topic Re: PenFed DECLINED (Recon Help) in Credit Card Applications

PenFed DECLINED (Recon Help)

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Nov 2018 15:57:33 GMT

Hello everyone. I need some help. I signed up for a PenFed share Acct and Savings. I applied for the PFCR cars and received the 24 to 48 hours message. Well, today, I was turned down for “too little time between Acct’s”. I want to call for Recon. My stats are below. Can anyone offer advice on how to approach the loan officer? Calling is always better than email? Thank you.

EQ Fico they looked at
720
No lates
No derogatory
Closed car loan in good standing
Current chase car lease in good standing
Opened 3 credit card in 4 months (I know it’s alot, but really?
Inquiries- 4 (all four coming off next week) then will only have 1 from PenFed.
Utilization 10% maybe even less.
Total cards- 8 with $45k total CL

Any more info needed? What advice for recon LO? I know time is of the essence, it would love a card w them for the holidays
Is it even worth app for the Promise card? THANK YOU ALL

Mark

Re: PenFed DECLINED (Recon Help)

SBR249 — Mon, 19 Nov 2018 16:27:30 GMT

Most PenFed recons I've heard of are to get higher CLs after approval. But I hear a great way to get in touch with them for a recon is to fill out the survey they send afterwards stating your dissatisfaction with the outcome of your application. They usually will call you to talk about it.

However, PenFed is known for being somewhat sensitive to new accounts with their infamous "Egyptian" denials. I really don't think they are likely to budge. You are likely better off waiting 3-6 months. I know it's not news you want to hear, but I was in a similar situation with another Egyptian-sensitive CU around this time last year after a successful app spree and waiting 8 months did the trick (along with requesting a smaller CL).

Re: PenFed DECLINED (Recon Help)

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Nov 2018 16:53:13 GMT

I completely hear you and do agree!!! Not quite what I want, but that’s the credit game. I get it. Do you recommend opening any sort of new checking, savings, or any other Acct while I’m waiting the 3 to 6 months? Will that put some “meat on the bones” with them? Also, do you think it would have mattered if I applied for the Promise card? I heard that was less stringent on the apps. Thank you.

M

Re: PenFed DECLINED (Recon Help)

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Nov 2018 16:54:42 GMT

I guess I really wanted to take advantage of that 90 day HP.

Re: PenFed DECLINED (Recon Help)

spiritcraft1 — Mon, 19 Nov 2018 17:10:59 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I completely hear you and do agree!!! Not quite what I want, but that’s the credit game. I get it. Do you recommend opening any sort of new checking, savings, or any other Acct while I’m waiting the 3 to 6 months? Will that put some “meat on the bones” with them? Also, do you think it would have mattered if I applied for the Promise card? I heard that was less stringent on the apps. Thank you.

M

You might as well at least get a checking account since they pulled hard. Not that you have to make it your main, but looking towards the future it might come in handy. You would never want to have to suffer a HP for that sometime down the road.

Re: PenFed DECLINED (Recon Help)

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Nov 2018 17:20:45 GMT

Yes. That’s true. I can utilize the HP they have for now. Thx

Re: PenFed DECLINED (Recon Help)

FinStar — Mon, 19 Nov 2018 18:01:34 GMT

Of the slew of new accounts you recently opened, how many of those are currently reporting?

That might be a little challenging to overcome even if you were to receive any type of survey.

Re: PenFed DECLINED (Recon Help)

Loquat — Mon, 19 Nov 2018 18:17:17 GMT

@FinStar wrote:
Of the slew of new accounts you recently opened, how many of those are currently reporting?

That might be a little challenging to overcome even if you were to receive any type of survey.

+1. And as far as adding money to a checking/savings account...in my opinion that doesn't matter one bit. I was able to scoop up most of my PenFed products with nothing more than the the few bucks it took to open the account. Don't go shoving tons of money into an account in the hopes that it'll carry some weight with PenFed because I truly don't believe it would make any difference.

