PenFed Joint Credit Card Application?

[DaveSignal]

I have been gardening for some time now and my scores are getting to be pretty good.   I do have some baddies on my reports still, but they are at least paid.  I was thinking about the possibility of getting a card with PenFed, mostly just to start a relationship with PenFed (aside from the $5 in my share savings for the last year) but also because they offer no foreign transaction fees, emv, and a decent reward structure.  It could be a wasted inq though.

My wife has excellent credit, but her entire credit report is nothing but AU and one Joint account on my open credit cards.  I was wondering if PenFed would let me do a joint application with my wife and if they would even consider her credit report at all.

[longtimelurker]

We tried to do a joint but for some reason it didn't work.    My wife appeared to be the sole applicant.  Once she was approved, I was added as a joint holder (of the share account that seems to dictate everything).

[DaveSignal]

I just called them and was told that it is possible.  It looks like there is an option to add a joint account holder on the online application form.   longtimelurker, is this what you tried that didn't work?

If PenFed will consider my wife's good credit, this could help me get approved for a PenFed card.

[Jazzzy]

My husband and I are joint on a card....and my husband and daughter are joint on a different card.

[longtimelurker]

Yes, pretty sure that is what we did.  But at the time we applied, Penfed was very busy, so I think it was more a processing error on their part rather than something that they don't do.   They also got some other things wrong, but these were to my advantage (e.g. two credit cards with separate TLs instead of one converting to the other) but as they kept telling us this was "a really busy time" I assume that most of the time things work as intended.

[longtimelurker]

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@Jazzzy wrote:

My husband and I are joint on a card....and my husband and daughter are joint on a different card.

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Yes, it might be the case that the credit card was joint without any issue, it was getting the basic membership joint that was the issue.  That was a problem because whenever I phoned for anything, including credit card, they wouldn't speak to me as I wasn't the member!   And sometimes I still run into that issue.

Even now, the share account statement just has my wife's name, the statement for each of the two cards has us both.

[DaveSignal]

ok.... so it seems like this might work. Thank you for the feedback.

As a last question for the responding PenFed members, do you have emv cards?   Did you have to specifically ask for this, or did they send your initial card with emv?

[RockinRay]

My Wife and I did a joint application and it was no problem.

You just need to add the "Joint Account Holder" in the application process. Maybe consider her as the main applicant and you as the joint applicant. Take advantage of her excellent credit.

PenFed is picky but I feel you have a good chance with them, and they will really grow with you. In our case, we started two yeas ago with them at $20k. Today, that number has moved up to $43k which is way more then we need. We do NOT have the emv card...

Good luck - let us know the end result!

[DaveSignal]

Thanks Ray for the great feedback.  I don't think I have a good chance with PenFed.  I do not have clean reports yet.  And not just 30-day lates, I have a collection and charge-offs that I have had trouble removing.  After re-reading PenFed approval threads here and on other boards, I don't think it is my time yet for this credit card.  I can get by with what I have for another year and try to work on my reports a little more.  I am going to go after PenFed when I have more than a slim chance.  If I don't feel like I am going to be winning, its not so exciting to play in the first place.  My wife's high score would help more if her AAoA was not so low.  I know what I am up against.  I am just not fully prepared at this time.

[longtimelurker]

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@DaveSignal wrote:

ok.... so it seems like this might work. Thank you for the feedback.

As a last question for the responding PenFed members, do you have emv cards?   Did you have to specifically ask for this, or did they send your initial card with emv?

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My first card was a Plat Rewards ($20K) with no chip.   I then asked for one with a  chip, and this is where I ran into Penfed processing issues!   It took a long time, and I had to give the same message three times, that I was NOT looking for more credit, merely wanted an EMV chip added to my card.  At that stage, and possibly still, for EMV they issue a new account, close the other, and eventually merge the rewards and history (so it appears as one account).   So I got a new account, with a new card with an EMV chip, also $20K, but both cards remain active (8 months now) and I use both and both report, so I have $40K in credit from them in the first year.

But short answer, yes, they do have EMV cards, and these are the standard "chip & pin with default to chip&sig"  (I have never succeeded in getting it to ask for a PIN, but ohters have)