californiadreamin

Hello CB Family! I was wondering if anyone had luck getting off the NFCU blacklist. I had to file BK a few years back due to getting sidelined at work after an accident. Obviously I couldn’t pick and choose who I included in my BK and I regretted including NFCU and AMEX. I applied for a secured card with NFCU and was instantly denied for causing them a loss. I contacted them and asked how I could pay off my past debt (which is something I can do easily since my balance wasn’t very high on my old credit card. They replied that since I caused them a loss, I wouldn’t ever be able to obtain any credit product with them again. For anyone that has had luck with getting back in with NFCU (and even AMEX for that matter), how did you do it? It seems like my cash isn’t good enough for NFCU. Has there been a policy change that no longer allows paying off old debt to get back in with them? Thank you in advance!

I haven’t logged on in a bit, but I’ve been gardening and bringing up my score after my BK discharge in 2019. I applied for a Lowe’s account and got a 7-10 day message with a reference number. I noticed that my credit was not pulled. When I called them, the overseas customer service rep transferred me back to a stateside fraud analyst. They made me go through some website to record myself for five seconds and the take pictures of my drivers license. After that, the verification website instructed me to call in with a passcode. I called back in and the woman put me on hold. While on hold, I got notification that my credit was pulled and then she comes back on the line and says “Congratulations” and provided me with my credit limit. I forgot the exact amount, but it has a weird limit ending that ended in 37. It was under 5k and was something like $4,537 or $4,837. I was thrown off by the last two number as I’m used to it being 00. 1) Has anyone gotten a seemingly random credit limit with Lowe’s (Synchrony)? 2) Has anyone gone through that verification process before? it’s been about 18 months since I applied for a credit card and this is my first store card (other than Kohl’s since I shop there for work clothes). Feeling out of the loop all of a sudden. Lol

**Final update. I submitted the online form and supplied my bank statements and my account was unlocked today. There were no changes to my credit limit. I was able to redeem my cash back and look forward to my first year cash back bonus next month. I appreciate the feedback everyone provided and will most definitely not ever send a third party payment to a credit card company. I hope the date point helps someone in our community.

Sorry for the delay in responding. I truly appreciate the replies. It was exactly 10k that was cut in the form of a cashiers check from my CU to Discover (moving forward I now know to put the money in my account first and send it though my own bank). My initial hesitation was supplying them information that they should and could asked before opening the account 1 year ago. Like I said, the cash back match is really all that I’m concerned about. I already have been approved for higher credit limits through my credit unions. While I would not want to lose available credit, my overall utilization is below 30%, even with my use of the Discover card (which was mostly (65%) for treatment for my cat with cancer - sadly he lost his fight, but I got to spend more time with him and he was pain free, so for that I am grateful). I do have the money in to pay the card off, but took out the loan because I’m an a bit concerned about COVID and having additional furloughs (work for the government). I will pay the loan in full in about a year, regardless, unless COVID causes me to get laid off (not likely in my specific field). So while I think this is a drastic invasion of privacy, I decided to fill out the form today. Apparently the IRS is backed up, so I’m also sending in three months of bank statements for them to review my account sooner. Ironically when I applied, I understand my income, but now with furlough days and limited OT, I’m right around the income I put down when I applied. Anyhow, thank you to all that responded. I will post a follow up once their “verification” is compete.

