Wonton

Although my experience with PenFed has been very positive, one of my biggest gripes was that their mobile app is way behind times [compared to banks like USAA and Chase]. Well guess what? Penfed overhauled their mobile app for both iOS and Android! And it finally has Mobile Deposit! Figured I would share with the community for those that did not know about this. A great credit union just got better!

Most do not see any pre-approved CLI for at least 12 months. After you have been a member for a year, every quarter Penfed will give select members preapproved offers and one of these may be a CLI without hard pull. Note that their preapproved offers are very selective/unpredictable. Many people have been members for years with great credit scores and good standing accounts, yet never received a pre-approved offer, while others claim to receive them every quarter. Also, there are times they will handout auto CLIs, but this is again is random/selective. Most recently, several members on here received an auto CLI during the holiday shopping season.

Woohoo, I decided to take your advice and as a one-time exception they refunded $30 back into my account! Initially they said I can only receive a refund if I open an overdraft account. I politely declined and she immediately "noted" my account that I declined this offer. Then she said as a one-time "exception" that they will provide me with a refund, but explicitly said I will not get any refunds for overdrafting in the future (which is fine by me). Thanks for making me call! Definitely enough $$ to go buy three 6-packs and celebrate!

Haha alright I won't worry about it. =p I just freaked out a lil since my 1 year with Penfed is coming up and I was hoping to see pre-approved offers next quarter! Thanks! I don't mind the fee, I understand I screwed up so don't mind a $30 hit. Just glad Penfed didn't reject the check since if they did, I'd have another $50 hit from my landlord. Hopefully they do see as profit and it doesn't hurt my "internal" scoring.

Hello creditboards, quick question for you experts. Long story short, I accidentally wrote a check that got cashed for $700, only had $500 balance. Penfed allowed the check to go through and charged me a "Non-sufficient funds" fee of $30. Within 24 hours of overdraft I immediately funded an ACH transfer to my penfed checking account and I now have a positive balance. How will this impact my relationship with Penfed? Is this one overdraft check going to hurt my credit score? Will they report to credit bureaus and/or chexsystem, or do they only report if I do not pay off the debt and overdraft fee? If this is going on my record is there any way to remove it? Will they decrease my credit limit on my Penfed Credit Card? Am I now on Penfed's ****list and will this heavily impact/weight into their decision when they extend any additional credit products/offers to me? Is it worth a call asking them as a one time exception to remove the $30 overdraft charge? I'm freaking out as its the first financial blunder/irresponsibility that I've ever had with a bank/CU. Would appreciate any advice/information. Thanks!!!

From what I have read and experienced, most banks that offer these student cards recognize that applicants may have a thin file. Since it seems he has no negatives, the most important factor would probably whether he has a job or income source. If so, chances are decent that he will be approved for any of those. If not, he may need a co-signor. As for which specific card, it seems you have a good list. However one you may want to add is the Citi Forward for students. This was my first card and to date, continues to be one of my most used. You get 5 points (about 5% depending on reward redemption) on books, movies, restaurants/fast food, and music stores, as well as 1 point on everything else. My 2 biggest expenditures in college were books and restaurants/fast food so this card was perfect for me, but of course this may not be the case for your brother. Oh and one more bonus, you get 5 points for all Amazon.com purchases because it is classified as a "bookstore" (note there have been rumors about this ending at some point). My experience agrees with your assessment on Citi being generous with CLI's if he shows responsible use. I started off with $1.5k and ended up with about $6.5k in a year or two. That said, for some reason the online "luv button" disappeared. In the past, it used to be a button which would show up when you're pre-approved for a CLI without a hard pull and it'd tell you how much you've been pre-approved for. It has now changed to a form which explicitly states you are authorizing them to do a hard pull, however some people have reported that if you fill the form out and the computer likes you, it will still only do a soft pull. I guess at the end of the day, any of these cards for a first card will be a great start to building his credit. I would have put the Forward up there too, but my experience with it was a bit of a miss when I was trying to get it until recently. I had student loans and a secured card reporting for a number of months when Citi originally denied me for the Forward. He has income right now just shy of $20k yearly, which is about what I had when I applied for the Forward previously.That said, it's all YMMV so maybe they'd like him better for whatever reason. Also, I feel like if he ever wants the Forward at some point and he has the Dividend, he might be able to request a PC for it some time in the future. Did you apply through the student website or normal website? From what I have read, there may be a difference and it may be easier to qualify for through the student site. One downside is I hear there is a designation that you are a "student" in their computers and obtaining a high credit limit may be more difficult. Note that I'm not sure how true all this information is, it's just some stuff I've read while perusing these credit forums. Here is the link for "student": https://creditcards....llege-students/ Here is the link for "normal": https://creditcards....s/citi-forward/ On the student site, it's interesting how they specifically point out "No co-signer required, so you can build your own credit history".

