PenFed is PenFun!

[Anonymous]

Last year opened a Penfed account and applied for credit card and was denied.  Score was in high 500's.  Once my scores hit 700 they started sending me 25,000 dollar blank checks in the mail every month at 12 percent interest.  I have no use for them with higher scores.  But I think it is more of a FICO score / income problem than length of doing business with them. I have no products with them and 5 dollars in my account.  

[UpperNwGuy]

PenFed has been my primary checking and credit card for the last 25 years, and they have treated me very well.  It's been fashionable around this forum lately to love NFCU and to hate PenFed, but if you go look at the financials of the two credit unions, PenFed has a far more solid balance sheet than NFCU, despite NFCU being the larger institution.  PenFed has achieved that by being more conservative.

[Anonymous]

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@UpperNwGuywrote:

PenFed has been my primary checking and credit card for the last 25 years, and they have treated me very well.  It's been fashionable around this forum lately to love NFCU and to hate PenFed, but if you go look at the financials of the two credit unions, PenFed has a far more solid balance sheet than NFCU, despite NFCU being the larger institution.  PenFed has achieved that by being more conservative.

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Not sure that matters when people often deal with frustrating experiences due to an outdated banking system, stupid policies, and a lack of speed from their employees. If I apply for a new NFCU card, I'll hear back within a couple of hours at the most, wheras Penfed will take days, or even up to two weeks. With NFCU I can deposit checks immediately, but with Penfed I have to wait three months, and don't even get me started on the 6 months $50 ACH push/pull FROM Penfed. If I want to set up direct deposit, I have to wait for the checks to come in the mail, or send in a stupid form so someone can fill out the bottom half before I submit to my employer, which they're in no hurry to do either. If I use a Penfed debit card, the transaction doesn't show up online for days.. 

I know I voice my opinion often about how I hate Penfed, but I believe it's great information to people who may not know this stuff. I mean, nobody expects these dumb policies when they sign up for a bank account because Penfed is the only one that goes to the extent they do.  

[UpperNwGuy]

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@Anonymouswrote:I know I voice my opinion often about how I hate Penfed,  

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Ha!  You most certainly do!

[AverageJoesCredit]

I dont think its "fashionable" to hate on Penfed and love Navy more so that in many cases with Penfed how they are treating certain profiles is frustating and its ok to voice that frustration. Conservative or not, there is a difference in how Navy and Penfed treat people.

I dont " hate" Penfed but i am disappointed in them. We all have our reasons to like or dislike certain lenders.

[RicHowe]

Sounds like many are PenFed UP! 

[Anonymous]

I love both PenFed and NFCU. I have cards and LOC with them both. I am getting more offers from PenFed right now, but  that is the only difference I see at this time. With each credit union, I have a go to card and one I use for bigger purchases.  I was one of the lucky ones who read all the posts in the forum and joined both credit unions at an optimal time. 

Best of luck to you. These things come and go so just keep following the forum would be my best suggestion. 

[Caught750]

They're just fantastic... Called today, spoke with a CSR regarding statement dates, the 10 day hold, and when they report to CRAs. Every answer was followed by an "I think" or "maybe". Talked to a supervisor, every last bit of information she gave me was WRONG! She gave me the due date as the statement date, gave me the wrong information regarding what is reported and when, and told me there was no 10 day hold on available credit for new accounts. I'm so sick of PenFed already and I'm brand new.

[Anonymous]

I call BS on their denial reason. Until I joinded this forum, I had never heard of PenFed.  After reading up on them, I decided to give it a shot for an auto refinance. The worst they can say is no, right. I was instantly approved for a 2.99% refinance of my 2017 Subaru. I had no relationship with PenFed. 

Are there any baddies in your credit profile or something that they may not like? 

I hate when lenders give bogus reasons for a denial, and I am not afraid to push them to either give me a legitimate reason or a concrete example as to why their reason applies to me specifically. 

Length of relationship with the lender is closely followed by too much available credit in terms of my top bogus reasons.  I mean give me a denial reason that I can actually improve and work on like too many inquiries or past baddies.  I can't fix length of time in a relationship when you won't let me in. I always call them out by making it clear that I "know" people with more than 20 credit cards and over $100K in available credit, so I need a real explanation as to how I have too much available credit. 

If they have a product you want/need, go for it. If you can get the product on the same or better terms elsewhere, move on. Getting my 6.49% interest rate chopped down to 2.99% made it worth it for me to get in with them. 

[Caught750]

They started me with a BS spending limit despite F9 scores of 725. I tried to recon and sent in the survey, no one even cared to listen. I dunno what to do with them but I'm really annoyed and unhappy right now.