NFCU Blacklist?

[Atl-Marcos]

So I know NFCU blacklists you if you BK them off or don't pay off a charge-off. It appears that I have an unofficial blacklist even after they have been made whole. 

 

In Sept 2019 we ended up defaulting on a bunch of things. Specifically for NFCU they repoed a vehicle with $6k owed which they cross collateralized and got all their money at the time. I defaulted on an NFCU card for $24k. I kept two CLOC's for $15k a piece. They are still in good standing with a zero balance. 

 

Recently I paid off the NFCU card in full in January as I wanted to get back in their good graces. 

 

So to recap:

Car Loan- repo, PIF

CC- Chargeoff- PIF

CLOC - $0 balance, good standing

CLOC- $0 balance, good standing

 

My current status is 621 score (Experian) through their credit score monitoring. My income is just shy of $500k, although I only run about $200k in direct deposit through NFCU. I have $30k in cash in different accounts at NFCU. $5k in savings. I tried the pre-approval page and it listed basically everything. But I wanted to play it safe and just use their secured card which graduates anyway and I'm not in a huge hurry. Insta denied. 

 

I don't know what else I have to do, everything is paid off, and paid in full. I didn't BK. I don't owe them a single penny, and I have multiple accounts in good standing. 

 

Any ideas? Should I call to get it reconned? 

 

Thanks!

 

P.S.- On a side note, would BOA be a good second choice for a secured card? I did burn them for a $11k card, which they got every penny back through a garnishment. So they are paid in full. I run the other $300k of income through BOA, so I know we've got a pretty good status there. We probably have roughly $50k with them. 

 

My credit report has a bunch I burned in 2019. I paid them all off in full in late 2022/2023. I still have 10 year old credit cards that I didn't burn Capital One, Discover and Barclays. Scores range from 610-621. 

Edited March 6, 2023 by Atl-Marcos

[shifter]

2 hours ago, Atl-Marcos said:

Should I call to get it reconned? 

Yes. It's possible there's some other fees or something you didn't PIF. 

[brainchasm]

Call and ask.  They let me settle up on stuff that was like 20 years old, and now they're my preferred lender.

 

Just call.

 

[hegemony]

why the fuss? NFCU's cards are ho-hum.

[MP80]

10 hours ago, Atl-Marcos said:

On a side note, would BOA be a good second choice for a secured card? I did burn them for a $11k card, which they got every penny back through a garnishment. So they are paid in full. I run the other $300k of income through BOA, so I know we've got a pretty good status there. We probably have roughly $50k with them. 

I agree with Hege that NFCU doesn't have many credit card rewards. If I were you, I'd apply for Amex or Chase and use their miles and hotel credit cards to satisfy my rewards and perks cravings.

 

If they offered you a BofA secured credit card, I'd go with it, you could also put $25,000 into a certificate of savings to secure a Citibank or Wells Fargo credit card, and you'll get your deposit back after graduation, and your credit limit stays the same. Good luck!

[Atl-Marcos]

9 hours ago, MP80 said:

If they offered you a BofA secured credit card, I'd go with it, you could also put $25,000 into a certificate of savings to secure a Citibank or Wells Fargo credit card, and you'll get your deposit back after graduation, and your credit limit stays the same. Good luck!

Interesting. That might be something I could consider. The Citibank/WF cards. Is that still current information. It looks like Citibank caps at $2500 and WF doesn't offer a secured card? 

Edited March 7, 2023 by Atl-Marcos

[Atl-Marcos]

12 hours ago, hegemony said:

why the fuss? NFCU's cards are ho-hum.

Mostly rainy day cards. Plus we want to get a better profile with NFCU for car loans and mortgages. 

[Atl-Marcos]

17 hours ago, shifter said:

Yes. It's possible there's some other fees or something you didn't PIF. 

Useless. They just said wait for the letter. They can see that the card is PIF and that the car loan is PIF. There has to be something holding me back, but if they don't know what it is over the phone, I doubt the letter is going to provide any clearer detail. Annoying. 