Thanks all! i received my 20k at the 3 month mark and just redeemed for the $250 visa gift card. Now lets just hope that Penfed forever keeps this 5% "cash back" equivalent reward.

From what I have read and experienced, most banks that offer these student cards recognize that applicants may have a thin file. Since it seems he has no negatives, the most important factor would probably whether he has a job or income source. If so, chances are decent that he will be approved for any of those. If not, he may need a co-signor. As for which specific card, it seems you have a good list. However one you may want to add is the Citi Forward for students. This was my first card and to date, continues to be one of my most used. You get 5 points (about 5% depending on reward redemption) on books, movies, restaurants/fast food, and music stores, as well as 1 point on everything else. My 2 biggest expenditures in college were books and restaurants/fast food so this card was perfect for me, but of course this may not be the case for your brother. Oh and one more bonus, you get 5 points for all Amazon.com purchases because it is classified as a "bookstore" (note there have been rumors about this ending at some point). My experience agrees with your assessment on Citi being generous with CLI's if he shows responsible use. I started off with $1.5k and ended up with about $6.5k in a year or two. That said, for some reason the online "luv button" disappeared. In the past, it used to be a button which would show up when you're pre-approved for a CLI without a hard pull and it'd tell you how much you've been pre-approved for. It has now changed to a form which explicitly states you are authorizing them to do a hard pull, however some people have reported that if you fill the form out and the computer likes you, it will still only do a soft pull. I guess at the end of the day, any of these cards for a first card will be a great start to building his credit.

Subsequent CLI can be requested every 6 months. As long as it has been over 60 days you can submit your first CLI request. If the computer likes what it sees, no hard pull is what everyone has been reporting, me included. Of course, if the computer doesnt like what it sees and tells you your request must be looked at by a person, then they may do a hard pull.

It did not show up for me online. I called the number on my card and went through the automated phone system.

I just waited 61 days after activation to be safe. I also figured that showing 2 statement periods of responsible use was better then 1 for their computers.

Like everyone else is recommending, I would hold out 60 days from activation. Show responsible use and PIF each month. If possible, ensure that your debt is under control and any other revolving cards are reporting zero or <5% balance. On day 61, call the amex number on your card, request a 3x increase. If you have decent credit and a job, chances are amex will instantly approve you the full 3x increase without a hard pull. I did lots of research, and this seems to be the recipe for success. Today is day 61 for me and I went from $6.5k to $18.8k! Up til this point my highest limit card has been $6.5k. After 6 months, rinse and repeat.

Thanks! About $1.3k of usage in 2 months, spread out over around 100 transactions. First month, PIF before balance hit, second month, paid down to about ~1% balance and ensured that my other 2 revolving lines reported zero balance. Good luck!

Day 61 with my AMEX BCE card, asked for $19.5k (which was triple my $6.5k limit) and got approved through their automated system for $18.8k! Woohoo! My first double digit credit limit! Time to go buy a new car.

Here's a promotion for Chase Slate credit card. Seems like an excellent deal for those that need it! -0% APR for 15 Months on New Purchases and Balance Transfers -No Balance Transfer Fee during first 30 days Here is link to apply. Seems that some are receiving instant approvals while others are getting the 7-10 day message. https://applynowdc2....EeGiqe7TWzkGBA0 Ripped off another website (credit slickdeals) but thought some people over here would be interested. Hope this helps someone out!