What an excellent customer service. Julie was amazing, professional, and kind. I am impressed by the professionalism and speed of the processes. read more

This has been the worst experience I have ever had with a financial institution. I refinanced my vehicle with Pentagon Federal Credit Union, and the title process has been unnecessarily frustrating from the beginning. My previous lender confirmed that the lien was released electronically, but PenFed told me I had to go to the title bureau and obtain a physical replacement title myself. I contacted the Cuyahoga County Title Bureau and was told that PenFed could have accessed and printed the title themselves. The representative even described PenFed as being "lazy" for making me handle something the credit union could have completed. After making me take time out of my day to resolve the issue, PenFed did not even provide the address that needed to be placed on the title. I had to continue contacting them just to get basic instructions that should have been provided from the beginning. The lack of communication, clear guidance, and accountability has been unacceptable. I should have checked the reviews for this company before refinancing my auto loan with them. I regret choosing PenFed and would not recommend them based on this experience. read more

Horrible experience, do not use under any circumstance! They will close your account without any explanation. I was a customer for 7 years without even a single missed or late payment. I had a $10k credit limit and was only using 4% of that limit. I only use the make major purchases, which I paid off within a few months.They just closed my account for no reason which negatively affected my credit score. I can't believe companies like this can stay in business. read more

Every time I go Mrs. Ana Yanes. At central loop is so helpful. She helped me open up accounts for my kids. Always so sweet and ready to help. read more

I really dislike coming in this branch! Just the thought of coming in here is stressful. I seriously consider driving to the M&T Bank in Lake Ridge which is the opposite direction from my home. Usually the lines are ridiculously long and the waiting area is so full, there are no seats left. On my last two visits I came to cash a check and was told "We don't cash checks" Then after a pause, "but I can deposit it to your account and then make a withdrawal." If that's what you have to do then do it. There is no reason to tell a customer that "we don't cash checks" A better response would be "Absolutely. I will need to deposit it to your account then make a withdrawal" That is better customer service. Then the teller counted my money out loud. If I am withdrawing a large sum of money, I don't want this out loud counting because it tells everyone in earshot what I am walking out the door with. Then the African woman teller flicks her wrist which is very dismissive and rude. Turns out she was wanting me to sign the pad. read more

I visited the woodbridge pendfed branch and Mrs.Ana was super professional and I will higthly recomended with friends and the rest of my famiy thank you! read more

You had some sort of problem in March, and did not send a payment to another bank that was an automatic payment. Now I'm getting a hassel from them about my late payment and you won't reach out the other Bank and explain it was you fault. I have over a 100,000.00 dollars in your bank and I thought you might handle the situation better, You didn't even offer to pay the late fees. To say the least I'm very disgusted with your organization. read more

On April 19th, 2023, I applied for a credit card with PenFed and I was approved. I completed the additional paper work needed along with making a deposit to meet all the requirements. Today is May 22nd, 2023 and I have NOT received my credit card. After numerous calls on: April 28th May 3rd May 10th May 19th May 22nd PenFed can't seem to get me a credit card. This has been the WORST 1st time experience with a credit union. At this point, I can NOT recommend doing business with this credit union. This is not a good way to start a banking relationship. I think I will need to take my business elsewhere at this point. Again, I can NOT recommend doing business with PenFed. read more

Absolutely terrible with no recourse. I submitted my flood insurance and they must "not have received it," so purchased flood insurance on my behalf. The letter from Pen Fed informing me had their customer service phone number, but I was unable to reach a person. Their official site Contact Us only has that same number and a street address listed. I'm done with any business that doesn't respect me as a person. If you won't let me talk to you, I won't give you any more money. read more

Stay away from this bank , terrible a pure nightmare to access our HELOC money ! Lack of communication, and la k of professionalism. They will keep your money the longer they can and change you fee when you're trying to transfer to a PenFed account. Nothing was explained and they question you why you are transfer o getting money out , that belongs to you ! Stay away . read more

