Penfed Personal Loan Instant Approval??

Bloom22 · ‎04-05-2022

Hi everyone!! I just recently made a myFICO account and found this forum. You are all so helpful and knowledgable and I REALLY appreciate all the information you've all shared. After opting out of an Avant Refinance (horrible terms and a million steps) and reading through some archives, I decided to go ahead and take my chances with a Penfed personal loan and I was INSTANTLY approved for $20,000 with zero POI requests or anything! They sent me the paperwork to sign and boom. They sent me an email congratulating me on my approval and they also created a savings account for me.

I am completely floored. Is this too good to be true?? My FICO9 scores are decent (Equifax 713, Transunion 694, Experian 719) but my FICO8 scores are absolutely NOT great (EQ 664, T 663, EXP 662). Additionally, I had NO relationship with Penfed prior to this approval. Part of me is obviously elated, as I will be using this loan to consolidate a little over $14K of debt. However - I am just in shock that it was that easy and I feel like there's got to be something else to this? Also - it's not like i'm making a crazy six figures or anything either. Salary is around 62K. Oh and also, I didn't get any notifications about a hard pull? The other day with Avant, I was notified via Credit Karma and Credit Sesame immediately after I clicked the button. However - with Penfed, I haven't been notified of anything. Needless to say, I am grateful, but lowkey confused and trying not to pop the champagne just yet.

iowe · ‎04-05-2022

Pour me a glass. I was approved for 20k yesterday from Penfed with very similar stats to yours. It's safe to feel good about your approval.

2025 & 2026 Goal: To continue to save cash until I have 12 months worth of living expenses in savings.

Bloom22 · ‎04-05-2022

Omg!! This is great news!! Congrats to you!! I definitely feel reassured and will be pouring up for both of us . Also, I got a second email a little bit ago providing me with a member number, savings account number, and loan number and below that it said "you should receive your loan funds by check in 5-7 business days". So I think it's safe to say it's set in stone at this point? I'm still in shock but so thankful!

Tazman81 · ‎04-12-2022

For personal loans, PenFed pulls Experian, so if depending on Credit Karma, then that is the reason you would not have been notified of a hard pull. Check Experian to see if it is there.

Great news on your approval. PenFed has been great to me, although for the first 6 months, they do have some restrictions on their accounts that you may not see with other credit unions.

Current Score: Eq: 823 Tu: 830
Goal Score: Eq: 850 Tu: 850
Wallet: PenFed Power Cash 50k | AMEX Blue Cash (AU) 49.5k | Cap One QSMC 26.5k | AMEX Platinum NPSL | USAA Signature Visa 25k

pizzadude · ‎04-12-2022

Congrats on the approval ! What terms / interest rate did you end up with?

March2010 FICO® ~ 695 TU, 653 EQ, 697 EX

Bloom22 · ‎04-12-2022

@Tazman81 wrote:
For personal loans, PenFed pulls Experian, so if depending on Credit Karma, then that is the reason you would not have been notified of a hard pull. Check Experian to see if it is there.

Great news on your approval. PenFed has been great to me, although for the first 6 months, they do have some restrictions on their accounts that you may not see with other credit unions.

Oh nice!! This is great to know. I ended up getting a notification about the hard pull from myFico the next day, so it definitely went through. Appreciate the heads up on that. So glad to hear that you've had a great experience with Penfed as well. I honestly had no idea who they even were before I found this forum, but now I am obviously a fan for life because they have been SO good to me!! This is my first credit union experience and so far it has been incredible!! I'll keep my eyes open when it comes to the account restrictions. Thank you for letting me know!! 😎

Bloom22 · ‎04-12-2022

@pizzadude wrote:
Congrats on the approval ! What terms / interest rate did you end up with?

Thank you so much! The term is for 60 months at 15.49 APR. Monthly payment is $484.19. Definitely not the BEST, but definitely a MAJOR upgrade from the super high APRs I had with BOA and Avant. I think Avant was like (29 percent) 🥴. I ran the numbers the other day and realized my credit cards/loan were costing me $932 every month, and now with this, i'll be bringing that waaaaaaay down and obviously saving in the process, so honestly it's well worth it and i'm super grateful!