topic Re: EASTERN PANHANDLE FCU in Credit Cards

EASTERN PANHANDLE FCU

Anonymous — Sat, 23 May 2020 16:09:18 GMT

Hello everyone

Very new to the boards but active myFICO.com subscriber. I was wondering if anyone is familiar with this small credit union in Martinsburg, WV. Very competitive rates and credit card offerings that are fixed rates from 8.9% to 13.9% with scores down to 660. No annual fee, no balance transfer fee or cash advance fees. I know they pull TU and want 740 plus for lowest rate. Websites states 40% dti or less wanted. Unsure of which scoring model used and when I called they would not provide any info claiming they were unsure. Maybe they just don't release that info. Any experience or data? Thanks !

Re: EASTERN PANHANDLE FCU

credit_is_crack — Sat, 23 May 2020 17:25:07 GMT

Hi @Anonymous

I've done a lot of research on banks/CUs but never heard of this one. When I checked their site on my phone I couldn't even find their credit card offerings. I'm thinking they have a mobile version and desktop version.

I don't see anything in the forums either about this CU. Was there something particular that drew you to them? Are you local for them or was it something you just stumbled across? I'm just curious

Hopefully someone on here might have some notes to share..but this one looks very isolated

Re: EASTERN PANHANDLE FCU

AverageJoesCredit — Sat, 23 May 2020 17:30:04 GMT

Sounds like a Florida CU

Re: EASTERN PANHANDLE FCU

Anonymous — Sat, 23 May 2020 17:33:09 GMT

Hello and thanks for the response

https://easternpanhandlefcu.com/

click loan rates then miscellaneous loans for rates on CC's.

I live locally and just recently joined. I would like to own a credit card that has a low rate as the few cards I have are nothing special except for the rewards I gain from using them.

Re: EASTERN PANHANDLE FCU

credit_is_crack — Sat, 23 May 2020 17:34:28 GMT

@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Sounds like a Florida CU

Being from FL and seeing eastern panhandle that was my first though too

Re: EASTERN PANHANDLE FCU

Anonymous — Sat, 23 May 2020 17:37:40 GMT

Was not overly hopeful anyone would know of them unless you live in the panhandle in north eastern WV but there are so many folks on here that you never know

Re: EASTERN PANHANDLE FCU

credit_is_crack — Sat, 23 May 2020 17:37:48 GMT

About 99% of the CUs I've joined have all pulled EQ. However my most recent two (PCMCU out of WI and GreenState CU out of Iowa) both pulled TU8.

I've never had a CU pull TU but these are tiny spots, and sound similar to this one. My gut is leaning towards TU8. It's always good to have a low rate card hiding in the arsenal. I only have one (Navy platinum 5.9%), but its my "just in case" card

Re: EASTERN PANHANDLE FCU

AverageJoesCredit — Sat, 23 May 2020 17:44:31 GMT

Op, if you are looking for low rewards there are plenty of good CUs that you can join online and are not geo restricted. No need to shackle ones needs locally if locally doesnt fulfill them. Heck , i get more for my profile from Banks/CUs in the US than where i live.

Re: EASTERN PANHANDLE FCU

Anonymous — Sat, 23 May 2020 17:44:49 GMT

Overall you can see my scores are good. Have 4 credit cards with rates ranging from 15.25%-22.9%. I received the majority of this credit with scores just over 700 which is good but not great. In recent years my scores continue to improve as I move further away from divorce and financial crisis that hurt me in 2009-2012. It's taken years to get to where I am. I would like to think I am better equipped today than ten years ago in handling my finances.

Re: EASTERN PANHANDLE FCU

AverageJoesCredit — Sat, 23 May 2020 17:51:38 GMT

For sure your scores are great. If your income is good, combined with your scores, many credit Unions will offer great rates. I personally like Langley FCU. on an average profile, i still was able to get a sub 9% low rate apr. My Langley Loc even has a 7.24% apr. If you specific wants , @credit_is_crack has great recommendations as well as valuable thread on different lenders. If you arent looking for ten new cards thats fine but they are out there!. We are here to help if needed

Re: EASTERN PANHANDLE FCU

Anonymous — Sat, 23 May 2020 18:02:13 GMT

I really appreciate everyone's input and am going to look at all of your threads for more advice and look around more. I think I am much better positioned for a lower rate card with current scores and income qualifying. In addition my debt load is low with a small mortgage. I just need to get that TU score higher and garden a little bit more before I apply in the next few months but in the meantime I'm going to check out other credit unions and if a back door exists to get in. Thank you all so much!

