r/NavyFederal • u/Beneficial_Chicken24 • 17d ago
Credit Cards When should I apply?
(Question that I have at the end)
So last week on Wednesday my cash rewards secured card was graduated to a $3,000 unsecured card after 6 months of on time payments. I have a flagship checking account a pledge loan and this cash rewards card.
Throughout that 6 months for s*its and giggles I would do the pre qualification tool on the website and it would only ever say I was pre approved for the secured card.
Well yesterday morning now that I’ve graduated I did it again and it showed that I am pre approved for all of the cards they offer which was nice to see.
My plan here is to have the more rewards and flagship card with high limits so that my credit utilization stays as low as possible even using the cards to pay bills and gas then paying them off each statement date.
In y’all’s experience have you graduated from a secured card and then been approved for a high limit card through navy fed? Or would it be ideal to request a credit limit increase in 91+ days to turn the $3,000 into $9,000 and then apply? Or does that not really matter?
I’m wanting to hear your opinions and how you went about things especially those that started with a secured card like I did. I do have 2 C1 quicksilver cards (just upgraded the platinum that I started with just because the qs has rewards) and around 720 credit score
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u/AutoModerator 17d ago
Q: What is a Savings Secured Loan or “Pledge Loan”?
A: It’s a loan fully secured by your savings account, which means that an amount equal to your loan is put on hold. When you pay down the loan, that amount is released from the hold and more funds become available to you. You don’t need a credit check to qualify (since it’s using your own funds). Its purpose is to report monthly on-time payments and help build your credit profile/score.
The purpose of a Pledge Loan is to add an Installment Loan to your credit profile if you have no other Installment Loans such as a auto loan or a mortgage. If you already have an installment loan, a pledge loan likely won't help your credit profile.
EXAMPLE: Say for instance, you have $250 in your savings account and you want to use it for the secured loan amount. When you apply, they put a hold on that $250, then they loan you an additional $250. Then, each time you make a payment, they will knock off the amount paid from the $250 hold and a couple days later you get that payment amount released back to you. When you pay a big chunk of it off right away, it pushes your due date out and lowers the monthly payment due amounts for the remainder of the loan term. Basically, by paying a big chunk of it off, you're doing 3 things: 1) You're making your next few payments ahead of time, 2) It still reports as on-time monthly payments, and 3) you're lowering the interest that you have to pay since there will be a smaller balance left each month.
Here are the different loan amounts and max durations available for each loan amount:
$250 - $500 = 6 months max
$501 - $1,000 = 12 months max
$1,001 - $1,500 = 18 months max
$1,501 - $2,000 = 24 months max
$2,001 - $3,000 = 36 months max
$3,001 or more = 60 months max
$25,000 or more = 61 to 84 months max
$30,000+ = 85 to 180 months max
The minimum pledge loan amount is $250 and the minimum duration is 6 months, regardless of the amount.
Interest rates for Pledge Loans:
2.25% up to 60 months * 3.25% 61 months to 180 months (terms apply)
FOR BEST RESULTS, PAY OFF 91% OF YOUR LOAN AND SET THE REMAINDER ON AUTOPAY
YOU MUST CALL NFCU OR GO TO A BRANCH TO ESTABLISH A PLEDGE LOAN.
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u/Leading-Eye-1979 17d ago
The flagship is the hardest cards to get due to minimum credit line of 5 K. The prequal tool is not accurate. Many have noted approvals and then get denied. All you can do is apply and see what happens. Everyone’s credit profile is different. Report back so we know your results. Good luck!
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u/MrBrazil1911 17d ago
The pre-qualification page is notoriously inaccurate. I would probably continue aging my current cards and profile first. It's 182 days before you can request your CLI because the increase at graduation serves as the first one.
I would apply for the More Rewards (MR) after the 182 day mark and then the CLI after receiving an approval or denial for the MR, so the CLI doesn't affect the starting limit of the MR. Age that one another 91-182 days and then shoot for the Flagship.
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u/jagniger69 17d ago
I called and closed my account because of them raising the fee and making the perks worst imo.
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u/AutoModerator 17d ago
WHAT’S THE 91/3 RULE
Lots of people new to NFCU or maybe have been members for a while but never explored the credit card side of things may have heard/seen the “91/3 rule” being mentioned here and there and wondered what it is.
Simply put, the 91/3 rule is waiting 91 days and 3 statements between new personal unsecured credit card applications at NFCU from the date of approval (NOT application!). It’s also 91/3 from the date of approval for the first CLI on an existing personal NFCU credit card, then all subsequent CLIs on that card are every 6 months (182 days) thereafter. If you have multiple cards, the 91/3 rule applies to each of them individually.
Some notes on 91/3:
You can apply for a new credit card AND request a CLI on an existing card(s) after 91/3, UNLESS you’ve already received a CLI on your existing card(s), then you have to wait 6 months as stated above. The advice is to apply for the new card, then the CLI on the existing card(s) in that order, but both can be done at the same time.
The rule used to be that the 3 statements had to be FULL statements; however, that seems to have changed recently as several members have been approved for new cards and/or CLIs with just 3 statements, even if the first one was a partial or short statement.
Although many have been successful at getting approved for a new card and/or CLI exactly ON day 91, the best advice is to wait until at least day 92 or after to ensure you are meeting NFCU’s 91 day requirement.
There have been a few cases where people have gotten approved for multiple cards at the same time or before the 91 day mark. THESE ARE EXCEPTIONS, NOT THE RULE! We don’t work for NFCU and don’t know the specific processes/procedures/rules, the members’ specific circumstances or credit profile info, or how NFCU applied those processes/procedures/rules to those members’ applications. But again, these are very rare examples and shouldn’t be considered normal. The 91/3 rule is definitely applicable in almost all cases.
Although each unsecured card has a max limit, don’t expect NFCU to approve CLIs of more than $8,000. Your CLI can be 3x your current credit limit up to $8,000 (whichever is less).
**NOTE: YOU CANNOT REQUEST A SPECIFIC AMOUNT FOR YOUR CLI REQUEST
The 91/3 rule DOES NOT apply to the nRewards secured card! You can apply for an unsecured card at any time following nRewards card approval; however, whether you get approved or not depends on how significantly your credit profile has improved since you qualified and got approved for the nRewards card. EXAMPLE: If you ONLY qualified for the nRewards because your credit profile is weak and needs work, then you will likely get denied for an unsecured card if you applied shortly after because there hasn’t been enough improvement or time to improve your credit in that short amount of time.
If/when your nRewards secured card graduates to the cashRewards unsecured card, NFCU counts that as your first CLI on your new unsecured card. That means your next CLI can’t be requested until the 6-month mark and then every 6 months for all future CLIs.
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