NFCU Benefits?
- Thread starter Navy301
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They offer one of the 2/C loan programs.
They have an office. With people who can help you. On the yard. That you can physically go to as a plebe without any liberty during banking hours.
Personally idk why a person WOULDNT at least have an account. In case it’s needed at some point. Very military friendly.
They have an office. With people who can help you. On the yard. That you can physically go to as a plebe without any liberty during banking hours.
Personally idk why a person WOULDNT at least have an account. In case it’s needed at some point. Very military friendly.
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NFCU “serves where you serve,” usually on or near military bases, world-wide.
They are completely focused on the military environment, 24/7, global operating, deployed, family separation, everyday military life challenges. That has been their mission for decades. They like to hire veterans and military spouses, to keep the understanding of their members in the family. They “get” the military and don’t bat an eye if you are calling from Diego Garcia with an awful connection. They understand military Leave and Earning statements. When you go on deployment, you call them or stop by and they walk you through post-deployment preps, such as auto bill pay, who has access to your accounts, who has a limited financial power of attorney to act on your behalf. They mark your profile “deployed,” so if for some reason you miss a payment on something and they can’t get ahold of you on the phone or civilian email, they give you the benefit of the doubt until they can reach you. Their mobile platform is optimized for limited bandwidth available for internet access from ships at sea and overseas operating locations for 24/7 online access. As a credit union, consumer loans and banking/checking are their bread and butter. Credit unions were formed as a cooperative type of non-profit (NFCU is a dot-org; BoA is a for-profit dot-com) to allow the power of their members’ cash accounts to provide exceptionally competitive car loans and credit cards and other banking services. The military friendly CU element is their marketing differential from BoA, which is a perfectly fine “regular bank” which serves everybody.
Most sea service folks have NFCU for all these reasons. Easy to send funds to each other or share meals out.
The smart thing is to do a comparative analysis on various points:
- rankings among banks and credit unions
- customer service rankings
- credit card fees, particularly overseas charges
- credit card rewards, points or cash back programs, and any required account balances
- credit card APR rates should you ever carry a balance
- overdraft penalty fees
- mobile platform compatibility with overseas locations, remote locations, bandwidth available
- current car loan rate
- CD rates
- penalties for low balances
- ATM networks and fees
- are the paper checks free
- will your BoA debit/ATM card incur a charge at NFCU ATMs, the only on-Yard ATM?
You can certainly keep BoA and have your military pay go there, assess as you go. Or open a NFCU account, keep BoA, have your military pay go to NFCU, evaluate as you go.
I have both NFCU and USAA banking accounts, ditched my hometown bank the minute I got PCSed to Spain and realized I needed bank/cu that understood my non-civilian not-normal life. On the occasions where I need in-person services, NFCU has always been convenient. Since my first year in the Navy and in my post-retirement years, I have not used anyone else.
It’s completely your choice. Do the analysis, determine what is best for you now, re-assess as you travel further down the military path.
They are completely focused on the military environment, 24/7, global operating, deployed, family separation, everyday military life challenges. That has been their mission for decades. They like to hire veterans and military spouses, to keep the understanding of their members in the family. They “get” the military and don’t bat an eye if you are calling from Diego Garcia with an awful connection. They understand military Leave and Earning statements. When you go on deployment, you call them or stop by and they walk you through post-deployment preps, such as auto bill pay, who has access to your accounts, who has a limited financial power of attorney to act on your behalf. They mark your profile “deployed,” so if for some reason you miss a payment on something and they can’t get ahold of you on the phone or civilian email, they give you the benefit of the doubt until they can reach you. Their mobile platform is optimized for limited bandwidth available for internet access from ships at sea and overseas operating locations for 24/7 online access. As a credit union, consumer loans and banking/checking are their bread and butter. Credit unions were formed as a cooperative type of non-profit (NFCU is a dot-org; BoA is a for-profit dot-com) to allow the power of their members’ cash accounts to provide exceptionally competitive car loans and credit cards and other banking services. The military friendly CU element is their marketing differential from BoA, which is a perfectly fine “regular bank” which serves everybody.
Most sea service folks have NFCU for all these reasons. Easy to send funds to each other or share meals out.