I give this location 1 start just because it has managed to stay in business this long. The customer service representative, Joanna, is in the wrong line of business. She constantly looked for a reason to not help us with our vehicle purchase transaction. From the time we walked in she was argumentative and uncooperative. She would not listen to what we saying with the assumption she knew everything. Then we asked her to notarize the bill of sale and she refused because the buyer wasn't a PenFed member. We reminded her that the seller was in fact a member and that it is actually intended for them as well. However, she still refused. I will say that the manager on duty deserves 5 starts for his professionalism and patience with us. Joanna, needs some extra training if she is going to continue to be an employee of PenFed. read more

Confirming what others have stated, this bank is a nightmare to deal with. I ended up with them after my other credit union was taken over by them. Here are just some of the issues I've encountered: - Messed up a wire transfer for a home closing - Made an error that had a hard inquiry in my credit account for no reason - Rude customer service My husband is a veteran and I thought they were an organization that prioritized veterans and their families but it is clear they are not. Very disappointed. read more

This credit union took over Fort Belvoir FCU a few years ago and ever since then the collapse in customer service is evident. They don't care for their members, all they care about is fueling their rapid expansion across the country by nickel and diming everything. They cut back the staff, eliminated ATM fee refunds, don't live update any of their apps or website and have completely destroyed everything I loved about Belvoir. If your CU is about to be acquired by PenFed, leave them. PenFed doesn't care for the military, they don't care for their neighborhoods, all they want is to suck you dry and leave you with nothing. I'm closing my accounts with them and carrying them with a rival CU. Bye PenFed, you will not be missed! read more

I need to change my bank ...you can't get anyone to help you...tellers are down and won't take deposits...says come back when drive thru is open...they shut their lobby down due to Covid...seems no one wants to work there and drive thru hours are not helpful for a busy person like me...every time I tried to go the line of cars wrapped around building...we are customers please open your lobby and please take deposits after hours thru teller machine I am beyond frustrated read more

Absolutely the worst banking experience of my life. Over a period of 6 weeks I attempted to open a CD with them. Long phone holds, ridiculously ill-informed customer "service" agents, and a ream of forms to download, print, and send. Finally, all were completed, sent in with a letter of instruction and a check, and the wait began. Over a period of 4 weeks, I checked the online banking site daily, waiting for the account to fund. I placed many calls, sometimes giving up in despair over the long hold times. When reached, the agents asked the same questions over and over, and couldn't seem to comprehend the situation. All my paperwork (and check) were claimed to have not been received. In the meantime, their bots demanded that I release my credit freeze (placed for my protection from hacking) so they could check my credit - so I could deposit money with them!! So I released it, and then had to re-place it. Still, no money in my account. More calls by me. Customer service reps "promised" and "swore" they would look into it an call me back. NONE of them ever did. Finally, after a month, and still no action taken on my account, I placed a stop payment on my check (cost me $31) due to fears that my check was lost/stolen. Days later, I got a curt note from PENFED that my account had not been funded due to the stop payment! No explanation as to what had happened to all my paperwork and the check during the exceedingly long delay time during which they claimed never to have received anything from me! Many, many lost hours of my time and severe anxiety and frustration over the whole ridiculous affair. In the meantime, I found First Internet Bank of Indiana. Almost the same interest rate. Took me less than 10 minutes to open the account. Real people answer the phone, and their website is easy and seamless. No forms to download, no credit check, no problem. I asked them to let me know if the check didn't arrive in a few days. They instantly replied and told me they had flagged the account and would watch for the check. In all, I have spent less than an hour to open the same type account with virtually the same interest rate, with real, actual, competent, account representatives who know what they are doing. They made me smile! AVOID PENFED if you value your emotional state and mental health. read more

Went in to open some savings/coverdale accts for our 2 kids and a credit card for us. The service was quick. They laid out all the options with features, advantages and benefits of each option. Sangtibe was very nice and was perfectly patient while helping us, since the 2 toddlers were with us. The credit card approval took mere moments. read more

