I am currently a member of NFCU (3 CC and an Auto Loan), USAA (legacy account / auto ins) and Truist.
I have been looking to get 1 final CC before shutting things down for the next 14 months (garden until I hit 5 yrs 1 mo for Amex consideration) and I wanted to see if anyone had any feedback on USAA vs PenFed. I'm not a member of PenFed, but have considered joining and I prequaled and was approved for their Gold ($6K) and Platinum ($7.5K). I also have offers from USAA for their CC, but I haven't seen much feedback on the boards for how USAA is with CLIs. There's a lot more data for PenFed, so I wanted to canvas the community to see what (if anything) anyone had to say about the subject. I'd probably utilize the card for a BT to take advantage of 0% APR. My UTI is about 30% right now, but it will all be paid off in the next 6 months, and in the interim, I'd like to not to pay any interest!
Any info is greatly appreciated.
@md_rebuild wrote:I'm not a member of PenFed, but have considered joining and I prequaled and was approved for their Gold ($6K) and Platinum ($7.5K).
I wouldn't personally rely on their prequal
https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Card-Applications/PENFED-PRE-QUALIFY-CARD-LINK/td-p/6680345
I never tried USAA after BK. They werent BK friendly few yrs back. Back then PENFED was easier to get in. Opened a membership and checking and got their card in one sitting 4 yrs post BK. Never used the checking. Still have their card.
I've been with USAA for a long time. My oldest CC is with them. Admittedly it gets small spend, only about $100 in gas a month. They have never given me an auto-CLI, but I've requested 3 throughout the years. Went from $1k to $3k to $6.5k to $12.5k. It has been a hard pull every time. They use something like FICO 3 scores, which you can get free once a month if you have one of their cards. It is generally 50 points lower than my FICO 8.
Their cash rewards Amex is a good gas card, gives 5% back. Rewards can be auto redeemed when it reaches $25.
I've got all kinds of insurance through them. They are a decent place to deal with, no major issues.
I'd recommend the Amex gas card, the others are cards are nothing special.
It's been forever since I applied for the card and honestly not sure which score they use for new accounts. I can only find this using desktop browser, but when looking at CC account on the right side towards the bottom there's a link for 'View my Credit Score' and clicking on that link it takes to a page that lists my FICO 3 score from Experian, not sure which sub category. Currently it's at 781, when looking at FICO 8 from Experian app it's at 825, not sure which sub category that is, either.
Thanks for the data points everyone.
@NoMoreE46 I could go with someone else, but as you can see in my signature, I've got a variety of issuers. I'm 3 months away from 4 years post BK7, so Citi, Chase, and Amex are all off the table (for now), and I don't need need any more cards from Capital One or Synchrony. I was looking to get with another bank or a CU which is BK friendly and has a good starting limit. With NFCU giving me the limits that I have, I don't want to become a member of another bank or CU and get a low limit card (completely aware that the limits NFCU gave me are way above the norm - when I say low limit card, I'm talking about one with a limit of less than $5-7.5K)