweigh the chargeoffs and late payments. My scores are currently in the mid-low 600s with each bureau. (I'm to the point where I'd rather just let the burned lenders fall off my report in 2 years than start to mess with things since my state's SOL is only 3 years).
Only one of the charge-offs was small enough for me to handle and pay, which was with my longtime local credit union. After paying some accounts with them in full and settling on two others, they said I was back in good standing in their eyes. I even offered to PIF what I had settled, but they basically said "Don't worry about it, it's settled/paid and there are no restrictions that will prevent future lending or account products" I had periodically applied for low-limit cards with them as I wanted to try and get back in the door, but it just wasn't going to happen each time I tried for the last 2 years.
Fast forward until this weekend, and their internal scoring for lending gave me a score of 637 on EX. I figured screw it, I'll try one more time and app'd for a cash-back credit card and a LOC for $250 each.
I have extremely strong income again these days, but I wasn't expecting much. Then Monday morning I get two pre-approval e-mails stating that my requests were accepted and to call them to finalize the loan details. I was absolutely floored and excited that I could get back in the door with my longtime CU. But what floored me more was when they started to review the loan request and said "The computer says you're approved for up to $7.5K each on the CC and LOC if you want to change your loan request amount". I told them that I didn't want to prod too much which is why I went extremely conservatively with my requests, but the loan processor said "If the computer says you're approved for this much, I've never once seen it get kicked back after final review". I told them to go for it if that was the case, but I'd 100% be willing to accept a lower amount if it was an issue.
This morning, I saw the final approvals come in at $7.5K each, and the accounts added to my online banking. I'm ****ing bewildered and amazed. I literally have nearly $60K in unpaid charge-offs dating back from 2017 and they decided I was worthy. I haven't been able to get an unsecured card without a co-signer for YEARS outside of one other CU who took a chance on me and gave me a $500 CC and LOC each, but have refused CLIs since.
Just wanted to share my story that miracles DO occur, and I'd share the CU name, but I don't want to poke the bear on this one. They're gonna get my business for the rest of my life thanks to this.
