Penfed has long offered very competive life-of-the-balance transfer offers for new AND existing customers on their credit cards. Previous threads discussing these are here and here
Note that the monthly minimum payment has been lowered to 2% of the outstanding balance, from the previous 2.5% mentioned in the older threads.
Now, with rates a-rising, these deals are better than ever...a great way to lock in fixed, unsecured debt at below-secured rates with no fees.
Anyway, I was pleased to find in today's mail a convenience check for both my and Ms. DH's penfed CC that can be written at the 4.99% rate, provided it clears by 5/31/06. While the accompanying letter says that the check is labeled "for balance transfers only", in really has no restrictions at all (for instance, being made out only to another creditor), provided they are "presented" to PenFed by the deadline. (There is the memorial day holiday, but cashing them by May 25 should ensure that they post in plenty of time for this).
While the general promotion is open to all, I'm not sure whether the checks are targeted or not...anyone else get them?
Edit 6/18/06 As of 6/1/06, rate is up to 5.49%
Edit 9/6/06 Still good at 5.49%, with a new round of checks just mailed out.
Edit 1/5/07 Two noteworthy changes. First, effective 1/1/07, the BT rate was bumped again to 5.99%. Second, the BT rate no longer applies to the famous cash rewards card, although it's still available on the other flavors of the card (notably the travel rewards card).
Edit 9/2/07 As of 9/1, the platinum rewards cards DO qualify for the 5.99% transfer rate.
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I just received these checks as well. However, I don't have a cc with them, I have a HELOC. So I guess I could do a no fee BT to my AMEX cards and then transfer back to HELOC FLB??? Anyone else receive a letter that specifies credit card but with HELOC account number?
Very interesting bfit01! That's a different, but in some ways hotter deal, especially if you have a big "interest only" HELOC (did you)?. It would be like getting an "interest only" 5% loan for 10+ years, then paying it down only gradually...
First report we've heard here of something like that.
Just a word of caution: Penfed sends out regular "Visa Platinum Cash Rewards" checks that are treated as cash advance @12.9%. I inadvertantly assumed it would be 4.9% since I was using it to balance transfer, but no such luck. Very expensive lesson.
Also, don't understand why they give these out at the same time 6% 3yr CDs are offered. Not a problem to get higher credit limits, except taking a large BT for a long period might sink your credit score.
bfit01 said:I just received these checks as well. However, I don't have a cc with them, I have a HELOC. So I guess I could do a no fee BT to my AMEX cards and then transfer back to HELOC FLB??? Anyone else receive a letter that specifies credit card but with HELOC account number?
I got this 4.99% check with my HELOC. I called asking if I can use it. They told me it's intend for credit card balance transfer and suggested me to throw the check away.
chunbo said:bfit01 said:I just received these checks as well. However, I don't have a cc with them, I have a HELOC. So I guess I could do a no fee BT to my AMEX cards and then transfer back to HELOC FLB??? Anyone else receive a letter that specifies credit card but with HELOC account number?
I got this 4.99% check with my HELOC. I called asking if I can use it. They told me it's intend for credit card balance transfer and suggested me to throw the check away.
Anyone knows if I sell my house, can I still keep the HELOC account open?
chunbo said:Anyone knows if I sell my house, can I still keep the HELOC account open?In order to close on the sale of your house, you will need to pay off the liens on it--which means closing the HELOC (assuming that it has been recorded properly).
Dave, as always you're a gentleman and a scholar. Thank you.
I just joined PenFed (after hanging around this site for 6 years - shameful I know) and will update this thread with the particulars after I am able to apply for the credit card.
I found & tested what I think is a pretty cool feature of PenFed's online BT service. If this is common knowledge or has been posted elsewhere, I apologize in advance. I didn't find anything about it in any of the current PenFed threads or the Creative BT... thread. If you don't have a BT check on hand, this might be an alternative way to get cash out of your PenFed account.
