Gold Visa® Card review

PenFed is one of the top-rated credit unions and offers a variety of member-exclusive benefits. You can receive discounts on a vast range of services, including auto rental and protection, tax filing, college fund planning, home insurance and security and health benefits. 

However, none of these benefits are directly related to the PenFed Gold Visa itself: any PenFed member can access them.

As a standard Visa Traditional card, you’ll have access to Visa’s basic perks like auto rental collision damage coverage, 24/7 roadside dispatch and travel accident insurance. These benefits are great for making digital transactions safer and easier, but they aren’t unique to this card and don’t offer much in the way of pure value. 

If you don't want to join PenFed or a credit union, Discover credit cards also typically offer rewards with minimal rates and fees. For example, the Discover it® Cash Back has no annual fee, no foreign transaction fee, no penalty APR and no fee for the first late payment (then up to $41). The Discover it® Cash Back and PenFed Gold Visa also both offer intro APRs for both purchases and balance transfers.

However the major difference between the two is the PenFed Gold Visa Card doesn’t offer rewards while the Discover it® Cash Back does. The simplicity of the PenFed Gold may make it ideal if you prefer to have a card with no need to track rotating or changing bonus categories. But the PenFed Gold has stricter membership requirements compared to the Discover it® Cash Back card.

The Discover it® Cash Back card offers a flexible rewards program, as you can earn 5 percent cash back on rotating bonus categories that change each quarter (up to a $1,500 quarterly maximum, then 1 percent) and 1 percent cash back on all other purchases. Discover it® Cash Back card also offers additional perks like a first-year cash back match, which can significantly boost rewards earnings. 

Dedicated intro APR credit cards like the Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card are also fantastic alternatives, but without rewards and more benefits, the Citi Diamond Preferred card’s ongoing value might be as limited as the PenFed Gold Visa’s — as both cards offer no cash back, points or miles rewards.

However, the Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card is known for its focus on Citi-centric benefits and features, making it a suitable option if you want some additional  exclusive perks and entertainment benefits. This card provides features like access to presale tickets for events such as concerts, sporting events and more. Not only that, the Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card offers a longer intro APR period than the PenFed Gold Visa Card, so those who need more time to pay down a balance might find more value in the Diamond Preferred.

If you’re deployed abroad or you travel often, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is an excellent choice. The Chase Sapphire Preferred is well-known for its travel rewards, offering 5X points on travel through Chase Travel℠ (2X points on travel outside of Chase Travel℠) and 3X points on dining. By using this card for dining and travel purchases, you can accumulate valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards points that you can transfer to several airline and hotel loyalty programs, or redeem for travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal.

The Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express is perfect for at-home expenses. It offers generous cash back rewards, particularly in categories such as groceries and streaming services (6 percent cash back) and gas stations and transit (3 percent cash back). And while the card requires an annual fee, the rewards you earn on the card can easily offset this cost each year. 

If your purchases don’t fall within typical bonus categories, you can’t go wrong with a flat-rate cash back card like the Citi Double Cash® Card. ​​The Citi Double Cash Card offers a straightforward cash back rewards structure, providing 1 percent cash back on all purchases, and an additional 1 percent cash back when payments are made, for a total of 2 percent cash back on all spending. This card's cash back rewards apply to all categories of spending, making it an excellent choice for earning consistent and reliable cash back on all purchases.

The PenFed Gold Visa Card is a natural choice for military members as they can easily clear the card’s membership requirements. The card’s low regular APR and no foreign transaction fees also make it a solid pick for military members who often travel overseas or are stationed abroad and rely on a credit card for purchases. 

The PenFed Gold Visa Card's credit union requirements makes it a suitable option if you’ve been curious to join a credit union and access the benefits and services they offer, while also enjoying the convenience of a reliable credit card.

The PenFed Gold Visa Card is a strong fit if you  prefer a straightforward and uncomplicated approach to managing your finances. With no rewards, you don't have to worry about juggling different bonus categories or rotating categories throughout the year. Also, with no annual fee and a low interest rate, it provides an additional layer of simplicity and savings, and makes it an excellent choice if you prefer to carry a balance occasionally. 

The primary factor in a balance transfer or low-interest card’s rating is the quality of its introductory APR offer and ongoing APR. This includes both the introductory rate itself and the length of the intro APR on both balance transfers and new purchases. 

For cards designed primarily for balance transfers, the intro APR offer on balance transfers has the largest impact on overall score. The quality of these cards’ intro APR on new purchases is also considered, but holds less weight than the intro APR on balance transfers. 

For general low-interest cards, the intro APR offer on new purchases has the largest impact on overall score, followed by the ongoing APR and intro APR offer on balance transfers. This weighting assumes cardholders considering a card in this category will prioritize payment flexibility on new purchases or may need to carry a balance long term, whereas cardholders trying to pay off debt will opt for a dedicated balance transfer card.

The cards that score the highest in these categories tend to offer long 0-percent intro APRs on both balance transfers and new purchases as well as a lower-than-average low-end APR. 

Along with evaluating each card’s intro APR offers, we score balance transfer and low-interest cards based on their fees. 

Of primary importance is a card’s balance transfer fee, since this can play a large role in the total cost of a balance transfer. We rate each card’s balance transfer fee based on how it stacks up against the fee you’ll find on competing cards. 

While this fee carries less weight when we assess general low-interest cards than dedicated balance transfer cards, it still factors into our evaluation since cardholders may decide to transfer debt to a low-interest card even if it offers no intro APR or an intro APR higher than 0 percent.

And while a lower balance transfer fee could save you more overall than a few extra months of 0-percent intro APR, this fee carries less weight in our scoring system than a card’s introductory APR and intro APR period. This is because many users prioritize getting as much time as possible to pay off debt while avoiding interest. 

Our ratings also factor in the presence of annual, foreign transaction, cash advance and late payment fees, along with penalty APRs. Annual fees are weighted most heavily since these are the only “unavoidable” fees in the list and tend to be less common on dedicated balance transfer and low-interest credit cards.

While getting a generous intro APR offer and low ongoing APR are likely to be the biggest priorities for someone looking for a low-interest or balance transfer card, we also consider how much value a card can offer after its intro APR comes to an end. 

Balance transfer and low-interest cards receive a higher rating if they also include an ongoing rewards program or unique and valuable perks. Such features make a card more useful long term and make it less likely you’ll need to apply for a new card (and temporarily hurt your credit score) after you pay off debt.