I will say we are not thrilled with our current bank. We loved our bank before, but it was bought out late last year and the app, policies, etc. have changed. The only reason we haven’t changed yet is that I want to make sure we make a good choice of who we change over to. I’m also not opposed to opening 2 different accounts. My wife’s DD comes out monthly, and since we have been using CC’s as daily drivers, I basically use her check to exclusively pay CC bills. I could set her DD to come out monthly and use that account to only make 2 or 3 payments monthly to PIF cards. It wouldn’t be that much of a hassle to me being that it would only be that few transactions per month. I would be willing to manage 2 checking accounts if it got me a really good card/financial institution, is what I’m saying.
@AllZero wrote:
@JNA1 wrote:
@Allzero, Would you wait until all of the new cards are at least 1 year old?Hard to say. How many cards did you get within 12 months, 5?
@AllZero wrote: 6 month in between apps would be bare minimum. 1 year could give you better approval odds.
While there's certainly nothing wrong with waiting longer to be more conservative and improve odds of approval on any new card application with any lender, PenFed is profile-dependent and does not always require a long period of gardening!
In my case, I have a thick file, high credit scores, high income, and am prior active-duty military. I was approved for the PenFed Power Cash card in November. Prior to this card, I had opened SIX new personal cards and ONE new business card in the 12 months preceding, so SEVEN total new revolving accounts! Two of the other applications were within the month before application with PenFed so probably not showing on my report, and my business card was not on my personal report. However, I did have at least FOUR new personal cards opened in 2019 that were reporting by November (opened Jan-Aug) and PenFed still approved me for a $15K SL Power Cash card the same day I opened my banking accounts and established membership. 
As always, approvals and SLs are profile-dependent and YMMV.
@Anonymous wrote:
Why not PSECU? They actually have 2% card and seem to accept out of state applicants.Requires direct deposit of $500 to get 2% otherwise it's 1.5%. Too much hassle.
Partially true.
Members with current or prior military service get 2% through the Honors Advantage program, regardless of whether they maintain any bank accounts. (I'm prior military, but also chose to open accounts with PenFed.)
Members without prior military service get the 2% cash-back by having an Access America checking account, with or without Direct Deposit. There is no requirement to have direct deposit to get the 2%; direct deposit is one of two ways you can get the 2% back while also avoiding the monthly service fee on the Access America checking accout.
To waive the $10 monthly account fee on Access America Checking, you can either:
(1) Maintain a $500 average-daily-balance, which is not difficult for most people to do, especially if you make PenFed your primary bank. That's a fairly low ADB requirement to avoid fees, comparatively speaking. (Navy FCU requires $750 to waive fees on their interest-bearing checking account.)
(2) Maintain a monthly $500 Direct Deposit. For most people, that's not hard to do. My employer allows split of my direct deposits into as many as five different accounts. And even if you just deposit the entire amount into PenFed and make them your primary bank, their accounts are an excellent value. For example, balances under $20K earn interest at 0.20% as opposed to 0.05 or less with most other lenders.
@Green456 wrote: "True but none of the other credit unions offer truely free checking and 2% cashback card. PenFed does not have free checking"
While this is technically true, it is essentially free if you follow a couple of very simple rules.
You can waive the $10 monthly fee by either:
(1) $500 average daily balance, which is pretty easy for most people to maintain
(2) $500 monthly direct deposit, which is also a minimal requirement for most people.
In return, you get not only the 2% cash-back on Power Cash card and a checking account that pays you a very nice 0.20% interest for balances up to $20K which is much more than most other banks pay on similar accounts. Navy FCU pays 0.35% on Flagship Checking balances below $10K but requires a higher $750 average daily balance to earn it. Most other banks and credit unions pay 0.05% or much less.
@creditfan wrote: there are other cards even better, and have not been mentioned here.SDFCU and rbfcu are 2%, no af, no FTF, chip & pin prefered
I would not say those are "better" options, just "other" options, and don't apply to many of our forum members.
SDFCU is known to be very conservative in approvals.
And RBFCU is geo-fenced unless you qualify otherwise through retired military service, federal employment, or school/association.
PenFed pays 2% with no AF, no FTF, and is also chip and pin. Their interest rates and fees are very low and are comparable or better than any other cards on the market.