PENFED (Membership vs CC App)

[Openwater]

I've been reading up a lot on Pedfed lately. From what I've gathered they seem to be categorized as a conservative lenders, but all the recent SL have been very high. At least from the members that have been posting. I would assume they have shifted their model to be a little more lenient based on these higher limits.

Additionally, I've noticed that many members on the forums have complained about them doing 2 HP, when apparently they are supposed to do 1 (90 days) if you apply for membership and credit.

So moving forward with them, how many people have applied for membership prior to a credit app? What does everyone think about applying and which order would provide the more favorable results.

My guess would be to apply for credit first and then membership as their website states that applying for the Power Cash Rewards 1.5% then 2% for members. Fine print stating you can apply for membership afterwards to get the additional 0.5%.

Thoughts?

[M_Smart007]

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@Openwater wrote:

I've been reading up a lot on Pedfed lately. From what I've gathered they seem to be categorized as a conservative lenders, but all the recent SL have been very high. At least from the members that have been posting. I would assume they have shifted their model to be a little more lenient based on these higher limits.

Additionally, I've noticed that many members on the forums have complained about them doing 2 HP, when apparently they are supposed to do 1 (90 days) if you apply for membership and credit.

So moving forward with them, how many people have applied for membership prior to a credit app? What does everyone think about applying and which order would provide the more favorable results.

My guess would be to apply for credit first and then membership as their website states that applying for the Power Cash Rewards 1.5% then 2% for members. Fine print stating you can apply for membership afterwards to get the additional 0.5%.

Thoughts?

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Pretty sure you have to be a Member in order to apply for Credit card.

"To get a PenFed credit card, you must be a current or eligible PenFed member (if you aren’t a member, you can become one when you apply for a credit card)."

[Anonymous]

And I haven’t seen any evidence that they’ve loosened their UW in any way. I’d still label them as conservative.

[Anonymous]

"I've been reading up a lot on Pedfed lately. From what I've gathered they seem to be categorized as a conservative lenders, but all the recent SL have been very high. At least from the members that have been posting. I would assume they have shifted their model to be a little more lenient based on these higher limits."

Nope. They have not loosened up. What you noticed is the dichotomy of Penfed. (and a lot of credit unions) They are conservative when it comes to approving a credit apps (except NFCU) but give large limits when approved. Inquiries, lots of new accounts and any negative info not aged at least 2 years will usually get you polite...."No".

[Anonymous]

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@Openwater wrote:

I've been reading up a lot on Pedfed lately. From what I've gathered they seem to be categorized as a conservative lenders, but all the recent SL have been very high. At least from the members that have been posting. I would assume they have shifted their model to be a little more lenient based on these higher limits.

Additionally, I've noticed that many members on the forums have complained about them doing 2 HP, when apparently they are supposed to do 1 (90 days) if you apply for membership and credit.

So moving forward with them, how many people have applied for membership prior to a credit app? What does everyone think about applying and which order would provide the more favorable results.

My guess would be to apply for credit first and then membership as their website states that applying for the Power Cash Rewards 1.5% then 2% for members. Fine print stating you can apply for membership afterwards to get the additional 0.5%.

Thoughts?

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@Openwater Credit unions are membership based financial institutions.  Consequently, you must be a member of a credit union before you can avail yourself of their services. I'm not aware of any credit union that will open credit accounts without the applicant first becoming a member.  In PenFed's case, if you don't have a military affilation you can become eligible for membership by contributing a minimal amount to one of the two charities listed on the application.

As far as I know, to get the 2% cash back on the Power Cash Rewards card you must either have served in the military, or keep at least $500 in your Access America checking account.

Since January 2018, PenFed has limited new members to $10,000 in credit for the first six months.  There have been exceptions reported but this has generally been the case since that date.  For some $10K is generous, others would think its conservative.  See this thread:  PenFed approval. Max 10k for new members? -- UPDATE: CONFIRMED

[coldfusion]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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As far as I know, to get the 2% cash back on the Power Cash Rewards card you must either have served in the military, or keep at least $500 in your Access America checking account.

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More specifically it's either active military or honorably discharged veteran.  For non-military they at least used to require a minimum $500 balance or a mininum direct deposit of at least $500/month in an Access America account held by the cardholder but they may have waived the mininum balance/depost requirement.

[Anonymous]

I would take the HP for the membership and wait a year to apply for CC.  Seems like that makes it appear that you're not out for a quick big limit on a CC.  Lots of members get denied for a CC the first try.

[soxfaininfl]

So when I pay the 17 dollars to become a member I get a HP? I have no military affiliation, so I thought I could join by making the 17 dollar donation.

[Anonymous]

That's right.  That's how I became a member....and got a CC a year later.

[AverageJoesCredit]

Not everyone has to wait a year to get a cc, fyi. Know your profile and you can have a small idea on where you may stand on applying for a cc. One application wont kill you and can tell you alot where you stand with PF.