PenFed Credit Union

Beware of double dipping. In September we paid our credit card bill in full. Pentagon Federal Credit Union then withdrew that amount from our checking account. Spoke with Andrea and she assured us a full refund would be sent. No check arrived. Spoke with Sue who could not find any notation of our conversation with Andrea. Spoke with supervisor Ed who would not give me any information as to when the check would arrive. The amount Pentagon Federal Credit Union owes us is $ 1,625.42 including a $ 1.00 monthly paper statement fee which incidentally we never received. I understand mistakes can be made, but, when brought to their attention should not be lied to or ignored. Please, take your business elsewhere.

Worst customer service ever. I refinanced my car loan with them and they didn’t remove my old loan. I was paying 2 installments for one car for months till they finally fixed it. Then because of «system error» they reported late payments to the credit bureaus and messed up my credit. What a bunch of dumb a&@&@. No one in customer service cares.

Quite bad customer service and their method of adding a credit card to Apple Pay is completely flawed.

Horrible customer service! Our re-​fi loan processor would not answer the phone, return phone calls, respond to emails, and was horrible about letting us know the status of our loan. I was appalled at how bad the customer service was. They are apparently too busy to care about their customers. Even when i called for a supervisor they took forever to respond. I will not use Pentagon Federal Credit Union again! I have always used a credit union and this was by far our worst experience. In the end we did not close on our re-​fi.

We recently applied for a car loan though PenFed and they dragged it out for days and then rejected us for not having enough credit — despite having a platinum Visa for over 20 years. We simply have always saved up for a car in the past and never borrow money so despite having a grade 14 job for the govt they didn’t think we qualified?
They also don’t have any branches open on Saturdays (other than one on a military base) and although their phone support was great they simply treated us like a computer number and their delay cost us the car. We are closing our account tomorrow and pulling out our retirement and checking accounts.

By far the worst experience I’ve ever had with a bank. And other reviews indicate that it’s not just me.
PenFed’s mortgage rates are very good. It appears they pull this off by severely understaffing the loan department. So the customer service is a disgrace. Their email signatures even have disclaimers which basically say «Don’t expect a timely response because we’re too busy.» They never answer the phone, and email responses take 1 – 2 days on average.
None of this would be a big deal to me if they were actually able to execute in a competent fashion. In my case (new mortgage), I had sent them everything they requested 3 weeks prior to closing. All was supposedly well. Then 22 hours before closing, the underwriting department demanded a nonsense contract addendum. I scrambled and made that happen. Then they suddenly needed to verify my employment by speaking to my boss. Then came additional requests for more bank-​related documents a few hours (!) prior to closing. Then these documents weren’t acceptable, so others were required. This was sorted out the day of closing after about 10 phone calls back and forth. But by the time they approved the loan and sent it to the title company, we couldn’t close that day because we were past their cutoff time for wire transfers.
So our plans for the next day (a van rental, multiple companies coming to the house for Internet, TV, pest control, etc) were totally screwed up by PenFed’s incompetence. Never again. :-)

After having a tough time with Logix Credit Union I needed to scramble to find an auto loan to finance my beautiful 1999 Corvette with 33,000 miles on it. I called PenFed and they informed me that they finance based on mileage (which makes more sense to me than by model year!) The lady helping me asked me for the VIN of the vehicle and of course all my information. After verifying my vehicle could be financed and that I was approved for a 0 down @ 1.49% we found out I would be about $ 2000 short on the financing. I explained to the rep that I would have the $ 2000 by next month and she offered me a personal loan to get me by. I saw that as a great solution and after sending my pay stubs was approved. I then went to the dealership to wrap up the deal and by the time I got there the check was already in the mail and the loan verification was sitting in the dealerships fax machine. This is how you do loans right. I am so happy with PenFed I can’t wait to Refi my mortgage and move my bank accounts to them. PenFed, thank you so much!!! As long as you continue to treat me right you have a customer for life.

We have always had great experiences with PFCU and I’ve been a member since 1987. We have checking, money market, VISA credit cards, and regular shares accounts there. In February 2012, they changed their VISA Platinum cards to VISA rewards cards. We loved the Platinum cards because the cash back earned each month was immediately deducted from the amount owed. We charged everything, not only for the cash back but for recording keeping/​taxes, so our rebates were well over $ 1K a year. We paid the card balance off every month without fail.
Now with the rewards program, we have to spend time tracking points earned, going online to order VISA cash cards, waiting WEEKS for the cash card to arrive (while you worry that it got misdirected in the mail and someone has stolen it — they are just like getting dollar bills in the mail), carrying an extra card in the wallet, and keeping a little cheat sheet that tells how much is left on the cash card so all the money can be used. It also creates extra work for the merchants when you want to use the last bit of money on the card because they have to process 2 cards instead of one (if the purchase exceeds the balance on the cash card).
We will no longer use our PFCU VISA charge cards so liberally. Instead, we will use our Costco AmEx cards for everything but gas and in grocery stores. At least we get a check for the points earned once a year with no hassle.

I had a different experience with PFCU — they’ve treated me well over the years and I’ve been a customer for over a decade. They’ve reversed fees when I complained, always had internet banking, and would take care of my banking requests quickly.
To caveat though, I’ve only had credit cards, personal loans, and auto loans through this bank. Never got a mortgage through them although I was tempted at times. They were even up front with me during my last refi when I questioned why their rates were higher than USAA or other banks — they flat out explained how they have to raise the rates to slow applications when they’re at capacity for their processors. I appreciate the honesty and it gave me an insight into the industry.
Until they go the way of Wachovia, you’ll see me parking some money here.

Just don’t do it. Do NOT Refi with PenFed no matter how good the rate is.
We used to love them and all of our many cars were financed through them over the years. In the last few years, it seems they have gone really downhill on customer service. This time, we applied for a refi mortgage in JUNE. It’s now September and it still hasn’t closed. Our rate lock expires in 20 days.
They put in a clause that if the mortgage doesn’t go through, we still have to pay inspections, title, application fee, etc. Whenever, I contact them, I am assured they have all they need — when they deign to call me back. Literally takes them up to 10 days to return calls and emails.
Today? Today, they tell me they need even more docs that they forgot to get. Ridiculous! 10 weeks and we are not even close to closing.
So unprofessional. I suspect they are outsourcing because our loan processor’s accent is so thick, I simply could not understand her the ONE time she deigned to call me back.
** I just cannot believe this is how they treat veterans. **
I was assure din AUGUST we had plenty of time. Now it’s SEPTEMBER. When I suggested that since the time delay was on their side, they needed to extend the rate lock, she ignored me and just said I needed to be «understanding» of their high volume and that they would «try their best» to close. TRY THEIR BEST? This is not a math test in high school. You repute to be a banking institution!
Seriously, this is not about trying; this is about good faith, time is of the essence, and professionalism –of which I have seen none from Pentagon Federal Credit Union.
I have read many complaints about them online including some suggesting they are advertising deliberately to just collect thousands of loan application fees and kickback from title companies and inspections – knowing they can never actually close them all. All I can say is even though I keep getting told they are experiencing a «VERY HIGH volume,» I still keep getting ads and offers from them via email.
If they cannot process the applications they currently have, why are they soliciting more unless… Draw your own conclusions.
So moral of the story: I should have researched them again before trying to refi in JUNE. Learn from my mistakes.