NFCU questions

[More Cowbell]

DH and I have become disillusioned by the deterioration of service and addition of fees at our regional credit union. Recently this CU has announced intention of merging with another CU, so now is a good time to switch. Considering NFCU for size, better online capabilities, plus multiple B&M branch offices a few miles from home. I have DF’s DD214 from his Navy service so should be good to go. DH hasn’t located his DF’s DD214 from Navy service yet, but surely he'd also qualify as member’s spouse. We’d be interested in opening a Flagship checking account and credit cards.

Questions for NFCU members:

1. Does NFCU offer ATM-only cards for those who don’t want a debit card? I see reference to a CUcard that seems like an ATM card but then says it may be used for purchases at merchants that accept CUcard. Sounds like a debit card to me!
2. Any issues with Fidelity or Vanguard transactions?
3. How is NFCU with honoring POA and trustees? Had issues with current CU as it is also DM's CU. Had much easier time dealing with her Chase Private Banker.
4. Any general tips, gotchas or comments about NFCU service?

Thanks for your comments!

 

[Lewis Clark]

I've been a member of Navy Federal Credit Union for over three decades. Regarding your questions:

1. I have no idea.
2. I have had no trouble doing electronic transfers from NFCU to or from Fidelity or Vanguard.
3. I have no experience with this.
4. Service has generally been excellent.

My only unhappiness with NFCU was short term back in early 2022, after the Social Security Administration made a mistake and reported me as deceased. It was not easy getting the situation straightened out with them over the phone. It was only after I went into their office (luckily I have a local branch) in person that they fixed their records. But they were not the only financial institution I had trouble with at the time due to that situation.

They did send me an email on a Sunday evening, during Super Bowl halftime, alerting me to an attempt by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service to claw back on month of retired pay. My in-person visit put a stop to that.

If you have enough assets on deposit you can have access to their Financial Group. This gave me access to a financial advisor at no cost to me. I used him as a sounding board for ideas, and got a few new ideas from him over the years. I am no longer working with that FA. But he would be available to offer guidance to my wife if I pass first.

 

[SnowballCamper]

I did have a NFCU account many years ago for a short time, but now use USAA, which you would probably qualify for as well. USAA customer service is top notch IMHO, but there are essentially no brick and mortar locations. Insurance rates are consistently better as well. We compensate with being members of a local medium size credit union for the few face to face needs, and have a HELOC locally as well. Just another option that might meet your needs...

 

[More Cowbell]

I've been a member of Navy Federal Credit Union for over three decades. Regarding your questions:

1. I have no idea.
2. I have had no trouble doing electronic transfers from NFCU to or from Fidelity or Vanguard.
3. I have no experience with this.
4. Service has generally been excellent.

My only unhappiness with NFCU was short term back in early 2022, after the Social Security Administration made a mistake and reported me as deceased. It was not easy getting the situation straightened out with them over the phone. It was only after I went into their office (luckily I have a local branch) in person that they fixed their records. But they were not the only financial institution I had trouble with at the time due to that situation.

They did send me an email on a Sunday evening, during Super Bowl halftime, alerting me to an attempt by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service to claw back on month of retired pay. My in-person visit put a stop to that.

If you have enough assets on deposit you can have access to their Financial Group. This gave me access to a financial advisor at no cost to me. I used him as a sounding board for ideas, and got a few new ideas from him over the years. I am no longer working with that FA. But he would be available to offer guidance to my wife if I pass first.

Yikes, that SSA error would affect everything, not just NFCU! But good to know they fixed it once you went to your local branch office.

I did have a NFCU account many years ago for a short time, but now use USAA, which you would probably qualify for as well. USAA customer service is top notch IMHO, but there are essentially no brick and mortar locations. Insurance rates are consistently better as well. We compensate with being members of a local medium size credit union for the few face to face needs, and have a HELOC locally as well. Just another option that might meet your needs...

I hadn’t considered USAA as an option. Just checked, USAA has no local B&M and that’s something we want.

 

[Lewis Clark]

Yikes, that SSA error would affect everything, not just NFCU! But good to know they fixed it once you went to your local branch office.

Yes, it did affect nearly everything. It was a four-month nightmare until everything was restored.

