To those PSECU members, a question...

[Lyythine]

Ok, so I became a member of PSECU about 4 months ago through my sister.  Im not even going to talk about the 2 months it took me to actually get my membership papers after mailing them almost every kind of documentation save getting into my car and showing up at their doorstep.

Anyway, last week I applied for their credit card and was declined due to....

1) Excessive amount of new credit accounts opened within the past 12 months

2) Excessive amount of available credit

Ok, so heres my issue:  I have opened two accounts within the past year, one auto loan for over 40k which is already down to 17k and another credit card with a 12k limit which I owe nothing on.

I understand the second reason, well, because I do have an excessive amount of available credit, however, I also have the annual salary to back it up.

My question is, should I bother with a full recon?  I called the CSR number and she said they dont really offer recons since each application is manually reveiwed, however, I could send in a letter explaining my situation and documentation with regards to proof of income (W2's/TaxReturns).

From what Ive heard, they are a pretty good credit union and are like NFCU with limits, which I like.  Is it worth the time and effort to do this?  

[Anonymous]

Can you give us some CR, FICO, income, AAoA and amount of available credit info?

It is possible that PSECU has become more conservative with all the applications.  It only took me 3 weeks and no docs for membership nor for credit app, and they had sent me a "pre-qualified" Visa application stating $10,000 CL about 3 weeks after I joined.  I originally joined strictly for the EX FICO. I had opened quite a few new accoutns and had a lot of inquires and had no intention of applying for credit.  Then they sent the pre-qual and I just couldn't help myself.  I app'ed the $10k and was approved within 12 hours.  A few days later I app'ed for upgrade to the combo Visa-LOC (PSL/Visa) and $20k total CL and was approved within 8 hours.

They never asked for any income docs, ID docs or anything other than online app, then print and fax back the membership app and then print and fax back the CC and PSL/Visa acceptance and activation forms.

I really like PSECU.  My wife got exactly the same treatment.  Since then I have been hearing about it taking 2 months, requiring ID docs, etc.  Not sure if they decided they were getting so many apps they decided to really scrutinize.

Message Edited by txjohn on 01-25-2010 08:15 PM

[Lyythine]

Sure, I can give you some more info:

Credit Report:  No Negatives, oldest account 10yrs (23ys if you count my dad's Amex which I am an AU on)

AAoA: 4.7 

FICO:  Since I just enrolled in PSECU's service, I dont know my ex fico, but TU is 798, EQ is 802

Income: W2 shows a little over 125k, if they ask for tax returns, it will show well over 200k in income due to rental properties owned by me and my father.

Debt: Little/No revolving debt ( about 1k usually reports because Amex sucks).  owe 17k on 40k car loan opened almost a year ago.  owe 30k on a joint mortgage for a new rental property which started at 140k 4 years ago.

Available Credit: ~120k  

I was really just wondering if their customer service/rates were worth my time to go through the hassle.  You were the one person I was hoping would respond because of other threads Ive read where you commented on them 

[Anonymous]

What did they ask you for when you app'ed membership? What kind of documentation?

If they've gone nuts I'll cross them right off my list. I have enough other suitable candidates for my business. I don't have to tolerate twitchiness. Could be JFCU all over again.

[Lyythine]

well, apparently the address on my CR isnt the same as my current address, which is odd because ive lived at the same address for 3 years and never had a problem.  So, due to that and a Security Alert on my CR, initiated by me, they needed the following:

1) copy of DL (this was a whole different issue which i will explain below)

2) Copy of SS Card

3) Copy of another form of ID (I gave my passport)

4) Two utility bills showing current address (I gave them gas/electric bill)

That was the first mailing....

I then got a letter stating I could not be verified due to the utility bills being under a different apt number....  Ok, so here's the issue... I own the building I live in.  I live in one of the apartments, however, the gas and electric are under the building as a whole, I pay for all of them since I include this as a fee in each tenants rent.  

So... after writing a letter explaining this, they wanted me to provide proof of ownership.  So i faxed in a copy of the deed.  Didnt matter I guess that each bill was in my name solely...  

Just seemed like a lot of excess work for a silly address verification.  Who the hell cares which apartment it is if the address is exactly the same?  I just wanted to make sure that my mail went to my mailbox since each tenant has their own secure box.   

So in regards to the DL issue:  Like i said, I own multiple properties including several multi-level apartment buildings and homes along with my father. One of the homes is vacant, needs to be refurnished and about 50k needs to be invested to make it sellable in this market.  We havent done anything with it for over a year.  When it came time for my DL to be renewed, I changed my address to that house's address since it was outside of the city limits and has a much lower local tax rate.  In the city, where I live, the local tax rate is 3.6%.  Using that house as my permanent residence, which is legal since I own the property, my local tax rate is a flat 1% saving quite a bit in local taxes.

When i sent them a copy of my DL, they questioned that and wanted me to get a new license to reflect the address where I wanted my bills/statements sent to (which would be the city address).   I refused to do this and eventually had them change my info in their system where all my mail/statements/ etc from them would go to the house address listed on my DL.