Re: PenFed DECLINED (Recon Help)

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 21:16:10 GMT

UPDATE!!! RECON:
So, not being so thrilled I was outright turned down, I called PenFed CSR and requested a supervisor/LO. Anyway, I was connected to the LO. She was not so friendly, but I’m sure she deals w people like me all day. lol. I went through each reason they said I was turned down for and she said from what she sees, she agrees most of the reasons don’t match up, but that the main reason I was turned down was age of credit history. I am at 2 yrs 10 months. She said PenFed wants at least 5 years average age history and that’s non negotiable. Not sure if that’s true, as I have read threads with people being approved with less than a year. She also said that even though Ive been approved by big banks for decent size cards, that Penfed is non profit and works for the clients (doesn’t seem to help me lol). That big banks just raise their interest rates a half point if they need to make up for any losses. lol. Makes sense. She said they do are not bias whether you are in the military or have other Acct’s with them. Questionable. I figured I wouldn’t push too hard. Then, she recommended I fill out a joint borrower form and resubmit my app. Sooooo, after having a family member agree to basically “sponsor” me, I resubmitted the app to a senior LO. The app has been received and again, is in the 24 to 48hr under review. The process was pretty easy. I printed out the non member joint borrower form at their website, had my family member fill it out, then had it notarized, as requested, and emailed a copy to them. The form basically asks the joint borrower’s ss#, address, monthly income, etc..... Typical app. FYI I chose a family member who is a bit older. They have a mortgage and over 30yrs credit age history. All in good standing. If I dont get approved, I will be in the garden for a while before I apply for any other Penfed products. Fyi. No survey has been sent as of yet and the new app has gotten a new file#. Fingers crossed. Today is Turkey day, so probably will call them tomorrow morning from work. The email I received saying that the app was under review, also said to call if I wanted to expedite the app. Will update after .

M

Re: PenFed DECLINED (Recon Help)

JoeLuvsHisCredit — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 22:59:52 GMT

good luck

Re: PenFed DECLINED (Recon Help)

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 23:31:56 GMT

i just got approved for a 3500 and 17500 credit card from penfed with pretty much the same stats you have and an AAOA of a little over a year.

i just got declined for a capitol one savor with a transunion of over 700.,no derogs and i have been a cap 1 credit card holder for over 2 years with excellent payment history.It seems each bank has a different crazy algorithym they use to approve.ive seen people get approved with 10k starting lines with ficos in the 500,s.its very unpredictable .

Re: PenFed DECLINED (Recon Help)

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 23:38:48 GMT

Hello @Trendcat
It’s insane. Makes noooooo sense, but that’s the credit game, right? If I get turned down even w the joint borrower, I’m in the garden w PenFed for a while. Oh, BTW, I was approved for CapOne Savor for $10k not even a month ago! Can you believe this?!! Haha. Crazy!

M

Re: PenFed DECLINED (Recon Help)

Green456 — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 03:11:09 GMT

I was turned down with 784 credit score, 6 years AAoA due to having student loans. I was going to recon but I figured there are other banks that will offer me credit. Paradoxically, I heard about Fort Knox being conservative and these guys had no issue approving me for their gas card.

Re: PenFed DECLINED (Recon Help)

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Nov 2018 19:30:34 GMT

PenFed told me that all my accounts have to be at least a year old before they will approve me. Literally that was the only thing that held me back from approval when I applied over the phone (she sent it right over to the loan officer and the loan officer proceeded to process it right away) and my stats are worse than yours.

The bottom line is that PenFed just doesn’t like seeing new accounts. I had opened two in March to replace two older cards and applied in September.

Turned around and NFCU gave me a 3K cashRewards at 11.4% *shrug*

Re: PenFed DECLINED (Recon Help)

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Nov 2018 19:51:20 GMT

Wow!!! Yes. PenFed has not been the pillar of joy as most threads say their CSR are. lol. Not for me anyway. I’m working in joining NFCU. And, should find out by Monday if my PFCR card is approved w the “joint borrower “ I had sponsor me. We will see. I used a family member with over 30yrs cc history, a mortgage in good standing and solid score. If I get turned down, it’s garden time w them for quite some time!!!

