I can't believe it took me 10 years to figure this one out. Last week I decided to check out the credit union that my job offers me. I couldn't believe the level of service. I actually got to talk to they lady that would make the decision on refinancing my car. We went over my credit reports and decided to wait 1 to 2 months for my scores to go above 640. At this point I can refinance my 16% car loan at 8%! If you have access to a credit union you really should check it out. Mike
Mike I agree with you. I joined AT&T Credit Union, as I work for them. I financed my car @18.99% in December of 1999. In June 2000, I refinanced through my credit union at 8%. It made a difference of 120 bucks a month in my car payment! I also applied for and was approved for a personal unsecured loan @ 9% and an unsecured line of credit. The difference is they only report to Experian. Which is cool because Experian is my worst report. I asked them if they had credit cards they told me no. The manager told me they promised AT&T they wouldn't offer them, because they would compete with the AT&T Universal Card :-( I asked the manager about credit reports. She told me they only pull reports for debt to income ratio's. They don't use the scoring model. The negative entries on the report has to be explained. I had a few negative entries on my experian (prior to credit repair or rehab) and I had to show payments made on charge off accounts. The bottom line is I agree with Mike. If you have the opportunity to join a credit union. Join. If nothing else you will deal directly with the person who would review a loan application.
I have a credit union on site at work. Everyone that I have talked to at work seems to be happy with their service, as well as their convenient location. My question is: how difficult is it to get accounts (savings, checking,etc) at these organizations? Same as a bank? I established a new account at Bank United after much frustration w/ Bank of America. Now Bank U has been taken over by Washington Mutual, who I have heard not so great things about and seem to have much higher fees. I am not ready yet for a loan/credit card, but would like to establish accounts so that I could get a car loan in 1-2 years. How easy is it if you have multiple lates on credit reports from 2 years ago and 1-2 collections for less than 200 to establish checking/savings?
When I went to reapply for accounts at the Kodak Credit Union in Rochester, they told me that they check Chexsystems. They didn't check my credit report. If you are clear of anything on your Chexsystems report, you should be ok. Good luck.
NEW! Join NMFA and Pentagon Federal Credit Union! Now new and current members of NMFA can join Pentagon Federal Credit Union and take advantage of great rate credit cards, loans and savings products, and worldwide access to your accounts. You may join both through the following secure sites: If you want to become a member of NMFA and join PFCU, click here. Current NMFA Members who want to join PFCU, click here. ***************************************************** That is information I received from Michael Kielsky's yahoo groups. He suggested to join this organization for $20/year and then you can become a member of the Pentagon Federal Credit Union. The info posted above is directly from the NMFA website. http://www.nmfa.org/ Look it over!
