topic Re: Who does penfed pull for membership? in Credit Cards

Who does penfed pull for membership?

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 01:48:17 GMT

I'm wanting to go ahead and get a membership with penfed and open a savings account, since their rates are much better than my bank. And in a few months I'd like to try to get their platinum rewards card. I just don't want an inquiry on my EQ. I know a lot of credit unions pull EQ, can someone gimme some good news?

Re: Who does penfed pull for membership?

Scamp — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 01:58:35 GMT

thrasher865 wrote:
I'm wanting to go ahead and get a membership with penfed and open a savings account, since their rates are much better than my bank. And in a few months I'd like to try to get their platinum rewards card. I just don't want an inquiry on my EQ. I know a lot of credit unions pull EQ, can someone gimme some good news?

Sorry, thrasher - PenFed's EQ all the way.

Re: Who does penfed pull for membership?

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 01:59:39 GMT

eq for credit products. i think i read that someone posted a soft on eq for a savings account. they are a 24 hour operation just give them a call to confirm the soft only.

Re: Who does penfed pull for membership?

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 02:04:23 GMT

Yeah I searched for an old thread and found EQ, oh well. I applied anyway. I'm not applying for credit with them in the very near future. I want to set up a money market savings account, they have a really low minimum balance requirement ($25) and I want to start putting $50 from every paycheck in there so I have some money aside for the next emergency car repair..... stupid car.

I'm hoping if I've had an account with them for 6 months or so it will look favorable on an application for credit. If not, though, I think I'll be alright.

Re: Who does penfed pull for membership?

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:13:16 GMT

PenFed pulls equifax exclusively...and even on just setting up a savings account.

Re: Who does penfed pull for membership?

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:28:32 GMT

I could maybe understand for a checking account, but why a savings account?

Re: Who does penfed pull for membership?

SonorityGenius — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:33:47 GMT

thrasher865 wrote:
I could maybe understand for a checking account, but why a savings account?

Cause its their product, you want it, and cuz they CAN! silly! lol

Re: Who does penfed pull for membership?

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:02:18 GMT

Not sure if you are interested or not, but I figured I'd just throw it out there anyway.

NFCU has great rates also, and seems to have pretty lenient lending standards if you or someone you are related to has a military affiliation.

Re: Who does penfed pull for membership?

Scamp — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:10:34 GMT

firstinlastout wrote:
PenFed pulls equifax exclusively...and even on just setting up a savings account.

FWIW, I was told by the PenFed CSR with whom I applied over the phone that for JUST doing the savings account join-up, the inq was only a soft one.

Unfortunately, I ended up not being able to resist trying for one of their CC's, so I can't confirm that this would have been the case.

Thrasher, if you're willing to just join up for now, with only the savings account, and to take that EQ hard inq later on when you want to apply for a cc, call them and ask them about their inqs for savings account-only join-ups - maybe the CSR I spoke to is correct and they only soft you in that situation.

Re: Who does penfed pull for membership?

smallfry — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:27:02 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I could maybe understand for a checking account, but why a savings account?

That's why it makes no sense to apply for membership until you are ready for credit.

Re: Who does penfed pull for membership?

smallfry — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:27:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Not sure if you are interested or not, but I figured I'd just throw it out there anyway.

NFCU has great rates also, and seems to have pretty lenient lending standards if you or someone you are related to has a military affiliation.

They throw money around like a drunk sailor.

Re: Who does penfed pull for membership?

haulingthescoreup — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:16:22 GMT

@scapegrace13 wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:
PenFed pulls equifax exclusively...and even on just setting up a savings account.

FWIW, I was told by the PenFed CSR with whom I applied over the phone that for JUST doing the savings account join-up, the inq was only a soft one.

Unfortunately, I ended up not being able to resist trying for one of their CC's, so I can't confirm that this would have been the case.

Thrasher, if you're willing to just join up for now, with only the savings account, and to take that EQ hard inq later on when you want to apply for a cc, call them and ask them about their inqs for savings account-only join-ups - maybe the CSR I spoke to is correct and they only soft you in that situation.
I think your CSR dropped the ball on that one, or you got lucky, one or the other. I joined PenFed on a Thursday (gave 'em $50 instead of $5, because I was so excited!), and I didn't app for the card and the car loan until Saturday. The hard inq is on Friday, and I saw it before I called on Saturday. I think every other post I've read has said the same. Congrats if you pulled it off!

When I joined on the Thursday, I did it on line, and they did not have any way of knowing that I planned on getting the card.

thrasher, since you've joined, and I think you said that you have TrueCredit now, do you see a hard on EQ? If they did hard you, you can try waiting until day 89 or something, when presumably this pull will still be good, and app for the card then. But if you're going to try to do it that soon after your recent successful hunts, you'll have to cease apping for the duration...

Re: Who does penfed pull for membership?