[hegemony]

2 hours ago, Atl-Marcos said:

Mostly rainy day cards. Plus we want to get a better profile with NFCU for car loans and mortgages. 

 

still not worth it. I hope you only paid them back to avoid a lawsuit and/or PFD. There are plenty of better loan products out there.

[shifter]

3 hours ago, Atl-Marcos said:

Useless. They just said wait for the letter. They can see that the card is PIF and that the car loan is PIF. There has to be something holding me back, but if they don't know what it is over the phone, I doubt the letter is going to provide any clearer detail. Annoying. 

Did you call the collections dept? If there's nothing outstanding, just wait for the letter. Your profile sounds less than stellar, so there may be other reasons for the denial and you need to work on some repair first.

[FoxSamual]

3 hours ago, hegemony said:

There are plenty of better loan products out there.

Who's better than them for an auto loan?  Discounting dealership deals like 0% APR and the like.  Their current 'prime' auto rate is less than Federal funds rate, 4.54%, vs. the 6.79% my local FCU bottoms out at.

 

I retain an FCU account in a city I no longer live in, they go as low as 4.5%, but that's not significantly different than NFCU and they refuse to underwrite auto loans out of State no matter how good your credit is.  I guess they don't wanna deal with a repo three timezones away. 🤷

 

(Blows my mind they let me keep a 20k credit card I could walk away from, leaving them on the hook to find an attorney licensed in a State three timezones away, but an auto loan secured against a recoverable asset is the bridge too far for them)

[shifter]

34 minutes ago, FoxSamual said:

Who's better than them for an auto loan?

DCU is generally the best. NFCU or USAA are good if you need a high dollar loan. DCU wouldn't do a $190k auto. They generally don't seem to want to go over about $50k on the loan IME. 

[FoxSamual]

1 hour ago, shifter said:

DCU is generally the best. NFCU or USAA are good if you need a high dollar loan. DCU wouldn't do a $190k auto. They generally don't seem to want to go over about $50k on the loan IME. 

TIL you can join a credit union based off membership in the Free Software Foundation.  Thanks Richard Stallman? 😄

 

Their published lowest rate right now is 5.74% so NFCU handily beating them.  I'm not sure how NFCU is doing auto loans that low in this economy but disinclined to argue with it.

 

Also, I drive a Jetta, and before that a Civic, so not too worried about hitting 190k on an auto loan. 🤪  (It would kill me to spend half that much on a car even if I was a billionaire) 

[hegemony]

On 3/7/2023 at 12:54 PM, FoxSamual said:

Who's better than them for an auto loan?  Discounting dealership deals like 0% APR and the like.  Their current 'prime' auto rate is less than Federal funds rate, 4.54%, vs. the 6.79% my local FCU bottoms out at.

 

 

Penfed is almost that low (4.89%) but then I also recommend not borrowing money on a depreciating asset. Navy is the most over rated CU in the solar system.

[FoxSamual]

5 hours ago, hegemony said:

but then I also recommend not borrowing money on a depreciating asset

I don't disagree with the principle of this but it's pretty far removed from the reality that confronts most Americans.

 

I'm financially privileged compared to most and I could not purchase my practical/non-flashy automobiles (current: VW Jetta, previous: Honda Civic) outright without wiping out a large amount of my liquid non-retirement savings.  Auto loans are cheap, prior to recent Fed rate hikes they were essentially free money, and if you factor in inflation they arguably still are.

 

I could go the beater route but I work 55-60 hour weeks, I don't got the time to deal with maintenance drama, besides, I paid those dues in my young/broke days.  There are few things in life I miss less than wondering if my car is going to start.

 

If you're buying so much automobile you need an 8 year loan to barely squeeze the payments into the budget, carrying over your deficiency balance from the last note, yeah, you're doing it wrong.  I got a 36 month at below inflation APR and my mileage reimbursements from work handily cover the payment. 🤷

 

5 hours ago, hegemony said:

Navy is the most over rated CU in the solar system.

 

You only feel that way because you got caught up in one of their membership audits, lol, which to be fair should be a way more efficient process than it currently is.