We recently went chuteys by Potomac mills and I had a steak burrito. I thought the service was great with a cup a tea with honey, lots of rice with bowl o beans on the side along with a great big burrito stuffed with spicy teak. read more

Pentagon Federal Credit Union was a really good credit union. Over the past several years they have expanded by buying up other credit unions. So now they are really big, but as a consequence their service has suffered. I have been with them since 2002 and they have many good features but overall they have very unreliable service. If someone bounces a check that you deposit, they may or may not block your ability to deposit checks on the phone app. This is a problem for a bank with few locations that are not in a secured military base. You can't reliably deposit checks by ATM since the machines are prone to destroy the check. Their phone app, while mostly effective, is a generation or two behind other banks as is their website. The check deposit app is unreliable. The website does not have two factor authentication. On the plus side they tend to pay high rates on CDs and their online savings account, though burdened with many restrictions, pays a very high rate. I was actually able to run a manual "zero based account" using my credit line and their online savings so that my net interest rate was negative, i.e. I made money on my working cash. This makes it so tough to change banks. BofA and its cohorts have mastered how to extract fees. But I bet their service is good. PFCU? A good product, but their service is unreliable...which means it will fail you when you need it to work the most. For example, I had a bunch of payments scheduled, but all of the sudden I could no longer deposit checks remotely--because someone bounced a check to me in the prior two weeks. Their stated policy is that they will charge fees if you deposit a bad check but not that they will cut off your ability to deposit checks. They cut off my remote check depositing service while I was overseas without warning. In summary this is a decent bank if all you do is auto-deposit your paycheck into the account and use their online savings account and they finally got a decent bill pay service...if you qualify. Their mortgages are not a good deal and their underwriting is really conservative. Combined with their bad service, I regret ever getting started with this bank. read more

I am going to confirm what others have said in previous reviews. Penfed does not care about their members, and constantly manages to make things more difficult for us through misinformation and deflection. As a currently furloughed government employee, I inquired about the direct deposit assistance that Penfed was advertising on their website. On my first call, the friendly customer service representative confirmed my member number and then told me that he was going to create an application. It was during this time that I received confirmation from a credit monitoring service that I use that a hard inquiry was done on my credit history. It seemed like a standard practice for a loan application, but what happened next was an exercise in frustration and misinformation. The rep informed me that they needed a furlough letter and a proof that a collections account that was (erroneously) put on my credit report over two years ago had been paid. I informed the representative that I could provide the notice, but did not have any way to substantiate the collections account. I've called Penfed several times to follow up and have received a different answer each time I've called. I've been told that the furlough letter was not necessary because they could validate it through my account, and that they'd work with me if I could not find a way to validate the collections account. Then, upon talking to another representative it's back to square one. This has been very stressful and disappointing as I am a long time customer who has never missed a payment on the credit card account I have with Penfed and has paid off TWO Penfed car loans ahead of schedule. I've also patiently dealt with erroneous fees that have been posted to my account when I would have been justified in closing my membership and moving on to a more reputable credit union, like NFCU. In summary, my experience is not unlike that of other Penfed members who have tried to resolve an issue only for it to go in an endless, frustrating loop. Despite being a long time customer, I am being treated as a delinquent. I came to Penfed seeking temporary relief for a hardship that I am experiencing, but only got more stress and a drop in my credit score to show for it. Once the shutdown is over, I will be taking my business elsewhere! read more

I used the Fort Belvoir Credit Union for many years. I was very satisfied. Suddenly PennFed takes over and every time I turned around they were sending me some kind of non-sense letter. I finally came in to put a stop to it but talking to their staff was like talking to the rear end of a mule. So I made the smart decision to close out all business from PennFed. But even after I closed my account they kept selling my name to their business associates, still trying to make money off me. I had to make a final trip into the credit union to tell them to stop doing that. Getting away from PennFed was a great decision. Don't make the mistake of joining!! read more

