@Dhani76 wrote:I don't need another credit card. I really don't. I think my obsession is moving up to more prestigious cards & leaving my Post BK7 cards behind. I had been gardening & came onto the forums. I already have a NFCU card & have read great things about PENFED. Slid down the preapproval slippery slope... Just to see what they said, with "no impact to your credit score." Well, they said I was preapproved for their Gold Visa at $6000 CL. 5% back in gas and 3% in groceries. I don't really need another card but I need a BETTER card so I proceeded with the application. The circle spun & spun and the response was "we are experiencing technical difficulties try back later." My email informed me I received a hit to my Equifax report for an inquiry, as well as an email from PENFED saying their loan specialists were considering my application. That being said.... don't trust their preapproval tool. I am not a PENFED member & they did send me an application sign off to become a member so perhaps that's the issue? Anyone have any input? Thank you & back to the Garden I go. 😞
Sorry to hear about the denial. Same thing happened to me.
however, it sounds like you applied for the Platinum card, not the Gold. The Platinum & Pathfinder I believe have higher requirements. Either way, if you had a prequalified offer for it and were denied it does stink.
Definitely another DP of their prequalification tool not being as accurate as other banks. What were the denial reasons?
Starting Score: 580s
I tried the prequal for Power Cash and got the "You're pre-qualified" message with an estimated CL of $6500. That's about double my largest CL right now. I'm about 1.5 years into rebuilding and still have a couple unpaid baddies. PenFed did give me a personal loan last June. It was originally $2K for two years and I've paid it down to under $500. I decided not to move forward. I'm not confident I really qualify and don't trust their pre-qual system based on feedback I've seen on these boards. Before the pre-qual button appeared I opened an app for Power Cash but didn't submit it. Now on my PenFed home page I have two alerts for applications each with an "under review" status. I clicked on the link for them and it goes to a page that lists the two apps, shows the "application" step with a green checkmark, then the next step "review" has a highlight box around it, then there's two greyed-out steps "almost done" and "complete." After that there's a green "continue" button. Curiosity got the best of me and so I clicked on that and it took me to the application form, personal info filled in with "next: Add authorized users" button. I hit cancel instead and was logged out of the site. Signed back in and the alerts for both apps are still there with the same "under review" status. Before today when I tried the pre-qual link, the alert for my previous unfinished application said incomplete for awhile and then changed to something like cancelled or withdrawn, can't remember. I just know it wasn't "under review." I don't have any hard pulls from all this. Don't think the app actually processes further than I authorized but the "under review" status doesn't seem accurate. Can't remember when I first started an app and then backed out the first time but it's been weeks, maybe over a month and the alert is still there.
Apologies for the delayed response & thanks to all who responded 
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No, I did not apply for the Pathfinder. I was definitely pre-approved (twice before I took the bait) for the Gold Visa. After receiving the error message I was told a loan officer would reach out with 24-48 hours. It being Memorial Day weekend that never happened so I called the ReCon number the following Tuesday. I was given a very vague explanation of what happened & was told to go online and try again. Not falling for that one, I tried to call again the next day, was put on hold and was cut off. Then the denial letters started rolling in. My BK from 7/20 being the deciding factor. Another 3 letters arrived, all citing different reasons. Subsequent reasons being I had too many cards with balances (my utilization hovers around 10%) etc etc. I can only speak from my experience but PenFed did me a favor. I have a great relationship with Navy Federal and will allow that to grow and prosper. I guess the takeaway here is the PenFed preapproval tool is not as solid as others I have come across.