PenFed Credit Cards Reviews

On Aug. 14th I received a letter stating that effective Sep. 28 the $95 annual fee will no longer be waived as it had been for Honors Advantage members, on the Pathfinder Rewards credit card. The Penfed website, however, today continues to show that it WILL be waived. When I called I was told, "the website hasn't been updated yet". That is false advertising and penfed should be penalized for it. We will be closing all of our penfed accounts.

I have been a credit card holder with these fools for 5 yrs. In Sept. '25 PFed made changes to their app, calling it an update. At that time my ability to use the app had abruptly stopped and my device is no longer compatible. Keeping this story short, here I am 9 months later in a stalemate. I have been calling to resolve multiple issues, calling at minimum once a month and at times 2-3 times in a month. I have been told to upgrade my device, tried getting paper invoices that may or may not ever come, their system/processes is not equipped to send e-statements unless you call and have a representative email, but you have to call every month.

Have had a credit card from PenFed for about 7 years and have never had a problem with them. It was always my favorite card. I paid off balances on three cards a couple months ago down to zero including PenFed and decided just to use their card only and they just lowered my credit limit from $12,000 to $2,000 for being a good customer and paying my balances down to zero, I have 100% excellent payment history and good credit and this is how they repay me, I'm canceling their card and will never use them again.

Worst card ever. They had a glitch in their auto pay and then dropped my credit score 100 points for a late payment despite admitting it was their fault on a recorded line. I had never missed a payment in 20 years with 700,000 available credit and now I have to deal with these idiots!

I have been a member of PenFed for about 5 years. In that time I have had a Gold card with a $12,500.00 limit. This card has never been over its limit, never missed a payment and not regularly used. In November of 2025 I made a large purchase with this card (almost $8000) for a home repair. About a week later PenFed decided to lower my credit limit to $7500.00. This would effectively lower my FICO score with the reduced available credit AND an over the limit report. It was a slick move by PenFed. Fortunately enough, I had enough funds to pay the bill in full before any further adverse consequences took place.

Worst credit card I ever had. Closing the account very soon. Lot of Technical issues and some customer representative are not helpful and passing the buck without giving the right information. Not recommending to get a card from this credit union. Navy Federal Bank is the best so far.

I have a "Gold Card" with PenFed - unfortunately. I used a couple of years back to get a 0% interest rate promotion. I paid the balance off a long while back - but kept the line open. A couple of weeks ago I got a message saying I had a balance due on the card - which was not possible. There was one transaction on the card for about $150 - it was to Amazon. I checked my Amazon account - this card was not in my Amazon wallet, I made no purchases / transactions in my Amazon account on the supposed date, nor any for the amount listed. I contacted PenFed's "lost and stolen cards" line - and they told me they started a case and it should resolve quickly based on the obvious details. I was told I'd get a contact in a few days.... but, nothing. PenFed's website has a "help" e-mail function - so I tried it, but I got a message saying I had to call instead.

I first talked with customer service who in turn had me call fraud department.. The gentleman in fraud had no time for me and said nothing he can do!!!! My card keeps being charged through Amazon, charges not made by me,,, 2nd time this happen,1st time very helpful, new cards, fraud claim made and yet to hear back on that case, now another, I'll be calling tomorrow to cancel cards! Then the good part.... stay on line for survey, at end, push 1 for seven, push 1 and it hangs up!!!!

Worst credit card in the planet!! Please beware!!! I had originally a checking account for some years, when they stopped doing business with sister branches and I could no longer get money without fees I closed the checking!! Then I had an original credit line 5k. It was increased twice over few years to 10k available balance. However once I completely paid down the balance and they couldn't steal interest anymore they dropped it to 700$!!!! My credit has been exponentially better. Paid off mortgage. Couple cars in last two years. Never had one late payment 30, 60, or 90 days in the last ten years!!!! Stay away unless you like donating interest!!!

I never used my PenFed credit card, but then a fraudulent charge of $239 appeared, and I successfully disputed it and asked to close/cancel the card. Then I kept getting notices for a balance still on the card of $20 late charges. For what? It's almost impossible to talk to a person there. I was told that a new card was issued to me even though I asked to close and cancel the new card. I can't talk to anyone about the $20 late fee and now it's turned into $40. I'm sick of trying to get this resolved. Seems like a scam. Would not go near them again.

