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We give the PenFed Power Cash Rewards card four out of five Stars. It provides an uncomplicated experience, rewarding you cash back for every purchase and featuring some helpful benefits.
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The PenFed Power Cash Rewards Visa Signature® Card is a simple cash back credit card that earns 1.5% cash back on every purchase you make. If you’re a PenFed Honors Advantage member, you can earn 2% back.
There’s also a welcome bonus of a $100 statement credit after spending $1,500 in the first 90 days.
That’s really the purpose of this card: To earn rewards on everything you buy. It’s important to note, however, that you’ll have to be a PenFed member before you can apply for it.
And while the main goal of the PenFed Power Cash is to earn cash back, there’s an introductory balance transfer APR of 0% for 12 months, after which it’ll be 11.74% to 17.99% Variable. That might not prove overly useful to you, for reasons we’ll explain, but it’s good to know every facet of your card.
Read on to find out if this is the cash back card for you.
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So no matter where you shop, you’ll be able to earn cash back at a decent rate. The welcome bonus gives a nice opportunity to earn a little more, so you should try and obtain it.
To get the extra .5% cash back, you’ll need to become a PenFed Honors Advantage program member. You have two options in order to do so: either have an eligible PenFed account, or have a military record.
As long as you’re the primary credit card holder and owner of an open checking account for any new or existing PenFed product (excluding PenCheck Limited accounts), you can enroll in the Honors Advantage program.
Or, you must be currently serving in the military, a member of the Reserves or National Guard, an honorably discharged veteran, or retired from the service.
Once you reach the welcome bonus, consider choosing a dedicated gas credit card or grocery card for those purchases to increase your return on spend.
You can redeem your cash back rewards in a few different ways:
The first two options, getting a statement credit or depositing into a PenFed credit union account, are probably your easiest bets.
The PenFed Power Cash Rewards comes as either a basic Visa card or a Visa Signature card, depending on your creditworthiness. If you’re approved for the latter version, that means it comes along with some pretty good benefits which we’ve outlined below. Otherwise, you can expect to receive reduced benefits.
Check the Guide to Benefits that came with your card to see the specific benefits available to you.
Purchase APR | Balance Transfer APR | Cash Advance APR |
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11.74% to 17.99% Variable | 0% for 12 months, then 11.74% to 17.99% Variable | 11.74% to 17.99% Variable |
Annual Fee | Foreign Transaction Fee |
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$0 | None |
Balance Transfer Fee | Cash Advance Fee |
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3% per transaction | None |
Penalty APR | Late Fee | Returned Payment Fee |
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17.99% | Up to $28 | Up to $25 |
There’s no annual fee or foreign transaction fee, and you get a 0% intro balance transfer APR. There is, however, a balance transfer fee, so you’ll still have to pay to make use of the offer.
It’s important to note that if you don’t pay off your balance in full by the due date, you’ll lose your grace period for new purchases. That means they’ll begin accruing interest as soon as they’re made, rather than giving you some time to pay them off first.
So if you plan on taking advantage of the introductory balance transfer offer, and carrying a balance from month to month, you’ll lose that grace period and your purchases will begin accruing interest.
You could either use this card for purchases or use it for the balance transfer offer, but you’d likely cost yourself some money if you used it for both at the same time. You’ll have to decide which route is best to take, depending on your current financial needs.
The PenFed Power Cash Rewards Visa Signature® Card provides up to a flat 2% cash back rate (as long as you become an Honors Advantage member, which is fairly easy to do). That’s about as good as it gets for a no annual fee flat-rate cash back card, so if that’s what you’re looking for, you could do worse.
However, if you’re looking for a balance transfer, you may be better off with a card that’s focused on that purpose. While this one does feature a solid offer for quite a while, there’s also a transfer fee.
There are dedicated balance transfer cards on the market that have longer 0% APR periods coupled with no transfer fees, and one of them would likely work better for paying off debt.
You’ll find some value in the Visa Signature benefits package, particularly from the concierge and shopping/travel protections. They may end up saving you more time and money than you’d expect.
So if you’re seeking a simple cash back card with pretty good rewards and perks, the PenFed Power Cash Rewards should make you happy. If you’re looking for anything else, you might want to continue your search.
Learn all about PenFed and its credit cards PenFed Credit CardsSimply click the “Apply Now” button below and you’ll be directed to the card issuer’s site. Follow its instructions and provide all the necessary info and you should typically hear back pretty quickly if you’ve been approved or not.
Fair or average credit scores are recommended for a decent chance at approval with the PenFed Power Cash card. This means a FICO score of at least 580 or so, and a VantageScore of at least 650.
But keep in mind that credit approval relies on more than just your credit scores; other factors, like income, play a role too. So you may be approved with scores below that range, or even denied with better scores.
