penfed visa cash rewards card

[mn54]

Just received news that an annual fee of $25 will be charged unless you have a cd, checking acct, mortgage or loan with penfed. Looks like I will be getting a cd from them. I would hate to lose the 5% off of gas.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mn54 Looks like I will be getting a cd from them. I would hate to lose the 5% off of gas.

+1

I read on another board the minimum CD amount to qualify was $1,000 but have not verified it with Penfed.

[Buckeye]

Is the Platinum Rewards card an option for you? I haven't received notice of any annual fee yet.

[Dawg52]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo +1 I read on another board the minimum CD amount to qualify was $1,000 but have not verified it with Penfed.

Penfed's CD rates not that competitive right now. Looks like they have decided to tighten their belt with the additional fees and lower CD rates.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dawg52 Penfed's CD rates not that competitive right now.

Maybe so, but keeping $1k in a Penfed CD to continue getting a 5% cash rebate on all our gas and diesel purchases is well worth it. Factor that in and it pays far better than any other $1k CD I can find anywhere.

[Dawg52]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Maybe so, but keeping $1k in a Penfed CD to continue getting a 5% cash rebate on all our gas and diesel purchases is well worth it. Factor that in and it pays far better than any other $1k CD I can find anywhere.

Agree and that is what I will do when all my CD's mature with them, just keep the minimum to maintain my visa card. But who knows, maybe they will run some CD specials again in the future.

[brewer12345]

Seems like pen fed is tired of being our bitch. I can't recall a CD special in the last couple of years, the credit card rewards got devalued and now they are looking for a CD tied to the account as well, and their mortgage offerings have become ho hum. Ah well. My longest CD with them does not mature until the beginning of 2021.

[braumeister]

PFCU is still a good outfit.
I've had savings and checking accounts with them for 30 years. I buy CDs from them whenever they have good deals. I've had their cash rewards Visa ever since they first offered it, which gets auto-paid out of the savings account. That alone is remarkable, since they give me the cash rebate in the same month I rack up the charges. Nobody else does that.

Two things stand out in my mind.

First, they have been incredibly accommodating when I've needed a little extra service in relation to a mortgage or a car loan. When you connect with the right person on the phone, they can run rings around any other bank I've ever dealt with.

Second, their fraud detection service is second to none. On a few occasions when my card has been hijacked (always while on vacation), they have picked up the fraudulent usage and called me immediately.

[Buckeye]

I like Penfed but I've lost confidence in their fraud detection. Someone was able to charge $12,500 dollars in airfare over 3 days and I was the one who detected the fraud. I think this is my third incidence of fraud in about 3 years.

The crooks were pretty sneaky about it. They booked 2 round trip tickets on UAL from LA to Houston. The next day, they modified the tickets to go round trip LA to Atlanta. The third day, they modified the round trip tickets to LA Lagos, Nigeria.

Approximately $4,000 was charged every day. I think the most I've ever charged in a day is $1,500 and no more than $2,500 in a week. How could this have not been flagged?

[imoldernu]

Is the benefit of the penfed card only the airline credits?

Have been w/Discover since the very beginning, in Dec. 85 when it came from Sears. No fees. Am happy with what I get... "Discover IT" 5% on monthly specials like gasoline... 1% on all other purchases from day one. Automatic on Amazon...
Special offers from hundreds of companies. Late payment forgiveness, free ATM most places, and the single most important thing to us, getting a knowledgeable person on the phone for any questions.

I get an automatic email whenever any withdrawal is made for $300 or more.

Am not selling discover, but wonder why the concentration on the penfed card? What am I missing?

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by imoldernu Is the benefit of the penfed card only the airline credits? ... What am I missing?

No airline credits, a 5% cash rebate on all pay-at-the-pump fuel purchases, credited automatically to each monthly statement.

[imoldernu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo No airline credits, a 5% cash rebate on all pay-at-the-pump fuel purchases, credited automatically to each monthly statement.

Thanks... didn't see that... for us, @less than 8000 miles/yr. not so important, but when we were at 25000 m/y, certainly a factor.

[CH]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mn54 Just received news that an annual fee of $25 will be charged unless you have a cd, checking acct, mortgage or loan with penfed. Looks like I will be getting a cd from them. I would hate to lose the 5% off of gas.

