PenFed credit card woes

[jazz4cash]

Well this is getting curiouser and curioser. I have one PF cc with 5 authorized users including me. I got the breach letter and courtesy ID monitoring signup early on when others were first reporting the problem here. Now there is a second breach letter in spouse's name, but none of the other authorized users have received a letter. The account is in my name only, not a joint account. Spouse is freaking out.

I should add that I've had 3 or 4 security breach incidents and the PF process is much more thorough than what I experienced previously. I think it's due to newish legal requirements put on the institutions by various states.

Still hoping for some feedback on Kroll

 

[KM]

And for those who are concerned about the security of credit card companies...I just received a letter today from the Radiology facility in our area. They had a breach and our personal information, including Name, Address, DOB, and SSN may have been stolen. They assured us that "no credit card information or bank account information was involved in the incident". Yeah, OK, I guess that is supposed to make me feel better.....

But here is what really bothers me. This happened in Nov. It has been 2 months and I am just hearing about it. They say "there is no evidence your information has been misused". Really? How could they possibly know that? They don't know if I have been dealing with identity fraud the last 2 months or not. Or do they? Is that something they can go to credit bureaus and find out themselves before informing us?

Then they tell me I can get a free credit report once a year, so the best thing for me to do is to stagger my requests to each of the 3 big credit bureaus - one to each every 4 months - to ensure no one has stolen my identity. Oh, and they also apologized.

I check all my accounts almost daily by downloading transactions in Quicken (to reference another thread ). It is well worth it to me to be able to do that with one-click once a day and be able to keep an eye on what is going on in my financial world. Still trying to teach the kids to do this....and failing miserably.

 

[RAE]

I cannot figure it out. PenFed has not notified me of a problem with my card or issued a new one. I login at least once a week, usually more, and there is no warning on the web site. If I didn't visit ER, I wouldn't even know something had happened.

Same here, Tadpole. I've had a PF credit card for several years now, and have not received any notification of any problems yet. I've been checking my account balance regularly (especially since reading these recent posts on ER), and there does not seem to be anything amiss.

 

[Sue J]

Just got off the phone with PenFed....

Hello, this is PenFed Credit Union. May I speak to Mrs Sue J.?

This is Sue J.

I am calling to ask about unusual activity on your credit card account. We have a transaction not yet authorized for $723.91 for a merchant in France.

WHOA, that's not me.

What about a Craigslist purchase of $25.00.

No, that's not me either.

The next transaction is yesterday at Walmart.

Yep, that's mine.

I don't see any other suspicious activity. I need to put you on hold while I create a fraud report.

She came back and told me that she has canceled our account and we will have new cards in 7-10 days. I asked specifically if this was connected to the security breach that I have read about and she said that it may not be connected to that but just your regular old fraud where someone gets your card number by you using it in a restaurant or store or possibly online or if it was skimmed.

As soon as I finished the call I downloaded all my statements since I expect I may not have access to that info later.

BTW, the online merchant in France is called Mathon. I looked it up and it's jewelry.

 

[jazz4cash]

Ah...just the regular old fruad, not the mass security breach variety. I think I'll double check the phone numbers we have on file at PF right now.

 

[Lakedog]

Penfed Visa is now dropping the 2% cash back for supermarket purchases (effective March 1). With this reduction plus the previous one for all other transactions (1.25% to 1%), this is no longer one of the better reward cards. For now, they at least kept the 5% for gas purchases.

 

[braumeister]

I've been expecting something like that.
Didn't the rules change recently, so that credit card issuers no longer make quite as much per transaction as they did?
If that's true, then it makes sense that they would have less to share with us.

 

[Nova]

Penfed Visa is now dropping the 2% cash back for supermarket purchases (effective March 1). With this reduction plus the previous one for all other transactions (1.25% to 1%), this is no longer one of the better reward cards. For now, they at least kept the 5% for gas purchases.

Ummm, which (no annaul fee) card(s) is better? I have other cards that offer 1% on everything and you have to wait to a certain $ rewards amount in order to get the cash rewards. Not a cheer leader for PF, just curious.

 

[Sue J]

Penfed Visa is now dropping the 2% cash back for supermarket purchases (effective March 1). With this reduction plus the previous one for all other transactions (1.25% to 1%), this is no longer one of the better reward cards. For now, they at least kept the 5% for gas purchases.

DARN! Groceries are our largest expense every month and I usually use the PenFed card because of the cash rebate. Right now I'm using a Chase card because Chase is doing a 5% cash back on grocery stores and drugstores 1/1/11 - 3/31/11.

Actually I'm not using my PenFed card at all right now because it's been canceled due to fraudulent transactions..... See post #104.

New number has been posted online but our cards aren't here yet.

 

[Lakedog]

Ummm, which (no annaul fee) card(s) is better? I have other cards that offer 1% on everything and you have to wait to a certain $ rewards amount in order to get the cash rewards. Not a cheer leader for PF, just curious.

Guess I should have qualified my statement by saying "for my spending patterns" since my no annual fee Chase card pays 5% on rotating purchase categories, 3% on gas, and 1% on everything else. Groceries are one of my largest categories, and gas one of the smallest. I can also have the reward credited to my account at Chase rather than having them send a check.

I will still use the Penfed card but not as much as before, probably gas mostly (until they drop the 5%).

 

[Nova]

Guess I should have qualified my statement by saying "for my spending patterns" since my no annual fee Chase card pays 5% on rotating purchase categories, 3% on gas, and 1% on everything else. Groceries are one of my largest categories, and gas one of the smallest. I can also have the reward credited to my account at Chase rather than having them send a check.

