I want to apply at Navy Federal.... but...

[TraumaMomm]

Hi! 

I've been kinda lurking around for quite a while now, and have used what I've learned to remove several things from our reports (mine and hubby's). We now have:

hubby:

Capital One, $200 CL

Household Bank $320 CL

Fingerhut: $125 (their starter account)

Crown Jewelry $2500 CL

Me:

Crown Jewelry $2500 CL

Fingerhut: $125 (starter account)

Capital One: $300 CL 

NONE of these cards is reporting to our credit bureaus yet. We just got every one of them in the last 30 days or so, lol. Our scores are:

Hubbys: (From TrueCredit)

TU: 564

EX: 610

EQ: 612

Mine: (From CreditCheck Monitoring)

TU: 551

EX: 520

EQ: 542

We each still have multiple baddies reporting. Numerous lates on the Chase Car loan (as recent as January-- which is BS, but we can't seem to get anywhere with that evil company), several little collections, and a bunch of old charge-offs from like 2005/2006 when we lost our home (foreclosure on HIS, not on mine). I have about 10 medical collections from a difficult pregnancy, emergency surgery, intensive care, etc, followed by 5 more surgeries. Our goal is to buy a home in a year or two (depending on how soon we can save up a nice down payment and improve these scores). I have multiple student loans in perfect standing, and we each have old paid auto and home loans (all closed).

I just re-joined Navy Federal after reading such awesome stuff about their credit generosity. I'm wondering what is the best way to approach a loan/credit card app with them. Should I wait a while? Should I use their banking somewhat for a while--(set up a small direct deposit and pay some bills, etc)? I just want the best chances of getting approved.

Thanks so much!

[DI]

If you keep applying for more credit your AAoAs is going to continue to decrease.  A decrease in AAoAs equals a decrease in your FICO score.  You may want to hold off applying  for anything with NFCU and let your inquiries and accounts mature.  Doing that would do wonders to your scores if you PIF and on time. 

[TraumaMomm]

maybe I'm nuts, but I applied all at once, in the hopes that they would all be a year or more old by the time we applied for a mortgage. We would have over a year of good payment history on our car loan, and several years on my student loans, etc. 

I've already joined Navy Federal. Oddly, they did a hard inquiry upon signing up. (I had no clue they did one-- oh well). 

I understand that what I did lowered our scores a bit. The scores I listed in the original post are our scores after applying, but before any new accounts have reported. 

Just curious WHEN is the best time, under the circumstances, to apply with Navy Fed, and if I should use their services for a while first.

[DI]

That was a good strategy to apply for everything at once.  That way all inquiries will fall off  and your new accounts will mature at the same time.  Your scores(even if they are not FICO score) are very low. If you ever want to pre-qualify for a mortgage, you do not want to apply for anything else for atleast 2-3 years.   You'd want to have your FICO scores in the mid to upper 700s when applying for a mortgage. 

[TraumaMomm]

that was basically my hopes with applying for everything at once.

As far as Navy Federal-- I'm not looking to apply for a mortgage anytime soon-- like I said, a year or two until we are even remotely ready. What I am wanting is another type of credit-- a loan maybe, possibly a way to refinance our auto loan from Chase and lower the insane 23.9% interest rate so we can pay it off sooner. Or, another line of credit, but with better limits (these $200 and $300 limits are pathetic, really. I understand the purpose, but if we can obtain higher limit cards, then all the better. Am I right?)

I would also be happy with a personal loan-- using the proceeds to set up a savings account, which would in turn be set up to automatically pay back the loan  

I'm trying here... hope Im on the right track.

[TraumaMomm2]

bump....

hoping I can get some information regarding my original question

[Anonymous]

Hi TraumaMomm! Welcome aboard!

Geesh... Sounds like you and I could trade some pregnancy horror stories. By chance, are all of your collections paid? I'm asking because I want to add my $.02 about how best to pursue a lending relationship with NFCU, but I want to better understand your situation first.

[TraumaMomm2]

no, they're not all paid.

Tell me what you know! LOL

[Anonymous]

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@TraumaMomm2 wrote:

no, they're not all paid.

Tell me what you know! LOL

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Multiple chargeoffs, multiple collections and recent lates.  Unless you have a decent job, good income and direct deposit into NFCU, I don't see any hope.  And even then I'd doubt you get much of a limit.

[Anonymous]

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@TraumaMomm2 wrote:

no, they're not all paid.

Tell me what you know! LOL

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My suggestion, then would be to visit our Rebuilding Your Credit forum first. There, you'll find a wealth of information, and helpful contributors willing to help you on the road.

As O6 mentioned in the previous response, I seriously doubt that NFCU would be willing to grant credit yet. And, even if you were able to convince them, that's probably not a move you want to make with unpaid collections. Opening brand new accounts is likely going to wake up any sleeping collectors and reinvigorate them to the idea that you have the money to pay.

I'm always saying this, but it really is the best advice that I've ever gotten here... Repair first, then rebuild.