That 5% you think you are getting off gas is more like 4% when you factor in the rewards now cost more.

[CH]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister PFCU is still a good outfit. I've had savings and checking accounts with them for 30 years. I buy CDs from them whenever they have good deals. I've had their cash rewards Visa ever since they first offered it, which gets auto-paid out of the savings account. That alone is remarkable, since they give me the cash rebate in the same month I rack up the charges. Nobody else does that. Two things stand out in my mind. First, they have been incredibly accommodating when I've needed a little extra service in relation to a mortgage or a car loan. When you connect with the right person on the phone, they can run rings around any other bank I've ever dealt with. Second, their fraud detection service is second to none. On a few occasions when my card has been hijacked (always while on vacation), they have picked up the fraudulent usage and called me immediately.

My limited experience with PenFed is that they are not that good of an outfit. I recently had a fraudulent charge of about $300 pop up on my account. I picked up the fraud about a week after the transaction. I had to call PenFed repeatedly to get the charge removed, and the people I spoke with could never tell me the current status.

The fraudulent charge was from Bed, Bath and Beyond (online store, not a mall store). Interesting the store would not remove the charge themselves, but would also not give me a copy of the order, even though they were charging me for it. They did say my name was "bill to" (I am in PA) and the "ship to" was in Simi Valley, California...but would not give me the name and address it was shipped to. I argued...either remove the charge or give me a copy of the order you are charging to me! They would do neither. Does this make sense to anyone?

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CJHorne That 5% you think you are getting off gas is more like 4% when you factor in the rewards now cost more.

The 5% cash discount is as stated - 5% cash discount (AKA "real money"), not devalued reward points

[HawkeyeNFO]

Plenty of better cards out there these days. 5% gas rebates? Sallie Mae Card does that, as well as at grocery stores. No fee, no rqmt to have another account. Plenty of Citibank cards do the same thing. I like PenFed, but their credit card has never been the best one.

[MooreBonds]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HawkeyeNFO Plenty of better cards out there these days. 5% gas rebates? Sallie Mae Card does that, as well as at grocery stores. No fee, no rqmt to have another account. Plenty of Citibank cards do the same thing. I like PenFed, but their credit card has never been the best one.

I have the old PenFed Platimum rewards that now has the 'devalued' points redeemable for Visa check cards, so I was curious about the Sallie Mae card that I've heard about before. It looks good, but note the fine print:

Quote:

5% gasoline category rewards are earned on the first $250 net purchases made per monthly billing cycle at eligible gas stations and service stations. 5% groceries category rewards are earned on the first $250 net purchases made per monthly billing cycle at eligible grocery stores and super markets...After that, for net monthly purchases made in each of these categories in excess of the dollar amounts specified (gasoline, groceries, and books) you will earn the base reward amount of 1%.

It's still a good deal, with no annual fee...but if you make buku fuel and/or grocery purchases significantly above $250/month, it would pay to look at the PenFed card, which (AFAIK) doesn't have such a monthly cap. With the Sallie Mae card, purchases above $250/month in gas or groceries is rewarded at 1%.

[Sarah in SC]

I'm finally quitting the Penfed card. The devalued rewards was the final straw.

I have lots of cards, but I've had 4 times in the last few years that fraud caused my card to be cancelled. And I had trouble viewing old transactions on the closed cards.

In the same time period, only one of my Chase cards was compromised. And I think that was at the website of onesimcard, which was my only recent use of it.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MooreBonds It's still a good deal, with no annual fee...but if you make buku fuel and/or grocery purchases significantly above $250/month, it would pay to look at the PenFed card, which (AFAIK) doesn't have such a monthly cap.

+1

We average $250 - $300 month except when we're on the road in the RV (like now). We've racked up $600 in fuel charges the past two weeks and will probably double that by the time we're home. I've not seen any other card other than the Platinum Cash Rewards Visa that pays a full 5% with no monthly or other limits. Until I find one, I'll keep the Penfed card.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC I'm finally quitting the Penfed card. The devalued rewards was the final straw.

Note that the OP is referencing the Penfed Platinum CASH Rewards card paying a 5% cash rebate on gas purchases, not the Penfed Platinum (points) Reward card.

I have both and while I will keep the Cash Rewards cards for the reasons I mentioned above, like you I'm not happy with the changes to their points reward card and am looking for another card for non-fuel purchases.