How does one get off the "Egyptian" list at PenFed?

[myjourney]

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@pizza1 wrote:

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@myjourney wrote:

I think PenFed also looks at other lenders you have and at available credit overall with all lenders

Not to mention recent INQ's

Balances with all lenders 

Time usually heals with them going new credit and HP free seems to help

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shoot...I just want in with a CC with them.  Itll take an act of God im sure. Ill have to drop down to 1 CC, with a $1kCL in order to even get an initial one, LMAO!!!

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SMH 

Back to the GC ma'am Lol

[longtimelurker]

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@Ysettle4 wrote:

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@core wrote:

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@Ysettle4 wrote:
Good thing about forums: It's completely up to you how to take the info and what you do with it. I went from a penfed cc of $17K and grew it to $35K in roughly 8-9 months so may know a llitle penfed speak.

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You might, or your credit profile just might have deserved the limit you got. I don't believe getting handed a large limit by a creditor automatically makes one an expert on that creditor's policies and I find it laughable that you would offer such as supporting evidence.

Please explain how folks were getting denied for pyramiding debt when they had no debt.

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Yes, I agree that this isn't evidence!  (I went from $20K to $40K  in 3 months with them simply by asking them to convert my card to EMV.   And I don't claim expertise).

But equally, I find it unlikely that the reason is that the underwriter is jealous of your cards....

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You may just have the kind of profile that warranted such an increase based on your situation. Your increase was amazing, btw.

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Actually, it was my first experience of Penfed's strange lack of operational excellence.     As I said, I had a Penfed Plat Rewards card as they then called it, with a $20K limit.   Soon after opening it,they started  offereing EMV cards.  I asked if they could issue me one of these.  Some other banks had found this easy (albeit they didn't have the PIN backup that Penfed did) but for Penfed it seemed a big thing!    They contacted me THREE times (phone and email) to make sure that I wasn't requesting a new line of credit, and was just requesting the card changed to Chip.   Yes, yes and yes.

So then they issued a new line of credit for $20K!     I found out later that with some other people, this happened briefly, while the systems updated, and people were left with just one account as expected.   But with me both lines remain 3 years later (just checked, 2nd card was opened Jan 2013).  They finally gave me an auto CLI a few months back, to $27K, which is fine as I hardly use the cards.

[NRB525]

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@myjourney wrote:

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@pizza1 wrote:

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@myjourney wrote:

I think PenFed also looks at other lenders you have and at available credit overall with all lenders

Not to mention recent INQ's

Balances with all lenders 

Time usually heals with them going new credit and HP free seems to help

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shoot...I just want in with a CC with them.  Itll take an act of God im sure. Ill have to drop down to 1 CC, with a $1kCL in order to even get an initial one, LMAO!!!

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SMH 

Back to the GC ma'am Lol

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Or, go the route that I did.

Applied in Sept 2014, got the HP to get the savings account, thought I applied for a CC.... no paperwork, no denial, and when I called, no indication.

So I applied again in October 2014, got the HP for the CC App, and an immediate denial.

So I called and used the October HP to open a secured CC for $500. Used that lightly for a year, their requirement of 12 months is my understanding, then Dec 17 2015 apped for the Promise card and got $16,500 limit. And a HP

The odd thing is, my total available open credit during that time changed in these ways:

Available Revolving CC Limits, open and reporting: $99k --> $221k

Open Revolving CC Balances: (open and closed, any reporting) $45k --> $29k

INQ on EQ: 6 since the last PenFed HP.

So, yes, someone can garden religiously to hope their Cold App profile looks good enough for PenFed,

or you can take the basic HP, get in the door with a secured card, and just show them what a good customer you would be.

I look at it as Acive Gardening for 12 months.

I've got similar situations going on with SDFCU and Golden1, working various angles with them as well.

[cem13]

My story is even better.  I have $5K Visa Siggy and $5K AMEX with PenFed.  I use the Visa Siggy as my back up card to NFCU because it is my only Siggy.  I run about $100 per month on the card and always PIF.

I have $100K income, $150K available credit and about $5K in debt that I have on a 0% BT.  I PIF my other cards and show 0 balance except for my BT.  I could pay the balance off in 3.35 seconds if I wanted but why use my money when I can have the banks money for 6 months.  My current 0% offer expired on 01JAN16 and I called PenFed to take advantage of their 0% BT.  I asked for a modest $5K increase (to $10K) so my card utilization was just under 50%.  I applied on-line as was denied, surely a mistake, right?

I called for a recon and was denied for being an Egyptian.  I told him that I would BT while on the phone with him.  He still declined and said the current $5K was enough to cover the balance.  I told him that it would tank my score, I was shocked at his reply.  He said, "Dont carry such a large balance then"

I was so angry I almost swore at him.  He was such an arrogant @ss.  "Are you kidding me?", I asked.  I then offered to close out some of my other SCT cards to make it look good.  He declined.  

I asked him one more time.  "I want to increase my relationship with PenFed.  I want to BT while on the phone and pay the 3% BT Fee right now.  However you are going to refuse because I would like to get a measley $5K CLI?"  His reply, "Im sorry sir but you do not NEED the CLI and I have to refuse.  I then said, "I have never been to Egypt either".  He replied "What does that mean?"  I just chuckled and said forget it.

How the hell does he KNOW what I need?  I hope he is not like the other CSR for PenFed.  I know PenFed is conservative but I be like DANG.  So I decided not to do the BT to Penfed and tank my scores.  I will just pay it off.

