topic Re: PenFed good for main bank? in Personal Finance

PenFed good for main bank?

user979797 — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 23:13:11 GMT

I have found my local credit union to be non helpful when it comes to my financial needs and have decided to switch to someone else. I have a penfed membership and am thinking about them but wanted to see if I could find out more first and if they are a good choice for a main bank even with no branch access?

I will not have direct deposit do they care?

I have been a member for more than 6 months so are external transfers instant? If not, what are the average waiting times for funds to be available?

Mobile check deposits instant availability? If not, average hold times?

Overdraft line of credit: Average limit with this type of product? Does it report to the CRAs?

Are transfers from Premium online savings instant to checking accounts or does the 5 day rule apply?

Thank you very much in advance for any information provided about this I appreciate it.

Re: PenFed good for main bank?

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Oct 2022 01:15:22 GMT

Dunno but now I have 3 accts, just got checking and PCR CC

Saving $5(membership last March?)

Checking $600, will put more

PCR $2000

So I do hope so!

Re: PenFed good for main bank?

srloring13 — Fri, 28 Oct 2022 04:48:29 GMT

In my experience they don't care about direct deposit and transfers between accounts don't have holds on funds. You can use any COOP atm or Allpoint network atm for free. The COOP network will allow you to make deposits to your PenFed account but I don't know if they place a hold on funds deposited using that network. I applied for the overdraft LOC in June 2019 when I first opened my checking account and it reported in July 2019. It does report to all 3 credit bureau's. I'm waiting until next year to apply for their credit products.

Re: PenFed good for main bank?

SouthJamaica — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 13:16:40 GMT

@user979797 wrote:
I have found my local credit union to be non helpful when it comes to my financial needs and have decided to switch to someone else. I have a penfed membership and am thinking about them but wanted to see if I could find out more first and if they are a good choice for a main bank even with no branch access?

I will not have direct deposit do they care?

I have been a member for more than 6 months so are external transfers instant? If not, what are the average waiting times for funds to be available?

Mobile check deposits instant availability? If not, average hold times?

Overdraft line of credit: Average limit with this type of product? Does it report to the CRAs?

Are transfers from Premium online savings instant to checking accounts or does the 5 day rule apply?

Thank you very much in advance for any information provided about this I appreciate it.

Update 12/14/22: I would be very wary of using PenFed. They have just implemented the weirdest restriction yet.

When I tried to do a 2nd credit balance transfer, I got the following message:

You've reached your daily limit
warning
You are allowed one balance transfer per day. This includes withdrawals and cash advances.

1. They don't "care" if you have direct deposit but as with all institutions there are certain advantages to having it.

2. I have found that sometimes external transfers are posted instantly. I don't know if it's all the time, however.

3. Their overdraft line of credit has a prohibitively high interest rate, so I would avoid it. Their regular personal line of credit has a more reasonable rate. But I don't know if they're even offering that any more.

4. I don't know the answer on mobile deposits. Sorry.

5. Internal transfers are usually instant, sometimes next business day. PenFed, oddly, has a limit of 1 transfer per account per day.

I find transfers in and out are faster than with most institutions, as are their credit card balance transfers. All in all, PenFed's services can be pretty powerful. It has its oddities, though.

My advice would be to start using the accounts, and get the feel of it, and then if it feels right, take that plunge into its being your primary online account. I have a number of credit union relationships, and PenFed is certainly a strong choice to be a primary institution.

Re: PenFed good for main bank?

user979797 — Fri, 28 Oct 2022 22:23:54 GMT

Thanks for all the great info. I'll give them a shot.

Re: PenFed good for main bank?

user979797 — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 15:00:37 GMT

I am not impressed at all so far with my new PenFed checking. External transfers are held each time as are mobile deposits (both for 5 biz days). Also with billpay, even if electronic pay is available when i go to make a payment i get a error message about transfer limitations and that the payment must be sent by check. This is super slow banking and not what I am used to and not what I expected from PenFed since I have credit products with them as well.

I am hoping that even though I was a member for over 6 months before I opened the account, that this is all happening because it's the first 30 days and hopefully next month I will see better service and speed with my transactions. If this is how it will be past the 30 day mark I will probably go through the hassle of switching and finding a new checking yet again this will be too slow for me when other banks can do much faster.

I will update after the inital 30 days and report if things have changed. If anyone else has experienced this and after 30 days it was faster please chime in. Thanks.

Re: PenFed good for main bank?

SouthJamaica — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 13:18:05 GMT

@user979797 wrote:
I am not impressed at all so far with my new PenFed checking. External transfers are held each time

I've never experienced that with them; I have found them to be super fast. Maybe it has to do with the new account/6-month thing.

as are mobile deposits (both for 5 biz days). Also with billpay, even if electronic pay is available when i go to make a payment i get a error message about transfer limitations and that the payment must be sent by check.