I just wanted to give a heads up to the CB community. Exactly a year ago, I open a Discover Card 9.5 months out of Chapter 7 BK and was given a 12k limit at 0% for the first 14 months. I was surprised at being approved and at the limit. I was honest with my annual income and they did not ask for pay stubs or anything else. Fast forward to this month and in anticipation of my 0% promo ending (and the rate jumping to 16.9%), I applied for a a 10k personal loan from my credit union to refinance the 10k that I had charged on the card over the year. Now maybe it wasn’t the smartest to go over 30% utilization, I was taking advantage of the 0% and I wasn’t balance chased or anything like that. My credit union approved by at 7.9%, cut a check and mailed it directly to Discover this week. Low and behold I try to log in today and am locked out and call their “verifications” team. While they weren’t necessarily rude, the did treat me like I was a criminal and said that they can request a 4056-T anytime they want. I brought up that it’s interesting timing since my CU just sent them a check for refinancing my balance. They acted clueless and said that I have until 1/3/2021 to return the form or my account will be closed. I am expecting almost $500 from their cash back match promo in December so of course I’m an not doing anything until I get that money. Also, while my account is in “verifications” they WILL NOT allow me to have account access, or mail me a statement to pay my bill. So I have to call in and make the payment (free of charge - bless their little hearts) and call in to get the cash back match bonus redeemed. Once my account is closed, they will then restore my online access so I can continue to make any payments due. I don’t think I’m going to participate in their fishing expedition. My tax returns are none of their business. If the would have asked for them when I opened the account, I wouldn’t have provided them. Obviously my tax returns are going to reflect my itemized deductions and I am not going to voluntarily hand that information over to anyone. I think I’ll close the account myself on 1/2/2021. My BK will have been discharge for two years on 2/15/2021, so I’ll apply elsewhere for a credit card to replace it. I have other unsecured credit already established, so I have been successful in rebuilding me credit since discharge. While it was nice to be approved for a high limit so soon after BK discharge, it’s definitely not my highest limit at this time, so I’m ok with saying goodbye to Discover. TL;DR: Be cautious when making a large payment to Discover or you may be facing a FR.

That’s a good point about my P.O. Box. I’ll have to think this through some for sure. Thanks for your insight.

Was a 1k increase. My initial deposit was 1k and that was refunded. So I have a 2k unsecured credit card with them now.

I just got a letter from them and they increased my limit. That was definitely unexpected after thinking this card wouldn’t graduate.

I had joined them preciously by just opening a savings account. I believe it was a soft pull at opening of the savings account. i has read on here before that you could call in and apply for the secured card without a credit check and when I called in, the rep did confirm that since I was already a member, she didn’t need to pull credit. She sent me the docusign and I went to a shared CU branch to made my deposit into the savings account and they did the rest with getting the card printed and mailed to me.

Yes. State Department FCU. A couple of data points: I applied over the phone in February, 2019 with no credit report pulled. The website was updated since then, but I didn’t recall the line about graduation. My interest rate remains the same 13.49% My credit report still shows secured, it it may update at the end of this month. I hope this helps someone trying to rebuild who doesn’t want to go (or perhaps cannot go to due to BK or charge off) some of the big banks who offer secured cards that graduate.

I see. I haven’t thought about it like that. I do have a PO Box, but only use it for business mail. Would that work or would a UPS store with a physical address be better?

I have not. I pulled paper reports to verify that all of my trade lines were reporting. I haven’t even tackled the BK. I was trying to read through the guide on how to get rid of it, but it seemed like the op had a new address and I don’t see myself moving from my current place until I’m called to meet my maker.

I logged on to the app to pay my bill this month (second payment of the month actually) and noticed that my Secured Visa Platinum was now listed as Graduated Visa Platinum. I also noticed that my Share Savings account now has the entire balance showing available to me. I had never heard of this card unsecuring, so I called in and they confirmed that my card is showing as a regular Visa Platinum card on their end. So if anyone else had this card, you might want to see if you’ve been graduated. I never received a letter that I was graduating nor did any of my statements reflect this. Background: I filled for Chapter 7 in October, 2018 and received discharge in February, 2019. Two weeks later, I applied for a $500.00 share secured loan and a $1,000 share secured Visa. I paid the loan off fairly quickly (around 9 months) and would either pay the Visa in full each month or carried a small balance. My plan was to keep the Visa opened for two years and then close it at the 2 year mark. In June I was approved for a Target credit card with a $500 limit. I received two CLI...up to $700 in the Fall and it’s now at $1,000. In November I applied for a Kohls store card because I live near one and shop there all the time. I was approved with a $300 limit. I’m not eligible for a CLI until 6 months passes. I did include Kohl’s in my BK. In November I got “pre-selected” for that stanky Indigo card with a $300 limit. I never activated it, but it’s still reporting. There is no annual fee. I applied for and was approved for Discover with a 12k limit. They were also included in my BK. This card has no annual fee. I then was later approved for a Penfed Power Rewards VISA with a 15k limit. i purchase a new Toyota at the end of December and was approved with 0 down with Toyota Financial at 6.9% for 72 months but ended up going with a local credit union at 4.74% for 72 months. So my post was about the SDFCU card graduating, but I also wanted to let others know that there is life after BK. My Fico 9 is currently 652 (Penfed Score) My Fico 8 is currently 648 (Discover Score)