The New Penfed Platinum Rewards Visa Card

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Penfed Platinum Rewards Visa Card

Key Features

Earn 5 points per dollar spent on gas purchases

Earn 3 points per dollar spent on supermarket purchases

Earn 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases

No annual fee

No foreign transaction fee

Earn 5,000 points upon first purchase with the card

Earn an additional 20,000 points when you spend $1,000 in the first 3 months of opening the Card - that's equal to $200 toward the reward of your choice. I already have the Penfed Premium Travel Rewards card which I get 5 points per dollar on Airline Tickets. I will keep on charging my airline tickets on that card and when I get this one, charge my gas and supermarket purchases on this one. I have calculated that I can get a free International ticket just by charging my groceries on this card! The only bad thing is that one can't transfer points over to Airlines and one must use their booking tool. Also, you should only redeem your tickets with this card in low season since the number of points you need during high season is astronomical. Also, if you are only interested in Business or First Class tickets, then this card isn't for you. This card works well for people that are flexible in their travel dates and are interested in Economy tickets, since for example, one can redeem a $1,000 Economy ticket in low season for only 62,500 points. See chart below for details.

Ticket cost 
$350 : 21,875pts
$500 : 31,250pts
$750 : 46,875pts
$1,000 : 62,500pts

To travel round trip from the US to the Middle East for example it would cost 80-90k miles, but as you see above, with this card it is only 62,500 miles. This is only during low season.

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Earn 3 Points on Dining Purchases Through Aprl 30th With The Penfed Premium Travel Rewards American Express Card

In addition to the 5 times per dollar for Airfare Purchases you normally earn on the Penfed Premium Travel Rewards American Express Card, you can now earn through April 30, 2012, 3 points per dollar on Dining purchases. Apparently this offer was available from February 1st, but I seemed to miss the email. What is so great about this card, besides normally earning 5 times per dollar is that it has no foreign transaction fees. So, while you are doing a bit of traveling you can now use this card on your foreign dining purchases. The sign up promotion for this card is 20,000 points which is not amazing, but considering you get so many miles for your Airfare Purchases I think this is a worthwhile card to have. My normal spend is about $6,000 - $6,500 spend per year on Airline Tickets, which I always place on my Penfed Credit Card. So, about every 2 years per years I can get a free Economy Coach Airline Ticket that also earns frequent flyer miles. Now, if you get friends and family to place their Airfare Tickets on your Credit Card you can earn even more miles!

Penfed Premium Travel Rewards American Express Card Click here to apply. In order to apply for this credit card you need to first be part of Pentagon's Credit Union. All you need to do is pay $5 to join their Union and then you can apply for their credit card. Some experts don’t think that this is a good credit card, since you need to purchase the airline/travel purchases through their booking tool. But I think it’s a great deal, if you are willing to buy tickets through them when it’s not high season and only are interested in economy seats. When it’s high season the miles you need are astronomical! But if you are flexible and can purchase your tickets not during high season, tickets cost much less. At the end of 2011 they had a promotion where one earned 25% more on all earnings. So, this card also has great promotions from time to time.

Did I mention that this card if free? You heard me right! There are NO ANNUAL FEES!!!


Ticket Cost:
$350  :  21,875 points
$500 :   31,250 points
$750 :   46,875 points
$1,000: 62,500 points (80,000 miles/points with airlines)

To travel round trip from the US to the Middle East for example it would cost 80-90k miles, but as you see above, with this card it is only 62,500 miles. This is only during low season.

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I am not looking at these cards for the bonus offers, but what they offer per dollar in terms of daily spend. I got the United/Continental cards for their bonuses and probably won't end up keeping them since there are many other Chase cards I would rather have and I dont want to spend the $95 a year fee. But if I can get the fee waived, I might consider keeping them for a while. These 2 cards will soon turn into 1.

Here is how I use these cards:

Capital One Venture Card- Everything Else (2x)

Chase Sapphire Prefferred Card- Dining (2x) and online purchases

Chase Freedom Card- only up to $1,500 on rotating categ. each quarter = 7,500 miles

Penfed Premium Travel Rewards American Express Card- Travel (5x)

Continental/United- online purchases

Click on the links to read reviews I have already writen on these 2 cards:

Capital One Venture Signature Card

Chase Sapphire Preffered Card

Penfed Premium Travel Rewards American Express Card - Some experts don’t think that this is a good credit card, since you need to purchase the airline/travel purchases through their booking tool. But I beg to differ and think it’s a great deal, if you are willing to buy tickets through them when it’s not high season and only are interested in economy seats. When it’s high season the miles you need are astronomical! But if you purchase not during high season, tickets cost much less. When I travel between the US and the Middle East, normally I use 80,000 reward miles. With this card I only need to use up 62,500, plus I receive frequent flyer miles!! I charge this card for all my airline tickets since I get 5 miles per dollar spent ($1 on everything else) and now through the end of 2011 one earns 25% more on all earnings. This card has no transactions fees, no yearly fees and currently comes with a 20,000 miles bonus when you spend $650 in 3 months.

Ticket Cost: $350 : 21,875 points

Ticket Cost: $500 : 31,250 points

Ticket Cost: $350 : 46,875 points

Ticket Cost: $350 : 62,500 points

Chase Freedom Card - I don't have this card yet, but I am looking forward to getting it once I have waited 60 days since my last Chase credit card applications (United and Continental). This card offers 5 miles per dollar spent on rotating categories every 3 months up until $1,500 (and receive 7,500 miles) That's 30,000 miles/yr on $6,000 spend. I would recommend only using this card on the rotating categories up until $1,500. Currently (11/2011) the categories are charities, dining, department stores and movie theatres until Dec. 31, 2011. There is no annual fee and rewards never expire.

Continental/United Credit Cards- The $95 yearly fee is waived the first year. These 2 airlines are in the process of merging, so when you get your miles for both airlines, you can merge them. Instead of getting 30,000-40,000 miles for the Star Alliance Network you will be getting 60,000-80,000 miles. Earn 25,000 miles after first use, 5,000 after adding an authorized user who uses the card and 10,000 after $25,000 spend. The latest buzz is that in November (still waiting), United will be increasing their bonus miles from 40,000 to 60,000. I applied for both these cards at the same time and got approved for the Continental Card, but not for the United Card, the same goes for my dear husband . So, I just called up and got approved over the phone for myself. Now, I needed my husband to call to ask for the approval on the United Card, but he was out of the country. By the time he came back, I heard about the possible 60,000 mile offer so I haven’t called Chase, because I would like to go for the extra miles. If it doesn't increase to 60,000 bonus miles, I will probably not try to get the card for him and instead go for the Chase Freedom card for him instead. Generally one only gets one miler per dollar spent with these cards so I only use them for online shopping through their MileagePlus Shopping when they reward more than Chase does or have a store that Chase doesn't. This card offers priority boarding and a free checked bag each time you fly Continental or United and charge it to your card. My husband has become a Gold Elite so this doesn't help him, so therefore I don't charge this card for his travel.

Amex Holiday Bonus Points Promotion with the Penfed American Express Credit Card

From October 1^st through December 31^st you will receive an extra 25% bonus points on every purchase you make, including travel, which currently receives 5 miles for every dollar spent. I recently made a purchase for an airline ticket that cost $1,164 and I received  5,825 miles, plus 1,456 bonus points!! I think that is pretty amazing. And not only that, during low season one can get reward tickets from the Middle East to the States for 62,500 miles!! (which is normally 80,000 miles with airline points). All in all, I think this is a great card to have. I use this card primarily for purchasing airline tickets and whenever else they have 5x the points for certain purchases.