PenFed "free" 5% Fuel Cash Back Ending

[CA_Traveler]

Per their website this ends with the October billing. So I called and it's actually changing. %5 if you have another qualifying account, or 3% and $25 annual charge. If you have a PenFed card you might want to call and see what if any changes apply to you.

We really liked getting 5% cash back this summer in the US and Canada so hate to see the changes. Just a heads up.

[CA_Traveler]

Called PenFed and I opened a $25 money market account that pays 0.05% interest. This is my qualifying account to keep the 5% fuel cash back on my Visa Platinum Cash Rewards card. There is no yearly fee on the Cash Rewards card.

I'm a happy camper. 🙂

[Dutch_12078]

jimjr wrote:

TriumphGuy wrote:
Hi folks - I skimmed through this thread so I hope I'm not duplicating info. It appears that PenFed recently added one more option to their list of qualifying products. I emailed cust service and they said you can also open a Money Market Savings Account. The min deposit is $25.

I opened the MMSA yesterday and in a few hours received an email that I now don't have to pay the $25 annual fee. I will still get 5% cash back on gas (although the card is changing to 0% cash back on anything else - it's still a good deal).

Hope that helps someone...

I posted previously and an update agrees with this comment. I called customer service and as a result I opened a MMSA which makes everything stay the same for our card.

Yep, I did the MMSA thing as well, just by opening the account with $100 I moved over from my share account. The share account pays better interest though, so I'll keep the bulk of my savings there.

[tomkaren13]

louiskathy wrote:
We got the same email.. it said that we needed to pay a $25 yearly fee to keep getting the 5% deal on the fuel purchases.

I called them and found out that if you have an employer and start a minimum of $250 direct deposit a month into your Pen-Fed acct, they won't charge a yearly fee and will keep giving you 5% on fuel purchases.

You can also do a Money Market CD with them for $1000.
6 month pays .3% and 1 year pays .5%
that will move you into a status that eliminates the $25 yearly fee and keeps the 5% on gas purchases.

We are taking advantage of the $1000.00 MMCD to keep the freecard. Elected to go with a 2 yr account at 1.25% Better then our MM at a bank.

[jimjr]

TriumphGuy wrote:
Hi folks - I skimmed through this thread so I hope I'm not duplicating info. It appears that PenFed recently added one more option to their list of qualifying products. I emailed cust service and they said you can also open a Money Market Savings Account. The min deposit is $25.

I opened the MMSA yesterday and in a few hours received an email that I now don't have to pay the $25 annual fee. I will still get 5% cash back on gas (although the card is changing to 0% cash back on anything else - it's still a good deal).

Hope that helps someone...

I posted previously and an update agrees with this comment. I called customer service and as a result I opened a MMSA which makes everything stay the same for our card.

[CA_Traveler]

TriumphGuy wrote:
I opened the MMSA yesterday and in a few hours received an email that I now don't have to pay the $25 annual fee. I will still get 5% cash back on gas (although the card is changing to 0% cash back on anything else - it's still a good deal).

This works for us. We've gotten over $200 cash back this summer and we're not home yet!

And as credit card deadbeats we haven't carried any cash or paid any interest!

[CA_Traveler]

ktmrfs wrote:
We are what are often called "credit card deadbeats" by the CC industry. A name given to those of us who pay off every month and don't pay any interest but collect the rewards.

I love this - they offer the card to us deadbeats in order to rope in the non deadbeats that don't pay off their cards every month. :C

[ktmrfs]

M GO BLUE wrote:
So with the 3% / $25 annual fee you will have to charge ~ $850.00 on your card annually (and make sure you pay off the balance each month to avoid interest charges) to avoid the annual fee...

In the summertime travel/camping season we've hit over that in a month, several months in a row.

Big thing with any of these rewards cards is to make sure you pay them off every month. Otherwise you'll end up "under water" on rewards vs. interest costs.

We are what are often called "credit card deadbeats" by the CC industry. A name given to those of us who pay off every month and don't pay any interest but collect the rewards.

[ktmrfs]

az99 wrote:

ktmrfs wrote:


It's still on their website under the list of cards and still shows being available.

Also, our son applied for the platinum cash rewards 5% card for fuel purchases a few days ago and he was approved. so if it has gone away, it's been in the last few days.

here is a link from today https://www.penfed.org/Platinum-Cash-Rewards/

But according to that the 5% is only good thru Oct. unless I am reading it wrong.

It's confusing. After a call the response I got as that existing/new cardholders will get 5% through Oct xx. In addition, if you have a qualifying other account you will continue to get 5% and no annual fee after October.

[ezmobee]

If you buy a lot of groceries, the Amex Blue Cash Preferred seems like the way to go. We've made a ton of money with ours.

[TriumphGuy]

Hi folks - I skimmed through this thread so I hope I'm not duplicating info. It appears that PenFed recently added one more option to their list of qualifying products. I emailed cust service and they said you can also open a Money Market Savings Account. The min deposit is $25.

I opened the MMSA yesterday and in a few hours received an email that I now don't have to pay the $25 annual fee. I will still get 5% cash back on gas (although the card is changing to 0% cash back on anything else - it's still a good deal).

Hope that helps someone...

[az99]

ktmrfs wrote:


It's still on their website under the list of cards and still shows being available.

Also, our son applied for the platinum cash rewards 5% card for fuel purchases a few days ago and he was approved. so if it has gone away, it's been in the last few days.

here is a link from today https://www.penfed.org/Platinum-Cash-Rewards/

But according to that the 5% is only good thru Oct. unless I am reading it wrong.

[M_GO_BLUE1]

So with the 3% / $25 annual fee you will have to charge ~ $850.00 on your card annually (and make sure you pay off the balance each month to avoid interest charges) to avoid the annual fee...

[ktmrfs]

az99 wrote:
I said in the post the Visa Rewards Card. That was the only card I was referring to as they had many. I called and was told the 5% Cash Back card that some of you refer to is no longer available. If someone knows how to still get it, please post a link.

It's still on their website under the list of cards and still shows being available.

Also, our son applied for the platinum cash rewards 5% card for fuel purchases a few days ago and he was approved. so if it has gone away, it's been in the last few days.

here is a link from today https://www.penfed.org/Platinum-Cash-Rewards/

[CA_Traveler]

To be clear I have the PenFed Platinum Cash Rewards card and I'm not aware of any points for this card. Every month I get cash back subtracted from the total. az99 may have a different card but I haven't verified his input for my card.

Information that has been posted here will help us to decide on our future use of PenFed. In the meantime we have 4% and 5% Amex fuel cards with yearly cash back.

We also have a Capital One Visa card which we can use in the US and Canada with 1.5% cash back on all purchases and no transaction fees.