PENFED Credit Card denial and recon

[kkapdolee]

Hi,

I've been happily using my PenFed Platinum Rewards card (5-3-1) for a while now but they recently changed the point conversion ratio to 1.2:1.

Now I'm thinking of switching to PenFed Cash Rewards which gives 5% cash back on gas if I apply before the end of October.

I just applied yesterday and was rejected.

Is there a recon number for PenFed?

Can I call and ask them to to split my 5k CL from the Platinum card to have 2.5k each on the two cards? Or just ask them to close the Platinum and open Cash rewards instead?

A little background on myself:

I'm relatively recent college grad (1.5 yrs ago) and have a very short credit history 11 month average age on accounts.

I' tried very hard on improving my FICO score for about a year and was able to qualify for a bunch of credit cards with decent limits (5~6.2k).

I reached a little above 720 on TU.

However, recently, I got a large auto loan and I think my score plummeted and I'm not getting approved for any credit cards.

I'm not going credit card shopping spree or anything. I had no plans on getting another card for a while until PenFed changed the point system on us recently.

Given my background, will I have any chance of getting the cash rewards card?

[longtimelurker]

It's a little unclear, but don't you  need to hold a "qualifying" account to still get 5% on Cash Rewards after Oct?

[Meltdownblitz]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

It's a little unclear, but don't you  need to hold a "qualifying" account to still get 5% on Cash Rewards after Oct?

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Yes I just opened a Money market savings which is really a savings and that qualified me to keep my 5% Cash back.

OP, honestly I'm not sure if you would be successful on the recon. Penfed is extremely conservative, and I know they will at least want to see 1 year of credit history at the very minimum. But hey if you say you have a card from them, I guess I could be wrong. To answer your question, yes they would be willing to move lines around to which you desire, they offered it to me. Just speak with them and let them know what you would like to do.

[kkapdolee]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

It's a little unclear, but don't you  need to hold a "qualifying" account to still get 5% on Cash Rewards after Oct?

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Yeah, I just opened up their checking account. I plan to keep the minimum $250 balance and do direct deposit each month.

[kkapdolee]

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@Meltdownblitz wrote:

Yes I just opened a Money market savings which is really a savings and that qualified me to keep my 5% Cash back.

OP, honestly I'm not sure if you would be successful on the recon. Penfed is extremely conservative, and I know they will at least want to see 1 year of credit history at the very minimum. But hey if you say you have a card from them, I guess I could be wrong. To answer your question, yes they would be willing to move lines around to which you desire, they offered it to me. Just speak with them and let them know what you would like to do.

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I had more than 1 year of credit history when I opened PenFed Platinum. Its just that the "average age" of all my accounts are only 11 months right now.

Thanks, I will call them and ask to move credit limits or close and open another card all together.

[Meltdownblitz]

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@kkapdolee wrote:

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@Meltdownblitz wrote:

Yes I just opened a Money market savings which is really a savings and that qualified me to keep my 5% Cash back.

OP, honestly I'm not sure if you would be successful on the recon. Penfed is extremely conservative, and I know they will at least want to see 1 year of credit history at the very minimum. But hey if you say you have a card from them, I guess I could be wrong. To answer your question, yes they would be willing to move lines around to which you desire, they offered it to me. Just speak with them and let them know what you would like to do.

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I had more than 1 year of credit history when I opened PenFed Platinum. Its just that the "average age" of all my accounts are only 11 months right now.

Thanks, I will call them and ask to move credit limits or close and open another card all together.

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Oh ok, that sounds better. Definitely move limits around then if they will not approve you for an additional card. IMO its easier to just open a MMS (really just a savings as I said) with minimum $25 in the account at all times according to the CSR, than to do a DD. If its your main bank then I suppose its fine but if its just for the CC like me, I'd rather do a savings then DD. Let us know what the outcome is on moving around your limits.

[kkapdolee]

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@Meltdownblitz wrote:

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@kkapdolee wrote:

---

@Meltdownblitz wrote:

Yes I just opened a Money market savings which is really a savings and that qualified me to keep my 5% Cash back.

OP, honestly I'm not sure if you would be successful on the recon. Penfed is extremely conservative, and I know they will at least want to see 1 year of credit history at the very minimum. But hey if you say you have a card from them, I guess I could be wrong. To answer your question, yes they would be willing to move lines around to which you desire, they offered it to me. Just speak with them and let them know what you would like to do.

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I had more than 1 year of credit history when I opened PenFed Platinum. Its just that the "average age" of all my accounts are only 11 months right now.

Thanks, I will call them and ask to move credit limits or close and open another card all together.

---

Oh ok, that sounds better. Definitely move limits around then if they will not approve you for an additional card. IMO its easier to just open a MMS (really just a savings as I said) with minimum $25 in the account at all times according to the CSR, than to do a DD. If its your main bank then I suppose its fine but if its just for the CC like me, I'd rather do a savings then DD. Let us know what the outcome is on moving around your limits.

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Thanks. I didn't know I can open a MMS with a min balance of $25 to qualify for Cash rewards with 5%! I would definitely prefer that over going through the paper work of setting of DD for a checking account that I don't really plan to use.

Regarding moving limites, my worry is that I think my credit score has gone down significantly since getting a car loan (from 720 before to maybe around 680 now? not sure exactly). They wouldn't reduce my overall credit line or anything would they?

[kkapdolee]

I talked to PenFed and they will split my credit limit in half and open up the cash rewards card for me!

I will now have a 2.5k Platinum and 2.5k Cash Rewards.

Thank you guys for all your help!