topic Re: Considering applying for PenFed CC in Credit Cards

Considering applying for PenFed CC

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:56:05 GMT

I'm considering applying for a PenFed CC (not sure which one yet), but I wanted to ask some questions about my chances of being approved first.

Here is some data from my Equifax score/report. I ordered the ScoreWatch thingie from this site today, and also through my job I was able to get a free Equifax report which I pulled 2 days ago.

Score: 771

Oldest account: 8 years, 8 mos

Avg age of accounts: 5 years

No derogs (the other CRA's have a 30 day late, but that apparently wasn't reported to EQ)

Open installment accounts: I have an auto loan and 2 student loans.

Open revolving accounts:

I'm a bit confused about this one. The Score Power report I got with ScoreWatch just lumps all my accounts together and doesn't show which are open and which are closed. But the EQ report I got directly from them shows 4 CC open, all with $0 balance:

Bank of America 6700 CL

US Bank 4000 CL

HSBC/Best Buy 2000 CL

Credit First/Firestone 585 CL

It's confusing that it shows the BoA and US Bank accounts open. I paid the balances off through a CCCS back in Sept 2008 and according to both banks, the accounts were closed as part of the agreement with the CCCS.

The newest account is the auto loan which was opened 11 months ago (this is the only thing that the ScorePower report says is negatively affecting my score).

No hard inqs in the past year.

So here are my questions about whether or not I should apply for a PenFed card.

1. Does it matter how many closed accounts I have?

2. Will PenFed frown on my having 4 open CC's on the report (even though 2 are technically closed)?

3. Should I wait until April when the auto loan will have been open for a year?

4. Do the balances on the auto loan and the student loans matter?

5. When it comes to util, does PenFed (or any other creditor, for that matter) look at the high balances for the CC's? Since I paid everything off in Sept, I've only used the Best Buy card twice at less than 9% of my CL and PIF before the grace period ended. But in the past my util was not so great.

6. From some of the threads about the PenFed CC's that I've read, it seems that you can request the CL that you want. How much should I request? Ideally I'd like about $10k.

7. If it is denied, will that hurt my score at all?

Re: Considering applying for PenFed CC

haulingthescoreup — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:32:07 GMT

I think you're going to be fine. They should love your EQ score, lack of inqs, and relatively clean reports. Does the credit counseling show on your EQ report?

On your myFICO reports, click "Printable Version" to get a more manageable view, which will show open and closed status.

PenFed doesn't mind your having open accounts. They get excited when they see lots of recent inquiries for credit, especially CC's, as this makes them suspicious that you're in financial trouble and hunting for credit that you can't handle.

Your car loan is probably OK, although it wouldn't hurt to wait 12 more days until April.

I would ask for $10K. I think that they will counter if that's too high, but check the other threads for this.

And since it looks like you've been doing your research, I assume that you know about how to join the CU first and then apply for credit products. The Plat Plus Visa, which is the "gas card", is the one to go for. Great card! It really cheered me up during the most recent gas crisis.

Re: Considering applying for PenFed CC

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:44:32 GMT

Thanks, haulingthescoreup. I don't see any mention of the CCCS on any of my accounts. I think I will wait until April to apply. I'm excited hehe. And yes, I did check out the eligibility info on the PenFed website. I'll come back and post how it goes.

Re: Considering applying for PenFed CC

Cory — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:52:09 GMT

Looks good to me. I'll say go for it.

Cory

Re: Considering applying for PenFed CC

Cory — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:54:46 GMT

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
I think you're going to be fine. They should love your EQ score, lack of inqs, and relatively clean reports. Does the credit counseling show on your EQ report?

On your myFICO reports, click "Printable Version" to get a more manageable view, which will show open and closed status.

PenFed doesn't mind your having open accounts. They get excited when they see lots of recent inquiries for credit, especially CC's, as this makes them suspicious that you're in financial trouble and hunting for credit that you can't handle.

