Navy Federal CU = Love

[WhoDat]

Been there, done that Amy. My "waste of money" credit monitoring service alerted me of an account that was just opened. This happened a few years ago. Long story short, one of the agencies reported a new loan. It ended up being an individual with the same first and last name, with the same middle initial that somehow got onto my report. I'm assuming this person has a different D.O.B., address, s.s. number, and yet it still ended up on one of my reports.

[help1234]

Do any of you out there know who actually services the credit cards thru Navy Federal? For example the credit union we are currently with had their name on the credit card, but in fine print at the bottom of the card it said "Elan Financial" (which we bk). This seems to be one of the problems I am running into... both the credit union and the bank we are currently using service thru "elan financial" AND we included all of the other major CC's in the BK.

[calco86]

Hey,

I pulled my credit report today and I am at Equifax 434, Experian 458 TransUnion 435 ... I should be discharged next month and wondering what should I do after I am discharged. Some how I have 45 negative accounts which are slowing being changed to included in Bankruptcy. What methods would you recommend to rebuild on those scores? I see you went from a 598 to a 648,661,712 in about 7 months. I am just trying to plan ahead.

Thank you,

Calco86

[Amy26]

Hi there, @Help1234 when I get my mastercard I will let you know if Navy uses another bank to service their cards.

@Calco86: Well, it all depends on what your credit looked like before you filed. My credit was pretty good before I filed. Even up to when I filed I didn't have any lates, charge offs or anything. About a week after discharge I started pulling my reports and cleaning them up. All of your accounts should say IIB and have zero balances. If they were not late or anything BEFORE you filed then they should not have any lates or charge offs reported AFTER your file date. Anything negative that was there before you filed can stay but there can be no negative reporting after your file date, except the IIB of course.

I also obtained an auto loan within a week of discharge and I still had student loans reporting positively as well. Within a few months I had obtained a Hooters MC and a Lane Bryant store account card. Following that I got an HSBC Reward Zone MC. I left my credit alone for about 4 months after that. I then joined a credit union who was bk friendly and refinanced my car. I was also able to get a capital one credit card about 6 months post bk (they were included in my bk). After that I left my credit alone again and didn't do anything till just recently when I joined NFCU (as reported in this thread). I have been charging as little as possible and then either paying things off or taking a few months to pay it off totally.

YMMV and its very dependant on what your credit looked like before you filed. I also found that when I disputed my accounts with Trans Union they actually removed the negative connotation on my accounts. So, my trans union account only has 1 negative account listed on it, so its my highest credit score of the three. Its very strange how the credit bureaus are very inconsistent with how they handle disputes. Two people could dispute the same things and get 2 different outcomes.

Anyways, I hope my little story was somewhat helpful.

[backtoschool]

Hi there, @Help1234 when I get my mastercard I will let you know if Navy uses another bank to service their cards.

@Calco86: Well, it all depends on what your credit looked like before you filed. My credit was pretty good before I filed. Even up to when I filed I didn't have any lates, charge offs or anything. About a week after discharge I started pulling my reports and cleaning them up. All of your accounts should say IIB and have zero balances. If they were not late or anything BEFORE you filed then they should not have any lates or charge offs reported AFTER your file date. Anything negative that was there before you filed can stay but there can be no negative reporting after your file date, except the IIB of course.

I also obtained an auto loan within a week of discharge and I still had student loans reporting positively as well. Within a few months I had obtained a Hooters MC and a Lane Bryant store account card. Following that I got an HSBC Reward Zone MC. I left my credit alone for about 4 months after that. I then joined a credit union who was bk friendly and refinanced my car. I was also able to get a capital one credit card about 6 months post bk (they were included in my bk). After that I left my credit alone again and didn't do anything till just recently when I joined NFCU (as reported in this thread). I have been charging as little as possible and then either paying things off or taking a few months to pay it off totally.

YMMV and its very dependant on what your credit looked like before you filed. I also found that when I disputed my accounts with Trans Union they actually removed the negative connotation on my accounts. So, my trans union account only has 1 negative account listed on it, so its my highest credit score of the three. Its very strange how the credit bureaus are very inconsistent with how they handle disputes. Two people could dispute the same things and get 2 different outcomes.

Anyways, I hope my little story was somewhat helpful.

I totally agree with Amy26 that how quickly you get large trade lines and good interest rates post bk depends on what your credit looked like pre bk. If you waited several years to file after stopping payments on the cards your scores will be much lower post bk than if you were current up to the time of filing. Lower scores will result in lower credit lines, etc. Also income is a factor, especially for auto loans. If you have a higher salary, in a stable profession (ie not "acting" or "musician", or "realtor" etc) you will get approved more easily for secured loans like auto loans.

As with anything ymmv.

[Amy26]

Got my card... It looks like NFCU handles their own credit cards.

[help1234]

Thanks for updating.. Maybe we will check them out.

[Amy26]

You're welcome.

I'm really happy with them so far. They actually approved me for a 3,500 Visa as well. I applied for their NAVChek overdraft protection line of credit and a car loan refinance and they initially denied me because of my stupid IIB accounts reporting delinquencies incorrectly but I sent in a reconsideration letter and told them why it showed up that way and then I got a call saying my check was ready to pick up and yesterday I received an approval notice for my NAVChek. So, I'm really thankful they have been generous with the credit lines. My utilization has gone way down and now I have all the credit I could need going forward and can just relax now.

The other cool thing was they have a discount with Geico and I was able to take my insurance down from 1500 a year to 271 per 6 month period. So all in all, I think everyone on this board should join them if they have the ability!

[bkdone]

I just got in...became a member at NFCU because my father is retired from the Air Force. It can be any branch of the service to quailfy you.

[WhoDat]

I just got in...became a member at NFCU because my father is retired from the Air Force. It can be any branch of the service to quailfy you.

Is your father a member?

[Charlie777]

My father (retired Navy) wasn't a member, but he put $5.00 into a savings account and joined, which allowed me to join.

[WhoDat]

Congrats Charlie! I have been trying for years to find a way in. Haven't had much luck. That was pretty cool of your father to set you up.

[bkdone]

Is your father a member?

He wasnt but I did what Charlie did...he opened a $5 savings account and then sponsored me in.

[bkdone]

Just got approved...Platinum Visa...$17500 CL, 12.99% after one year at 2.99% for balance transfers.

[IBroke]

I totally agree with Amy26 that how quickly you get large trade lines and good interest rates post bk depends on what your credit looked like pre bk. If you waited several years to file after stopping payments on the cards your scores will be much lower post bk than if you were current up to the time of filing. Lower scores will result in lower credit lines, etc. Also income is a factor, especially for auto loans. If you have a higher salary, in a stable profession (ie not "acting" or "musician", or "realtor" etc) you will get approved more easily for secured loans like auto loans.

As with anything ymmv.

Yeah, that's why I thought I should have filed much earlier.

On the other hand, though, filing BK when you were still current means that the accounts IIB will show for the complete 7 1/2 years after filing.

So right after discharge, your advantage of filing early is obvious - but that advantage will vanish over time as soon as the first old derogatory accounts fall of. If you filed when you were already a few years late, you will have a "spotless" BK credit-report ("bucket-advantage") much sooner than after 7 1/2 years.