 

I've slow walked my transition to them because of stories like yours, protecting myself against that possibility, and I'm not even close to being an edge case for membership.  I retain accounts elsewhere and always will, as a hedge against that kind of nonsense, and for more practical reasons (local branches, better ATM fee reimbursements, long standing five digit revolvers, etc.)

 

I got three checking accounts, if NFCU audits me it'll be an annoyance, nothing more. 🤷

[hegemony]

8 hours ago, FoxSamual said:

 

You only feel that way because you got caught up in one of their membership audits, lol, which to be fair should be a way more efficient process than it currently is.

 

I've slow walked my transition to them because of stories like yours, protecting myself against that possibility, and I'm not even close to being an edge case for membership.  I retain accounts elsewhere and always will, as a hedge against that kind of nonsense, and for more practical reasons (local branches, better ATM fee reimbursements, long standing five digit revolvers, etc.)

 

I got three checking accounts, if NFCU audits me it'll be an annoyance, nothing more. 🤷

 

You have me confused with someone else. I've never even applied for membership with Navy.

 

I still say paying Navy >20k of bad debt just for the chance to be a member and save .3% APR on a car loan is silly. There are so many other decent lenders and banking institutions out there. Navy is fine but it isn't so great that it is worth going though acrobatics to join or get back in with.

[MP80]

On 3/7/2023 at 4:53 AM, Atl-Marcos said:

Interesting. That might be something I could consider. The Citibank/WF cards. Is that still current information. It looks like Citibank caps at $2500 and WF doesn't offer a secured card? 

You'll need to dig up some old threads from @cashnocredit posts.  

 

@cashnocredit said he applied for a $25k card with Citibank and a $10k card with Wells Fargo. As he rebuilds his credit. (About 10 years ago) At the time, he said Citibank offered a secured CC paying 4% APR on deposit. He said it was very attractive at the time because it was slightly above the market price of CDs. He said after the cc was unsecured, it remained at $25k.

 

Before he had those two cards, he only used checking and debit cards, as he says which created more problems for him.

 

I'm sure if you go into those banks and ask some bankers, they might be able to assist and accommodate your interests. 

Edited March 10, 2023 by MP80

[FoxSamual]

On 3/10/2023 at 6:08 AM, hegemony said:

Navy is fine but it isn't so great that it is worth going though acrobatics to join or get back in with.

My partner is a 20 year USN vet who joined when she was 18 years old at Great Lakes.  No acrobatics for me to join and my qualification for membership is ironclad.
 

Their rates for both loans and deposits are excellent, you can surely match or beat them with another of the 10k+ banks/CUs in the US, nothing unique about them in that regard, but the customer service is amazing.  That’s the real differentiator, IMHO, it shouldn’t be, this should be a basic expectation for any institution, but it feels like these days that the default is to have bad service in most industries, not just finance.

 

Apologies for conflating you with someone else, there’s some long time poster here who got on the wrong end of an inefficient (took six weeks if memory serves) membership audit and understandably hates them as a result.  Their story and others online is the reason why I’m slowly moving additional business to them.  Ignoring the email invite I just got today to apply for one of their cards, no rush on that in my mind, let ‘em see a few months of payroll deposits and auto loan payments before I go try to get 25+k of unsecured credit.  That seems to be one of the triggers for these audits, anecdotally at least.  I think they got burned in the oughts and early teens when every credit rebuilding forum online was sending people their way.

[Atl-Marcos]

To tie a bow on this thread. I was able to call NFCU this afternoon. I was able to get the denial letter from them over the weekend. The reasons stated were 1. Delinquent Past/Present NFCU obligations. 2. Caused NFCU a loss.  So I called them and said "Lucy you have some splainin' to do". 

 

Turns out they had not properly categorized my payoff. It was still marked as delinquent and not paid, even though there was a zero balance and it was PIF. They were able to remove the flag and stated there should be no reason based on my internal NFCU score that I would be denied. So she showed me on the app how to message for a recon. I should get approved for the secured card. TBH I could probably get approved for a non-secured card based on my internal score she hinted. But I'm fine with the secured line, and I plan no major things in which I'll need credit this year. 

