Pen Fed To Reduce 2% On Supermarket Purchases

Not on my January statement.

Has anyone actually seen this notice at the end of their latest statement or is this another silly rumor?

I've received the PenFed notice on my statement regarding the supermarket rebate change to 1% as of 3/1/11.

Got my statement today and it WAS there. Sadly.

So much for 2% cashback at walmart.

What was missing is WHY ?

I encourage others to let penfeds boss know we dont like this. Otherwise, they will take away our 5% gas cashback too.

James F. Quinn

Chairman Quinn can be contacted by e-mail at PFCUBDChairman@penfed.org

I got an email response that somehow is not showing up here. Perhaps because it was double posted ?

"Wal-mart qualifies as a supermarket? I guess the trend will be reducing and/or eliminating the rebate programs. Then they can start reinstituting annual fees. What they giveth, they now taketh away."

Walmart was indeed counted as a supermarket for the penfed card. I tried & verified both the super walmart and the neighborhood markets paid 2% cashback. (It was easy to calculate because I only use the card for gas & groceries and often I have another card paying 5% on groceries during quarterly promotions)

So I have my penfed clearly marked "Gas, walmart & groceries" 5,2 &2%.

Got a response to my email to the penfed chairman...

Thanks for writing.

 



I understand your disappointment with the reduction of the cash rewards for grocery purchases with the PenFed VISA Platinum account.

PenFed Management and the Board of Directors periodically review the credit union’s products, rates and fees and make decisions about changes with the intended end result being that we have sufficient income to offset our expenses. As a Board, we decided that the reduction of the grocery reward by 1% could be better used in our other products. I hope you can understand that our choice is intended for the benefit of our membership as a whole.

Jim Quinn

Chairman

 

They finally posted it on their web site. It was never on my on-line statement and it's certainly not welcome news in these days of rising food prices. I'll continue using the card only for gasoline purchases. If they end the 5% reward for that I imagine the card gets shoved into the back of the desk drawer with others that quit offering incentives to use their cards.

I travel the country for my job and ALWAYS use the penfed card for my gas purchases. Pay in full every month.  If they take away -or drop the 5% cb , I will discontinue using it and go with another with a lower rate.

They've drop the apy on cd's also.   .25%

Received an e-mail from PenFed today...

First, thank you for being a PenFed Visa Platinum Cash Rewards Cardholder. As the summer months approach, you'll be reminded of the value in our card with every purchase. Our 5% cash back on gas and 1% cash back on everything else with no limits to the cash back you can receive each month makes the PenFed Visa Platinum Cash Rewards Card a true standout among rewards credit cards.

Effective March 1, 2011, PenFed adjusted its rewards structure on the Visa Platinum Cash Rewards Card to 5% cash back on gas and 1% cash back on everything else. However, because you were not notified prior to the effective date of the change, you will still receive an extra 1% on your supermarket purchases for the month of March. The additional 1% bonus will be applied as a credit on a future statement. Please allow up to 3 billing cycles for it to appear.