Community Forums

floridasnow · 09-05-2013, 05:36 AM

How many of you PenFed card holders got your notice?
Got mine this morning. It appears there will now be an annual fee of $25 and the Cash-Back benefit will drop to 3% unless you utilize other services such as loans or checking account, etc.

Guess I'll be calling them to cancel before the automatic fees kick in.
It was good while it lasted.

baraff · 09-05-2013, 05:47 AM

Is this the Cash rewards card or the other one? I had heard the other card will drop to 3% in October but the Cash reward card would stay at 5%.

gmadams · 09-05-2013, 06:01 AM

I just checked the website and my account. No notice for me other than charging for paper statements.

floridasnow · 09-05-2013, 06:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baraff

Is this the Cash rewards card or the other one? I had heard the other card will drop to 3% in October but the Cash reward card would stay at 5%.

I have the Cash-Rewards card. The one that used to give the 5% cash back on your monthly statement. You have to use some of their other services (loan, checking account, etc) to keep the 5% discount and avoid the $25 annual fee.

(from their email to me...)
Without Qualifying Product With Qualifying Product Gas Purchase at the Pump 3% Cash Back 5% Cash Back All other purchases 0% Cash Back 0% Cash Back Annual Fee $25 None Foreign Transaction Fee None None

Sorry, that didn't copy very well. They are calling loans, etc 'qualifying products'.

baraff · 09-05-2013, 06:12 AM

Well, I haven't gotten the notice yet. To me it would be worth the $25 fee though, as I use that card exclusively for gas. So far this year I've saved almost $200 with the cash back feature, and we have a huge trip coming up in October. I may move some money into their savings account if necessary.
I've been a long time customer, maybe they are doing this for newer accounts only? Time will tell.

floridasnow · 09-05-2013, 06:24 AM

Trying to make some sense out of this for you...

If you 'don't' use a 'qualifying service', (such loans, money markets certs, etc) There will be a $25 annual fee, the 'cash-back' drops to 3% for 'pay-at-the-pump purchases, 0% for all other purchases, foreign transaction fee- None.

If you DO use other 'qualifying services', there is NO annual fee, 5% cash-back for pay-at-the-pump, 0% for other purchases and NO foreign transaction fee.

Hope I did better this time.
I did drop the paper statement a few months ago when they were going to start charging for it. Maybe that why I got the email notice?
It also said all this would take effect on Oct 26th, 2013.
I'd have to reread it to be sure but I think it said changes would be automatic unless the account was canceled. Cancellation could be done by phone, email or snail-mail.

floridasnow · 09-05-2013, 06:33 AM

baraff,
I hope it works out for you. I'd probably keep it too if they continued to offer the 5% cash-back. Since pay-at-the pump is ALL I use this card for, the 3% just isn't worth it to me.
I quit using it for other purchases when I got an erroneous charge and they gave me a hassle over it. Also a few times a few 'pay-at-the-pump' charges didn't come through as such and I didn't get the 5%.
All in all, I didn't think their "customer service" was all that great.

baraff · 09-05-2013, 06:36 AM

Thanks for the heads up, I'll keep an eye out and decide what to do when at that point.

1ciderdog · 09-06-2013, 04:17 PM

I haven't received a notice from PenFed but did receive a letter telling me I could get better auto insurance rates through Liberty Mutual by going through PenFed. The literature suggested I could save over $400 a year. My auto policies are coming up and guess what - I can save a bunch of $ by switching to Liberty Mutual. The letter from PenFed did have a special personal invitation number - I don't know if that is unique to me. I do not have loans or a checking account - only a small savings and the credit card. I did use the card a lot in May, June and July buying diesel fuel for a 10K plus trip. If you get that letter from them it might be good for you get the quote.

baraff · 09-06-2013, 04:55 PM

I did get the letter today. I will move some money into their money market account and keep the 5% discount. It's worth it to me. I have saved $200 in gas costs alone this year and it's only September. Big trip coming up next month too.
My wife and I are still working (for now) and we do a lot of commuting. I use this card exclusively for gas. So I'll move some money out of my savings account which pays next to nothing interest into their account which pays next to nothing interest. Not much change in anything to me. Also avoids the $25 fee.
It was nice while it lasted, but I knew the end was coming. In this day and age where even Grandma gets nickel and dimed to death, we couldn't really expect PenFed to give away free money with no skin in the game, could we? Especially if you're paying it off each month, they're not even making money on interest.
BTW, this subject is also being discussed in the Monaco Owners' thread.

dabrooks · 09-07-2013, 05:18 AM

I do have the PenFed cash back card. I too have saved over $200.00 this year. and as the price of fuel rises it make the price per gallon less. At $3.50 per gallon the 5% is 17.5 cents per gallon and at $4.00 it is 20 cents per gallon. I opened a money market certificate to keep my 5% discount. You can download the application on line and mail it in with a check.

Lit · 09-08-2013, 05:03 PM

I opened a $1000. CD when I received my card several years ago, I had seen this coming I'm just surprised that it took so long. I look at the 5% that I save on my gas purchase offsets the interest rate I receive on it, I don't know of any bank that has a great interest rate today. I also believe that the PenFed card is a great fit for my gas can and I, until a gallon of gas drops to a dollar I'm keeping it.

floridasnow · 09-10-2013, 07:53 AM

Glad it's still works for some of you. I don't have any money markets, loans or what ever. They don't have any other 'Qualifying Services' that I can use. Don't have a pile of money I can let them use but I am debt free.
So for me they charge the yearly fee and give me less money back.
Like someone said,... "It couldn't last forever". I did get a years worth and that was worth about $300 to me.