 

To answer Hegemony's question. I already have a relationship at NFCU. On my credit report it only shows that I have $5k of revolving credit. NFCU can be very generous in their credit lines. And again it's more rainy day than needing great rewards. I like the peace of mind of having the double $15k CLOC that we have, I don't know of another bank that offers the same, although TBH I haven't really looked. Like others have said, I really like the customer service of NFCU, it does make a difference. 

[FoxSamual]

7 minutes ago, Atl-Marcos said:

Like others have said, I really like the customer service of NFCU, it does make a difference. 

 

It's obviously better than most (nearly all) of the national banks, which shouldn't surprise many people, those outfits look at customer service as a cost to be reduced as much as possible.

What surprises me is how many bad experiences I've had with regional FCUs/banks.  I fired a local FCU that had my "primary" (i.e., checking w/payroll deposit) relationship after they refused to assist me with a debit card chargeback.  You guys got 10k+ a month going through this account and you refuse to assist with a $25 cut and dry (merchant hit me with an illegal surcharge for using debit) dispute?  Bye Felicia.....

 

Hard time seeing NFCU's customer support being as aggressively unhelpful as that FCU was.  The 24/7 on-shore support is truly remarkable, it shouldn't be the differentiator that it is, everyone should have support that good, but hardly anybody does.  

[hegemony]

I'm glad you called @Atl-Marcos

 

my point, in case it was missed by Navy fans, is that it is not worth PAYING off a bad debt merely to get back in with a ho-hum issuer.

 

good luck!

[MP80]

4 hours ago, Atl-Marcos said:

To tie a bow on this thread. I was able to call NFCU this afternoon. I was able to get the denial letter from them over the weekend. The reasons stated were 1. Delinquent Past/Present NFCU obligations. 2. Caused NFCU a loss.  So I called them and said "Lucy you have some splainin' to do". 

 

Turns out they had not properly categorized my payoff. It was still marked as delinquent and not paid, even though there was a zero balance and it was PIF. They were able to remove the flag and stated there should be no reason based on my internal NFCU score that I would be denied. So she showed me on the app how to message for a recon. I should get approved for the secured card. TBH I could probably get approved for a non-secured card based on my internal score she hinted. But I'm fine with the secured line, and I plan no major things in which I'll need credit this year. 

 

To answer Hegemony's question. I already have a relationship at NFCU. On my credit report it only shows that I have $5k of revolving credit. NFCU can be very generous in their credit lines. And again it's more rainy day than needing great rewards. I like the peace of mind of having the double $15k CLOC that we have, I don't know of another bank that offers the same, although TBH I haven't really looked. Like others have said, I really like the customer service of NFCU, it does make a difference. 

@Atl-Marcos 

 

Good to know you are doing well with the NFCU. One thing I will tell you is that the CLOC is no longer the $15K line, in fact, the top line for active-duty military is $5K and the regular members are $3K. 

 

Out of curiosity, how did you enable apply to 2 CLOC in the first place?

[Atl-Marcos]

On 3/13/2023 at 9:37 PM, MP80 said:

@Atl-Marcos 

 

Good to know you are doing well with the NFCU. One thing I will tell you is that the CLOC is no longer the $15K line, in fact, the top line for active-duty military is $5K and the regular members are $3K. 

 

Out of curiosity, how did you enable apply to 2 CLOC in the first place?

 

To put the final bow on it. I was approved for the secured card once I explained thoroughly what I was asking for. 

 

Yeah I know the line's are smaller now. I have a line and my wife has a line with me as the co-signer. Both are $15k from 2017 I think. 

[MP80]

2 hours ago, Atl-Marcos said:

Yeah I know the line's are smaller now. I have a line and my wife has a line with me as the co-signer. Both are $15k from 2017 I think. 

So the way you describe it, the second CLOC is an authorized account belonging to your dear wife.

[brainchasm]

*checks on CLOC*

Phew, still $15k!

My recent experience that keeps Navy up there for me was getting a car loan pre-approval completed over the phone and check sent to my branch...on a Sunday night at 8pm PST.

Edited March 17, 2023 by brainchasm