Petal Reviews 92

I will confirm what other recent reviews have stated--definitely a bait and switch tactic used by this company. I applied for this card 4 years ago to build my credit...it seemed legit and did help me build it since they did not require a credit check at the time of applying. Original card was no fees, low credit limit at first, but I could build that limit over time by making on-time payments--which I did every single month for the last 4 years. About two months ago (May 2023) I received a notice from Petal stating my Petal 2 card (the one with lower interest rate and for customers with better credit) was going to be automatically switched to a Petal 1 Rise card (much higher interest rate) and would begin charging $8 per month. The ONLY way to opt out of this change was to cancel the card altogether. I was like wha?! Credit bureaus do not like it when you close a card but literally Petal was forcing me to do it or pay their fees of $96 a year. Since I was only earning about $100 in rewards each year, it made no sense to keep the card because no other rewards or additional perks were being offered to me as an original Petal customer (when the company was first trying to launch, I was an original customer), even though I paid on-time and currently have an 800+ credit score. About my accumulated rewards points: I had about $100 in reward perks built up and the change notice stated I could cash those out by calling them directly (there was no way to make that request online) but when I called there was either no answer or I was put on an indefinite hold (waited 45 minutes one time then finally gave up). So instead, I charged up $100 worth of charges, redeemed my reward points to pay off that balance and closed the card. I have been an elated, 100% satisfied customer all these years, made frequent purchases on this card, and was able to establish my credit and increase my credit score because of the original Petal card I was issued. However, somewhere along the way (I think the company may have been sold to another one about a year and a half ago) they forgot who keeps them in business--their customers. I will say they did clearly communicate this change was coming a couple of months in advance, but why on earth you would intentionally burn your loyal customers without any fair alternative offered violates every business ethics rule out there. This card honestly gives VISA a bad name. I do not recommend any new customers apply for this card. I feel badly for any who are tangled up in this card with high remaining balances to pay off--the interest rate literally doubled and now monthly fees will be added on as well. GET OUT ASAP if you are a current customer and DO NOT APPLY if you are looking for a new card. This company ticks all the boxes as a shady, bait and switch scam.

They without explanation changed the card to a yearly $98.00 fee with 0 added benefits. I have very good credit. Make more now than when I 1st got this card. I’m being down graded from Petal 2 to this Rise card. It stinks. I called because credit experts (including me) say to call & try to work something else out. The girl (young & rude) was such a snot on the phone. Our choice…pay $98.00 yearly fee or close your account. Nothing else offered. No reduction in APR, no added perks $ etc. They come off with this “cutsie” marketing strategy which I fell for & went with for 2+ years. They stink. Not cute. Closing any credit card account negatively affects your credit rating. I’m really ticked off about this. Avoid this card! You can do better!

Suckers you in as a "No fees" credit card then changes to more fees than literally any other card I have. I'll be paying it off and closing my account ASAP. Oughta be illegal.

Had to cancel due to monthly fee, hurt my credit as I had for four years with responsible use. Glad I got rid of it ultimately with only $550 credit line over those 4 years and having no other CC limit below $5,000 out of my other 10 credit cards... Do yourself a favor and don't get this card it will hurt your credit closing it in the future if they decide to charge fees even if you have a 800+ credit score.

Well, first off - it's a great card if you're trying to build your credit BUT - I never expected for them to go behind my back after all these years of paying in full every single month by "changing" my account to Petal Rise by force. Basically, I either close the account (which hurts my credit score) or keep the "downgraded" account but start paying a monthly fee of $8 on top of fees for cash-like purchases. Below is a word-for-word statement from the email they sent out.

"We are writing to notify you that we are replacing your Petal 2 account with a Petal 1 Rise account. Your Petal 1 Rise account will have the following fees and terms:

Monthly Membership Fee of $8;
we are expanding the types of purchases permitted on your account;
we are adding a transaction fee on purchases that are cash-like transactions; and
late fees and returned payment fees."

I responded by saying I'd like to keep the Petal 2 Card and not be upgraded into the Petal Rise garbage. Crickets. No response at all.

So, yeah. I'm closing the account thank you very much. AVOID. Very deceptive. They lure you in to their Petal Cards and then once they see that they can't make money off of you, they "upgrade" your account to a paid version and you cannot keep the current one. Wow.

Trash company. Charging monthly, or hurting your credit by forcing you to cancel. F this company. Doesn't matter if you pay on-time every single month. They force the upgrade and you either pay, or you cancel and hurt your credit. Terrible company that deserves to fail.

DON’T GET THE PETAL 2 CARD.
The Petal 2 was my first credit card ever and I swore by it, even though the cash back rate is rather low, and the product itself is tremendously boring. But hey, it was a solid, reliable, no-annual-fee card that would not fail you… until a couple weeks back.
Petal decided to start charging me an annual fee of $96, starting August 1st and if I don’t comply, I’m out, or so the ultimatum goes in my inbox.
I researched this issue, and it turns out that this is not across the board, as Petal cherry-picked which customers to cut off—never mind that I’ve payed every single statement in full since inception.
I called them and their representative said that they “don’t have answers” as to the company’s rationale to cut me off.
Great! So professional!
So now I will be out, and I will be several thousand dollars short in my credit line, which will impact my credit history immediately (due to account closure), and in the long run (due to expenditure proportion growth).
Who on Earth advised this company to charge its customers like if Petal 2 was a co-branded Loyalty program?!
Who in this company thought reasonable customers would pay $96 a year for a 1.5% cash back card?!
Way to go Petal, you sure know how to alienate loyal customers!
If you’re considering getting this card, DON’T, their business model can’t be trusted if they’re willing to play with something so sensitive as your credit score.
There’s a million other options in the credit card market, so do yourself a favor and avoid dealing with this company.

