Whos more conservative, Chase or Penfed?

[Royalbacon]

Whos more conservative, Chase or Penfed? Seems like Penfed is less conservative but I read differently.

[Anonymous]

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@Royalbacon wrote:

Whos more conservative, Chase or Penfed? Seems like Penfed is less conservative but I read differently.

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I think it depends on the applicants credit. PenFed used to be extremely conservative but has since relaxed their approvals (and subsequently increased lending rates to pay for increased risk  ). However, if someone with a sketchy credit rating or a blemish gets declined, it seems that most are able to voice their dissatisfaction on a survey and this can often lead to an approval or a higher starting limit. Chase really doesn't recon, so in this case, PenFed may be less conservative.

Chase can be conservative, especially if you have already applied for 5 new accounts in the past two years. They do approve people though; they just may approve you for a $500 limit and 24% interest with less than stellar credit. 

It really is best to go into both lenders with a clean profile and a decent (above 680) FICO score for the best chance of approval, decent starting limits and palatable APRs. . 

[fltireguy]

I think - well in my case- Chase is more conservative. I have 4 Chase cards with a total CL of $15k, and 3 PenFed cards for $30k

[Anonymous]

The military generally leans a little more conservative.

[K-in-Boston]

I have about $20k total on three Chase cards all at the lowest APRs (in fact my 10 year-old Freedom is a few points lower than the current published range) and $30k + about a $10k auto loan with PenFed. While the auto refi was the lowest at 1.99%, my PenFed cards were issued with an APR a few points higher than the minimum listed (granted I never pay them more than 4.99% and the cards are still relatively low APR).

I think PenFed is more willing to extend credit if you can give them a good reason to, while Chase pretty much goes by the computer and their analysts are quite risk averse. Otherwise I don't think one is more conservative than the other.

[UpperNwGuy]

PenFed has been more conservative with me as far as granting credit limits on new cards, but they have been my primary financial institution for the past 25 years, so they know things about my history that Chase doesn't know.

[Gmood1]

IME the CUs have always been the more conservative. The larger banks more lenient and much more depended on an automated system to give out limits/approvals. It's less likely to get manual reviews with the majority of the national banks besides US Bank and FNBO. On average my CU exposure is half that of the big boys. However, I'd still choose the CU over those banks for certain loans outside of CC's.