PenFed Credit Union Checking Accounts

BEWARE! I wish I had read Pen Fed reviews before I opened my account. I had big problems. Did you know that if you have a problem with a financial institution you can file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau? They are a government agency set up to protect citizens. I transferred money into my account and paid bills with the money. Pentagon Federal permanently froze my account claiming the money was fraudulently acquired. News flash: the money was NOT fraudulently acquired but the security department refused to even talk to me. They would not send me a statement. They would not let me send them documentation of activity. They essentially stole over $14,000! So I have a filed a complaint with the CFPB.

I applied for a lone and was a approved on a Wednesday. I set up my online account that same day. Thursday night I went to login to set up my payments I was locked out of the account. Called member services and was told I needed to upload documents for identification verification. Uploaded the documents and was told they would be reviewed and the account would be unlocked within 24-48 hours. 48 hours later no update, I received the loan check in the mail. So I emailed member services for them to tell me 24-48 hours and once I told them it had been that she said 3-5 days. A week later no help still locked out and nobody was able to tell me anything. I called once again and was put in touch with Matthew who said he would put in a request for my my documents to be reviewed and verified . Still no word on my account I now have this check with no way to cash it. do anything regarding repaying this loan. This is the most outrageous problem I have ever experienced dealing with a bank.

Worst bank allowed to exist. It's 2022 and it takes 3 days for a cashapp transfer or paypal or zelle to reflect on your balance - pending transactions aren't shown to reflect your balance they just show. No matter what you spend or do, this bank takes 48-72 hours to UPDATE the balance so you NEVER really know your true balance, be prepared to wait 72 hours or call every morning for your real balance. Go to an actual bank. This seems like a startup company wanting to be a bank?

PenFed rolls out IT changes routinely that are buggy. Their customer service staff don't even have PenFed accounts and can't understand the IT issues that are being described. The PenFed on-line experience is definitely substandard.

Telephoned the 800 number to inquire about opening up a checking account and the call was answered by Chanel - one of their member service representatives. She was EXCELLENT!!! Chanel answered all of my many questions, presented the clear value of the checking account and actually walked me through completing the application. She was patient, personable, knowledgeable and efficient - a real “service superstar”!
Thank you PenFed and….
Thank you Chanel!!!

Horrible bank. My Union bank Aspire recently merged with this bank, and my bank experience has been terrible with them. First, they take forever to apply a refund from a merchant, even after the merchant has refunded your money days pass, then they take forever to withdraw pending transactions, not to mention the $15 they apply to your Throfty account. I never experienced this with my Aspire FCU!!! Will be looking into other Credit Union banks

Over 25 years, I've been a member at 6 different Credit Unions, either due to auto loans or being stationed abroad. This is by far the worst leadership and backend execution in the business. (The 2 stars is for the nice people who answer the phone) I'm not sure if they are just totally unorganized or they simply don't care. Story is - I made a user error when making an online payment, and I chose the wrong account to pay out of. Well, that left my PenFed balance a bit shy of what I need to cover a payoff I had sent to a credit card. SO - 6 days ago I deposited a check through their mobile app, drawn from one of my other credit unions. (Service Credit Union - Highly recommended). The check cleared THAT account within 48 hours. Still, the funds were not available in my PenFed Account. I called to ask that they please make my funds available because the check had cleared and my payment was going to post (and be returned). I was told to log on to the site, provide proof of the check having cleared my other credit union account (through their document upload system) and request that the funds be released. I did. I waited. They weren't. The payment presented and the payment was returned. I called again. I spoke to a rep. Was assured the funds would be made available, and the payment would be sent out. I was then contacted by a supervisor to CONFIRM that the funds were available and the payment would sent out. I kid you not - here we are - the next day, the funds are STILL not available in my account and the money has NOT been sent to my CREDITOR! Again - I am on the phone with this credit union, who has been in receipt of my funds since the 20th, and they have YET to release them to me so that they can be used to pay this creditor.

I started the process to become a member of PenFed about a month ago and I still have not been given access to an account. Coming from NFCU I find this unacceptable and will not be moving forward with this union.

Poor customer service, LOTS of lip service. I signed up for checking, savings & credit card and was approved for all 3. I got an email the next day stating my checking account was opened. 2 days after opening, I suddenly was locked out of all my accounts. I called, they said they needed ID docs. I sent them the same day via uploading and was told by rep they will be reviewed in 24 hrs. 48 hrs later, still locked out. I called again, I was told give them another 48 hrs and it should be unlocked. She also confirmed ID docs were received and were in "final review". She said she would call me back the next day and give me an update. She verified my number and no call was received. 48 hrs went by, still locked out. I called again and spoke with a supervisor Jan. She told me, that my account would be unlocked by the end of the day (It was a Friday) or at the latest Monday. That was yesterday, Today (Tuesday) I am still locked out of all my accounts. I called again today. The rep said she would email the department responsible and either she or they would call me back by the end of the day today. Not surprising, no calls. Not one person out of 4 offered any kind of escalation. I even emailed [email protected] the response I got there was, for me to call in again if it wasn't resolved. I cannot believe how poorly this organization is run and lack of customer service and accountability for lack thereof. 4 calls, 2 emails and 1 week later for an issue that was supposed to be resolved in 24 hrs. Now, this is supposedly a verification issue. I sent them License, ss card and a utility bill, also verified all my info verbally 4 times when I called and they sent my checks to me already. Ridiculous!