It’s worth mentioning that in the card terms, PenFed states the length of your membership is taken into account when determining your creditworthiness. Having been a member for longer will probably help, but it’s hard to say for sure how they’re taking it into account.
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The Citi® Double Cash Card – 18 month BT offer (Review) offers a flat 2% cash back with a small twist.
Rather than getting 2% upfront for every purchase, you’ll get 1% when you buy an item and the other 1% when you pay it off. And with no annual fee, that makes it a great option. There are also some different redemption options available that could net you a higher return on spend.
The Citi card features a 0% balance transfer APR for 18 months on Balance Transfers, then it’ll be 13.99% – 23.99% (Variable). The transfer fee will probably be the same, or similar, but you’ll have more time to pay the balance down.
The PenFed Power Cash Rewards will most likely have stronger benefits, as the Double Cash has no shopping or travel protections. With the Citi card, you’ll get the handy feature of checking your FICO Bankcard Score 8 based on your Equifax credit report, but not much else.
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There are a few redemption options available to you with the Double Cash. You’re able to convert your rewards into ThankYou points, and then transfer them to Citi’s airline partners (if you also have the Citi Prestige® Card or Citi Premier® Card, you’ll have access to more partners).
If you find a good airline redemption deal, you could get a higher value than 1 cent per point. If you were to get 2 cents per point for example, that would give you a 4% cash back equivalent, doubling what you’d normally receive.
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The Chase Freedom Unlimited® (Review) is another simple cash rewards credit card.
It’s pretty similar to the PenFed Power Cash, except you’ll get 5% for Lyft rides (through March 2022) and for travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards. You’ll get 3% back at restaurants and drugstores and a flat 1.5% for everything else. You’ll also get a long 0% interest intro period for purchases.
This card comes as either a Visa Signature or Visa Platinum card, so, much like the PenFed card, your benefits depend on the Visa tier you’re approved for.
If you ride with Lyft often, this could be a far more rewarding option. And accumulating no interest on new purchases is a handy feature on top of that. Certainly something to think about.
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The Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express (Review) provides cash back for things you might need every day, like gas and groceries.
You’ll get 3% cash back at U.S. supermarkets (up to $6,000 spent annually), 2% at U.S. gas stations and select U.S. department stores, and 1% for all other purchases. So you’ll earn a bit more at select locations than you would with the PenFed Power Cash.
The Blue Cash Everyday from American Express also features a 0% intro purchase period as well, so you’ll have some extra time to pay down some larger purchases.
This card comes with the useful benefit of Amex Offers, which provides more rewards and occasional discounts at a wide selection of vendors. But the Everyday has fewer shopping and travel protections, which could save you plenty of money and hassle in an unfortunate situation.
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Although you have bonus categories here, there’s a way to make purchases outside of the categories and still earn rewards above 1%. If you’re at a U.S. supermarket and you use the Blue Cash Everyday to purchase a store gift card for a different merchant, you’ll typically be able to earn that 3% cash back. Then, you can use the gift card as you would normally. This strategy may not include prepaid debit card purchases, however, which might be counted as cash advances.
Any reward card that earns at grocery stores or other merchants that sell gift cards can do this, including the Discover it® Cash Back mentioned below.
American Express is a Credit Card Insider advertiser.
The Discover it® Cash Back (Review) offers 5% cash back in categories that change quarterly, or every three months (up to $1,500 spent per quarter; activation required).
This Discover card provides more cash back than the PenFed Power Cash, but at the loss of some flexibility. You’ll earn cash back at different rates depending on where and when you shop. And as a nice bonus, Discover has the excellent feature of doubling your rewards for the first year.
That means you’ll be earning the equivalent of 10% cash back in those select categories, far more rewarding than the Power Cash’s max of 2%.
The benefits you’ll receive aren’t as impressive, as you’ll get fewer protections and nothing similar to the Visa Signature Concierge perk. But you could always consider combining the two cards. Just be sure you use the Discover it Cash Back for a year to get double the rewards before getting the PenFed Power Cash. Then use the Discover it Cash Back for the 5% categories and the PenFed card for everything else.
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Here’s the 5% cash back calendar for 2021, including what was offered in 2020.
Quarter | 2020 Categories | 2021 Categories |
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January – March |
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April – June |
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July – September |
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October – December |
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Do you use the PenFed Power Cash Rewards Card, or another card in the PenFed family? How do you like it? Let us know in the comments, we’d love to know!
For rates and fees of the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, please click here.
The PenFed Power Cash Rewards card offers 1.5% cash back on every purchase, with the chance to earn 2% if you’re a PenFed Honors Advantage member. You’ll get an introductory balance transfer APR and Visa Signature benefits, but you’ll need to be a PenFed member to apply.
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