I’ve looked in other threads but haven’t found a definitive answer to this question.
Does anyone know when we have access to the 2/C loan aka the career starter loan with either USAA?
I saw in the Terms and Conditions that Navy Fed specifies that you must be 21 months away from graduation but haven’t found anything similar on USAA’s website.
Is it during commissioning week after 3/C year when we become 2/C or after signing 2 for 7?
Call them and find out:
For a long time, it was only available after you did 2 for 7, to have some assurance you were likely to graduate and be able to start payments a few months later. Now, I think it may be available sooner.
Be smart about what you do with it. It’s meant to pay off higher-cost consumer debt, build your emergency fund, and contribute to your IRA up to the allowed limits for earned income, set aside some funds for post-grad living set-up expenses, invest for long-term growth and other sensible things, pay off required Marine uniform buy - not fun money to blow with nothing to show for it. You are essentially getting a signature loan at an extraordinarily low rate, and you can put it to work for you and make it work harder than what you are paying in interest. Discipline and a plan are key.
And you can’t take both loans, though I suspect some foolishly do and perhaps fib about their loan status along the way. Both loan contracts require your Navy Direct Deposit pay to go to one of their accounts. Your DD pay can only go one place, though allotments and auto-transfers can be set up in your accounts (handy to know for deployments). The minute either USAA or NFCU audits the loan account and sees no DD set up, the default interest rate kicks in, which, for a signature loan with no collateral that can be re-po’ed, is hefty and painful. You can still have accounts and do business with both places - many people do. I rarely need to go into NFCU, but it’s handy when I need specific cash amounts, a notary, etc.
There are numerous threads on this topic. Above all, this is not a required loan but a private financial transaction between you and a private sector financial services provider. USNA has no finger in the pie and is prohibited from telling you what to do with it.
To do an external Google search for these threads here on SAF, which may produce better results than the internal Search, use:
site:
www.serviceacademyforums.com career starter loan USAA NFCU