I will still use the Penfed card but not as much as before, probably gas mostly (until they drop the 5%).

I'm chasing the same card bennies you are, just hoped I had missed a better bennies card.

Thanks!

 

[Nords]

Didn't the rules change recently, so that credit card issuers no longer make quite as much per transaction as they did?
If that's true, then it makes sense that they would have less to share with us.

Yep. And businesses seem to be electing to keep the leftover transaction fees instead of passing their savings on to us...

 

[REWahoo]

One more time...

I got a little over ten months use out of my most recent PenFed CC account before getting the "Did you attempt two charges in Mexico yesterday?" phone call from their security folks. This the fourth (or is it the fifth) time I'll be getting a new account number/card from them due to fraudulent activity.

I'd like to think I'm getting smarter. The last time this happened (January) I decided to use another CC (USAA) for all my auto-pay accounts so this time I won't have to contact all of them to make the change.

For those of you asking why do I put up with this and don't give up on PenFed in disgust, the answer is simple - 5% cash back on all pay-at-the-pump gas and diesel purchases, which will top $200 this year.

 

[Nova]

One more time...

I'd like to think I'm getting smarter. The last time this happened (January) I decided to use another CC (USAA) for all my auto-pay accounts so this time I won't have to contact all of them to make the change.

+1

For those of you asking why do I put up with this and don't give up on PenFed in disgust, the answer is simple - 5% cash back on all pay-at-the-pump gas and diesel purchases, which will top $200 this year.

+1

 

[Rustward]

For those of you asking why do I put up with this and don't give up on PenFed in disgust, the answer is simple - 5% cash back on all pay-at-the-pump gas and diesel purchases, which will top $200 this year.

Unless the card info is being stolen by PenFed insider, (which is less likely than it being stolen from or by one of the merchants or processors) switching card issuers will not help.

I have to think that a lot of credit card fraud would be more traceable if all the card issuers shared data on stolen card info; maybe they already do that, and if they do, then I am unaware of it

 

[MichaelB]

One more time...

I got a little over ten months use out of my most recent PenFed CC account before getting the "Did you attempt two charges in Mexico yesterday?" phone call from their security folks. This the fourth (or is it the fifth) time I'll be getting a new account number/card from them due to fraudulent activity.

I'd like to think I'm getting smarter. The last time this happened (January) I decided to use another CC (USAA) for all my auto-pay accounts so this time I won't have to contact all of them to make the change.

For those of you asking why do I put up with this and don't give up on PenFed in disgust, the answer is simple - 5% cash back on all pay-at-the-pump gas and diesel purchases, which will top $200 this year.

I had the same problem with USAA.

 

[FUEGO]

I'm on card #3 or #4 for my Fidelity Amex (issued by FIA Card Services). I can't get a year out of a card anymore. I am pretty careful with it, but I think it is "third party security leaks" they blamed on the replacement last month. So it could happen with any card provider.

Their crack security team did place a hold on the account when I tried to use it at the gas station in my neighborhood for the first time ever. They started offering 5% cashback on gas, so I started using that card at gas stations. Guess the promotions department didn't let the security/fraud department know that a lot more folks would be using the card at gas stations for the first time...

 

[Nords]

I'm on card #3 or #4 for my Fidelity Amex (issued by FIA Card Services).

Ouch, I was just thinking that Costco won't take a PenFed Visa/MC at their gas pumps, but now this hits a little too close to home...

 

[Dawg52]

I hate to say it as I'm sure I'm about to jinx myself, but I have never had a problem with any credit card I've owned. Including PF. And I charge everything to a credit card. Rarely pay cash. I did have someone try to hack into my Fidelity brokerage acct according to Fidelity. They changed all my acct numbers and I increased the characters in my ID and passwords. No problems since.

 

[REWahoo]

I hate to say it as I'm sure I'm about to jinx myself, but I have never had a problem with any credit card I've owned. Including PF.

Thanks for volunteering to take one for the team. I need a rest.

 

[W2R]

Thanks for volunteering to take one for the team. I need a rest.

Yes you will, after pumping all that gas:

5% cash back on all pay-at-the-pump gas and diesel purchases, which will top $200 this year.

That's over $4000/year on gas! If gas is $3.50/gallon, and if it takes, say, 5 minutes to pump 10 gallons, then if I did the arithmetic properly you spent over 9.5 hours pumping gas last year. No wonder you need a rest!

 

[REWahoo]

Yes you will, after pumping all that gas:

That's over $4000/year on gas! If gas is $3.50/gallon, and if it takes, say, 5 minutes to pump 10 gallons, then if I did the arithmetic properly you spent over 9.5 hours pumping gas last year. No wonder you need a rest!

You give me way too much credit.

Diesel has been hanging around $4.00 a gallon most of the year and accounts for almost 70% of my bill. Also, many locations have high volume diesel pumps capable of running up the total twice as fast as gas.

 

[W2R]

You give me way too much credit.

Diesel has been hanging around $4.00 a gallon most year and accounts for almost 70% of my bill. Also, many locations have high volume diesel pumps capable of running up the total twice as fast as gas.

Oh, well in THAT case.... then you only spent a little over 4 hours pumping gas last year, you slacker. You simply have no excuse for needing a rest!

 

[Nords]

You give me way too much credit.
Diesel has been hanging around $4.00 a gallon most of the year and accounts for almost 70% of my bill. Also, many locations have high volume diesel pumps capable of running up the total twice as fast as gas.

So, you RVers live life in the fast lane?

 

[REWahoo]

So, you RVers live life in the fast lane?

Yep, doesn't take me long to get tanked up...