@Anonymous wrote:Thought I would chime in here as I had alot of questions myself and wound up calling Pen Fed today...Got lots of answers!
1) The 00/00/0000 date on the my fico page (if you have credit accounts w/them)....she said that it should update for the next scoring, but that it's more than likely because they do a quarterly pull only and "it doesn't really matter when the report is generated". She confirmed that the MY FICO score they provide you, is done on the first saturday of Jan/Apr/July/Oct regardless of when you opened your account with them and all customers are treated 100% equal.ALL CUSTUMERS OR IN THIS CASE MEMBERS ARE NOT TREATED EQUALLY, IN MY HUMBLE OPINION
2) If you decide to app for any of their products/cards etc, you will absolutely have a fresh and new pull done to ensure they are seeing the most recent and up to date data. (So, make sure your reports are reflecting what you want them to see!) NOT ALWAYS THE CASE FOR SOME MEMBERS The score you see on that "my fico" page of theirs is just an FYI-not the score they will go by when reviewing your account.
3) She said that the reason they provide the fico to customers is to help them be more conscience of whats going on and give them the best up to date info that they can to help make them more aware to keep a better eye on things, more alert.
3-1) She also advised that the scoring model they post, helps them evaluate you for products....While they take all the below into account, depending on what they provide you on this page, can make you vary on the offer bucket. I for example, have a 675 with but have a Bankruptcy 7 DC on my report and it states just and only that. So, my offer bucket is nothing more than auto loans and turbo tax. She said though, with the next update, I should see more offers I WOULDNT BANK ON THIS , IVE GONE 2 YEARS PLUS NO OFFERS, (which i felt to be reassuring. I have never applied for anything w/them yet, so i'm looking forward to it).
4) PenFed will only EVER use Equifax to initiate and review accounts for credit. CC's/Loans/CLI's/Cars etc....They choose to not work w/the other bureaus.
5) They take alot into account. She said the biggest misconception is that "we only look at the fico, so if it's high you will definitely be approved and if it's low you have no chance". Nope. She says, "yes a good fico is good. But, what if last year you had a ding here or ding there..." She also said, "the bank takes into consideration that you may have a great fico now, but what if you lost your job since? If you make too much money (what you provide on the app), they will ask for verification of employment, etc..." She said, they actually look at your report. Which is why people w/lower scores have no issues sometimes...If they see a pattern or low balances, just because you have a 640 or something doesn't mean you wont get approved. She said the instant approvals are actually not as common, but do happen and vary on a few things - the biggest is your score, along with a snapshot of your DTI & balance totals on installment loans. She said, "at the end of the day, they want happy people and only look for risks"IN MY OPINION, NOT NECESSARILY TRUE.... Also, she said, if you want to call to apply over the phone, people do that, because if they are denied, sometimes its for something the system can't see. She said, we can put you on hold, call over to the loan dept and find out what they need to approve you and bam! (depending on credit worthiness of course). So, you can count on them, pulling fresh data, while giving you a great opportunity-even if you have baddies. What I like is, they are looking at, "Yeah, he was 5 times 30 days late w/his car payment, but look at the last year or two, he's been golden"-approved. NO, MANY ARE BUCKETED AND NO MATTER HOW GOOD YOU'VE IMPROVED YOUR CREDIT, THERE ARE INSTANCES YOU STILL WONT GET APPROVED
I thought this information would offer some comfort to some. Hope it helps!
Thanks for sharing Chief. I just included my own opinions and keep in mind always take a CSR's word with a grain of salt
. There are enough data points here that show that Penfed doesnt always treat its members equal and not all of us get showered with love after demonstrating credit worthyness and responsibilty. I wish you the best on your Penfed journey, sincerely
@Anonymous wrote:I'll give you an example that happened on the very first day in July of 2017, I applied for membership and PCR and was approved for 9k SL with 812 nextgen score. When I posted my results on the PenFed mother thread it was suggested the SL seemed low for the score and that I should call back and ask for more.
I called early next morning and spoke to a guy (sounded like a know it all type who partied too hard the night before) and asked if he can look into a higher SL, after putting me on hold for a while he came back and said 21k (my highest CL at the time was BCE 20k) but I would have to provide 3 years of tax return because I'm self employed, I didn't want to give out details of my business tax return (sole proprietor) so I told him never mind the increase, I'll just take the card with the initial 9k approval. He then told me he can't do that once the request has been submitted and my only choice was to provide the tax returns or no card at all, after some back and forth I told him I'll think about it and hung up.
