Considering applying for PenFed CC

[Cory]

Or you can pick up by flirting

[Anonymous]

 They will hard inq you when you join PenFed

 and hard inq you again when you apply for the credit card.

And, to join Penfed, one with no military relationship

should join other unions first, like MOAA.

so all together there are Three hard to expect..

If I'm going to apply Penfed in six months,

is it a good idea to join the MOAA

and thus the Penfed credit union now?

Thanks a lot!

[smallfry]

---

@haulingthescoreup wrote:

---

@Cory wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:
I think the card he's referring to is the Plat Plus Cash Rewards.  Also, if you look at the Disclosures & Terms link, the Visa Gold is going up to 12.49% APR as of 04/01/09.  So not a much better rate than the rewards card, and without the rewards hehe.  And the Cash Rewards is a fixed APR  Doesn't seem that the Gold is fixed, though I'm not certain.

---

 Oh yeah, your right. The apr is going up to 12.49%. Maybe their trying to push more of the Platinum Cash Rewards Visa Cards more, by discouraging the other.

Cory

---

Duh me, you're both right --I had to pull out my wallet and look at it.

It's what everyone informally calls the "gas card."

Rewards cards almost always have higher APR's than non-rewards. That's interesting that the APR on the Gold is rising. Another possibility is that the Gold might tend to go to those with weaker credit, so they're seeing their APR's rise.

I still don't see how PenFed can make money off the Plat Cash Rewards, but hey, I'll play along as long as they do!

(I'm a "she", btw. )

---

Actually no. I've been told I could turn my Gold into the Rewards card but I am not going to take a new account hit. I got the Gold a month or so before they introduced the card you have. Bad timing I guess on my part.

[manyquestions]

---

@smallfry wrote:

Actually no. I've been told I could turn my Gold into the Rewards card but I am not going to take a new account hit. I got the Gold a month or so before they introduced the card you have. Bad timing I guess on my part.

---

Are you sure you would take a hit for new account?  There is a form on their wesite that you fill out to upgrade your card to the Platinum Rewards card. 

https://www.penfed.org/pdf/accountsforms/695-P.pdf

I would call them and ask if they keep the same account number since it is a conversion would it not keep the history of the old one?  So does the credit report look the same, or does a new account show up but with the opening date of the old account, or does it report like a totally new account?  Be worth the phone call to find out. 

[haulingthescoreup]

---

kulin wrote:

 They will hard inq you when you join PenFed and hard inq you again when you apply for the credit card. And, to join Penfed, one with no military relationship should join other unions first, like MOAA. so all together there are Three hard to expect.. If I'm going to apply Penfed in six months, is it a good idea to join the MOAA and thus the Penfed credit union now?

Thanks a lot!

---

This didn't happen to me at all.

I joined NMFA (National Military Families Association), which is a support group for military families, period. No military affiliation needed, and certainly no credit pull. Then I called up PenFed and joined, and that's when there's a hard inq on EQ. You'll need to open a share (savings) account for at least $5, which is how credit unions are set up. Then I applied for the card, with no additional pull.

The PenFed hard inq is good for 60 to 90 days, an "all you can eat" inq. No additional inqs for extra cards, loans, etc. This is true of almost everyone who has posted here, although one or two people reported having repeat pulls. They were very much the exception.

Anyway, you can do this all at once. You don't need to be in the qualifying organization for some period of time first. And you don't have to maintain membership in NMFA --once you're in PenFed, you're good.

[Anonymous]

Although I haven't seen a definitive answer yet about whether you retain the age of your account when you convert from a Penfed gold to a Penfed cash rewards card, unfortunately I haven't yet seen any reported personal experiences to contradict what this person said last fall:

---

The thing that sucks about Penfed is that you can't convert. You'd have to apply for cash rewards and then combine your Gold's credit limit with cash rewards (allowing the cash rewards card to stay open). Then you would close the Gold card. Unfortunately, you end up with two Penfed accounts on your credit report. One open (cash rewards) and one closed (Gold card).