The smart thing is to do a comparative analysis on various points:
- rankings among banks and credit unions
- customer service rankings
- credit card fees, particularly overseas charges
- credit card rewards, points or cash back programs, and any required account balances
- credit card APR rates should you ever carry a balance
- overdraft penalty fees
- mobile platform compatibility with overseas locations, remote locations, bandwidth available
- current car loan rate
- CD rates
- penalties for low balances
- ATM networks and fees
- are the paper checks free
- will your BoA debit/ATM card incur a charge at NFCU ATMs, the only on-Yard ATM?
You can certainly keep BoA and have your military pay go there, assess as you go. Or open a NFCU account, keep BoA, have your military pay go to NFCU, evaluate as you go.
I have both NFCU and USAA banking accounts, ditched my hometown bank the minute I got PCSed to Spain and realized I needed bank/cu that understood my non-civilian not-normal life. On the occasions where I need in-person services, NFCU has always been convenient. Since my first year in the Navy and in my post-retirement years, I have not used anyone else.
It’s completely your choice. Do the analysis, determine what is best for you now, re-assess as you travel further down the military path.
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- 2,069
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Traditional banks like BoA have been lobbying to get Congress to reign in NFCU and other credit unions for years, because they are eating away at their profits. NFCU’s credit union charter and size gives them a huge advantage over traditional banks … and those advantages are passed along to you as a member in the form of much better terms and lower fees and rates for loans, etc.
Why wouldn’t you become a member?
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Traditional banks like BoA have been lobbying to get Congress to reign in NFCU and other credit unions for years, because they are eating away at their profits. NFCU’s credit union charter and size gives them a huge advantage over traditional banks … and those advantages are passed along to you as a member in the form of much better terms and lower fees and rates for loans, etc.
Why wouldn’t you become a member?
.
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There are several benefits with a Credit Union that a Bank does not have specially lower rates when it comes to lending. I work for a bank in lending department for over 15 years but have been banking with NFCU for over 20 years. I do have different bank accounts because it works for me, specially you never know when your account can be compromised but I am loyal to NFCU because when my husband was active duty it was always available where we were. I opened my children's accounts with them when they turned 14 and taught them how to use their debit cards, much easier for us to transfer money within accounts and I am able to see where they spend their money. Our oldest one just turned 18 and all I had to do was sign a document to release me from his account.
Used to have a BOA account because when my husband got out we did not have a local NFCU. 2 months after we moved here they opened a branch, then 2, then 3 and so glad I was able to close my BOA account as it was not even close to my NFCU account.
When I go to the stores and the cashiers see it is a NFCU they are always asking if I have or want to use my military benefits, so it always works for military and it does make a difference.
Used to have a BOA account because when my husband got out we did not have a local NFCU. 2 months after we moved here they opened a branch, then 2, then 3 and so glad I was able to close my BOA account as it was not even close to my NFCU account.
When I go to the stores and the cashiers see it is a NFCU they are always asking if I have or want to use my military benefits, so it always works for military and it does make a difference.
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2008
- Messages
- 24,073
Some info from NFCU.org website:
www.navyfederal.org
Of course, you can always find all kinds of stats and surveys. Bank of America often scores at or near the top in retail sales, a real revenue powerhouse among traditional banks (this makes me happy because I hold BoA shares, quite accidentally, which I inherited from my dad). USAA Federal Savings Bank and NFCU are usually at or near the top in various Customer Experience (CX) polls and surveys, consistently.
There is no critical do-or-die timeline to this decision, except USNA needs to be told where to send your military Direct Deposit pay.
Once the academic year begins, after PS, if you decide to switch your DD pay or open a NFCU account, it’s simple. You open an account at NFCU with an initial small deposit, which can be electronically taken from a BoA account, in person at the Yard or any NFCU branch or online. You get your new account number and the NFCU routing number (unique number, can also be easily found online. You go to Midshipman Disbursing with these two numbers and ask for your Direct Deposit destination to be changed. You may be able to do it online by logging into DFAS to manage your pay account; I don’t know what permissions midshipmen have. Certainly once commissioned it can be done online. Depending on when in the pay cycle this is done, your next pay amount or the one after that starts flowing to NFCU. The nice people at NFCU can advise you how to close an account at another bank and transfer funds to them, if you choose to do that at some point.