Like many others have said about this card I also got the same email stating that they were changing from petal 2 with no fees to the pedal 1 rise. Never missed or had a late payment with them. I'm just gonna have to pay off the balance and close the account because if people let them do this due to a business decision then what's to stop them from making another decision to change their fees. Had them for 2 years and now they pull this crap.

I’ve been with Petal for over four years. They’ve changed my account twice. I was just notified that this last change will require me to pay a monthly or annual fee. Which I’m not ok with. The only option I have is to close the account, which hurts your credit score. I cannot believe that a company that market’s its purpose on building credit is going to hurt my credit in the long run. Definitely stay away from this company.

Bait and Switch Business Tactics
I was happy with my Petal card until this past month when I was notified that my Petal card (no fees, lowest interest rate) was being now will charge me $8 per month and increase my interest rate. I have never had a late payment, and per transaction fee. No reason for this. And the only way to opt out of this change is to close the account, which will ding my credit score. Now wants to force me to pay fees and use the card at a higher interest rate for no reason seems like shady business to me. But can never get a hold of them when I call. Shady, shady, shady.

Bait & Switch. Notified that no fee card was being changed to monthly fee. Closed account, which hurts credit score. Petal kept my rewards balance. Alissa Heinerscheid level decision-making by Petal.

I am compelled to express my profound disappointment with the recent changes made by Petal regarding their once-promising credit card. As a longtime customer, I had trusted the company to provide a valuable financial tool, only to be met with a mediocre card that now comes with additional fees. This review serves as a cautionary tale for those considering their services.

I have olmos 3 year with the patal 2 and always pay on time never expend more the 30% in my credit limit but now the will change my petal 2 with petal 1 raise and I have to pay monthly fee 8 dollar I call and write them if they can remove the monthly fee and thay answer me that only have to option to pay or close the account.
thay dont care the 3 year that i was paying on time and using the card carefully

I was happy with my Petal card until this past week when I was notified that my Petal 2 card (no fees, lowest interest rate) was being downgraded to the Petal 1 Rise card (now will charge me $8 per month and increase my interest rate. I have never had a late payment and my credit score is now 780. No reason for this. And the only way to opt out of this change is to close the account, which will ding my credit score. For a company that helped me build my credit and now wants to force me to pay fees and use the card at a higher interest rate for no reason seems like shady business to me. AND I have rewards points that are unused and will be lost when I close the account (I don't currently have a balance to apply them to.) I have to call customer service to request the reward points be mailed to me by paper check or credited to my account directly but can never get a hold of them when I call. Shady, shady, shady.

As everyone else has stated, they downgrade your account to their lowest level one. The lowest level account also has an $8 per month fee.

I've had zero late payments and my credit score is high. 0 reason I should be getting downgraded.

In the same boat as all other other reviews listed. I would not suggest anyone sign up will Petal. The wrote me a few months ago and the message was HEY WHY ARENT YOU USING OUR CARD????. A few months later- I used it and they downgraded me to one with monthly fees.....Never late with a payment..

Would rate ZERO if I could. Just like all the other reviewers below, received email saying my card was downgraded and just last month they increased my account limit by $100. Never been late or carried balance over 30%. F them.

Petal just downgraded my petal 2 to their lowest credit card with the highest annual fee. I have never had a late payment ever I've been trying to call customer service and end up listening to hold music indefinitely. This is a cash grab and now they're not answering the phone. This is now just like a entry-level Credit one Credit card with a 35%+ interest rate.

Had a credit card with them for over 2 1/2 years now, probably my oldest card and longest credit card history, and i get an email telling me they are replacing my Petal 2 card with the Petal 1 card, and the only way to opt out is to delete your account and cancel the card in its entirety.
No reason was stated for why they are making this decision, but i have seen many other people that have got the same issue going on as well.
Cannot get ahold of anyone on the phone through Customer Service, phone just rings and rings without anyone picking up. I am sad to say that Petal card is going under and looks like they will not be in business much longer if this is what is going to be happening.

Long story short, don’t bother signing up for Petal, choose a different card, there are so many of them out there with no fees and cash back, do not make the mistake of choosing them and ruining your credit like i did mine.

PETAL canceled my card issued a new one because they said their dark web monitor had found my card listed. My credit score took a 40+ point hit directly by this action. I know because all my other credit cards for that month had a $0 balance. PETAL said they don't report canceled cards to the three credit rating agencies. The agencies said get a credit counselor because they aren't licensed to give advice. AFTER getting my new card with a different account number, next month my credit score went up 40+ points. OK I said, let it slide, no permanent damage done. TODAY I received the same letter every dissatisfied and disappointed PETAL customers got. My PETAL 2 card was downgraded to PETAL 1 with $8 per month fees. GREAT, OPTED OUT NATURALLY AND THEY FORCED ME TO CLOSE MY ACCOUNT TO DO SO!! TWO YEARS OF CREDIT HISTORY DOWN THE DRAIN. NEVER LATE, ALWAYS ON TIME AND THIS IS MY REWARD. CAN ONLY GUESS WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE AVERAGE AGE OF ALL MY CREDIT CARDS. KNOW IT WON'T HELP! SAVING GRACE, I HAVE A $0 BALANCE AT CLOSURE. NO MORE HASSLES FROM PETAL UNLESS THEY MAKE UP CHARGES FRAUDULENTLY.

DON'T GET PETAL, BAIT & SWITCH BY PUTTING A GUN TO YOUR HEAD. ONLY WAY TO NOT HAVE TO PAY THESE $96 PER YEAR BOGUS FEES. ANY LAWYERS NEED A CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT FOR PETAL?