Your car loan is probably OK, although it wouldn't hurt to wait 12 more days until April.

I would ask for $10K. I think that they will counter if that's too high, but check the other threads for this.

And since it looks like you've been doing your research, I assume that you know about how to join the CU first and then apply for credit products. The Plat Plus Visa, which is the "gas card", is the one to go for. Great card! It really cheered me up during the most recent gas crisis.

Haulingthescoreup, they have this card? The Plat Plus Visa, or do you mean the Plat Cash Rewards Visa?

In your opinion, is that the better card? I know the Gold's rate is pretty good, but no real rewards behind it.

Cory

Message Edited by Cory on 03-20-2009 07:54 AM

Re: Considering applying for PenFed CC

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:22:27 GMT

I think the card he's referring to is the Plat Plus Cash Rewards. Also, if you look at the Disclosures & Terms link, the Visa Gold is going up to 12.49% APR as of 04/01/09. So not a much better rate than the rewards card, and without the rewards hehe. And the Cash Rewards is a fixed APR Doesn't seem that the Gold is fixed, though I'm not certain.

Re: Considering applying for PenFed CC

Cory — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:34:47 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I think the card he's referring to is the Plat Plus Cash Rewards. Also, if you look at the Disclosures & Terms link, the Visa Gold is going up to 12.49% APR as of 04/01/09. So not a much better rate than the rewards card, and without the rewards hehe. And the Cash Rewards is a fixed APR Doesn't seem that the Gold is fixed, though I'm not certain.

Oh yeah, your right. The apr is going up to 12.49%. Maybe their trying to push more of the Platinum Cash Rewards Visa Cards more, by discouraging the other.

Cory

Message Edited by Cory on 03-20-2009 08:34 AM

Re: Considering applying for PenFed CC

haulingthescoreup — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:16:27 GMT

Cory wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:
I think the card he's referring to is the Plat Plus Cash Rewards. Also, if you look at the Disclosures & Terms link, the Visa Gold is going up to 12.49% APR as of 04/01/09. So not a much better rate than the rewards card, and without the rewards hehe. And the Cash Rewards is a fixed APR Doesn't seem that the Gold is fixed, though I'm not certain.
Oh yeah, your right. The apr is going up to 12.49%. Maybe their trying to push more of the Platinum Cash Rewards Visa Cards more, by discouraging the other.

Cory

Duh me, you're both right --I had to pull out my wallet and look at it.

It's what everyone informally calls the "gas card."

Rewards cards almost always have higher APR's than non-rewards. That's interesting that the APR on the Gold is rising. Another possibility is that the Gold might tend to go to those with weaker credit, so they're seeing their APR's rise.

I still don't see how PenFed can make money off the Plat Cash Rewards, but hey, I'll play along as long as they do!

(I'm a "she", btw. )

Re: Considering applying for PenFed CC

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:14:03 GMT

Oops, sorry about that, haulin'. I wasn't sure but I didn't want to do the whole he/she thing! >.< Is there somewhere in people's profiles where it shows that?

Re: Considering applying for PenFed CC

haulingthescoreup — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:24:46 GMT

usagichan wrote:
Oops, sorry about that, haulin'. I wasn't sure but I didn't want to do the whole he/she thing! >.< Is there somewhere in people's profiles where it shows that?

lol, no there isn't that I'm aware of. It's something that you just sort of pick up on after a while.

No prob, it happens all the time.

Re: Considering applying for PenFed CC

Cory — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 04:04:43 GMT

Or you can pick up by flirting

Re: Considering applying for PenFed CC

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 08:38:42 GMT

They will hard inq you when you join PenFed

and hard inq you again when you apply for the credit card.

And, to join Penfed, one with no military relationship

should join other unions first, like MOAA.

so all together there are Three hard to expect..

If I'm going to apply Penfed in six months,

is it a good idea to join the MOAA

and thus the Penfed credit union now?

