PenFed Credit Union Platinum Cashback Review: What You Need to Know

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Rewards / Cash Back / Travel / Gas

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What is your average bill?


Monthly Spend	$/mo

Spending categories
Gas	$/mo
Grocery/Drug	$/mo
Dining	$/mo
Other	$1,200/mo

How long do you plan to hold this card?

2 years

Do you carry a balance?

$10,000

How much do you value airline miles?

1.0 cent per mile

Traveling abroad?

Credit Cards Without Foreign Transaction Fees

M.

Anyone know if the card carries foreign transaction fees or none like CapitalOne ?

http://www.nerdwallet.com NerdWallet

The foreign transaction fee on this card is 2%. But the PenFed Premium Travel Rewards Amex and the PenFed Promise cards both charge no foreign transaction fees.

R

The supermarket reward is dropping to 1% on March 1. PenFed will keep the 5% gas cashback but it’s 1% for everything else now.

http://www.nerdwallet.com NerdWallet

Yep, thanks R. The 2% grocery promotion is temporary and expires on Feb 28. We’ll be sure to update our numbers when the time comes!

Richard E. Kryk

How do I join the NMFA/ and or donate? What is the contact information?

http://www.nerdwallet.com NerdWallet

Hey Richard, try this link: Join the NMFA

Matt

You need to update your calculator. It still uses 2% for groceries.
http://www.nerdwallet.com/ Tim

Good catch, Matt. Thanks!

Updating now…
Ashley

I would also like to comment that a donation to the American Red Cross (blood donation, cash donation, or volunteering) also qualifies you to join the PenFed credit union. I made a one time $10 donation to the ARC for my ticket in. Love the card, but wish the grocery rewards were still here.

Is there any way we can search by “Effective Reward Rate”?
Or that we could search ignoring one time only cash bonuses and rotating categories?
Or that we could search in order to focus on one category, such as groceries only? I know I use this PenFed card for only gas. I may consider getting a different card for another specific category if I knew the reward rate was high enough and permanent.

When searching I found the phrase “The No Hassle Cash from Capital One is not a tier 1 rewards card.” Is there anyway I can find these tiers you mentioned listed?

Thanks again!

http://www.nerdwallet.com/ Tim

Hi Ashley,

The best way to ignore the impact of sign up bonuses is to search over the maximum time period of 10 years. I believe this will also help you get a good sense of the “Effective Reward Rate”.

The best way to search for the highest reward rate in a category, like groceries, is to set spending in all other categories to zero. For example, if you use the default settings & set groceries to $1,800, the big grocery bonus cards will float to the top.

We do not classify cards into rigid tiers, but loosely speaking, I’d consider a card that can earn you 2% or more a Tier 1 card. There are quite a few of these, such as the Capital One Venture, Discover Escape, Costco Amex, Citi Forward, etc.

Since you seem to be interested in cards that earn maximum rewards for specific categories you might want to check out Forward to get 5% on restaurants, movies, books, and entertainment, Blue Cash to get 5% on groceries, and maybe get a 2% rewards card like Venture for everything else.

Tim

This card now has no foreign transaction fee!

*Disclaimer: We try to keep information accurate and up to date, however we cannot make warranties regarding the accuracy of our information. Please verify FDIC Insurance / NCUA Insurance status, credit card information, and interest rates during the application process.

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