Advice on NFCU Share Secured Loan

[Anonymous]

How exactly does this work? Do I have to have the money in the account to back it up? Do I have to pay it way down right away?

[Anonymous]

Update:  Tru Score increased by +13 / EQ Score increased by +16.   I have now paid the SSL down to $199 and will leave as is since my payment is 93.52 and not due until 06/2021.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Update:  Tru Score increased by +13 / EQ Score increased by +16.   I have now paid the SSL down to $199 and will leave as is since my payment is 93.52 and not due until 06/2021.

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I would still make an occasional payment, even if it is just a couple bucks every six months.  Many CUs and banks have a policy of charging fees if an account (savings, checking, loan, whatever) stays inactive for a long time.  Some will close the account prematurely even.  It's very rare for a fee to kick in before month 11, however.

[Anonymous]

I'm planning on opening a SSL through NFCU but for a different reason and wondering if anyone else has been in the same boat. My issue is that I just started building my credit in January of this year and it's been going very well but I have limited credit history since no accounts showing older than 8 months. I do have an auto loan from June 2018 through DCU as well as a DCU credit card with 4k limit. I have a few other smaller cards such as Cap 1 and US Bank secured. no late payments or negatives on my report at all and util around 26%. I've opened a checking account with NFCU but was denied a CC due to limited history.  I was advised by them that opening a SSL would be a good way to build history with them in order to be approved for credit products in the near future. 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a good plan if that is what they advise.

The other strategy that you should adopt along side this is AZEO.  That stands for all zero except one.  Make sure that you have all credit cards reporting $0 except one, with the remaining card reporting a small balance (e.g. $15).  There's no advantage in doing AZEO every month, but you should definitely be doing it in the 45 days prior to your next application for credit.

[Anonymous]

Yes I did make sure all cards other than the DCU card were at $0 when I applied for a card earlier this month. It appears that my scores and balances are not an issue and it is primarily just that I need to wait a few months to let my accounts age a bit more. From what they have told me as well as info I've gathered on this site it seems that NFCU puts more emphasis on your relationship with them than most other lenders do so building some history with them can't hurt.

[Anonymous]

Hi Maze.  Just to be clear, I am advising that you have all cards at zero except one with a small balance on the remaining card (e.g. $15).

If you had done that, you would have had a utilization of 1%.  You mention earlier that your utilization was at 26%.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, I definitely understand. I don't believe that the utilization is an issue currently with my denials. I do agree that to give myself the optimal approval chances that I should have my primary card reporting a small amount such as $15 in the future.

[Anonymous]

Good for you and best of luck!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Yes I did make sure all cards other than the DCU card were at $0 when I applied for a card earlier this month.

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DCU is the wrong card to choose for this. DCU reports to the bureaus with a delay, unlike the banks which report it like clockwork. Not an issue normally, but if  you're employing this method it becomes an issue if you choose to use DCU as your reporting card.