Thanks a lot!

Re: Considering applying for PenFed CC

smallfry — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 11:59:14 GMT

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
@Cory wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I think the card he's referring to is the Plat Plus Cash Rewards. Also, if you look at the Disclosures & Terms link, the Visa Gold is going up to 12.49% APR as of 04/01/09. So not a much better rate than the rewards card, and without the rewards hehe. And the Cash Rewards is a fixed APR Doesn't seem that the Gold is fixed, though I'm not certain.
Oh yeah, your right. The apr is going up to 12.49%. Maybe their trying to push more of the Platinum Cash Rewards Visa Cards more, by discouraging the other.

Cory

Duh me, you're both right --I had to pull out my wallet and look at it.

It's what everyone informally calls the "gas card."

Rewards cards almost always have higher APR's than non-rewards. That's interesting that the APR on the Gold is rising. Another possibility is that the Gold might tend to go to those with weaker credit, so they're seeing their APR's rise.

I still don't see how PenFed can make money off the Plat Cash Rewards, but hey, I'll play along as long as they do!

(I'm a "she", btw. )

Actually no. I've been told I could turn my Gold into the Rewards card but I am not going to take a new account hit. I got the Gold a month or so before they introduced the card you have. Bad timing I guess on my part.

Re: Considering applying for PenFed CC

manyquestions — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 13:03:07 GMT

@smallfry wrote:

Actually no. I've been told I could turn my Gold into the Rewards card but I am not going to take a new account hit. I got the Gold a month or so before they introduced the card you have. Bad timing I guess on my part.

Are you sure you would take a hit for new account? There is a form on their wesite that you fill out to upgrade your card to the Platinum Rewards card.

https://www.penfed.org/pdf/accountsforms/695-P.pdf

I would call them and ask if they keep the same account number since it is a conversion would it not keep the history of the old one? So does the credit report look the same, or does a new account show up but with the opening date of the old account, or does it report like a totally new account? Be worth the phone call to find out.

Re: Considering applying for PenFed CC

haulingthescoreup — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 20:18:44 GMT

kulin wrote:

They will hard inq you when you join PenFed and hard inq you again when you apply for the credit card. And, to join Penfed, one with no military relationship should join other unions first, like MOAA. so all together there are Three hard to expect.. If I'm going to apply Penfed in six months, is it a good idea to join the MOAA and thus the Penfed credit union now?
Thanks a lot!

This didn't happen to me at all.

I joined NMFA (National Military Families Association), which is a support group for military families, period. No military affiliation needed, and certainly no credit pull. Then I called up PenFed and joined, and that's when there's a hard inq on EQ. You'll need to open a share (savings) account for at least $5, which is how credit unions are set up. Then I applied for the card, with no additional pull.

The PenFed hard inq is good for 60 to 90 days, an "all you can eat" inq. No additional inqs for extra cards, loans, etc. This is true of almost everyone who has posted here, although one or two people reported having repeat pulls. They were very much the exception.

Anyway, you can do this all at once. You don't need to be in the qualifying organization for some period of time first. And you don't have to maintain membership in NMFA --once you're in PenFed, you're good.

Re: Considering applying for PenFed CC

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:35:06 GMT

Although I haven't seen a definitive answer yet about whether you retain the age of your account when you convert from a Penfed gold to a Penfed cash rewards card, unfortunately I haven't yet seen any reported personal experiences to contradict what this person said last fall:

The thing that sucks about Penfed is that you can't convert. You'd have to apply for cash rewards and then combine your Gold's credit limit with cash rewards (allowing the cash rewards card to stay open). Then you would close the Gold card. Unfortunately, you end up with two Penfed accounts on your credit report. One open (cash rewards) and one closed (Gold card).