Gather your facts and use the brain that got you into USNA to make a financial decision! This is great practice for the many financial decisions you will have to evaluate in your adult life.
Navy Federal Credit Union Ranked as a CX Elite Brand Again for Customer Experience
Navy Federal Credit Union holds on to the top spot as the industry leader for a sixth consecutive year, ranking No. 1 among multichannel banks/credit unions for customer experience in Forrester’s proprietary 2021 Customer CX Index™ survey.
Of course, you can always find all kinds of stats and surveys. Bank of America often scores at or near the top in retail sales, a real revenue powerhouse among traditional banks (this makes me happy because I hold BoA shares, quite accidentally, which I inherited from my dad). USAA Federal Savings Bank and NFCU are usually at or near the top in various Customer Experience (CX) polls and surveys, consistently.
There is no critical do-or-die timeline to this decision, except USNA needs to be told where to send your military Direct Deposit pay.
Once the academic year begins, after PS, if you decide to switch your DD pay or open a NFCU account, it’s simple. You open an account at NFCU with an initial small deposit, which can be electronically taken from a BoA account, in person at the Yard or any NFCU branch or online. You get your new account number and the NFCU routing number (unique number, can also be easily found online. You go to Midshipman Disbursing with these two numbers and ask for your Direct Deposit destination to be changed. You may be able to do it online by logging into DFAS to manage your pay account; I don’t know what permissions midshipmen have. Certainly once commissioned it can be done online. Depending on when in the pay cycle this is done, your next pay amount or the one after that starts flowing to NFCU. The nice people at NFCU can advise you how to close an account at another bank and transfer funds to them, if you choose to do that at some point.
Gather your facts and use the brain that got you into USNA to make a financial decision! This is great practice for the many financial decisions you will have to evaluate in your adult life.
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On a side note, does a mid have to take the 2/C loan before they graduate or can they hold off and take it when they buy their first house?Some info from NFCU.org website:
Navy Federal Credit Union Ranked as a CX Elite Brand Again for Customer Experience
Navy Federal Credit Union holds on to the top spot as the industry leader for a sixth consecutive year, ranking No. 1 among multichannel banks/credit unions for customer experience in Forrester’s proprietary 2021 Customer CX Index™ survey.
Of course, you can always find all kinds of stats and surveys. Bank of America often scores at or near the top in retail sales, a real revenue powerhouse among traditional banks (this makes me happy because I hold BoA shares, quite accidentally, which I inherited from my dad). USAA Federal Savings Bank and NFCU are usually at or near the top in various Customer Experience (CX) polls and surveys, consistently.
There is no critical do-or-die timeline to this decision, except USNA needs to be told where to send your military Direct Deposit pay.
Once the academic year begins, after PS, if you decide to switch your DD pay or open a NFCU account, it’s simple. You open an account at NFCU with an initial small deposit, which can be electronically taken from a BoA account, in person at the Yard or any NFCU branch or online. You get your new account number and the NFCU routing number (unique number, can also be easily found online. You go to Midshipman Disbursing with these two numbers and ask for your Direct Deposit destination to be changed. You may be able to do it online by logging into DFAS to manage your pay account; I don’t know what permissions midshipmen have. Certainly once commissioned it can be done online. Depending on when in the pay cycle this is done, your next pay amount or the one after that starts flowing to NFCU. The nice people at NFCU can advise you how to close an account at another bank and transfer funds to them, if you choose to do that at some point.
Gather your facts and use the brain that got you into USNA to make a financial decision! This is great practice for the many financial decisions you will have to evaluate in your adult life.
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2008
- Messages
- 24,073
The Career Starter Loan is a purely optional private transaction available from 2 private financial institutions, USAA and NFCU, for SA cadets and midshipmen, and a slightly different version for contracted ROTC cadets and midshipmen. You may apply for it, as I recall, for up to a year after Commissioning.
You’ll want to look into a VA loan for a house, one of your bennies as a military member. Explore va.gov.