PenFed woes maybe?!

[AndySoCal]

I do not have a sock drawer per se. If I do not have a use for a credit card I will close it. Unused bank cards and or deposit accounts are targets for fraudsters. Why? Most of time activity on those accounts will go unnoticed until it is too late.

[mgood]

@pip3man wrote:

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@AndySoCal wrote:

The only time the cash limit comes into play is if you use your credit card to get cash advance. The interest rate usually very high. All my credit card companies could set the limit to zero and I would not care.

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Not necessarily, I've never had to take out a cash advance but I liked the fact that their cash limit was the same as the credit limit. Unlike other credit issuers, their APR for cash advance and purchases are set at the same interest rate. The only difference being no grace period on the former which is pretty standard. So for anyone who uses cash advance that could be a big deal because this is exclusive to PenFed since I'm not aware of any other institution that does that.  @AndySoCal 

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Yeah, I've gotten a cash advance from PenFed a couple times. It was easy, and the interest was 17.99% with no cash advance fee tacked on.

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@creditrizz wrote:

Anyone seen reports of them reducing limits on unused cards again recently?

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My Gold Visa hasn't been used in over a year. It's only $6.5k, but it hasn't been cut.

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@AndySoCal wrote:

I do not have a sock drawer per se. If I do not have a use for a credit card I will close it. Unused bank cards and or deposit accounts are targets for fraudsters. Why? Most of time activity on those accounts will go unnoticed until it is too late.

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I look at all my account balances and pending charges pretty much every day, often times twice a day, except for a couple cards that rarely get used and I still check them once or twice a week.

[AndySoCal]

@mgood @State Department Federal Credit Union is the same as PenFed on cash advance. Langley will do this upto 50% of the  credit limit.   I would suggest those keep it alive cards to freeze the cards until you wish to make a transaction. 

[LivingTheAmericanDream]

PenFed recently reduced my CL due to inactivity. I took another look at the rewards for the Platinum Rewards Visa Signature and started using it for gas, supermarkets, and restaurants. Problem is, the points are not redeemable for statement credit. But back to using the card. Will update if and when they increase my CL.

[LivingTheAmericanDream]

That's where I'm at:  closing the unused/rarely used accounts.

[Gregory1776]

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@AndySoCal wrote:

I do not have a sock drawer per se. If I do not have a use for a credit card I will close it. Unused bank cards and or deposit accounts are targets for fraudsters. Why? Most of time activity on those accounts will go unnoticed until it is too late.

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Lock the card. 
my PenFed card is locked. No fraud. No use since September - went over limit.

[bs1234]

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@AndySoCal wrote:

I do not have a sock drawer per se. If I do not have a use for a credit card I will close it. Unused bank cards and or deposit accounts are targets for fraudsters. Why? Most of time activity on those accounts will go unnoticed until it is too late.

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Wonder if that's actually true!    First off, it requires extra knowledge (this card/account is rarely used) and from what I have seen, standard fraudster practice is to hit the account hard and then move on.    There are lots of other cards to compromise without playing a long game.

[AndySoCal]

@bs1234 @I work of a financial institution and I have seen fraud scams  of all different sorts that have victimized people. Sometimes the victim of the scam was one who could least afford to lose money. Fraudsters does not care about the consumer's financial status.  Fraudster will take money from  anyone who bites on the bait. Most of the time the bank cannot get the money back. One fraud scam was where a fraudster had moved money from one account to another. Then contacted  the victim and told them they accidentally put money in their account. The caller was wanting the victim's help in returning the payment.  One fraudster hacked one my credit cards and put about $1000 in charges before I realized it had been hacked. To this day I have no idea how they got the card number.Forget the gas station I use public transit.

[Gregory1776]

@AndySoCal 

I have been using two cards at gas stations. Amazon and Everyday; both someone used to try and charge +$300 at Walgreens. There are a lot of Indians at fuel stations in NJ and they fill your tank, So I have a good idea which station out of the two in town I use is suspect. 

[AndySoCal]

@Gregory1776  The gas station comment was more in reference to my card that was hacked. Gas stations at times are infamous for card skimmers at the pump. A friend of mine paid for gas with a gift card. The next time the gift card was used it was declined. Whoever got the  card information drained the remaining balance.