Almost all positive. It helped me build up my credit score along with loans over time to over 800 but then it screwed me. I used to pay off my balance right away but thought carrying a balance was better. After a few months of making the minimum payments my credit score was just above 700. I know it’s easy for me to build back up but this is an inconvenience to me. Otherwise it has been very convenient with very low interest that competition has trouble beating.

Used credit card on 2 in flight meals. Per benefits on card, both were to be credited up to $100 per year. After many calls and receipts uploaded, both charges STILL not credited. This card is worthless, I cannot and will not use. Beware

I opened a card for low interest balance transfer and other than one trip earlier in the year I do not use the card. It has been accessed fraudulently twice. Credit to PenFed, they have been helpful in notifying of a charge and resolving the several following fraudulent charges.

Paid off a credit card with them and someone had fraudulently charged to the account. I did not notice the charge until PenFed started taking minimum auto-pay, six months later, out of my bank account. The fraud department did not help at all with the matter. Said the charges were my fault because I only had 90 days to dispute and I should have reviewed an account I had paid off regularly. How can I even consider looking at my statement when out of 100 emails from them on my gmail page, 2 were my monthly statements? They send a lot of spam. More than any issuing credit card firm. And why would they wait 6 months to withdraw auto pay out of my bank account which I do monitor regularly for payments? They defrauded me as much as the person who made the fraudulent charges to my credit card. Worst credit card firm I have ever dealt with.

Decent prices and get 5% back on gas. But their website sucks and gives me a salesforce error when I try to log in. Now I'm not able to log in at all!!! So glad I didn't go with them for my latest auto loan!

I recently planned a trip with my wife and daughter to go visit my brother and his family. I had over 200,000 bonus points on my credit card with PENFED so I decided to use my points to pay for our hotel rooms and rental car. First off, PENFED travel charges a higher price for rooms and rental cars than any other service, so I ended up paying over $100 more than if I had booked these and paid for them myself, but that wasn't as bad as when I ended up having to cancel them two days before the trip because my daughter got COVID and Influenza-B and exposed us unknowingly over Thanksgiving. I contacted PENFED to cancer the rooms and rental car, only to find my rooms, that I paid more for than if I had booked refundable rooms myself, were non-refundable. I lost over 121,000 points, or roughly $24,000 worth of built up points.

Sign up experience asks for multiple documents and W2 information. In the end, all the documents are worthless as they only want to see a scanned copy of the SSN card. Not off to a good start with the sign up experience.

Buyer beware of the shady practices of this bank institute! I am in the middle of a dispute with all three major credit unions for inaccurate reporting. I have been reported late (30-59 days) for the current payment (due on 10th) which have been paid and the upcoming payment (September 10th) as 30 days late. How? I have filed a dispute with the three major credit unions and was told the information reported by PenFed is accurate. PedFed reporting system is antiquated and should be updated or overhauled. This practice is unacceptable!

This CU bought another CU that I was a member of since 1994 which was great; this one is terrible. I strongly advise against giving them any money. They have frozen my account 3 times in roughly 3 years, each time not providing a reason, nor even telling me when they froze it (not surprisingly I faced credit card late fees, etc). They just hide behind 'the anti fraud dept'. As someone else wrote, their 2FA system stinks; it is very inflexible and I have to upload IDs and utility bills (?! seriously, in 2023) to unblock the accounts. I know a lot of banking services can be poor these days but this outfit is shocking. I cannot wait to wire out every last penny this time.

Before place a hard hit on my credit I use the pre-approval tool that PenFed is now offering, which I thought was a great deal, for the customer to help keep the inquires down. However, the results show that I was pre-approved for all of their cards for different amounts, I called and spoke with a rep, and he stated, "You are approved. You will need to verify your income when they complete the application." I stated no problem.

They lost my documents to open a new checking account for some strange reason. I already reported then to the CFPB and Trust Pilot. I don't recommend this company for the lack of disregard for one's private information.

I am blocked from my own savings account, (my life savings) and after several weeks and countless phone calls and documents sent, I still do not have access to my own money. I requested a redemption of my share certificates on Thursday May 25 and only 20% of the money was deposited into my savings account. The rest was reinvested into more CDs … Without my authorization. After this frustrating ‘error’ was solved on May 30, I tried to link my savings account to wire my money to my Citibank account on May 31. On June 1, I was told by two security specialists (after a series of several detailed questions regarding identity and double verification phone calls) that the money would be wired immediately and the wire fee would be waived. Later on June 1, while checking on the wire transfer, I tried to open my PenFed app and discovered that I was blocked from my own account.