Re: EASTERN PANHANDLE FCU

credit_is_crack — Sat, 23 May 2020 18:36:42 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I really appreciate everyone's input and am going to look at all of your threads for more advice and look around more. I think I am much better positioned for a lower rate card with current scores and income qualifying. In addition my debt load is low with a small mortgage. I just need to get that TU score higher and garden a little bit more before I apply in the next few months but in the meantime I'm going to check out other credit unions and if a back door exists to get in. Thank you all so much!

As you watch your scores improve further, you can also see if by chance we know which report the bank you're about to apply for pulls. Here is this link and we update it as new data comes in, Which Banks Pull Which Report

It's not 100% guaranteed, but as we add more data we continue to see more validation of the info on it. There are tons of CU's that are open to anyone across the country, and there are various ones that are locked down, but oddly will let you join if you donate a $5 - $25 amount to an affiliate organization. You can "buy" your way in, if you will. The Personal Finance section here will give you a lot of info about CU's in general and you can always just post your question and someone will very likely know something, or point you in the right direction

Re: EASTERN PANHANDLE FCU

Anonymous — Sat, 23 May 2020 18:47:56 GMT

This is great info for a new person on the boards line me. It would be my pleasure to offer any new info. It seems every lender pulls a Fico 8 or 9 model or bank card version 8 or 9 these days unless it's a mortgage report which has versions 5, 4 or 2 of Eq, TU and Exp . I don't think any lenders using Vantage credit 3.0 even the auto lenders are primarily using Fico 8 auto scores . Anyway will offer an update when I apply with info and decision (yay or nay lol)

yes , the back door in if you make a contribution to an affiliate charity etc

Re: EASTERN PANHANDLE FCU

Anonymous — Sat, 23 May 2020 18:58:18 GMT

Many credit unions, especially smaller ones, use the older FICO mortgage models. Since 8 and 9 are almost always higher than 5, 4, and 2, if you don't know what a CU pulls I would just prepare for it to be mortgage honestly. That way you're not looking at a 740 EX8 when in reality you have a 670 EX2 and that's what they use.

Re: EASTERN PANHANDLE FCU

Aim_High — Mon, 25 May 2020 00:41:47 GMT

Welcome to My Fico Forums, @Anonymous

8.90% for a no-rewards Visa card is not a bad rate at all. That said, there are a lot of other lenders that offer something as good if not even better. So if you bank with Eastern Panhandle FCU, it might be more convenient to just have their card. If you're looking for a really good low rate, I've seen several lately that were 7.5% or even under 7% or 6%. While there are many other options, let me tell you about one in particular.

Navy Federal (if you qualify for membership as a veteran or a relative of a veteran) has their Platinum Visa with rate as low as 5.99% with $0 fees (no annual fees, balance transfer fees, cash advance fees, foreign transaction fees.) It also has secondary CDW (Collision Damage Waiver) on rental cars, Travel and Emergency Assistance, Extended Warranty Service, and Cell Phone protection included. 24/7/365 Customer Service support. Navy is known for offering 0% BT offers regularly along with their $0 BT fees. And you can access Navy FCU's "Member Deals" for savings. (See: www.navyfederal.org.)

Re: EASTERN PANHANDLE FCU

Anonymous — Sat, 23 May 2020 19:29:05 GMT

I'm in search of good rates for deposits, and looking at deposit rates at this CU, it starts:

EPFCU DIVIDEND RATES DECLARED 09/19/16
Dividend declared for the 3rd Quarter 2016

Now I know that critics say that everyone is always wanting instant data and we should relax a little etc, having stuff 3.75 years old suggests that web updates isn't a priority.....

Re: EASTERN PANHANDLE FCU

Aim_High — Sat, 23 May 2020 21:00:32 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm in search of good rates for deposits, and looking at deposit rates at this CU, it starts:

EPFCU DIVIDEND RATES DECLARED 09/19/16
Dividend declared for the 3rd Quarter 2016

Now I know that critics say that everyone is always wanting instant data and we should relax a little etc, having stuff 3.75 years old suggests that web updates isn't a priority.....