I got a mortgage with these folks over ten years ago. I had automated payments, but they still managed to periodically screw it up. Now I've paid off my mortgage two months ago and I am still getting notices from them and alerts to the credit rating agencies. As others have said, RUN, do not walk, away from this place!! Navy Fed has better rates anyway. Write your congressman and tell them to end the tax free status of these credit unions. read more

Absurdly poor service. Only the drive thru is open, and it's 20 minutes between drive thru customers. Not an exaggeration. The only way I'm spending the time now while waiting, is writing this very well earned review on a Wednesday afternoon. read more

RUN RUN RUN. I used them years ago for a credit card. They have charged me fraudulently, told me it was a mistake they corrected, then filed reports with all three credit bureaus fraudulently stating that I had a delinquent account. Trying to contact them to fix it is next to impossible and calling them at any number gets you robots, musak, robots, commercials, robots, more commercials, robots, and NO HUMANS TO HELP WHATSOEVER. Sad that a credit union can be this bad. read more

Very short staffed and slow. Crappy customer service. I am planning to change banks very soon.

I agree with some of the customers. Once any fraudulent charges are noticed and your debit/credit card gets closed, you have to wait about ONE week for your new card which is inconvenient. Before Belvoir Credit Union was bought by penfed, they used to be able to issue a card on the spot. I am very frustrated because I will be out of town in a few days and still waiting to receive my new one. I am thinking about close my account. read more

I've been a PFCU member for over 20 years. They have pretty much serviced all my financial needs, checking, savings, auto loans, mortgages, etc. and I have never had a poor customer service experience when dealing with them. And BTW, they pretty much beat every other financial institutions rates consistently. read more

This credit union took over Belvoir a while back and everything has gone down hill from there. Slow systems, poor customer service and now the latest is removal of the coin machine, so now I have no way of turning in coins except to roll them by hand. I'm changing to a different bank asap. I'm tired of this crappy credit union. It's only getting worse. read more

Terrible customer service. When you call the service center - it is obvious that reps are not trained. And when they give obviously wrong answers or just say they don't know - and you ask to be transferred to a supervisor, the answer is NO. They are not allowed to do that. Or if the rep has a thick accent and you cannot understand them, they will also refuse to transfer you to another agent. When I finally got through to a Senior Analyst (after calling the Chairman's office), I was told that my inability to understand a thick accent is an insult to their staff and a sign of discrimination. I am not good at other languages and I also am tone deaf...so trying to understand someone with a thick Spanish, French or Hindi accent is impossible for me. Per PFCU, though, my inability to understand thick accents is a sign that I am essentially a bigot. While the senior analyst did admit that the multiple errors in my account were indeed the fault of PFCU staff (who also were poorly trained just like the reps) - she ended the conversation by saying it was an insult for me to have assumed their customer service was offshore just because all the reps I spoke to had thick accents, and since they did not have a good command of the English language - they did not understand the issues at hand. Why I am the problem when it is PFCU who hired customer reps who could not easily communicate in the language virtually all there customers speak? PFCU is to be commended for hiring non-native English speakers but PFCU owes it to these hires to offer ESL classes and once their English skills improve, then provide adequate training for the position. It should also be noted that the third rep we spoke with (the only one who spoke without a heavy accent) - refused to help us as he told my husband that he was from a country near India, and he took PERSONAL insult at our inability to understand a thick Hindi accent. He actually hung up. And when the senior staff member called me (after I reported the situation to the Chairman's office), she defended him - saying it was okay to hang up and not service us since we insulted him by saying we could not understand the prior 2 reps. Apparently we are bigots because we pointed out communication problems. As a hard core liberal (who leans left more than 99% of people) we welcome all to our country and stand firmly behind immigration; in fact, we have picketed in support of immigration. So for PFCU to twist a reported communication problem into being a bigot is unforgivable. read more