I probably am causing half the problems myself, but Ive never had this issue with any other institution before.  Ive had to do an address verification, but it has never been any more involved them sending them utility bills and copy of DL or SS card.  Just seemed a bit much, especially the copy of the deed... 

[score_building]

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@Anonymous wrote:

What did they ask you for when you app'ed membership? What kind of documentation?

If they've gone nuts I'll cross them right off my list. I have enough other suitable candidates for my business. I don't have to tolerate twitchiness. Could be JFCU all over again.

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not even for a free PFICO... we did it for wamu, lol.

[Anonymous]

Okay, I can tell you this....you want/need your membership and credit applications to EXACTLY match what is shown as your CURRENT address on your CR.  You want your CR to EXACTLY match your DL and at least 1 utility that you are able to submit.

My applications were all exact matches, without any variance and required no explanation.  It looks like you have many similarities in FICO and income to me at the time of my app.

The first thing I did before I made any applications was to verify and correct all of my CR's for how my name was reported, my current address, my phone (for those CR's that report), my current employer's name and my SS# (had a "other ssn" reported which was a family member on EX).

I had to do all of this in writing and took several rounds of letters until the CRA's finally got it all right.  I had to send them copies of my DL, SS Card, Birth Certificate (proving my legal birth name because they had "also known as" reported incorrectly....and they had my name reported as Jr."

Once I had my name, address, phone and current employer (and correct order of former employers), only then did I begin my applications.  And the result is that I never had a single request for ID verification beyond the normal online security questions. 

Any time you have to "explain" anything, you bring yourself unwanted scrutiny (manual) that bottlenecks the process and likely makes someone possibly take a conservative manual action on you.

My advice:  get your CR's perfect, not just in credit, but proper identity for your name and addresses, employer's name.  When you do this, then your report verifies your application.  But if they have differences, they seem to assume you are fudging...and in light of the fact that there is so much ID theft, fraud and the like....they have to use the lowest common denominator as a general rule.

Finally, yes, I think PSECU is worth it.  If they are willing to review your income through W-2 and/or return and paystubs, then I would do so.  You have all ready taken the inquiry.

Several of the  CU's can be uber-conservative up front, but then reward you after with great service, products and rates. 

[Anonymous]

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@score_building wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

What did they ask you for when you app'ed membership? What kind of documentation?

If they've gone nuts I'll cross them right off my list. I have enough other suitable candidates for my business. I don't have to tolerate twitchiness. Could be JFCU all over again.

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not even for a free PFICO... we did it for wamu, lol.

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I was in a different place then - and I did it for Providian. Would I do that again now? Ugh!

[Anonymous]

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txjohn wrote:

Okay, I can tell you this....you want/need your membership and credit applications to EXACTLY match what is shown as your CURRENT address on your CR.  You want your CR to EXACTLY match your DL and at least 1 utility that you are able to submit.

My applications were all exact matches, without any variance and required no explanation.  It looks like you have many similarities in FICO and income to me at the time of my app.

The first thing I did before I made any applications was to verify and correct all of my CR's for how my name was reported, my current address, my phone (for those CR's that report), my current employer's name and my SS# (had a "other ssn" reported which was a family member on EX).

I had to do all of this in writing and took several rounds of letters until the CRA's finally got it all right.  I had to send them copies of my DL, SS Card, Birth Certificate (proving my legal birth name because they had "also known as" reported incorrectly....and they had my name reported as Jr."

Once I had my name, address, phone and current employer (and correct order of former employers), only then did I begin my applications.  And the result is that I never had a single request for ID verification beyond the normal online security questions. 

Any time you have to "explain" anything, you bring yourself unwanted scrutiny (manual) that bottlenecks the process and likely makes someone possibly take a conservative manual action on you.

My advice:  get your CR's perfect, not just in credit, but proper identity for your name and addresses, employer's name.  When you do this, then your report verifies your application.  But if they have differences, they seem to assume you are fudging...and in light of the fact that there is so much ID theft, fraud and the like....they have to use the lowest common denominator as a general rule.

Finally, yes, I think PSECU is worth it.  If they are willing to review your income through W-2 and/or return and paystubs, then I would do so.  You have all ready taken the inquiry.

Several of the  CU's can be uber-conservative up front, but then reward you after with great service, products and rates. 

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Gotta say I agree with this complete and that I, too, have never had an issue or been asked to verify anything. Then again, everything agrees!

[Anonymous]

BTW....one additional recommendation I will give:

Whenever you make any applications, ALWAYS have a fresh copy or your current CR's within the past 90 days (all 3....or at least the one you know will be pulled) so that any security questions you may answer EXACTLY as they are contained in your CR.

TrueCredit, CreditCheckTotal, etc. are not good enough.  You need direct CR's from the CRA because only those provide you ALL of the details that may come up on ID security questions, including past addresses, accounts, amounts, etc.  DO NOT rely on your memory or guess or assume you know.  When making an application, the lender cares less about what is factual and more that your answers MATCH!

And that brings us right back to making sure you have corrected and updated all personal information on all of your CR's prior to app'ing, and having a current CRA report in front of you when you make membership and credit applications so that you always enter the exact CR information so you get exact matches and thus greatly reduce the flags and extra hoop jumping to prove your ID, etc.

IMO  IME