Probably not a priority, but this is a tiny little credit union. According to web data including Deposit Accounts, they only have $16 Million in assets, two locations, five employees (as of 12/2019), and only 2,670 members. Even though West Virginia is a small state, this credit union is #41 in size in the state. (They make AOD FCU's $325 Million in Assets seem enormous! lol) AOD is literally 20x their size!

Meanwhile, their banking deposit interest rates are unexceptional, so they probably haven't been adjusted since 2016 and the rates page probably just shows when the last change was made.

Deposit Rates
RANGE	DIVIDEND RATE	APY*
Regular Share Accounts
$5.00 - $2,500.00	.01%	.01%
$2,500.01 - Max	.02%	.02%
Youth Share Accounts
$5.00 Minimum	.10%	.10%
Vacation Club Accounts
$5.00 Minimum	.025%	.025%
Christmas Club Accounts	(Dividend is declared at time of club maturity)
$5.00 Minimum	.025%	.025%
*APY is the Annual Percentage Yield.

Rates subject to change quarterly.
(Complete account disclosures available upon request.)

Re: EASTERN PANHANDLE FCU

Anonymous — Sat, 23 May 2020 20:30:33 GMT

8.90 fixed rate

no annual fee

no balance transfer fee

no cash advance fee

I believe this is exceptional for a credit card. Bigger is not always better in a credit union. I have the Schumer's box disclosure and verified this info with a loan officer yesterday

Re: EASTERN PANHANDLE FCU

Aim_High — Sat, 23 May 2020 21:11:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
8.90 fixed rate
no annual fee
no balance transfer fee
no cash advance fee
I believe this is exceptional for a credit card. Bigger is not always better in a credit union. I have the Schumer's box disclosure and verified this info with a loan officer yesterday

I agree that is a very good rate. Much better than many banks or credit unions. And agree that the terms are good. And agreed that bigger isn't always better. You sound a little defensive. As I suggested, if you bank with them, they might be a good fit for you.

That said, 8.90% fixed is not the absolute best rate going. And there are other cards with no or low fees also. That's all I was trying to say in my earlier posting about Navy Federal. For example, many on My Fico (myself included) recently got 7.49% fixed on the new AOD FCU Signature Visa (Alabama) that also pays 3% uncapped and uncategorized cash back rewards. It also has no annual fee, no foreign transaction fee, and no balance transfer fee. And with the prime rate down at 3.25% currently, variable rate cards like the Navy FCU Platinum are down to 5.99%. And even before the prime dropped, the NFCU Platinum rate was 7.49%. Once you start looking around, you can find many examples of low rate cards under 9%, but 8.90% fixed is a very good rate.

(For the AOD FCU card, see: https://www.aodfcu.com/personal/credit-card-signature/)

@galahad15 is one of our members who pursues the lowest APR cards so he can probably add to this discussion if you'd like more options. Nobody was saying that the 8.90% is not a good deal, just that there are other options and some that might be even better.

By the way, my comments to @Anonymous about the size of the credit union were not a criticism of it as much as a defense of it for their not maintaining their website like you might find with a much larger bank or credit union. And I said their (banking deposit) interest rates were unexceptional; I was not talking about the APR on the credit card. That whole discussion wasn't about the credit card; it was about deposit account rates. And yes, small credit unions have their advantages.

Re: EASTERN PANHANDLE FCU

Anonymous — Sat, 23 May 2020 22:35:22 GMT

Great input from all and thank you. I was outside playing cornhole with my neighbor (lol) when I typed my last reply and was just refreshing the characteristics of the card. I did not mean to come across defensive and am very appreciative of everyone chiming in with good wisdom. I agree better rates out there. I don't think my fico 8 scores are high enough for 6-7% rate cards either. I need to be closer to 780 or high across the board imho. A good point was made that older more obscure credit unions probably are pulling older versions of Fico. Being a subscriber to Myfico I know those scores and when I refinanced my house about a month ago they were spot on with the mortgage company pull (Factual Data was credit company that furnished credit and Fico scores) . Those mortgage credit scores were all 740-750 versus primarily 770ish Fico 8 scores I have now. Well worth the subscription fee ! This has been a really good thread with a lot of wisdom parted . Thank you again