That would be expected since the application was submitted after expiration, and thus your situation is a different thing than for those submitting an application when already a GE member and able to still use GE at US ports of entry.

I am seeing PreCheck come up consistently for those who submit an application for GE renewal before the expiration date (as printed on GE card for those with GE cards) and have conditionally approved status for the renewal application continue even months after the expiration date.

If your GE application were submitted and placed into conditionally approved status before your GE membership expiration date, then PreCheck may have still been a consistent outcome for you too during the waiting period in pursuit of final approval for a GE application.

We’re also in the “pending review” holding pattern though we only submitted our renewals at the end of May so just 30 days for us. As far as we can tell there shouldn’t be anything holding up our renewals other than the backlog of applications though those few reporting renewal approvals in literally days is interesting. Nothing significant has changed and neither of us has gotten even in parking ticket in the four plus years since our first application.

Luckily after reading this thread we decided to submit our renewals early rather than wait to close to our February and March 2020 expiration dates so we have plenty of time to get through the process. I’ve also read here that submitting a renewal and getting to the “pending review” stage buys you an additional six months past your expiration date so technically we should be good to go up to August and September 2020. Of course I will reach the “panic stage” if our renewals haven’t been processed well before then.

As for using the interview on arrival I can’t see that being of much good until or unless your renewal request has been moved to the schedule interview appointment stage. I would assume CBP would just tell you that you’re pending conditional approval.

There may be less than a six month extension to use GE if the result of the pending renewal application comes in earlier with a rejection, rare as that is.

Yes:
Pending review status on a renewal application means that the CBP won’t be moving to finalize anything with regard to membership renewal until the applicant is out of the pending review status. Have to wait either for the conditional approval or for the final approval without interview. [Or, very rarely, the rejection, upon which the person will no longer be able to use GE even if it’s less than six months from the expiration date on their GE card.]

Yes, it includes PreCheck for the (six-months) post-expiration-date period during which you remain eligible to use GE too.