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:35:54 GMT

This is the extent of the cards I want in my wallet. If I had the choice, I would have never gotten the AMEX and would pick this and the REI visa up instead, as I'll rarely use the AMEX. Although, I figure using the Freedom card's option to collect $200 in CB and have a check for $250 sent to me, essentially its a minimum of 1.25% CB, the same as the PenFed. I don't spend a lot on gas... So the Freedom card might actually net me more cash back than the penfed when I think about it. In that case, I wasted a hard for the app, but I might still set up a money market savings account unless I can find better savings account rates somewhere local.

Re: Who does penfed pull for membership?

Scamp — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:11:36 GMT

haulingthescoreup wrote:
I think your CSR dropped the ball on that one, or you got lucky, one or the other. I joined PenFed on a Thursday (gave 'em $50 instead of $5, because I was so excited!), and I didn't app for the card and the car loan until Saturday. The hard inq is on Friday, and I saw it before I called on Saturday. I think every other post I've read has said the same. Congrats if you pulled it off!

When I joined on the Thursday, I did it on line, and they did not have any way of knowing that I planned on getting the card.

Ah - thanks for this info, HTSU; if you've posted this same info before, I missed it, and since nobody else had been able to refute what my PenFed CSR said about softs for savings accounts-only join-up, I felt obligated to keep mentioning the possibility, when appropriate.

Oh, well - now I know better and that even PenFed's CSR's ain't poyfect!

Sorry, thrasher!

Re: Who does penfed pull for membership?

deskjockey101 — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 04:11:09 GMT

FWIW, when I joined PenFed today, they said that they had pulled hard for my savings account. I had not realized they were going to do that.. I was going to wait until next month when I paid my GEMB card down to 9% Util and two inq's from it were going to stop effecting the score... So I applied for 10,000 today and am waiting.. when I followed up via phone (online said I had a pending status), they said I will know by tomorrow. I'm lucky - we have a PenFed in my city (right across from USAA )

Re: Who does penfed pull for membership?

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:06:33 GMT

I think I'm gonna stick to Chase Freedom for now. The rewards on the platinum cashback card at PenFed looked so appealing, but I wasn't sure if it was enough to cancel out the extra $50 you get whenever you save $200 in CB with Freedom. My figures are based on what I put through my Amex last month. Here are the results of my analysis:

Freedom:

$250 in gas / month

@ 3%

= $7.50 / month

$325 in groceries / month

@ 3%

= $9.75 / month

$500 in other expenses / month

@ 1%

= $5.00 / month

Total: $22.25 / month

PenFed

gas @ 5% - $12.50

groceries @ 2% - $6.50

other @ 1.25% - $6.25

Total: $25.25 / month

It would take 9 months to save up $200 on the Freedom, so after nine months, here are the balances:

Freedom - $200.25 cashback + $50 bonus = $250.25

PenFed - $227.25

So there you have it. Another one of the great features of credit cards: tracking your spending

Now I know not to ding my scores and chances of an AMEX FR. It looks like the difference between the two cards is almost negligible. $23 over the course of nine months. So I decided I dont need the card.

I still am gonna open a MM savings account with them since I already got the hard pull for membership.

Re: Who does penfed pull for membership?

smallfry — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:19:46 GMT

Smart choice thrasher.

Re: Who does penfed pull for membership?

SonorityGenius — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:44:43 GMT

thrasher865 wrote:
I think I'm gonna stick to Chase Freedom for now. The rewards on the platinum cashback card at PenFed looked so appealing, but I wasn't sure if it was enough to cancel out the extra $50 you get whenever you save $200 in CB with Freedom. My figures are based on what I put through my Amex last month. Here are the results of my analysis:

Freedom:

$250 in gas / month
@ 3%
= $7.50 / month

$325 in groceries / month
@ 3%
= $9.75 / month

$500 in other expenses / month
@ 1%
= $5.00 / month

Total: $22.25 / month

PenFed

gas @ 5% - $12.50
groceries @ 2% - $6.50
other @ 1.25% - $6.25

Total: $25.25 / month

It would take 9 months to save up $200 on the Freedom, so after nine months, here are the balances:

Freedom - $200.25 cashback + $50 bonus = $250.25
PenFed - $227.25

So there you have it. Another one of the great features of credit cards: tracking your spending

Now I know not to ding my scores and chances of an AMEX FR. It looks like the difference between the two cards is almost negligible. $23 over the course of nine months. So I decided I dont need the card.

I still am gonna open a MM savings account with them since I already got the hard pull for membership.

very interesting.. if only I was able to deduct EXACT, specific figures of my monthly usage like THAT! i would be better off.............. nah, too much time consuming, I rather stare at the screen here at myfico =P

Re: Who does penfed pull for membership?

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:21:54 GMT

As I travel abroad, PenFed is the better of the 2 cards for me... and I have both. I actually get .25% more with PenFed and 2% less with Chase.