I was going to give it one star but some excellent customer service on the part of Sandra and the teller that assisted me got it one more. TL;DR: Please work on your procedures. You have a system in place for helping customers but don't seem to be using it well and Sing(h)'s customer service needs some work. So why the low rating? First impressions mean a lot and when they don't go well it leaves a sour taste. I walked into the branch and signed in. It was a quiet weekday and there was, at that point, one other customer that I could see. Joy of joys! I was going to get finished relatively quickly! I've had a savings account with PenFed for years but never really used it as I was a member of another bank. Tired of the fees and with the thought of the benefits of an active relationship with a credit union, I walked in with the intention of depositing funds and signing up for an ATM card. I thought it sensible to ask the teller if she would be able to assist me with my full transaction to save everyone time. At this point there was no one else being assisted by the tellers but myself. The teller did a fine job and was able to answer most of my questions aside from the obscure ones I had about the PenFed app. She told me in order to take care of the rest of my business, I needed to wait to be assisted. Cool, not unexpected and easy to do. I've already signed in and there's a waiting area with no one in it. I'll just sit there and wait patiently. Oh, but I left my phone in the car...ouch, might need that for the business I'm conducting so I will run back to my vehicle for 10 seconds and be right back. Let me give full context here. I asked my daughter to hold down the fort and listen for my name to be called. She's a pretty mature kiddo and the credit union was quiet as can be. That being said, she is a kid with a tablet in hand, it's possible she missed my name being called. Not probable, but certainly possible. I came back in after the "epically" long 10 seconds of walking to my car and back inside and sat back down. Was my name called? No? Cool beans, no worries. Another customer walks in and signs in to the log in notebook. Someone walks out, I didn't catch his name personally but I believe it may be Sing(h) (spelling?), doesn't give more than a cursory glance at the designated waiting area where I am seated (you know, the area where you wait to be called for assistance), if that, and proceeds to ask the gentleman that has come in minutes after myself if he needs help. Hmm, Spidey sense is tingling, BUT not a big deal! Perhaps this gentleman has an appointment! The credit union manager/associate then walks over to the log in notebook and looks down at it and this is where my "Are you serious?" moment comes in. He looks at it, applies a question mark to my name, turns around, looks me square in the eye without saying anything and walks the other gentleman back to his office. At this point I am the only adult human being waiting in the waiting area. His eyes betrayed what actual, for lack of a better term, crap customer service he had to offer. People make mistakes. I could let it slide if not for a few suspect things. I walked back to his office and politely said that I did not want to interrupt the other customer but does he have an appointment? I mean, there must be some logical reason as to why you would not follow "first come, first served". He tells me "No, he doesn't. I called your name and put a question mark by it." You called my name in all of the 10 second span it took for me to retrieve my phone, my duly appointed knight-child did not hear you in the quietest of buildings, and you did not address me as I was sitting in the waiting area with not another adult soul within your optic range, in said area, when I came back? AND you actually went and looked at the log book THEN proceeded to skip me by placing a question mark next to my name? Really? I would've been fine with a "Ya know what, I didn't even see you, but don't worry someone else will be right with you." His response just seemed to lack customer service intelligence or truth or both. Too much left open that was easy to address by a professional that is an associate, let alone a person in a higher position. It just was not professional behavior at best. Sad part is, still needing to conduct my business, I came back to the designated waiting area and sat down. Guess what happened this time? Same situation, another customer walks in, someone greets them at the door and proceeds to offer them assistance. Guys and gals, please do not have a large waiting area for customers if you are not actually going to use it. I had to speak up to get assistance that time. I DID GET AWESOME CUSTOMER SERVICE AT THIS POINT THOUGH. I put that in all caps because I want that positive to be seen in the midst of the rest. Sandra saw the mistake, perceived or real, apologized, and gave me the info I needed while assisting me. 5/5 for her and the teller. read more

Have been a member of PFCU since mid 80 while stationed in Germany. Excellent service until recently when comparing against other banking venues they lose. Service nor rates are no longer customer orientated and that is what it is all about. Will be changing! read more

