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With the discontinuation of the no-AF FNBO Travelite card, I am currently considering apping for the PenFed PathFinder card --- do they still waive the AF if you have an Access America checking account with a minimum monthly balance of $500 or $500 monthly direct deposit? Or is this AF waiver option no longer available at this time, to new members? If there is no viable way though to avoid the $95 AF, I mostly likely won't be interested in pursuing the the PathFinder further tho...tbh, actually kinda regret now, not apping when the $95 AF was not in effect...
You are correct. If you have the Access America checking the AF is waived.
Also if you've served in the military it'll be waived also.
@galahad15 wrote:With the discontinuation of the no-AF FNBO Travelite card, I am currently considering apping for the PenFed PathFinder card --- do they still waive the AF if you have an Access America checking account with a minimum monthly balance of $500 or $500 monthly direct deposit? Or is this AF waiver option no longer available at this time, to new members? If there is no viable way though to avoid the $95 AF, I mostly likely won't be interested in pursuing the the PathFinder further tho...tbh, actually kinda regret now, not apping when the $95 AF was not in effect...
I was very suprised that you never applied for the pathfinder, and its sad to see the fnbo travelite to go. I applied when it first came out, I thought you would have done the same, but its okay, yeah the AF is waived if you have the access checking account with $500 cash direct deposit.
@galahad15 wrote:With the discontinuation of the no-AF FNBO Travelite card, I am currently considering apping for the PenFed PathFinder card --- do they still waive the AF if you have an Access America checking account with a minimum monthly balance of $500 or $500 monthly direct deposit? Or is this AF waiver option no longer available at this time, to new members? If there is no viable way though to avoid the $95 AF, I mostly likely won't be interested in pursuing the the PathFinder further tho...tbh, actually kinda regret now, not apping when the $95 AF was not in effect...
I got Pathfinder about three months ago and can confirm fee is waived with Access American checking.
As a note, I don't deposit $500 via DD each month, I just maintain a $500 balance and don't pay any fees for the AA checking. If that aligns to the AF on the card, then I would think DD isn't required, just a minimum balance of $500
Good Luck!!
This was a very useful post!
I have had a savings account with PenFed for over 3 years and if you open the checking account, with the minimum $500 in balance, I can apply for the Pathfinder card at no AF ??
Sounds like a no brainer..
My issue with this card is I'm hearing that you can't redeem for cash back and that the points are really only worth .50-.85 per point. Any one confirm? If you don't want to use the points for travel what are the other redemption options?
@summerterrace wrote:My issue with this card is I'm hearing that you can't redeem for cash back and that the points are really only worth .50-.85 per point. Any one confirm? If you don't want to use the points for travel what are the other redemption options?
That is true cash back is not allowed. You can get a PenFed Visa card but you need 5880 points for $50. You can get gift cards for few places but $25 is 2940 points. I took their prepaid visa card since same amount of points are needed for store gift cards.
I'm not sure where you are located, but as a cash back guy, I recently got the Synovus Travel Rewards Card that gives 5% cash back on travel purchases up to $5000 per year. It does a $50 AF after the first year, but it has the potential to earn $250 in cash back on travel, so it will still net 4% on travel, and it also has a selectable 3% category up to $3000 per quarter.
It seemed to be the best pure cash back travel card I could find. We spend around $5K on travel yearly, so it works well for us. They also seem to be generous with CLs and not too sensitive to INQs, etc. I was approved for a $16K SL. I did open a free checking to be able to deposit cash back from the 5% and 3% category directly.
https://www.synovus.com/personal/charge/credit-cards/
@JNA1 wrote:I'm not sure where you are located, but as a cash back guy, I recently got the Synovus Travel Rewards Card that gives 5% cash back on travel purchases up to $5000 per year. It does a $50 AF after the first year, but it has the potential to earn $250 in cash back on travel, so it will still net 4% on travel, and it also has a selectable 3% category up to $3000 per quarter.
It seemed to be the best pure cash back travel card I could find. We spend around $5K on travel yearly, so it works well for us. They also seem to be generous with CLs and not too sensitive to INQs, etc. I was approved for a $16K SL. I did open a free checking to be able to deposit cash back from the 5% and 3% category directly.https://www.synovus.com/personal/charge/credit-cards/
Wow! Thanks for this any idea on what kind of travel protections it offers?