I have never experienced that; have found that electronic payments from bill pay are as fast as it gets.

This is super slow banking and not what I am used to and not what I expected from PenFed since I have credit products with them as well.

I am hoping that even though I was a member for over 6 months before I opened the account, that this is all happening because it's the first 30 days and hopefully next month I will see better service and speed with my transactions.

I'm sure it has something to do with the newness of the account.

If this is how it will be past the 30 day mark I will probably go through the hassle of switching and finding a new checking yet again this will be too slow for me when other banks can do much faster.

I will update after the inital 30 days and report if things have changed. If anyone else has experienced this and after 30 days it was faster please chime in. Thanks.

My advice would be to let it sit for awhile and then try again after some time has passed, or to call customer service with a list of the issues and see if they're related to it being a new account.

Update 12/14/22: My new advice, for reasons expressed elsewhere, is to avoid PenFed.

Re: PenFed good for main bank?

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 22:24:35 GMT

@user979797 wrote:
I have found my local credit union to be non helpful when it comes to my financial needs and have decided to switch to someone else. I have a penfed membership and am thinking about them but wanted to see if I could find out more first and if they are a good choice for a main bank even with no branch access?

I will not have direct deposit do they care?

I have been a member for more than 6 months so are external transfers instant? If not, what are the average waiting times for funds to be available?

Mobile check deposits instant availability? If not, average hold times?

Overdraft line of credit: Average limit with this type of product? Does it report to the CRAs?

Are transfers from Premium online savings instant to checking accounts or does the 5 day rule apply?

Thank you very much in advance for any information provided about this I appreciate it.

One question is what are your financial needs that aren't being met? Fairly generic ones from the questions above, or do you need Medallion-signed documents, accept deposits denominated in foreign currency etc

Re: PenFed good for main bank?

creditfan — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 21:59:59 GMT

if penfed is not working out for you. You might try out alliant CU or DCU

Re: PenFed good for main bank?

user979797 — Sat, 12 Nov 2022 13:45:33 GMT

Spoke with Customer service and they were very helpful and this is standard for new accounts regaurdless of membership tenure so I am sticking with Penfed as I believe after 30 days things will be faster. On a more positive note they write up direct and electronic deposits super fast and I really appreciate that.

Re: PenFed good for main bank?

TJHOFF — Sat, 19 Nov 2022 16:58:59 GMT

They are average at best for a CU. They are needlessly rigid with external accounts and their story changes every time you ask why after repeated attempts at adding an external account after several days of waiting from the time you attempt to set one up.

First excuse was you have to have been a customer for 3 months, then I was told only one account at a time and you have to remove your one and only account before you can add another account. Kinda regret even bothering with their credit card.

Fidelity as a "One Stop Shop" solves a lot of problems.

Re: PenFed good for main bank?

M_Smart007 — Sat, 19 Nov 2022 17:44:12 GMT

PenFed as my main bank, I just cannot!!

The website and external accounts are torture.

Re: PenFed good for main bank?

sznthescore — Sun, 20 Nov 2022 17:26:12 GMT

@M_Smart007 wrote:
PenFed as my main bank, I just cannot!!
The website and external accounts are torture.

I concur.

Re: PenFed good for main bank?

xenon3030 — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 03:38:49 GMT

I have one checking/saving with PenFed and plan to expand my business with them by getting one CC sometime soon. I see how it goes.

For primary checking account(s), I do recommend to do it with major banks nearby you like Chase or BOA, instead of small CUs (their platform can be buggy or delayed). For checking, it is good to check the quality of the services like fees (monthly?, in-bound/out-bound fee?), free check, early deposit, APY, same day transfer between external accounts, the needed time to deposit a check via phone (at some places, it can take ~3 weeks!!!), no plaid, etc.

I almost cound NOT find an optimum bank to cover all while I use a few e.g. BOA/Chase/SoFi to cover what I need.

Re: PenFed good for main bank?

Revelate — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 16:47:13 GMT

@xenon3030 wrote:
I have one checking/saving with PenFed and plan to expand my business with them by getting one CC sometime soon. I see how it goes.

For primary checking account(s), I do recommend to do it with major banks nearby you like Chase or BOA, instead of small CUs (their platform can be buggy or delayed). For checking, it is good to check the quality of the services like fees (monthly?, in-bound/out-bound fee?), free check, early deposit, APY, same day transfer between external accounts, the needed time to deposit a check via phone (at some places, it can take ~3 weeks!!!), no plaid, etc.

