Penfed Platinum Rewards, worth holding onto.

[pkosheta]

As many of you are aware the PenFed Platinum Rewards card recently and brutally took a baseball bat to the value of its reward points.  Across the board, gift card and Visa prepaid cards saw an 18% increase in the number of points needed for redemption.  While many decried this as the worst devaluing in history, there is still value in this card and I place a 'hold it' in your wallet rather than a 'drop it', and for a select few I still think it is a 'get it' card.

Consider the Following...

1. Chip/PIN and No Forex.  Off the top of your head where else can you get these features together?  For a traveler of the international, off the beaten path, variety this is worth its weight in gold.

2. The bonus catergories are still decent, Groceries are about 2.5% and Gas is hair over 4%.  compared to other No-Fee cards, that isnt bad.  BCP may be superior if you spend enough, and many companies have cards with similiar rates of return, with a bit more on gorceries but less on gas... but is it worth a change for a comparable card? No.

3. Should this card be the 'other' catergory card? NO.  .83 on everyday spending is pretty indefensible on its own.  1% is the floor for cards now adays.  However, this card should have never been your 'other' card to begin with.  Considering there are several no fee cards with a flat 1.25%, 1.5%, and even 2% back, going from 1% to .83% is an 'outrage' that shouldn't affect your rate of return on card spending.  If it did, your playing the game wrong.

[RemyWinchester]

Many feel Penfed is a bit shaky in terms of leadership following this stunt. It's a highly questionable move to devalue points without ANY notice to the consumer. It was a huge debacle. 

I closed my card. I've had it since the days of 5-2-1.25% auto cash back. After three rounds of devaluation I'm done, and quite frankly the way PFCU has handled this had given me real thought to use NFCU for future credit needs. 

I moved my entire credit line on this card over to my PFCU Defender Amex, which for now is 1.5%, 0 FTF, 6.99% APR "no fee" card. I'm fairly confident PFCU will not change the terms of this card as it's very limited who can even apply for it. 

I'm not mad at them for changing the terms - in fact if it were hurting the credit union that bad than it would be irresponsible to not change the terms. How they handled it is deplorable and reading forums such as Bogleheads and Fatwallet , many people are reacting similar to me. 

BoA has a chipped 1.5% No FTF card (I used to have this card). Capone has many good cards too. 

By the way - numerous people online claim that the Penfed Visa chip and pin cards actually no not really work correctly in the UK anyways - that they default to chip and signature so ymmv

[longtimelurker]

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@RemyWinchester wrote:

By the way - numerous people online claim that the Penfed Visa chip and pin cards actually no not really work correctly in the UK anyways - that they default to chip and signature so ymmv

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In both the UK and Italy, I was unable to get it to function as Chip&Pin, defaulting to Chip&Sig, but that is how it is "meant" to work, so I wouldn't say that's not working correctly, just the definition of correct working was bad!   It is meant to go to chip&pin when needed, in unattended kiosks etc.   When I used it at ticket machines, it took it without needing PIN or sig, i.e. like a swipe card in similar situations here.

Since some people elsewhere have got it to ask for a PIN, I assume it does work, just I've never been in a situation where it is required.

Re comparison to BCP: while the rate is lower on the first $6K, this card is uncapped, and I don't think there are many cards that offer the 2.5% uncapped, and certainly not that give the discount outside the US.  (Edit: well, the 5x uncapped card (5x TYP, TD, WF etc do give better uncapped rates, but only for a limited time)

So I will keep it (not least for the large CL) but I don't think it is a "must have" card, in the same way that changes to the BCP and Cash Plus moved those cards down several notches.  (The Penfed changes aren't as bad as those changes, but it started from a lower place!)