[longtimelurker]

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@cem13 wrote:

 I could pay the balance off in 3.35 seconds if I wanted

  His reply, "Im sorry sir but you do not NEED the CLI and I have to refuse.

How the hell does he KNOW what I need?  

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I guess he was right!

[Anonymous]

I guess a safe way would be to just do some dancing until the PenFed gods are pleased and grant some pre-approved offers 

[NRB525]

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@cem13 wrote:

My story is even better.  I have $5K Visa Siggy and $5K AMEX with PenFed.  I use the Visa Siggy as my back up card to NFCU because it is my only Siggy.  I run about $100 per month on the card and always PIF.

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A guess here; with the $5k limit and ~$100 per month over many months, you haven't shown PenFed that you need more credit.

If it were me? I'd go ahead and transfer $3k to the $5k PenFed offer, take advantage of the low APR, and pay down the remainder on the other source card, where it sits, wherever that is.

The belief that 90% utilization will "tank your score" is something of an urban myth. How many points do you expect it will cost? I've maxed out many a BT offer, to 90%+, and my scores are always within a range. They were lower due to overall high utilization, but one card carrying a large amount will cost you only a few points. It won't be a 100 point event.

Then later, in the long run, because you will have shown PenFed the ability to utilize their $5k CL and pay it down, your chances of getting a CLI are much improved.

[cem13]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@cem13 wrote:

 I could pay the balance off in 3.35 seconds if I wanted

  His reply, "Im sorry sir but you do not NEED the CLI and I have to refuse.

How the hell does he KNOW what I need?  

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I guess he was right!

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No he was not "right".  How does he know "what I need?"  I could close all my credit accounts (except mortgage) and pay cash for everything, if I wanted.  But I dont because I prefer to use other people's cash instead of my own.  I HATE paying cash because I would rather invest my cash and get a 8~10% return.

This particular CSR placed a value judgement on my situation.  Everyone is different and has different plans and goals.  So he either: 1) did not understand me (which is bad) or 2) Did not care (which is worse).  I hope this individual CSR does not reflect PenFed as a whole.  

[cem13]

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@NRB525 wrote:

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@cem13 wrote:

My story is even better.  I have $5K Visa Siggy and $5K AMEX with PenFed.  I use the Visa Siggy as my back up card to NFCU because it is my only Siggy.  I run about $100 per month on the card and always PIF.

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A guess here; with the $5k limit and ~$100 per month over many months, you haven't shown PenFed that you need more credit.

If it were me? I'd go ahead and transfer $3k to the $5k PenFed offer, take advantage of the low APR, and pay down the remainder on the other source card, where it sits, wherever that is.

The belief that 90% utilization will "tank your score" is something of an urban myth. How many points do you expect it will cost? I've maxed out many a BT offer, to 90%+, and my scores are always within a range. They were lower due to overall high utilization, but one card carrying a large amount will cost you only a few points. It won't be a 100 point event.

Then later, in the long run, because you will have shown PenFed the ability to utilize their $5k CL and pay it down, your chances of getting a CLI are much improved.

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I thought about doing this.  But utilizaton is NOT a myth.  My current BT card is $20K.  I have some reoccuring bills to this card as well.  So the balance jumped up to a little over $6K last month.  My score across all 3 CRA dropped EXACTLY 11points for each.  I knew it was because my balance is more than 30% of my CL.  So this month when I paid it down to $5K, I gained EXACTLY 11 points.

This card was the only card that reported on that particular day so there is nothing else in my credit profile that would trigger an 11 point drop then 11 point gain the folowing month.

So I cannot imagine what the score drop will be if I get to 50% or even 90% utilization on one individual card.

[BigBS]

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@cem13 wrote:

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@NRB525 wrote:

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@cem13 wrote:

My story is even better.  I have $5K Visa Siggy and $5K AMEX with PenFed.  I use the Visa Siggy as my back up card to NFCU because it is my only Siggy.  I run about $100 per month on the card and always PIF.

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A guess here; with the $5k limit and ~$100 per month over many months, you haven't shown PenFed that you need more credit.

If it were me? I'd go ahead and transfer $3k to the $5k PenFed offer, take advantage of the low APR, and pay down the remainder on the other source card, where it sits, wherever that is.

The belief that 90% utilization will "tank your score" is something of an urban myth. How many points do you expect it will cost? I've maxed out many a BT offer, to 90%+, and my scores are always within a range. They were lower due to overall high utilization, but one card carrying a large amount will cost you only a few points. It won't be a 100 point event.

Then later, in the long run, because you will have shown PenFed the ability to utilize their $5k CL and pay it down, your chances of getting a CLI are much improved.

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I thought about doing this.  But utilizaton is NOT a myth.  My current BT card is $20K.  I have some reoccuring bills to this card as well.  So the balance jumped up to a little over $6K last month.  My score across all 3 CRA dropped EXACTLY 11points for each.  I knew it was because my balance is more than 30% of my CL.  So this month when I paid it down to $5K, I gained EXACTLY 11 points.

This card was the only card that reported on that particular day so there is nothing else in my credit profile that would trigger an 11 point drop then 11 point gain the folowing month.

So I cannot imagine what the score drop will be if I get to 50% or even 90% utilization on one individual card.

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Are you making a major investment (mortgage, vehicle, etc.) in the near future?  If not, the point loss might be worth it save the interest charge and build that relationship.