The PenFed Pathfinder card, or more specifically speaking the PenFed Pathfinder Rewards Visa Signature Card (whew), is a travel credit card from PenFed Credit Union that offers several unique features.
It’s easy to dodge the annual fee and there’s a yearly travel statement credit, which makes it the only card I know of that offers a travel credit with (potentially) no annual fee. Please do share if you know others.
And, contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be a member of the military to do business with PenFed.
I haven’t even mentioned the intro bonus yet!
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PenFed Pathfinder Card – Details
Bonus
- 50,000 points
Requirements
- Spend at least $3000 with your new card within 90 days of opening
- To get the credit card you must be a member of the Penfed Credit Union. This isn’t hard and you can join at the same time that you apply. To be a member they’ll have you create a savings account and deposit at least $5. Congrats-you’ve joined the credit union.
Exclusions
Rates & Fees
- APR: 17.99%
- Annual Fee: $95, waivable (see notes)
- Foreign Transaction Fee: 0%
Benefits
- 4x points on travel with PenFed Honors Advantage (see notes), 3x points on travel otherwise
- 1.5x points on other purchases
- 0% intro balance transfer APR for the first 12 months
- $100 Global Entry or $85 TSA Pre-check statement credit
- $100 ancillary air statment credit per year (see notes)
- Priority Pass airport lounge membership (see notes)
Deadlines
- No known deadline
Notes
- PenFed Honors Advantage Program: being a member of this program will earn you addition benefits with this card. Honors Advantage members get 4x points on travel instead of 3x, and they also get the annual fee of $95 waived. Qualifying is simple-either 1) military service, past or present, or 2) have a checking account with PenFed. If you have a Free checking account you need to either maintain a $500 minimum daily balance or direct deposit at least $500 each month.
- $100 Air travel statement credit: this credit goes towards “ancillary” air fees on certain domestic airlines. From the website “Incidental air travel fees include charges from the airline such as baggage fees, flight-change fees, in-flight food and
beverage purchases, airport lounge day-passes, pet-kennel fee, and phone reservation fees. Airline tickets, upgrades,
mileage points purchases, mileage points transfer fees, gift cards, duty free purchases, and award tickets are not
deemed to be incidental fees”. Airlines included are Alaskan Air, American Air, Delta Air, Frontier Air, Hawaiian Air, JetBlue, Southwest Air, United Air, and Virgin America. - Priority Pass airport lounge membership: membership to Priority Pass gets you the ability to pay to visit a Priority Pass lounge, which currently costs $35 per visit. Sadly this membership doesn’t get you in free.
PenFed Pathfinder Card – Conclusion
For me, the most fascinating thing about the PenFed Pathfinder card is the ability to have a yearly travel credit without paying an annual fee. Just having the card in your wallet will get you value year after year.
The no annual fee part is assuming that you join the Honors Advantage program, which makes this card more valuable and isn’t hard to maintain.
Beyond that the point earning rates on travel are good and the earnings on everything else are standard. The point redemption options are more limited than some of the big name companies because there aren’t any transfer partners: you redeem points through the PenFed portal. There’s also no direct cash redemption option, though you can redeem for gift cards.
I’ve heard that the portal has fewer choices than some of the big names like Chase or CapitalOne, but I can’t speak to that myself.
The credit for Global Entry/TSA Pre-check is standard for a travel rewards card but always welcome.
I’m not sure how useful the Priority Pass membership will be, since you still have to pay each time you use it, but that’s an added feature as well.
The introductory bonus of 50,000 points seems strong to me, and the points are guaranteed by PenFed to be worth at least $0.085 each. At worst that means $425 of value from the bonus.
The points are worth a bit less than average, but I think the added features and strong earning on travel help to offset that.
Want To Travel With The Pathfinder?
This link will take you to the Pathfinder page on the PenFed website. There’s a link to prequalify on the page if want an idea of credit limit and approval odds.