---

Message Edited by MojaveMoon on 03-21-2009 02:35 PM

[Anonymous]

Oh I see.

so the share account opening and credit card application can be done

in one single call.

this is different from fidelity bank,

whose checking and credit card are in two different departments

---

@haulingthescoreup wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

 They will hard inq you when you join PenFed and hard inq you again when you apply for the credit card. And, to join Penfed, one with no military relationship should join other unions first, like MOAA. so all together there are Three hard to expect.. If I'm going to apply Penfed in six months, is it a good idea to join the MOAA and thus the Penfed credit union now?

Thanks a lot!

---

This didn't happen to me at all.

I joined NMFA (National Military Families Association), which is a support group for military families, period. No military affiliation needed, and certainly no credit pull. Then I called up PenFed and joined, and that's when there's a hard inq on EQ. You'll need to open a share (savings) account for at least $5, which is how credit unions are set up. Then I applied for the card, with no additional pull.

The PenFed hard inq is good for 60 to 90 days, an "all you can eat" inq. No additional inqs for extra cards, loans, etc. This is true of almost everyone who has posted here, although one or two people reported having repeat pulls. They were very much the exception.

Anyway, you can do this all at once. You don't need to be in the qualifying organization for some period of time first. And you don't have to maintain membership in NMFA --once you're in PenFed, you're good.

---

[Anonymous]

So I went ahead and applied, and I was approved for the PenFed Plat Rewards Card.  Yay!  I am pretty excited about it. 

I asked for a $10k CL, but they counteroffered $5k.  I went ahead and accepted it, cuz that's still rather nice.  But I am confused as to why.    

I asked with member services and the rep said there wasn't a specific reason listed.  She just said that they weren't able to approve the $10k, and that the CL is determined by your score, income, and other debts.   [Helpful, huh?]  

They never asked me to submit proof of income, or anything besides the application.  As I mentioned earlier in the thread, my EQ report was looking really good.  

Now as far as income & debts go, I have an auto loan & a student loan.  On the application I put the full amount of my rent payment even though I split it with my sister. Including the full rent amount, my DTI ratio is 27%.  

Anyway, so that’s kinda curious.  Am I missing something?    

Can I write a letter or something to ask for more info about why they turned me down for the $10k?  Or is that only for other types of loans? 

[haulingthescoreup]

---

usagichan wrote:

So I went ahead and applied, and I was approved for the PenFed Plat Rewards Card.  Yay!  I am pretty excited about it. 

I asked for a $10k CL, but they counteroffered $5k.  I went ahead and accepted it, cuz that's still rather nice.  But I am confused as to why.    

I asked with member services and the rep said there wasn't a specific reason listed.  She just said that they weren't able to approve the $10k, and that the CL is determined by your score, income, and other debts.   [Helpful, huh?]  

They never asked me to submit proof of income, or anything besides the application.  As I mentioned earlier in the thread, my EQ report was looking really good.  

Now as far as income & debts go, I have an auto loan & a student loan.  On the application I put the full amount of my rent payment even though I split it with my sister. Including the full rent amount, my DTI ratio is 27%.  

Anyway, so that’s kinda curious.  Am I missing something?    

Can I write a letter or something to ask for more info about why they turned me down for the $10k?  Or is that only for other types of loans? 

---

Congrats on joining the fam!

I was chicken when I applied, and I only asked for $5K, and that's what I got. Several months later, I asked for $10K, and they gave it to me, and then mysteriously they pre-approved me for a CLI to $20.3K, which of course I took.

Unless you're planning to buy an awful lot of gas and groceries, $5K will be plenty for now. Use the fire out of the card, and PIF it. I know that things have tightened up in the 13 months since I came on board, but that worked for me, and I'm guessing that it will work for you, too.

[Anonymous]

Hey, I know how to fix the S/He thing:

Just use, "in response to the authoring party of the aforementioned post as related to the subject matter of the original post....."

Guardian....maybe you can fix it up with better legalese

Message Edited by txjohn on 04-01-2009 10:58 AM