Ever since they took over Belvoir FCU i have had nothing but problems. The latest issue i had to dispute charges on my checking account. I called Thursday and the customer service woman assured me she would submit everything to the dispute department for processing. So i never hear any follow-up or anything so i call the following Wednesday (6 days) to get an update. At that point i find out nothing had been done and i needed to submit again. I was assured again that my dispute was being transferred to the dispute department however when i called the following day (Thursday 7 days) still nobody seemed to know where my dispute claim was. Finally i went on the website and found a way to submit directly to the dispute department. This bank should not have employees they are rude even in the bank. I went inside to find out if my dispute was being processed and the lady greeted me at the door with "what do you want?" I said nothing and walked out. Didn't want to cause a scene for trying to find out about MY money. Worst bank ever!! read more

I have been on the phone for 38 minutes mostly being told that I do not have an account with them. My wife is the primary but I have my own access and after being told I don't have access they then tell me I do. Then I am transferred to credit card service security which is far worse. I am dressed down as though I didn't do 22 years in service and my credit card was flagged because of suspected fraud from a company I have dealt with before and this occurred last week too with the same runaround. It took us 1.5 hours or a bit longer to get it resolved then. Just hoping I can get this resolved. We were members of FBCU which was bought out by this horrible institution. Never, ever encountered this type of service. I am changing to our other credit union this week. I have been transferred again and now I am waiting for customer service. Full circle no not resolution at 47 minutes. Horrible, just horrible. read more

I was with this company for 2 years making on time if not early payments. I was paying my car note form acct A and decided to switch my payments to be taken form account B. I was told that I had to have my credit score re pulled in order for this to happen. One agent said its only 3 negative points on your credit. Mind you I am 2 months ahead in my payments. The resolve is to make a payment over the phone every month, which is inconvenient because I pay all my bills electronically. Let them re-pull my credit. Let them mail me a form to withdrawal money monthly which I have never done either. I told them this is the 3rd time I switched accounts that I wanted to pay out of and never had this problem. They said the policy is in place for people who bounce checks. I do not pay with checks never have, all my payments are transferred from my bank to my loan directly. In addition to them placing a 5 day hold on the payment for the loan. IT makes no sense that anyone should be forced to go through all these avenues to give a lender money. Its is absurd and I am appalled and I will be making it known not to use them at all for anything. read more

I haven't experienced any Bank like PenFed, employees and Customer Services are a total mess, confused, dishonest, lies, gives wrong information's just to hook you, to be a member and pay a fee. I was on the line with the customer service lady for more than 2 hours, all she do, is put me on hold, many, many, many times, as if she don't know what, she's doing, to make me to be a member, then, asking for my Debit card, then told me, that my Debit card, does not accept the charge, I said, how could that be, when, I've been using this Debit card for years and I just used it today, and never have such problems, then she asked me for my Checking/routing# and she put me on hold for a long time and when she came back on the line, didn't have the courtesy to tell me what happened, till, I asked, that, it went through, then, every move she does, there's always a complications and confused here and there, having talking with her for more than 2 hours, is very frustrating and so tiring, so, I asked her to just cancel my membership and mail my refund to my PO Box, and she told me, NO! I will mail it to your physical address, I said, all my mail goes to my Post Office Box, That's the reason I got it, for this reason. She said before, I send your refund, you have to Copy your Bills, & lease in color, your Drivers license in color, I said, how could you copy a lease or bills in color when it's black in white? still, she insisted to be so. Then the Phone line was cut off, so I called my bank to stop the charges, told me, to wait 3 days, to dispute it, then, my Bank told me, "Don't you know, they charged you 5 times for membership fee?" I said, I don't know that, so I logged into my account, and was surprised, really they charged me 5X, same day, every few minutes, so I took picture of their charges in my account and sent it to their email address: info@HQ.PenFed.org. read more