After logging in and clicking the CC/ELOC BT button, I wondered whether I could get them to send a BT to a bank account like Citibank allows online. I put in my GMAC account number and an amount (I thought I'd test it with a small amount, $500), and clicked "continue". The next page asked me to choose from a list of merchants/banks. It's a short, strange list - 5 per page, 10 pages in all, mostly mortgage companies and department stores, but there was also a Bofa checking/savings account. At the end of the list, it allowed me to put in a merchant/bank name and mailing address. I put in GMAC's info & clicked continue. It asked me to verify the info and click "submit". I think it said something about it posting the same business day.
I put in for the transfer on 10/9, which was a holiday. It posted to PenFed on 10/10. (Interestingly, it seems like they transfer the funds to the Regular Share account, and then withdraw by check on the same day.) I MBNA'd it on 10/12 to minimize interest charges. The deposit showed up in my GMAC account with a post date of 10/13 - much faster, as others can attest, than Citibank's similar service.
The downside, as compared to checks, is that the transfer posts right away or the next business day. The small upside is that this gives you a better idea of when to send an off-setting BT to PenFed. And the transfer by check was pretty fast.
I have to say I've been very, very impressed with PenFed's speed as a whole. I applied on 10/4, was instantly approved, and the account showed up online on 10/6 and was usable immediately. It displayed my full account number - the security side of me trembles at this - so, I was able to set up an MBNA BillPay account right away. All this, before I even received and activated the physical card - yesterday, 10/13.
Anyway, hope this is of use to others - I can say I am very happy I got a PenFed card.
Thanks for the useful info, sonnysighedup--green for you. I've been carrying 3.9 and 4.9% balances at Penfed for some time via checks, so haven't tried their online service. That's a very nice option.
sonnysighedup - thanks for the useful info. I was wondering about that too as it'd be nice to use it as the BT pass-through point. I'm getting a little tired of going through Citi each time, waiting for them to mail my refund and then my bank to sit on the check for 5 days.
tooshy said:Just a word of caution: Penfed sends out regular "Visa Platinum Cash Rewards" checks that are treated as cash advance @12.9%. I inadvertantly assumed it would be 4.9% since I was using it to balance transfer, but no such luck. Very expensive lesson.**
Also, don't understand why they give these out at the same time 6% 3yr CDs are offered. Not a problem to get higher credit limits, except taking a large BT for a long period might sink your credit score.Rereading, my post did not make much sense, by "these" I meant promo BT checks.
Be careful that BTs online are not charged 12.99%
**The 4 days of interest on a $6535 balance transfer at 12.99% was $9.13. The 4 days was the lag time it took to boomerang the funds back to Penfed from MBNA billpay. I still don't understand why I was not given the BT rate since the check was made payable to MBNA. I thought all BTs were 4.9% back in April, but I guess not. I don't see any special BT rate advertised in their newsletter. So BE CAREFUL!
edit: from Penfed's site
Credit Card Balance Transfer 5.49% APR Balance Transfer! Save more when you transfer balances from your high rate credit cards.
You'll get a low 5.49% APR for the life of your transferred balances when you transfer them to your Pentagon Federal Credit Union credit card. Transferring your balances is easy: you can transfer your balance securely online right now by logging on below.
It's clearly spelled out on their website that online balance transfers should get the low 5.49% rate. I'm going to call Penfed to ask why I was charged 12.99%.
I've been put on hold for almost 30 minutes and the outcome was they need to send an email to the research department and I should find out in a few days. I should be refunded about $4-5, definitely not worth everyone's time to correct this mistake, but I want to know why the check I used was not given the balance transfer rate.
tooshy said:It's clearly spelled out on their website that online balance transfers should get the low 5.49% rate. I'm going to call Penfed to ask why I was charged 12.99%.I had to have them fix such an error a while back, turned out to be a little glitch that was fixed without much hassle.
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