Consumer complaint received 2024-02-21
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Getting a loan or lease — Credit denial
Company: NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION (CO)

On XX/XX/year>, I went to my local Navy Federal Credit Union branch to open an account with them and apply for an Auto Loan. My membership with the credit union was accepted, and I opened a savings account with {$10.00} in it, to meet the minimum {$5.00} account balance they require to be a member. 

After opening my account and becoming a member, I began the process of applying for an auto loan. I provided my income, social security number, driver 's license, proof of residency, and all the information they requested. I requested a {$20000.00} pre-approved auto loan to purchase a vehicle. My credit score immediately before initiating the credit check was XXXX ( FICO ), and my monthly pre-tax income which they asked for was {$7900.00}. I pay $ XXXX in rent, and they requested no other information from me. 

I was informed that they would be performing a hard credit inquiry, and gave my consent, but was not explicitly informed that they would be considering the length of time that I had accounts open with Navy Federal Credit Union for. After a few minutes, I was informed that my loan application had been " conditionally approved ''. I was told that the loan would be approved at an APR of 5.99 %, if I found a " credit-worthy '' co-applicant with verifiable income. When I asked why I needed a co-applicant, I was told that there was no clear reason the person in branch could provide. The lady I was working with did however state that I was an " A class '' applicant, which she said made it confusing/unfair why I was denied the loan. Additionally, she suggested that it likely had something to do with my age, and discouraged my XXXX from being the co-applicant, since we are nearly the same age. I am XXXX, my XXXX is XXXX. We both have excellent credit, high incomes, and have had open lines of credit for the last XXXX years. We were given no reason why we would not be approved for the loan in the branch and were even told that it did not make sense why we were not being approved. This led me to believe that it is likely that I am being discriminated against because of my age. 

I left the office with the phone number to call to speak to someone regarding the loan application being denied. On the phone, after calling Navy Federal Credit Union and reaching the loan department, I was told that they could not access specific information as to why the loan was not approved, but that an appeal had been submitted and I would be contacted with more information. Then, in the evening, I received a call back from the person who received my appeal, informing me that there had been no decision change regarding the status of my loan, and that I still needed a co-applicant. Once again, when I asked for a reason that I did not qualify for the loan on my own, I was told that they could not access or provide that information to me. After this call, because I still had not received final information on the denial/conditional approval, I called the main number again, and was able to speak to someone else in the loan department, who forwarded me to a supervisor. This supervisor, whose name was XXXX, spoke to me on the phone for quite a while, continuously providing me with information on what is taken into account when approving/denying a loan, was very unclear about whether I would ever receive information about why the loan was denied. Despite me asking many times for either a reason that the application was not approved, or whether or not I would ever receive a report as to why it was denied, she did not answer my question. She made it seem that I will never receive information as to why my application was denied, and eventually insisted that she had already answered my question ( which should have been a yes/no but was instead responded with unclear information on what the loan process is internally for Navy Federal Credit Union ) . She then ended the phone call, without answering my question. 

At this point, I have opened an account, deposited {$10.00} to become a member, applied for an auto loan in the amount {$20000.00}, been " conditionally approved '' but not truly approved, and spent many hours trying to determine why. It was insinuated in branch that the reason was related to my age, and that it is often difficult for younger people to be approved for credit regardless of other empirical scoring metrics ( XXXX, XXXX, etc. ). Because I applied for the loan, a hard credit inquiry is now on my credit history, and I have been given no information to resolve or understand the issue. I believe I have been denied the loan because of my age, which should be a federally protected quality, it should not be taken into account when it comes to loans. My frustration is furthered by the fact that I have not been given any clear answers and was hung up on when I asked multiple times if I would ever receive that information. To be clear, I asked multiple times if I would ever receive a report regarding why my application was not approved, and never received an answer, but was instead hung up on by the supervisor in the loan department ( XXXX ). 

Because I was concerned of discrimination and dissatisfied with the company transparency of why the loan was not approved, I recorded the phone calls. I was informed the call was being recorded on their end, and live in a one-party consent recording state, so I saw no issue with making the recordings. The three people in the phone call are me, my husband, and XXXX. 

Applied for loan XXXXXXXX XXXX. Spoke on the phone with first customer service agent at XXXXXXXX XXXX. Received call back at XXXXXXXX XXXX. Called again ( spoke with XXXX, supervisor ), at XXXXXXXX XXXX.