Thinking of joining PenFed (few questions)

[Anonymous]

Hoping this is right section,

So thinking of joining PenFed i have read it’s hard pull on EQ for joining is this correct?


If it is a hard pull for EQ will they use the same hard pull if decide to apply for credit products? And if they will how many credit products can be obtained from the the hard pull?

Have heard about quarterly pre approval offers from PenFed, how do these work? If you don’t currently have credit products just say a savings or checking & savings do you still receive these pre approval offers?

Thanks for any info!

[M_Smart007]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Hoping this is right section,

Yes

So thinking of joining PenFed i have read it’s hard pull on EQ for joining is this correct? 
Yes


If it is a hard pull for EQ will they use the same hard pull if decide to apply for credit products? And if they will how many credit products can be obtained from the the hard pull? 

Some mixed data points about this, it used to be hard pull for everything / nothing combined.

Expect a hard pull. Be happy if they Don't.

Have heard about quarterly pre approval offers from PenFed, how do these work? If you don’t currently have credit products just say a savings or checking & savings do you still receive these pre approval offers?
EDIT: As a Member with checking and savings you should see quarterly offers. as long as you meet certain criteria.

Thanks for any info!  You are welcome and Good Luck!

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[Kevin86475391]

*sigh* I've been phenomenally disappointed with Penfed frankly. 

I opened an account with them around last April, and it's just been one problem and headache after the other. First their online account setup was glitchy as hell and my account got stuck in limbo. I couldn't use it/access it, but it locked my preferred username because it was "already in use" (by ME!). So that was a pain, but whatever. 

I opened the account because I was becoming self employed and needed an account to save my quarterly taxes in. Well guess what? There was a bloody new member limit on DEPOSITS! So instead of being able to send several hundred dollars every couple of weeks the way I intended, I was limited to $75 (I think it was $75, might have been slightly more or less, but not ENOUGH) deposits per transaction.

Fine, I started doing manual push transfers from my Chase account instead of recurring, automated pulls like I would have preferred. Oh wait, now I can't actually PAY my taxes because there's also a friggin limit on payments!

Now, months later after all these new member limits have finally resolved, I go to transfer 3K from my Penfed account to my Chase account...and it just won't let me even though there ISN'T a restriction and I have the funds available. It kept telling me it had to verify my identity...then not actually TRYING to verify my idenity. So I contacted customer support. Nope, they won't get back to me for 48 hours and I need to do the transfer by close of business that day. Fortunately it occurred to me to try doing two separate transfers, one for 2K and one for 1K, and that randomly worked -- which seriously, you won't let me transfer 3K, but 2K and 1K is fine?!

Meanwhile all of this is on top of being annoyed that I have to keep a 1K balance in the checking account to avoid a service fee and being told I'm ineligible for either a credit card or a loan because I'm recently self employed (again, the reason I opened the **bleep** account in the first place), and so they would need to verify my tax returns, which I don't have YET for the new career. But this last paragraph is just personal irritation. I don't feel entitled to a CC or loan with them and it's obviously their prerogative to have whatever policies in place they please for service fees and income verification, but it still dramatically reduces the utility I expected to get from my membership with them.

As far as what you can get with your EQ HP...well I wouldn't know, because again I didn't qualify for anything. Likewise, I suppose that's why I don't know anything about these quarterly prequals. Perhaps you'll have a much smoother experience and maybe a lot of my headaches come from being self employed, but frankly they've been nothing but a disappointment to me. I do intend to change to a different credit union, it's just kind of a hassle and I haven't gotten around to it yet.

[Anonymous]

@Kevin that sounds like a horror story... I have NFCU now as well as 2 local CU’s 1 is my jobs CU and have pretty good service from all 3 but NFCU has gone above and beyond for me and had heard nothing but good things about PenFed until now lol

[tcbofade]

PenFed either likes your profile or they don't.

We have MyFicoers that swear by them, and MyFicoers that swear AT them, and both are justified.

Expect an HP for any credit line with them.

I've got a personal loan and two credit cards with them, and they've been fine.  Not wonderful, now awful.  

Good luck!

[Shooting-For-800]

I got a CLI on my first card.

4 weeks later got a new card and the used same HP as CLI.

YMMV.  GL!

[AverageJoesCredit]

I didnt want to but ok i will

Just as a fyi , getting quarterly offers is NOT gaurenteed . Many members including myself have been members for YEARS and do not get anything but the famous Turbo Tax offer . Even some members who get them have waited a long time and might only see car or boat at first. As @tcbofade mentioned, PF is a coin toss. They will either like your profile or not. Ill just add having a high income is definetly a plus with them though

[TheBoondocks]

Had the account for 7 years and never had a pre-approval offer, maybe cause I don't really log into my account too often, 2 years ago I applied for the Pathfinder, just recently like last year of August received a credit increase automatically. Penfed is really slow too, I just test out a travel credit on the 19, and just log in today to see if it was still pending it says 11/22 STILL PENDING. I don't even know how to update my income and all that, last time I checked it says I was a student but not anymore.

[K-in-Boston]

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@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
I didnt want to but ok i will

Just as a fyi , getting quarterly offers is NOT gaurenteed . Many members including myself have been members for YEARS and do not get anything but the famous Turbo Tax offer . Even some members who get them have waited a long time and might only see car or boat at first. As @tcbofade mentioned, PF is a coin toss. They will either like your profile or not. Ill just add having a high income is definetly a plus with them though

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+1 and just to piggyback on this, there used to be an assumption here that joining them "dirty" would mean long delays before ever seeing an offer but "clean" profiles wouldn't have an issue.  I've always had a "clean" profile, and over 3.5 years after joining I have not seen a single offer. 

I took a HP to join in 2016 and got my first card (Defender Visa) reusing that pull, and then an auto loan refinance a few weeks later also using the same pull.  A few months later I took a HP for a CLI and was denied, but when I called and spoke with a loan officer since I needed the increased limit for a balance transfer she immediately approved a $12,500 CLI.  About 6 months later, I took a HP for the PCR when it came out.  At the end of 2017, I took a HP for a CLI on my Defender ($9500!) and then they reused it for a CLI on my PCR ($9500 again!).  My only real complaint about PenFed is that my cards are at $29,500 and $19,500 and to get $500 CLIs on both cards to hit their $50k max I either need an offer in my account (haven't seen one yet) or I would need to take a HP, which usually I'm not too hung up about but wouldn't take one for a pair of $500 CLIs.  Anyway, my point that I took the long way of making is that in my experience they have reused the same HP for 30 days.

[M_Smart007]

One question, does Penfed ever give instant CC approvals?   ..My PCR was manual, and I don't remember seeing an instant?