Petal Reviews 

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?

They have a no annual fee card and now they are charging $8 per month. Close my account as soon as they sent me the notification.

I get a notice out of nowhere that states they are downgrading my Petal 2 card to a "Petal 1 Rise" card that charges a monthly fee of $8. Ridiculous! Then the email says "you can opt out by visiting your account now." Turns out, the way to opt out is to close your account entirely.
In the FAQ is says to refer to the Change in Terms document for why your account is being downgraded, but the document gives no such reason as far as I can tell.
I've been a loyal Petal customer for several years now. I got the card so I could build and maintain good credit. I have NEVER gotten near my credit limit or made a late payment. And now that I'm forced to close my account my credit score will go down.
People should avoid Petal at all costs.

Petal sent me an email saying how lucky I am to have their card, just so lucky I now have to pay 8 dollars a month for the right to use their card, and a higher than normal credit rate. This results in a $96.00 annual fee to utilize the card when all consumers had previously signed up for it because it didn't require an annual fee.

This is company greed and I strongly recommend to stay away from this company and they should go out of business for this greed.

Petal is a financial technology provider with consumer credit cards issued by WebBank. Petal has violated UDAAP and implemented an unfair practice that hurts its consumers en-masse. Petal, which markets itself to subprime borrowers with poor, limited, and no credit, recently implemented an $8.00 monthly membership fee. This results in a $96.00 annual fee to utilize the card when all consumers had previously signed up for it because it didn't require an annual fee. The only alternative to "opt out" of this fee is to close your Petal account. Closure of your account would result in the card being ineligible for use and for you to continue to make your monthly payments until your balance is paid in full.

UDAAP has three specific criteria for an implemented act/practice to be considered "unfair."

(1) It causes or is likely to cause substantial injury to consumers;
(2) The injury is not reasonably avoidable by consumers; and
(3) The injury is not outweighed by countervailing benefits to consumers or to competition.

This new act by Petal meets these requirements.

It causes or is likely to cause substantial injury to consumers;
As mentioned, Petal targets subprime borrowers and those with no, limited, or poor credit. The APRs charged by Petal are already extremely high because of this, ranging from 24.84%-34.24% -- one of the highest APRs in the industry. This change will cause account holders to either pay a $98 annual fee or lower their available credit utilization (by closing their account), which hurts their credit score. Petal targets users who struggle with traditional credit and approvals -- therefore when their account is closed and their available credit is lowered, it will hurt their credit scores, and they will be even less likely to be offered credit lines from other lenders. Additionally, the customer will need to continue making payments on a loan with an extremely high-interest rate without the benefit of the payments revolving.

The injury is not reasonably avoidable by consumers;
Current Petal users who would have otherwise not paid a membership fee cannot reasonably avoid monetary financial harm. They do not have the option to opt for a no-fee card alternative offered by Petal. They have one of two choices. 1) accept a $98 annual fee for the lifetime of our account (when it was marketed that the card is a no fees card) or 2) close the account, which will negatively impact credit scores and leave them paying on an extremely high-interest card while limiting the benefits and value of the tradeline they continue to pay for.

The injury is not outweighed by countervailing benefits to consumers or to competition.
Other credit cards with no annual fees offer the same or better benefits like 1-3% cash back on all purchases (not just on specific merchants), lower APR rates (Petal has some of the industry's highest), credit score monitoring, tap to pay, and mobile wallet. These features are already available on widely popular cards like Wells Fargo Active Cash, Citi Double Cash, and other financial technology companies targeting subprime borrowers like X1. Petal customers have no countervailing benefits for this $96 annual fee, and the card itself is not competitive in the market.

Because of the above-listed points, I strongly urge anyone affected by this to file a CFPB complaint. It is a cash grab by a company to make money off subprime borrowers. They either pay $96 a year for the life of their tradeline (a tradeline they marketed as a no-fee card) or continue to pay astronomically high interest, all while removing the benefits of their card service. It's a horrible customer experience and it is illegal under UDAAP.

Stay away from this company! There horrible!! Absolutely horrible!

I loved this card, but they obviously didn't like me!

Petal just sent me an email saying (see below) how lucky I am to have their card, just so lucky I now have to pay 8 dollars a month for the right to use their card, and a higher than normal credit rate.

Didn't pay that before. what a rip-off. Never late on payments. Oh, they used brilliant legal terminology, for example, "This is an "optional" change. [that will possibly negatively impact your credit score [didn't say that]."
So you can give up this older account on your credit, again a significant factor on your credit score, or give back the card. Go jump off a bridge!
I know what I'm going to do. COMPLAIN to every consumer agency, Congressperson, Senator, regulatory agency, etc. I can find and when that doesn't work, I'm going to post on every single freaking review site I can find to help people from becoming victims of predatory lending.
I SPECIFICALLY only apply for credit cards that have no fee unless they offer some significant points or something. Petal/YOU GET TO PAY OUR HIGH-interest rate. Will strategically end this relationship and complain to relevant governmental bodies.

Worst card I own.
Don't bother applying. No benefits of having this card.
They claim that this helps you build your credit but it doesn't.

On 12/28/2022, I made a $397 purchase.

I discovered the company had misinformed me, so I requested my account be closed and my credit card refunded. The company told me it could take up to 30 - 60 days.

On 01/03/2023, I called Petal and disputed the charge. On 01/04/23, I received a provisional credit for $397.

On 01/05/2023, the insurance company refunded me $397.

On 02/02/23, Petal debited back the credit of $397.

On 02/08/23, my card was charged by 00USA (a different company) for $397.

On 02/16/23, I called Petal to inform them that I didn't authorize this charge and wasn't aware of it.

I spoke with Denise, an account manager, who agreed that the debit of $397 that was charged to my account on 02/02/23 should've offset the credit from the insurance company. However, I was denied the ability to dispute this charge.
I informed Denise that this outstanding balance affected my credit rating and was subject to interest. Denise advised me that once their "internal team" researched the charge, they would take care of it if necessary. However, this is affecting my creditworthiness and utilization in the interim.

On 2/24/23, I went on the Petal app to pay for a recurring charge of $30. Unfortunately, I accidentally paid the disputed amount of $397 instead. I called Petal and spoke to Denise again. She stated that she was still waiting to hear back from their “internal investigation” department.

On 2/27/23, I called and spoke with Chris, an account manager. He informed me that the “internal team” were still investigating the charge, and he had no answers.

On 3/2/23, I called and spoke with Jarrett, an account manager. He informed me that the “internal team” were still investigating the charge, and he had no answers.

This is a $5k credit card. If it didn’t impact my credit, I would close it.

It’s now been 14 days that I’ve been waiting for a response from Petal on why I can’t dispute an unfamiliar and unauthorized charge on my account.
This has been a nightmare.

From other reviews, this appears to be a scam, and Petal is stealing card information from members, charging their cards, and not allowing them to dispute the charges.

***UPDATE*** 3/17/23
The CPFB informed me that Petal asked for an additional 90 days to review this. The CPFB is useless. I filed a complaint with Webbank & the FDIC. The FDIC regulates Petal & Webbank.
As of today, their "internal team" still hasn't provided an answer to customer service regarding this charge, nor have I been provided a provisional credit. Petal Card is a fraud. Beware. I'm contacting an attorney to discuss a class action lawsuit.

I have had an inquiry from petal card in each of the past two months. I have not applied for any credit from this company. I have tried to call them so they stop but only get voice mail.
I do not want this to be reflected inn my credit history.

Don't know what all the bad reviews are about. It's been flawless for me for almost a year :)