Thread: Pentagon Federal Credit Union credit card is a SCAM!

Be warned! I am going to tell you about the Pentagon Federal Credit Union credit card scam that many are falling for including myself! I applied for the Penfed credit card for the same reasons others do and that is the supposed rewards it offers. What they don't tell you though are the costs you will have to pay to get those awards and how unethical the company is with issuing credit.

I have a flawless credit history of years with not a single late payment, no debt and credit lines in the tens of thousands on three of my cards. But be warned! The one thing I did not have was an installment loan like a mortgage. The heavily weigh this in their credit score. If you don't have one they don't care how good your credit history is. They will either not issue you any credit or issue an extremely low amount in the hundreds. Unless you have a mortgage don't expect to get a Penfed credit card or auto loan. They would rather you have a risky subprime mortgage that you're underwater on than have responsible credit history.

If that was not bad enough your Penfed credit card starts accruing interest almost immediately! With a grace period of only 10 days by the time it's printing and mailed to you you will probably have one or two days at most to pay your bill and have the payment clear. Good luck with that! They do this so they can slap you with interest and late fees easily. They reel you in with the rewards and then use it to impose unfair credit card practices so they can nickel and dime you to death!

On top of that to get the card you are forced to make a "donation" to their foundation. They claim its not profit but in reality there is administrative overhead and salaries paid to well you can guess it.

Be warned! Pentagon Federal credit card is a for profit scam. Stay away!

I agree with Mogul, the original poster has no idea what they're talking about. I just joined PenFed, and have good but not excellent credit. I applied for their Visa Platinum card, for $30,000. I got a counter offer for the same card, but for $15,000, which is plenty so I accepted. The card's purchase apr is a comparable 13.99%, but the main reason I wanted the card was the 2.99% balance transfer (for the life of the balance!). There is a small balance transfer fee, which is the norm, and capped at $100. A small price to pay for saving over 10% from what i'm paying now! I think what poster was referring to as a 'donation', he completely failed to read.. you simply have to put a minimum amount of $5 into YOUR account. It's not a donation, you're just putting something in your account. Next time read the terms and stop whining about stuff you don't understand!

I haven't heard anything bad about Penfed credit cards or their loans and 'no news is good news' when it comes to things like this. To me it sounds like a disgruntled customer's post.

My purpose in joining PenFed Credit Union was to obtain the benefits of a PenFed credit card. They required a $20. account activation fee for non military members. After opening the account, I was informed that the credit card would be "in the mail".

After a month of waiting for the credit card which never arrived, I contacted PenFed. I was told that I now had to submit two years of tax returns in order to be considered for a credit card.

I was never informed that I would have to submit tax records as a condition for obtaining a credit card. I have never been asked for tax records to obtain a credit card, and I have never been denied a credit card. MY CREDIT RECORD IS OUTSTANDING. Requesting tax records from me - after ignoring my application - is highly irregular and suspicious.

I feel that the entire process of obtaining a credit card from PenFed has been misrepresented to me and I have requested the return of $20. which I feel they obtained from me under false pretenses. STAY AWAY FROM THEM.

I had a similar experience with my Penfed credit card. I made the mandatory 'donation' to join the credit union and then was not approved for my Visa. I ended up having to get a co-signer in order to get approved. The crazy thing is that I have a FICO score of 770 and no negatives, no late payments, no blemishes at all on my credit report. If they can't approve someone like me then I don't know who they will approve. Unless you have a 800+ score and a flawless credit history decades old I would avoid Penfed because you probably won't end up being approved.

I think it speaks volumes about the user that is trying to get a refund of his 20 dollar donation to the NFMA. I applied for my card, and they want paystubs - does it shock people that a CREDIT UNION (not a bank) is evaluating the people it issues credits too much more carefully then a lot of the large banks. I am happy people are getting turned down.

And a 770 isnt a guarantee for credit, whats your mortgage balance, have you ever had a negative, how many inquiries do you have? The list goes on....

I'll second, or third or forth the responses already given. There are fundamental differences between a large bank and a CU. For the current members of PenFed they should feel good that the CU is "picky" in who they issue credit to and selectivity may even be one of the reasons their credit products are so good.

It's natural to be "offended" when someone will not issue you credit (especially when - and it always is - your credit is absolutely pristine). You have to remember it's a business decision they are making based on a whole lot of factors you're not privy to at the time of your application.

I'm in the process of applying for their Visa, my application is still pending and yes I've spent $25 bucks to potentially have them turn me down. If that happens I'm not going to take it personally - for them it's not a personal decision.

As far as them scamming people?? The process of applying to the CU and for credit products is pretty transparent, lots of people do it and are accepted, and in these economic times no one is guaranteed anything. Remember, extending credit to people with low to no standards is partially how we got where we are today

I know it's an old thread but to counter the negative post if someone else stumbles onto this one, ... Sounds like you don't know what you were doing,

PenFed wasn't charging you an activation fee, You spent the 20-bucks to join a qualifying organization so you could join the credit union, I joined and spent the 20-bucks also, a one-time fee to join and nothing more than that,

If they were slow to respond to you, it's likely they were swampped with applications from people who had a much better understanding of what they were doing,

Be aware, PenFed is rather conservative and does verify income and if they asked you for tax returns, you're likely self employed, I app'd for the cash-back Visa card and refi'd my car with them a week after joining, They asked for my last two leave and earnings statements and I was approved for a 15-k CL Visa and 14-K @3.99% for my refi,

Very hassle free, I highly recommend, two thumbs-up !!