Pentagon Federal Credit Union reviews and complaints

My wife and I want to express our disappointment, and moreover, deep dissatisfaction with how ill-treated we were by your Loan Office with respect processing a mortgage refinance loan. Based on past experience with PENFED we reasonably expected much better service especially given that we have been long term members. We can appreciate that lately the number of refinancing mortgages were more numerous than usual. Nevertheless its been over 7 months since we applied for a very small mortgage of now less that $100, 000 and then this week your staff asked for some additional documents notwithstanding all that we previously provided. This can hardly be attributed to our financial ability to cover the loan. Our Credit Score is above average and my income excellent.

I hold your Loan Officer and possibly the staff responsible for the inattention and unresponsiveness to our application including our queries about the delays. At best we received only vague rationalizations of why the delays although on at least one occasion a request for documents previously submitted.

In one phone call to Navy Federal we received better counseling and recommendations on mortgage options, as well as other alternatives to consider, than in the 7 months dealing with your Loan office's excuses.

Given the previous member's experience coupled with ours, it might be time to for PENFED Mortgage Loan Officers to receive better training including customer service. In the meantime Navy Federal is my 1st go-to Credit Union.

By the way, the ill-mannered and sarcastic tone of the above "Customer Service Rep's response to a very similar experience suggests their approach to being a Customer Service Representative needs correction.

There was a time when it was a pleasure dealing with PFCU; however, over the last couple of years thier custumer service has declined dramatically! At one time, all I had to do to open an IRA CD was to sent a detailed letter request to Alexandria, and the matter was completed pronto. No longer. Now members are required to download countless numbers of mightily confusing and complex forms that must be mailed to some sweat shop in Nebraska. Even with the forms, they seldom seem to get it right on the first try: I submitted forms in January to open a ROTH IRA CD and am still waiting for them to do this correctly. In my frustration, I submitted an on-line request on March 25 asking that my ROTH CD be implemented correctly: it's now March 30 and I haven't received a response except for the auto pilot "your satisfaction is important to us" canned response. The only transactions that currently function well with PFCU are ones that are strictly on-line transactions: Lord help you if you have to initiate business via mailed forms, electronic messaging, or, heaven help us, on the telephone. They've become a mess!

PenFed cancelled my credit card because 'my credit score dipped below their minimum values.' Mind you, I wasn't past due or late on my payments to PenFed - they just went ahead and did it anyway. Worst part is, once they cancel your credit card on you, they no longer allow you to pay your balance online - which means you have to do it the old fashioned way and mail them in a check. You can log into your account...you just can't pay your bill. Also, your account with them will sit at 100% of your available credit until it is fully paid off, which of course damages your credit score because you're using too much of your available credit! Which is probably why they cancelled me to begin with. I think they're a horrible, predatory lender. They are as bad as any of the big banks and seem to pride themselves on bait and switch schemes. At least, that's been my experience. Best stick to your local credit union down the street.

It has been quite a week with PenFed. I visited their branch in the Pentagon on Wednesday, and the short summation of the service experience is to say that they acted like I was an inconvenience. Two days later I get a letter from PenFed informing me they were going to cancel my credit card due to delinquency, a history of delinquency, exceeding my credit limit, and not using the card at all. None, except the not using a card I don't happen to have applied. I called customer service and talked with a helpful rep who told me that's just the form letter they send before they screw your credit rating, and by the way, all the things I asked for on Wednesday hadn't yet been acted on. All this to a 25 year member who had over $60, 000 deposited with PenFed. So, the unanswered question is, what is the deposit level over which they start treating customers with respect?

I am refinancing, and its been a nightmare dealing with PenFed! I'm stuck at this point, but its been a 3 month ordeal that has really left a bad taste in my mouth. The people "assigned" to me have made mistakes along the way, have horrible follow up, and take vacations without anyone taking over their workload-so you as a customer just have to wait. My short sale was easier than this. With so many companies offering re fi's-go somewhere other than Pen Fed!

There loan process sucks I had a 772 score and still was declined. I really wanted the lower refi rate of 1.99...

PenFed* (My mistake)

My fiance added money to his credit card that he has with them and didn't find out till today that he added it AFTER they cancelled the card. I'm going to be royally pissed if they don't give us that money back because we are moving to California in a couple of months and not only that but we have a baby on the way. PedFed sucks royal donkey dick if you ask me. They should have informed him that the card was cancelled. They STOLE $1, 000 from us...and the card had $985 on it already so it's not like they closed it because it was at $0 or anything.

Update:

Quote from my son's loan porocessor:

Good Afternoon Mr. Finney,
We apologize for the delayed response. I am going to be helping out your processor, Grace Logan, while she’s out on emergency leave. Attach is a copy of your appraisal report. The value came in at $xxx, 000. The estimated amount of funds require at closing is around $ xxx. You can either bring the estimated amount of funds to closing or we can increase your loan amount to include that amount. Please let me know what you would like to do.

End Quote

Apparently his loan processor had a death in the family and the ball was not passed for over two weeks... The new processor is on it now, but know if you get the wrong processor or run into a problem, it will be very difficukt to move up the CSR chian to someone who will be able to help you. My condolences to Ms. Logan and family.

I'm not sure what is going one with PenFed, but it is not good, My son is trying to take advantage of a refi special they ran last month and is in the loan process now. I e-mailed his loan processor and asked if I could get in on the same deal. I received no answer for three days and when my son followed up on his loan with her, I had him ask for me. Needless to say it was too late for me to get the fixed rate-no closing cost deal. PenFed's rates were/are still better than most, so I went ahead and applied for a refi loan anyway. They sent out our Experian credit score report right away - 801 & 799. Anyway, as I said, I'm still in the process of helping my son with his loan. Well he had his house appraised more than two weeks ago now and we have repeatedly called and e-mailed for updates on his loan. I have helped him scan and e-mail every document they have asked for so far, but I can't get anyone to respond to our request for information on his loan. Well, I've certainly taken note of how my son has been treated and I have since cancelled my loan application with them agreeing to pay any fees. PenFed is certainly the loser here as I have since retained a mortgage broker who got me the same rate with better terms as the lender is willing to pay some of my closing costs. I will close next week and I've only been in the loan process for a week and he answers the phone when I call. Before the naysayers get on the bandwagon here, let me say I have my BSBA (Magna Cum Lausde) in business and I'm a licensed real estate broker in two states. I know contracts better than 95% of the public. That reminds me, I actually received two GFEs from PenFed, one for fixed rate, and one for variable; the variable rate was supposed to cover all of the closing costs, but I noticed the closing fees were much smaller on the variable rate because PenFed used a smaller escrow amount. I also noticed on the fixed rate, that the loan amount was less than what was asked for... Now here's the kicker, as I say we've been requesting information for two weeks now and when I went looking for someone to complain to, I got lost in the electronic world of "HOLD" only to be repeatedly disconnected. Next, I went looking for licensing bureaus to file a complaint against the agent or PenFed and have thus far been unsucessful finding a licensing board for their mortgage agents. PenFed, take note, your lack of customer service has cost you new business (my 1st mortgage with bac) and existing business (my 2nd which is currently with PenFed) as I have now taken my business elsewhere. If my son's situation continues to remain unresolved, I will suggest to him to do the same. As an aside, mortgage broker's do not make you pay $65 to apply for a mortgage and bombard you with warnings that you will be responsible for expenses should the loan not close. I guess that should have been my first clue, but I suppose the fees may be PenFed's answer to its sure to be anemic revenue stream. I apologize for the rant; hopefully, you will not have the same experience...