Message Edited by MojaveMoon on 03-21-2009 02:35 PM

Re: Considering applying for PenFed CC

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 20:48:07 GMT

Oh I see.
so the share account opening and credit card application can be done
in one single call.
this is different from fidelity bank,
whose checking and credit card are in two different departments

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
They will hard inq you when you join PenFed and hard inq you again when you apply for the credit card. And, to join Penfed, one with no military relationship should join other unions first, like MOAA. so all together there are Three hard to expect.. If I'm going to apply Penfed in six months, is it a good idea to join the MOAA and thus the Penfed credit union now?
Thanks a lot!

This didn't happen to me at all.

I joined NMFA (National Military Families Association), which is a support group for military families, period. No military affiliation needed, and certainly no credit pull. Then I called up PenFed and joined, and that's when there's a hard inq on EQ. You'll need to open a share (savings) account for at least $5, which is how credit unions are set up. Then I applied for the card, with no additional pull.

The PenFed hard inq is good for 60 to 90 days, an "all you can eat" inq. No additional inqs for extra cards, loans, etc. This is true of almost everyone who has posted here, although one or two people reported having repeat pulls. They were very much the exception.

Anyway, you can do this all at once. You don't need to be in the qualifying organization for some period of time first. And you don't have to maintain membership in NMFA --once you're in PenFed, you're good.

Re: Considering applying for PenFed CC

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 03:00:34 GMT

So I went ahead and applied, and I was approved for the PenFed Plat Rewards Card. Yay! I am pretty excited about it.

I asked for a $10k CL, but they counteroffered $5k. I went ahead and accepted it, cuz that's still rather nice. But I am confused as to why.

I asked with member services and the rep said there wasn't a specific reason listed. She just said that they weren't able to approve the $10k, and that the CL is determined by your score, income, and other debts. [Helpful, huh?]

They never asked me to submit proof of income, or anything besides the application. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, my EQ report was looking really good.

Now as far as income & debts go, I have an auto loan & a student loan. On the application I put the full amount of my rent payment even though I split it with my sister. Including the full rent amount, my DTI ratio is 27%.

Anyway, so that’s kinda curious. Am I missing something?

Can I write a letter or something to ask for more info about why they turned me down for the $10k? Or is that only for other types of loans?

Re: Considering applying for PenFed CC

haulingthescoreup — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 03:51:30 GMT

usagichan wrote:

So I went ahead and applied, and I was approved for the PenFed Plat Rewards Card. Yay! I am pretty excited about it.

I asked for a $10k CL, but they counteroffered $5k. I went ahead and accepted it, cuz that's still rather nice. But I am confused as to why.

I asked with member services and the rep said there wasn't a specific reason listed. She just said that they weren't able to approve the $10k, and that the CL is determined by your score, income, and other debts.   [Helpful, huh?]

They never asked me to submit proof of income, or anything besides the application. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, my EQ report was looking really good.

Now as far as income & debts go, I have an auto loan & a student loan. On the application I put the full amount of my rent payment even though I split it with my sister. Including the full rent amount, my DTI ratio is 27%.

Anyway, so that’s kinda curious. Am I missing something?

Can I write a letter or something to ask for more info about why they turned me down for the $10k? Or is that only for other types of loans?

Congrats on joining the fam!

I was chicken when I applied, and I only asked for $5K, and that's what I got. Several months later, I asked for $10K, and they gave it to me, and then mysteriously they pre-approved me for a CLI to $20.3K, which of course I took.

Unless you're planning to buy an awful lot of gas and groceries, $5K will be plenty for now. Use the fire out of the card, and PIF it. I know that things have tightened up in the 13 months since I came on board, but that worked for me, and I'm guessing that it will work for you, too.

Re: Considering applying for PenFed CC

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 17:58:14 GMT

Hey, I know how to fix the S/He thing:

Just use, "in response to the authoring party of the aforementioned post as related to the subject matter of the original post....."

Guardian....maybe you can fix it up with better legalese

Message Edited by txjohn on 04-01-2009 10:58 AM