penfed 1.99 5 yr HE term

[JohnDoe]

Has anybody done this recently?

What has been the turn around time from app the funding?

Has service gotten any better? The rep said they were still swamped.

Thanks.

 

[ziggy29]

How sad is it that locking up your money for FIVE YEARS at less than 2% (likely losing to inflation) is creating a situation where they are "swamped"?

Thanks, Ben.

[Edit to add: never mind -- see below. Yeah, I can see wanting to use other people's money at less than 2%. That's one way borrowers really CAN thank Ben. Savers, not so much!]

 

[REWahoo]

Thought the OP was referring to a home equity loan...

 

[ziggy29]

Thought the OP was referring to a home equity loan...

Oh, my bad. For some reason I was thinking "CD" here. Never mind. Nothing to see here.....

 

[tulak]

I applied early last year. I think it only took a few weeks or so and the process was painless. They mailed me the closing documents, went to my local notary to sign them, and then mailed them back. I also didn't need an appraisal, which may have sped up the processing time.

I also did a 5/5 arm with them a few months later. That took quite a bit longer, and overall, was more of a pain...

 

[FUEGO]

I did this about 1 year ago. Same terms - 1.99% "Home Equity" loan that is really a first mortgage. I mentioned to penfed that I was refi-ing the whole balance of my previous first mortgage and they were ok with that. I recall fairly quick closing, and amazingly quick approval/underwriting (maybe immediate??). I think having assets many times the requested debt and a tiny Loan To Value may have helped in that, and the collateral is in a non-bubble state.

I don't remember the details, but closing costs were zero or very close to it.

 

[Marita40]

I did it last January when it was 2.99% to refinance my mortgage. The process took about 4 weeks and went smoothly. Soon thereafter it jumped down to 1.99% but with my payoff plan I only have 1 1/2 years to go to kill the mortgage so I'm content. I also got a Penfed credit card and I've been happy with that as well.

 

[Gumby]

We did it last May. It went very quickly (probably less than one month total) and smoothly. They mailed all the necessary forms and we executed them all at the UPS store where we mailed them back. Grabbed one of the other customers to be our witness and the UPS guy was the notary. I was happy with the service reps when I called them.

 

[Htown Harry]

I had a quick and positive experience very similar to the four previous posters. In my case LTV ratio was around 20% - which meant the appraisal process was limited to me providing a link to my property's listing on the County appraisal board's web site - and the former loan was also with PenFed. YMMV.

The only difference was we had to go to a lawyer's office on an appointment to sign the closing papers due to the [-]Texas Real Estate Attorneys and Title Companies' Full Employment Act[/-] a peculiar state law.

 

[MooreBonds]

I applied early last year. I think it only took a few weeks or so and the process was painless. They mailed me the closing documents, went to my local notary to sign them, and then mailed them back. I also didn't need an appraisal, which may have sped up the processing time.

I also did a 5/5 arm with them a few months later. That took quite a bit longer, and overall, was more of a pain...

Not only did I recently close on the 1.99% 5 year HE loan, but I also refied/paid off a Pen Fed 5/5 ARM (3.375%) with it!

Process was ok - although I did hit some frustration when I had to go around a few times with their customer service:

First, it was about the appraisal. They wanted to hit me up $300 for an appraisal. Using the previous appraisal that I had for their 5/5 ARM (closing date March 2011), my LTV was like 55%. Using my real estate tax records, LTV was maybe 60%. Their policy is that if it's under 70%, they will attempt to use 'other sources' to verify value to avoid the appraisal. I had to write 3 different times to finally get them to pay attention and remove the appraisal fee from the Good Faith Estimate/Closing Cost summary.

Then, because I have a decent chunk of investment income, I needed to verify my total income (because the monthly payment of a 5 year HE loan was more than 33% of my wage slave income and I wouldn't qualify for it). In order to do that, I had to send in my copy of my tax returns for the past 2 years. Given that I have to file 15 different forms for various investments (K-1s from oil pipelines, self employed consulting side gig, etc.), it was a bit of a PIA.

THEN - I receive an e-mail that I didn't sign and date my return before sending them a copy. I could have sworn that I did, since the customer service[-]less[/-] operator told me to make sure I signed and dated my return.

Of course, I look at the e-mail copy PenFed sent me, and sure enough: I had signed and dated my return. Don't know what the hell she was looking at, but I had to reply and tell her to look at the signature line, where I very clearly (using a nice thick pen, not some thin ballpoint) signed my name and dated it.

After a while, it finally closed. It was definitely worth the headaches to get a 1.99% rate with ZERO closing costs!

 

[FUEGO]

I got held up on one penfed mortgage app (I think I have done 3-4 with them!) by listing investment income which was piddling compared to our w-2 earned income. They asked for all kinds of documentation, even though our monthly w-2 income was probably 10x the mortgage payment and would have certainly gotten us through underwriting without the investment income. On subsequent apps I think I left off investment income, and simply included the investments themselves in the part where they asked about assets.

 

[JohnDoe]

I decided to skip penfed this time.

My last refi with them was a hassle a few years back.

I am only giving up a quarter point and now I know for sure that I don't have to worry about an appraisal or waiting 4-8 weeks to close.

 

[Sesq]

Pen Fed is down to 2.625% on their 5/5 Arm w/up to 10K in closing costs rebated.

My 3/1 ARM 2.75% ARM becomes floating in 2014. I hope/plan to pay it off by then, but I will take an extra 48 months or so of a sub-3 rate with a 30 year amortization schedule. Since my other loan is only 1/8th more I will be fine if the closing process has a few hoops to jump through.

 

[boont]

Penfed

Closed a Penfed 30yr fixed about three weeks ago at 3.375. Took a long time start to finish, about 90 days from first inquiry.

The good: best rate I could find on a second home, all done through email, sent someone to my house for signing.

The bad: big hassles about any non W-2 income, had to send tons of paperwork to prove income, country property appraisal was $300 and came in low (which is happening all across the country as banks freak about having to buy back loans if not done right, see today's Wall Street Journal). but in the end, the low value was still triple the loan amount so it didn't matter.

I would use them again because they have the best rates. I was able to lower my payment and still pull out 50Gs.

boont