M

Re: PenFed DECLINED (Recon Help)

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Nov 2018 19:53:08 GMT

Also, as I said before, the CSR at PenFed told me you need minimum 5yrs oldest card. Just proves CSR everywhere is typical. lol. Good luck

M

Re: PenFed DECLINED (Recon Help)

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Nov 2018 20:10:06 GMT

IMO and IME, PenFed is where you go when you aren’t eligible for Navy.

I haven’t seen many people say that PenFed treats them better than Navy. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen any unless the person actually burned Navy.

I mean Navy may have given me a 3K SL but I had just opened a 5k SSFCU and 7.5k Disco in March and Amex gave me a BCE 1k which I promptly called and canceled and they still reported it for 2 months so my AAoA shot down to just over a year and my income is only 18k (SSDI). Obviously Navy will grow and I’ll be patient along the way but if there is ever any chance you can get in with Navy, I would strongly recommend that over messing around with PenFed.

Best of luck to you though, the joint trick should definitely work but if it doesn’t, if it was me I would probably shelve PenFed.

I also didn’t get told 5 years - my oldest is a Cap Plat that I had them change to QS and it was opened 5/2014. 5 years for oldest account would be pretty ridiculous honestly but maybe they’re tightening their lending practices.

Re: PenFed DECLINED (Recon Help)

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Nov 2018 20:28:36 GMT

Hmmm...all I know is that PenFed approved me for a $10K Power Cash Rewards card and a $4.5K Promise card. Most likely I can get CLIs but I think that's enough for my purposes. They also approved a $10K loan in about 3 minutes which I repaid in 6 months; then earlier this month the sent me an unsolicited loan check for $25K that all I need to do is sign and deposit it but I decided against doing that.

Navy...well...

The problem here is that the OP is making too many applications for credit and its catching up with him/her. I've read many of their threads and as my kids say he/she is acting "thirsty" for credit. But I guess we all have to learn the hard way.

Re: PenFed DECLINED (Recon Help)

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Nov 2018 20:55:43 GMT

UPDATE....................I just called to follow up on my joint borrower app as its been past 48hrs. I was put on hold for a few minutes and they came back and APPROVED for Cash Reward card with an SL of $500. Not thrilled about the Sl, but also will take the card as a foot in the door and work on using it and paying off, inhope of CLI in the future!! Mixed feelings about it all, but I do agree with you @MaizeandBlue.

! I have stepped on the breaks and I am in the garden for at least a year or more now. Finito, Done, Finished!! lol. I do have an Amex Cash Magnet with SL $12k that I am on day 65 that I am going to go for 3X CLI, then graden time for a while!!! My balance on the Magnet card is $0, but last statement balance was $4,400 (36% utilization). Fico updated two weeks ago on Amex at 745. Will Amex use my current balance of $0 along with the Fico 745, or will they look at my previous statement balance of $4,400. If that, should I wait till the 11th, when the new statement kicks in and reports $0 balance? Thx All

Mark

Going gardening after CLI request Amex.

Re: PenFed DECLINED (Recon Help)

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Nov 2018 21:21:58 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
UPDATE....................I just called to follow up on my joint borrower app as its been past 48hrs. I was put on hold for a few minutes and they came back and APPROVED for Cash Reward card with an SL of $500. Not thrilled about the Sl, but also will take the card as a foot in the door and work on using it and paying off, inhope of CLI in the future!! Mixed feelings about it all, but I do agree with you @MaizeandBlue.
! I have stepped on the breaks and I am in the garden for at least a year or more now. Finito, Done, Finished!! lol. I do have an Amex Cash Magnet with SL $12k that I am on day 65 that I am going to go for 3X CLI, then graden time for a while!!! My balance on the Magnet card is $0, but last statement balance was $4,400 (36% utilization). Fico updated two weeks ago on Amex at 745. Will Amex use my current balance of $0 along with the Fico 745, or will they look at my previous statement balance of $4,400. If that, should I wait till the 11th, when the new statement kicks in and reports $0 balance? Thx All

Mark
Going gardening after CLI request Amex.

That $500 recon approval is a red light for new apps. You will need a cage instead of a fence for your garden.