PenFed has started mailing letters to PenFed Pathfinder Rewards Visa Signature
cardholders telling them the card's $95 annual fee can no longer be waived.
The change takes effect September 28, 2026. Doctor of Credit reported the
letters on August 15, 2026, and cardholders on r/churning confirmed
receiving the same notice that weekend.
The waiver has been the card's defining feature. PenFed Honors Advantage
members, meaning current or former military members and holders of a PenFed
Access America checking account, have had the fee waived in full. That turned
the Pathfinder into an effectively free travel card carrying a $100 annual
airline incidental credit, a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee
credit, and a Priority Pass membership. Once the change lands, Honors Advantage
members pay the same $95 as everyone else. PenFed's letter says the fee
"is no longer eligible to be waived."
Late fees are rising too
The same notice raises the card's late fee to as much as $30 for a first
late payment and as much as $35 for later ones, until the cardholder makes
six consecutive on-time minimum payments.
PenFed has not published a separate announcement, so the effective date and the
fee amount come from the mailed change-in-terms notice rather than the card's
public product page. Cardholders who held the Pathfinder only because the fee
was free now have to decide whether the $100 airline credit and the Priority
Pass membership are worth $95 a year. Anyone planning to close the card should
check when their own annual fee posts, since the September 28 date is when the
waiver stops applying, not when every account is billed.