PenFed starting to worry about all that cash back they're giving?

[haulingthescoreup]

I keep wondering how long PenFed can continue to give cash back on the Rewards card, so I'm always on the alert. I got an e-mail about this the other day:

Visa Platinum Credit Card Balance Transfer
2.99% APR Balance Transfer!*

Save more when you transfer balances from your high rate credit cards.

You'll get a low 2.99% APR for the life of your transferred balances when you transfer them to your Visa Platinum Rewards Card offered by Pentagon Federal Credit Union. Transferring your balances is easy: you can transfer your balance securely online right now by logging on below.

I don't take it as a sign that they're going to reduce or eliminate the great cash-back program, but this would sure be a way for them to lessen its impact. They could make a little money off of interest to help buffer the rewards.

Amazingly, they cap their BT fee as well at $100. That plus the 2.99% for the life of the balance makes this awfully tempting for those with balances elsewhere who are willing to PIF their monthly PenFed charges and pay down the BT...

[CreditAble]

---

@haulingthescoreup wrote:

Amazingly, they cap their BT fee as well at $100. That plus the 2.99% for the life of the balance makes this awfully tempting for those with balances elsewhere who are willing to PIF their monthly PenFed charges and pay down the BT...

---

Does PenFed allow an interest free grace period on purchases even if one revolves a balance (from a BT) on the card? I don't see any reference to (PIFed) monthly charges being exempt from interest in the Email.

---

[haulingthescoreup]

I couldn't tell you --I PIF before the statement, so I don't even get into the grace period.

I'm glad you mentioned this though, because I forgot to post the link:

2.99% BT offer from PenFed

[haulingthescoreup]

Update: I asked a CSR today how a BT would affect the rewards, current purchases, etc. on the card. She said to just get a second Rewards Visa card, split up your CL, use one for purchases, and the other for the BT. Seems simple enough.

The offer is good through the end of May, so I can dither for 5 weeks about it.

[creditwherecreditisdue]

That's pretty much the way I thought one would go about it, but I thought you would have to get a gold card. I am surprised they will give you a second rewards card. Better to get a second rewards card - the BT rate is lower.

Just curious - did they really offer you a CL increase in the pre-approvals section, or did you ask them if you could have a CLI instead of one of the pre-app's. I have offers, but not one for a CLI on my rewards card. If I could engineer it I would really like to have a second card for BT purposes, but I'm not asking for anything right now.

[haulingthescoreup]

Can't remember for sure now, but I think it was in the pre-approvals section, and they called or e-mailed to offer it.

OK, here's the thread from when it happened:

Santa PenFEd brings Christmas in October

The one thing that I didn't ask the CSR today was whether getting a second Rewards card in order to divide up the CL on the current one would involve a hard pull.