Just became a member of Penfed

[itzateach]

I am getting my pin in an hour. We have 2 sons in the military (US AIR FORCE), plus 1 brother and a father in law....guess that helps!

I would like to apply for a cc in a few weeks. I am paying off all debt on Tuesday so my util will be 0 or 1-9 percent, depending on how I do it. I have been reading about inquiries. I have done mortgage shopping as we did a refinance and closed last week. There are quite a few inquiries on there for that. I also have a few other inquiries on there, but no new credit. I have a BK from 2003 but all of my accounts start to fall off (along with history) in spring-fall 2009. I also have one 30 day late that is a over a year old.

What do you think my chances of getting a cc with them is? I have 644 scores right now and expect my scores to hit over 700 after payoff as I was over 100 percent util. According to the simulator 714-740.

Anyone have advice?

[jmbfl]

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@itzateach wrote:

I am getting my pin in an hour. We have 2 sons in the military (US AIR FORCE), plus 1 brother and a father in law....guess that helps!

I would like to apply for a cc in a few weeks. I am paying off all debt on Tuesday so my util will be 0 or 1-9 percent, depending on how I do it. I have been reading about inquiries. I have done mortgage shopping as we did a refinance and closed last week. There are quite a few inquiries on there for that. I also have a few other inquiries on there, but no new credit. I have a BK from 2003 but all of my accounts start to fall off (along with history) in spring-fall 2009. I also have one 30 day late that is a over a year old.

What do you think my chances of getting a cc with them is? I have 644 scores right now and expect my scores to hit over 700 after payoff as I was over 100 percent util. According to the simulator 714-740.

Anyone have advice?

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Your credit was pulled when you joined. They will not do another credit pull for you until 90 days have past. So you took a hard INQ when you joined and if you intend to work on your CBR's you will take another hard INQ 90+ days from now when you app for credit. Based what I highlighted above I would say you are not a good candidate right now. On the other hand you could app based on what you report now and if declined ask what you need to improve to be accepted. You have recent inquiries, recent new credit, high UTIL and a low-ish score. I would wait until about APR2009 if I were you and get those balances down in the meantime.

[Anonymous]

Penfed did a Hard inquiry the moment you joined on EQ. That hard will be used for any applications for credit you submit in the next 60-90 days. Basically you are locked into your current credit snapshot for that time.

If your plan is to pay down current debt and wait for them to report to reduce your utilization then Penfed will not see the improvements. At least until that initial Hard for joining expires. If you are planning on an application in a few weeks as you stated any changes in your credit will not be taken into account.

Two choices apply for whatever you want now using that initial inquiry or wait 90 days for a new inquiry with an improved snapshot/score.

[TangMeister]

Unfortunately, Penfed is NOT bankruptcy friendly.  It's very unlikely you'll get approved for a CC from them as long as there is a BK showing on your Equifax credit report (which is what hey pull).  Have you tried Navy Federal Credit Union?  Have one of your sons join, and then you can join through him.  They'll work with you and most likely provide what you need and more. 

Good luck!

Message Edited by TangMeister on 10-11-2008 02:21 PM

[itzateach]

Now that sucks!!! I researched PENFED on the forums for an hour and I didn't see anywhere where they pulled up your credit upon applying....did I miss it when filling it out??? Well, guess I will give it a try with both of us....will let you know how it goes!

[smallfry]

Penfed is most certainly BK friendly. However OP I think you wasted the pull by joining before you got your utilization down and the score up a bit. Since you already used the pull go ahead and try for a CC. IF denied recon. You have nothing to lose. They don't hold the decline against you in the future. Tangmesiter who told you Penfed is not BK friendly? 

[jmbfl]

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@itzateach wrote:

Now that sucks!!! I researched PENFED on the forums for an hour and I didn't see anywhere where they pulled up your credit upon applying....did I miss it when filling it out??? Well, guess I will give it a try with both of us....will let you know how it goes!

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1) Explainations of PenFed's processes are ubiquitous in this forum.

2) You will not find any of this explained on the PenFed website. They do not tell you explicitly (or implicitly, for that matter) that app'ing for membership will result in a hard credit INQ.

3) I don't understand that comment I highlighted above. What are you trying to say?

4) PenFed is not recent BK friendly. Your BK would probably not be viewed as recent. But it is still reporting and they will see it.

5) You may as well ask for a CC now as they have already pulled your credit. Do not be surprised if you are declined credit for the reasons I outlined in my previous post. If you do app and are delcined they will tell you why. Then you will know what you have to work on.

[haulingthescoreup]

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itzateach wrote:

Now that sucks!!! I researched PENFED on the forums for an hour and I didn't see anywhere where they pulled up your credit upon applying....

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Agree with jmbfl, I'm afraid. This is all over the PenFed posts.

Even if you wind up not being able to get any credit products with them this cycle, I would encourage you to stick with them. Get some sort of direct deposit going into the share account that you opened, and make sure that it moves smoothly with every paycheck. When the time comes, they are great folks to be with. Look on them as a long-term investment.

[itzateach]

Thanks for your help. I went ahead and applied for a cc - Platinum cash rewards card for both my husband and I. (We both joined today - separately). Both of them say they are under review. Neither said (yet) that we were declined. It also said to check back in a few hours to see the decision. I will let you know then! Who knows? Maybe my credit is a little better than I thought? or maybe we will just get declined....guess we will find out. If I do get declined, I will call them on Tuesday after I have been funded by my refinance and paid all our debts off and see if they will recon.

Thanks!

[jmbfl]

You app'ed on Saturday night! Don't expect a response until later next week. No one gets a response from PenFed in a few hours. It is either instant (very rare) or 3 to 5 business days. You can check the app status page to see where your application stands. If you are good it will go from Pending to Approved to Disbursed. If you are not good it will go to some other status I have never seen, but I assume it will say Not Approved or Declined.

Do not expect PenFed to pull another credit report on you until 90-days after your membership was processed! I know of no circumstances where this has ever been done. To the contrary I do know of circumstances where applicants have been told specifically that they would have to wait until the 90-days had lapsed before they could reapp based on a new credit pull. Sorry, but this is the PenFed way - not mine!