Called back a few hours later and got a nice lady this time, I didn't even get to finish explaining my situation when she cut me off and said "no problem, we can just pull back the request and ship the card out with 9k SL". SMH
Holy fico! I remember that , oldman87, guess im not that old after all
@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Thought I would chime in here as I had alot of questions myself and wound up calling Pen Fed today...Got lots of answers!
1) The 00/00/0000 date on the my fico page (if you have credit accounts w/them)....she said that it should update for the next scoring, but that it's more than likely because they do a quarterly pull only and "it doesn't really matter when the report is generated". She confirmed that the MY FICO score they provide you, is done on the first saturday of Jan/Apr/July/Oct regardless of when you opened your account with them and all customers are treated 100% equal.ALL CUSTUMERS OR IN THIS CASE MEMBERS ARE NOT TREATED EQUALLY, IN MY HUMBLE OPINION
2) If you decide to app for any of their products/cards etc, you will absolutely have a fresh and new pull done to ensure they are seeing the most recent and up to date data. (So, make sure your reports are reflecting what you want them to see!) NOT ALWAYS THE CASE FOR SOME MEMBERS The score you see on that "my fico" page of theirs is just an FYI-not the score they will go by when reviewing your account.
3) She said that the reason they provide the fico to customers is to help them be more conscience of whats going on and give them the best up to date info that they can to help make them more aware to keep a better eye on things, more alert.
3-1) She also advised that the scoring model they post, helps them evaluate you for products....While they take all the below into account, depending on what they provide you on this page, can make you vary on the offer bucket. I for example, have a 675 with but have a Bankruptcy 7 DC on my report and it states just and only that. So, my offer bucket is nothing more than auto loans and turbo tax. She said though, with the next update, I should see more offers I WOULDNT BANK ON THIS , IVE GONE 2 YEARS PLUS NO OFFERS, (which i felt to be reassuring. I have never applied for anything w/them yet, so i'm looking forward to it).
4) PenFed will only EVER use Equifax to initiate and review accounts for credit. CC's/Loans/CLI's/Cars etc....They choose to not work w/the other bureaus.
5) They take alot into account. She said the biggest misconception is that "we only look at the fico, so if it's high you will definitely be approved and if it's low you have no chance". Nope. She says, "yes a good fico is good. But, what if last year you had a ding here or ding there..." She also said, "the bank takes into consideration that you may have a great fico now, but what if you lost your job since? If you make too much money (what you provide on the app), they will ask for verification of employment, etc..." She said, they actually look at your report. Which is why people w/lower scores have no issues sometimes...If they see a pattern or low balances, just because you have a 640 or something doesn't mean you wont get approved. She said the instant approvals are actually not as common, but do happen and vary on a few things - the biggest is your score, along with a snapshot of your DTI & balance totals on installment loans. She said, "at the end of the day, they want happy people and only look for risks"IN MY OPINION, NOT NECESSARILY TRUE.... Also, she said, if you want to call to apply over the phone, people do that, because if they are denied, sometimes its for something the system can't see. She said, we can put you on hold, call over to the loan dept and find out what they need to approve you and bam! (depending on credit worthiness of course). So, you can count on them, pulling fresh data, while giving you a great opportunity-even if you have baddies. What I like is, they are looking at, "Yeah, he was 5 times 30 days late w/his car payment, but look at the last year or two, he's been golden"-approved. NO, MANY ARE BUCKETED AND NO MATTER HOW GOOD YOU'VE IMPROVED YOUR CREDIT, THERE ARE INSTANCES YOU STILL WONT GET APPROVED
I thought this information would offer some comfort to some. Hope it helps!
Thanks for sharing Chief. I just included my own opinions and keep in mind always take a CSR's word with a grain of salt
Thank you very much! By no means am I saying I buy everything that was presented to me...I was merely wanting to share what I had been told since so many other's experiences have helped me. Each person's case is certainly different.... My friends call me the "dark cloud" cause I never have good luck, so I'm sure I wont with them. A girl can hope though...........
I wish you all the luck Chief, and if your username indicates you were a Chief in the Navy, thanks for your service and bless you. Dad was a MasterChief , much luv for all vets
Ps, Dark Cloud sounds cool😎
Ps, Dark Cloud sounds cool😎
Thank you so much for your kind words. But, alas, I was not in any branch of the military/navy/army....Definitely, not as courageous as those individuals. Though my grandfather was an Air Force Captain! I chose the name after my favorite movie "Jaws".....Dark Cloud can be great when you want to be left alone, but man when it rains, it pours lol. 
Ahh! Awesome movie, awesome character.
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