On April 19th, 2023, I applied for a credit card with PenFed and I was approved. I completed the additional paper work needed along with making a deposit to meet all the requirements. Today is May 22nd, 2023 and I have NOT received my credit card. After numerous calls on: April 28th, May 3rd, May 10th, May 19th, May 22nd, PenFed can't seem to get me a credit card. This has been the WORST 1st time experience with a credit union. At this point, I can NOT recommend doing business with this credit union. This is not a good way to start a banking relationship. I think I will need to take my business elsewhere at this point. Again, I can NOT recommend doing business with PenFed.

The customer service here is really the worst of the worst. Right after buying the car, I charged $350 for not having insurance for two weeks and it took my credit down 75 points. I found out about all this while checking up my credits. They have never sent me any notice and forced me to take out insurance, make a claim, report my credit, even though they had been making an auto pay out of my account every month for over a year.

Poor Training. I applied for a balance transfer credit card on 12/28. Didn't receive the card for 6 and a half weeks. It's been 8 weeks and my balance transfers haven't been completed yet. Every time I call I get plastic shortage, chip shortage, people whose card expired get theirs first. Now it's, "We don't see a balance transfer request. You have to start over." It's been more than 30 days so it doesn't qualify anymore. Is there a way to open an investigation on PenFed Credit Union?

I recently applied for a credit card with PenFed and was shocked to find out that they required a letter from my employer to verify my annual salary. This was extremely insulting and I believe it was due to racism. I make a good salary and I am appalled that PenFed would not take my word for it. I have never had to provide such a letter for any other credit card company and I feel that PenFed is discriminating against me based on my race. I will not be using PenFed for any of my credit card needs and I would not recommend them to anyone.

PenFed ordered my gold card on Nov 13 and on Nov 25 told me it wasn't sent because of production delay and ask if I wanted to pay to have it expedited. I declined. On Dec 3 I was told the card was mailed on Nov 30. Today I was told the mailing address didn't have the apartment number again they want me to pay or wait another 7 days. The card is on my credit report and I have not physically received it. Who does business like this?

Short term member with Penfed for about 3-4 months, applied for two credit cards and got approved. Would like a higher limit but will work on earning it over time and see. So far no complaints, the website seems shaky and outdated it would randomly kick me off the web after certain actions such as after finishing applying for a loan or credit product and I having to log back in. Other than some technicalities, no major complaints so far. This is also my 1st credit union. I hope to have a great experience and relationship.

I have been with PenFed for 20 years and never had a problem until now. My CC card transactions have not been updated since October 12th. Whatever platform or program they use is either flawed or they don't have the expertise to resolve problems in a timely manner. I was told that they (PENFED) did not have a time frame when this problem would be resolved. Transaction history between banks should be a no brainer. 6 weeks later I'm not even sure that my IT ticket has been reviewed. At one point my statements did not match the transaction history on their website or automated teller. My bank did a deep dive and informed me that this is all on the PENFED side. Both banks are comparable in their assets. This should be a normal to day to day transaction from one from bank to another and has turned into a very unreliable mess.

I've been banking with PenFed for a few year now, Have a auto loan with them and 2 credit cards. I participated in a sweepstakes they were having for 10k prize, entry of sweepstakes is contingent on applying for said credit card and get approved. I applied for the credit card and was approved. Date passes sweepstakes no announcement of winner, nothing on the website dedicated to the sweepstakes, nothing on the Penfed website, you call PenFed none of the representatives know if a winner was announced. So a month later after the sweepstakes ended no one at Penfed can tell if a winner was selected. It was a Scam to get people to apply for their new credit card. Never again! Banking with them is inconvenient because there are no branches or ATM nearby.

THEY WON'T LET YOU GET YOUR MONEY OUT OF YOUR ACCOUNT. I recently closed a $50,000 CD early and asked for them to transfer the funds to an external account I attached to the account. They told me they could not transfer the funds but could only transfer $5000. However, I could transfer any amount to my account. Also, if I paid them $25 they would wire the funds to the same account. What a ripoff. You have to pay to get your money out of your account. DO NOT BANK WITH PENFED. YOU WILL REGRET IT.