I almost cound NOT find an optimum bank to cover all while I use a few e.g. BOA/Chase/SoFi to cover what I need.

What are you finding that isn't covered by either BOFA or Chase? Genuinely curious as I've used one then the other for pretty much all my adult life and while BOFA was enamored of stupid fees (they refunded all but I just got tired of dealing with them) and Chase until recently has been really fantastic imo, but I've not been lacking in features and their tech is on point.

Well deposit rates I guess, but when short term Tbills are paying higher than any of the HYSA accounts here I'm a little skeptical of using them.

Re: PenFed good for main bank?

xenon3030 — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 17:09:56 GMT

None of them looks optimum, while using three should meet the purpose. By opening a Merryl Edge and linkning it to BOA, one might bypass the check fee while any transfer between BOA-ME is free of charge. Here are the summaries:

BOA: Money hungry for fees (in-bound/out-bound transactions), no free check, no APY for checking.
Chase: No free check, no APY for checking.
SoFi: Free check (not using for transactions due to plaid), early DD, APY for checking.

I need to keep BOA checking to keep my premium rewards tier. While BOA says keeping either of checking or ME would be sufficient, several users mentioned losing their tier after closing BOA checking while having an active ME.

Re: PenFed good for main bank?

Revelate — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 11:15:22 GMT

@xenon3030 wrote:
None of them looks optimum, while using three should meet the purpose. By opening a Merryl Edge and linkning it to BOA, one might bypass the check fee while any transfer between BOA-ME is free of charge. Here are the summaries:

BOA: Money hungry for fees (in-bound/out-bound transactions), no free check, no APY for checking.
Chase: No free check, no APY for checking.
SoFi: Free check (not using for transactions due to plaid), early DD, APY for checking.
I need to keep BOA checking to keep my premium rewards tier. While BOA says keeping either of checking or ME would be sufficient, several users mentioned losing their tier after closing BOA checking while having an active ME.

I guess I'd question why Chase in that lineup at all? Chase and BOFA really don't do much differently and many FIs do transfers better until you're at the CPC level where you get wire transfers for free.

Admittedly I've not written a check in a very long time, I actually can't remember when the last time I wrote an actual check was. I think maybe I did a counter check for something maybe nearly a decade ago, but even for things like earnest money deposits I find most places will happily accept a wire transfer (cause duh) after a little cajoling.

Re: PenFed good for main bank?

user979797 — Tue, 06 Dec 2022 22:42:50 GMT

It's been over 30 days and my external transfers and mobile deposits are still being held every time. This time customer service advised that they will continue to do this and it may change in the future or not..... but I can find better elsewhere that will not place such a long hold on these types of transactions even after I establish a good relationship and I will not continue to pay wire transfer fees or use paypal just to get money into Penfed within 24 hours. I do like how quickly direct deposits are made available with them but I move bill money through transfers and they make that hard to do so it doesn't work for me as a main checking account but others may not have this problem and it can still be a good fit based on some others comments so good luck to all

Re: PenFed good for main bank?

Zoostation1 — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 05:40:08 GMT

@Revelate wrote:
@xenon3030 wrote:
None of them looks optimum, while using three should meet the purpose. By opening a Merryl Edge and linkning it to BOA, one might bypass the check fee while any transfer between BOA-ME is free of charge. Here are the summaries:

BOA: Money hungry for fees (in-bound/out-bound transactions), no free check, no APY for checking.
Chase: No free check, no APY for checking.
SoFi: Free check (not using for transactions due to plaid), early DD, APY for checking.
I need to keep BOA checking to keep my premium rewards tier. While BOA says keeping either of checking or ME would be sufficient, several users mentioned losing their tier after closing BOA checking while having an active ME.
I guess I'd question why Chase in that lineup at all? Chase and BOFA really don't do much differently and many FIs do transfers better until you're at the CPC level where you get wire transfers for free.

Admittedly I've not written a check in a very long time, I actually can't remember when the last time I wrote an actual check was. I think maybe I did a counter check for something maybe nearly a decade ago, but even for things like earnest money deposits I find most places will happily accept a wire transfer (cause duh) after a little cajoling.

I haven't written a regular personal check since 2011 and outside of the odd cashier's check (maybe 2 or 3 ever) I haven't used checks at all since then.

Re: PenFed good for main bank?

xenon3030 — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 06:18:00 GMT

@Revelate wrote:
I guess I'd question why Chase in that lineup at all? Chase and BOFA really don't do much differently and many FIs do transfers better until you're at the CPC level where you get wire transfers for free.

Chase has same day external transfer for free (BOA charges for any external transfer).