All reviews are prepared by Bankrate.com staff. Opinions expressed therein are solely those of the reviewer and have not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The information, including rates and fees, presented in the review is accurate as of the date of the review. Check the data at the top of this page and the lender’s website for the most current information.
At a glance
4.6
Bankrate Score
Availability
Affordability
Customer Experience
Check your personal loan rates
Get personal loan offers from PenFed Credit Union and other great lenders. It takes just two minutes and will not affect you credit score.
Here's a breakdown of some of the benefits and drawbacks of PenFed Credit Union personal loans.
Pros
PenFed personal loan borrowers are not charged a fee to originate the loan and process it.
No prepayment penalty
Joint applications accepted
PenFed borrowers can get their money in 1 to 2 business days if they sign up for direct deposit.
Cons
Borrowers with strong credit may get lower rates elsewhere
Low maximum loan amount
PenFed Credit Union has been in business since 1935 and serves 2.5 million members nationwide. This lender also operates in Guam, Puerto Rico and Okinawa. PenFed Credit Union personal loans can be used to pay off higher-interest debt, such as credit cards, to make home improvements, like remodeling a kitchen, or to pay for medical expenses, car repairs or a big event like a wedding or vacation. You must be a member of the credit union in order to be eligible for a personal loan.
PenFed Credit Union snapshot
Loan amount
$600 – $50,000
APR
5.49% to 17.99%
Minimum credit score
Not specified
Time to receive funds
1 or 2 business days after approval
Lending terms
PenFed Credit Union offers personal loans from as little as $600 to a maximum of $50,000. Personal loans are charged a fixed interest rate of 5.49 percent to 17.99 percent. Borrowers can choose terms up to 60 months to repay personal loans.
The rate and term you are offered will depend on your credit score, credit history, income and debt load.
Fees and penalties
PenFed Credit Union doesn’t charge an origination fee for personal loans. In addition, it touts that it has no hidden fees for personal loans, so borrowers should face no surprises. There is also no penalty for paying the loan off before the term is up.
There are two costs borrowers should know about:
A $29 charge for late loan payments.
A $30 charge for a returned loan payment, check or ACH.
How to apply for a personal loan with PenFed Credit Union
PenFed will give you an idea of the rate you qualify for before it makes a final loan offer. This preliminary rate will not require a “hard pull” on your credit report, so it won’t affect your credit score.
The loan application requires the following information:
Reason for the loan
Requested loan amount
Requested loan term
Basic personal information such as name, address, Social Security number, phone number and email address
Personal annual income
Monthly mortgage or rent payment
You can apply online or at one of PenFed’s roughly 45 branches. You can track the status of your loan application online or by calling PenFed. Telephone service hours, in Eastern time, are: Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Saturday 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.; and Sunday 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. PenFed also has a highly rated mobile app that can be used to track the status of a personal loan application
How Bankrate rates PenFed Credit Union
Bankrate Score
4.6
Scoring factors
Availability
4.2
Low minimum loan amount and fast funding times
Affordability
4.7
Low minimum APRs and minimal fees
Customer experience
5.0
Online access, highly rated mobile apps and accessible customer service hours
Editorial disclosure: All reviews are prepared by Bankrate.com staff. Opinions expressed therein are solely those of the reviewer and have not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The information, including rates and fees, presented in the review is accurate as of the date of the review. Check the data at the top of this page and the lender’s website for the most current information.
Advertiser Disclosure
We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.
Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover.
How We Make Money.
The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you.