I applied for a HELOC on my house I recently bought. Keep in mind, I had been a PenFed customer for 15 plus years already with a prior heloc I'd closed out already due to selling my prior home a few months ago. Despite my busy schedule, I spent a lot of time sending in all required docs. Then, Alex ** spoke with me and said he couldn't do the loan due to lack of enough income. I explained for the 5th time I have both employer W2 and retirement investment income - where he had the documents already. Then that same day he said he was mistaken and he could do the loan after asking his loan department person. He then said I would need to wait for an email from his underwriter or other loan person. I waited two weeks. No email. Not in spam either. Then I called back and he said, "Sorry the loan is closed." He claimed he never told me he could do the loan which was a total lie on his part. He got very snippy and rude towards me.

PenFed has corrected issue.

My separated wife took out a personal loan using my social and though my social does not match, I never received any documents, never signed any paper work and never received a call from any agent; they will not talk to me nor turn over the loan disclosures. This is highly illegal and deserves as much attention by the attorney general as Wells Fargo received. It is my guess that I am not the only person affected by this same out right theft, and the fact that they now have blocked both myself and according to my separated wife, her as well, just shows how far they will go to cover up their lack of accountability. I have filed with the attorney general and would love any input as to where to go next. I am in DFW area, not sure which branch this was done at, but companies like this are likely to have this same policy at any branch, so buyer beware.

Don't know how these people are still in business. First, there is NO ONE to contact if you have a problem. Sorry. Talk to their computers all you like. They will just keep repeating the same ridiculous message. No phone number listed on website, nothing! Got a mortgage with these losers, and NEVER AGAIN. Could not access any of my records online, and they stopped sending me invoices. I had no tax records with which to file taxes. Their computer system is from the stone ages, their "customer service" sounds like a bunch of illiterate morons who have no knowledge of any of their businesses or processes. So angry, I can't even! I hope someone reads this and saves themselves the same misery. As other reviews have said, I would give them negative ratings if I could. What a joke of an organization!!!

Both I and my wife applied for a PenFed credit card in February with a perfect credit score of 750 each, we received an approval on Feb 16 and state a credit card is in the process of being mailed and will receive it within 7 to 10 business days. I called PenFed about 12 days later only to be told it's not been mailed out and will do so straight away, I waited a week and still no card card in the mail, I called back and was informed that a card cannot be issued until a account was opened in our names separately as there were two separate applications, so we complied and open an account each with a minimum deposit of $5 each but due to the nature of the transaction I was charge a further $10 by my bank so now I am $20 down in my bank.

If you are active military, a vet, the son, or the daughter of a veteran, please please do not support this credit union. They don't care about you!!!! Penfed should be ashamed of themselves. I was using a power cash visa for personal and business purposes for 6+ years. Out of nowhere they seized $17,368 in rewards points earned and claimed it was because I violated the terms and conditions of the card. My father served in the Vietnam war and recommended I support Penfed with our business spend. All these years of spending millions with this bank and then out of nowhere, they pulled the rug out without any warning and literally deleted my rewards account. Do you think this bank needs my $17,000? THEY SHOULD ABSOLUTELY BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES.

Used points to buy VISA gift cards as gifts. Website wouldn't print out the e cards. Rewards customer service was no help. Said it was problem for Pen Fed Visa. Asked them to cancel purchase and return points. That's up to Pen Fed Visa. Why do the cards expire after 6 months? That's up to Pen Fed Visa.

Logged into my account to find out Penfed froze my account due to my son's account being scammed. Now when we went to the bank last summer to open him an account and explained it needs because he was headed to college next year they never once told me I would be responsible for his account. I was told that I could transfer money via accounts for his books and such without it cost. Well fast forward to today my account has been frozen with no way for me to pay my bills because his be account was scammed. I have been a good and loyal consumer for years with no negatives on my account whatsoever. At the very least they should have informed me of all the pros and cons of opening an account for my son but they deliberately attached it to my own account and froze my account when something happened with his. I will be leaving this bank after years for bad practices and not fully informing their customers.

3 months in dealing with the most incompetent people I have ever dealt with. Trying to go VA refinance. Every day for 90 days it’s something new. They are making their own VA rules instead of using the handbook. I wish I read these and the bbb reviews before I applied. I see a class action lawsuit in their future. I have contacted the chairman, trying to find the underwriting manager is like trying to steal gold from Fort Knox.