 

[Hyper]

We have funds at NFCU.
They were great prior to COVID then got really wrapped up in the covid crap and service fell drastically.
Service much better now.
We've had issues with our trust beneficiaries since the beginning.
They've not been able to transfer our trust data from one account to the next and we keep being told there's no beneficiaries in a certain account we inquire about, fill out the paper work for that account only to find another account later??
Not sure why this has been such a difficult task?
We've also had to request our 1099 every single year as they say they have a computer glitch every year!
Weve yet to receive it in the mail even after requesting and being assured it's been sent.
V and F has also been a NO GO! I have large IRA $ now still at NFCU that I gave up trying to transfer to Fidelity!!!

 

[wrigley]

Been banking with NFCU since 1989.
1. No, I don't think so.
2. I have a Fidelity brokerage account as well as Ally and Synchrony HYSA and money transactions problems are non-existent to all.
3. I have no idea.

Good luck.

 

[nassa]

Have been a member for many years.

1. Debit card: I used to have one but wasn’t sure if still offered so I opened the app and was chatting with a rep in less than 15 seconds. The answer was yes, and you are correct it is the CUcard. I no longer worry about this since I can easily keep the card locked in their app (and I carry my Visa debit card in my wallet all the time now).
2. I’ve had no issues with either Fidelity or Vanguard transfers (I moved from VG to Fido a couple years ago so nothing recent for VG.)
3. Regarding POA, sorry, I don’t have any experience with that.
4. I’ve had great service in my experience. I can easily get in touch with someone based in the US either by chat or phone. They seem to have a very good training program for their reps. Their technology works fine but they aren’t cutting edge in new features and functionality on the web or phone app. Credit cards have very good benefits such as paying for global entry fee, extended warranty and 2% cash back. I’ve been very pleased.

 

[Mr Gadget]

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes, but make sure you confirm survivorship or not on accounts. Their decedent affairs has been challenging. But other institutions have been actually fraudulent.
4. Over three decades of using NFCU. There have been issues, but my entire family uses them. I joined overseas at their Hong Kong branch in the 80's. Local branches are usually outstanding.

I also used USAA for mortgage and insurance for ten years, but my experiences (40% jump in rates after my first and ONLY claim; dropping my homeowners insurace when, as an active duty member I was TAD in a school; almost canceling a home sale due to lack of information and idiot reps, when I had initially purchased that home and started the mortgage with USAA) prevents me from EVER using or recommending USAA.

 

[ransil]

DH and I have become disillusioned by the deterioration of service and addition of fees at our regional credit union. Recently this CU has announced intention of merging with another CU, so now is a good time to switch. Considering NFCU for size, better online capabilities, plus multiple B&M branch offices a few miles from home. I have DF’s DD214 from his Navy service so should be good to go. DH hasn’t located his DF’s DD214 from Navy service yet, but surely he'd also qualify as member’s spouse. We’d be interested in opening a Flagship checking account and credit cards.

Questions for NFCU members:

1. Does NFCU offer ATM-only cards for those who don’t want a debit card? I see reference to a CUcard that seems like an ATM card but then says it may be used for purchases at merchants that accept CUcard. Sounds like a debit card to me!
2. Any issues with Fidelity or Vanguard transactions?
3. How is NFCU with honoring POA and trustees? Had issues with current CU as it is also DM's CU. Had much easier time dealing with her Chase Private Banker.
4. Any general tips, gotchas or comments about NFCU service?

Thanks for your comments!

1. don't use them, probably should start.
2. have made multiple over last few months both directions, no issues,
3. no experience yet on honoring, but my wife just set them up for her dad, no issues yet.
4. been good to me for 40 years , mortgages, car loans, banking

 

[More Cowbell]

We've had issues with our trust beneficiaries since the beginning.

3. Yes, but make sure you confirm survivorship or not on accounts. Their decedent affairs has been challenging. But other institutions have been actually fraudulent.

Thanks for NFCU trustee/executor feedback! I’ll be sure to confirm survivorship and beneficiaries on any new accounts established.

 

[More Cowbell]

Thanks for your replies! It sounds like most have not had problems with transfers to Fidelity and Vanguard. Our IRAs are at brokerages, so the specific problem mentioned wouldn’t apply.

2. I have had no trouble doing electronic transfers from NFCU to or from Fidelity or Vanguard.

V and F has also been a NO GO! I have large IRA $ now still at NFCU that I gave up trying to transfer to Fidelity!!!

2. I have a Fidelity brokerage account as well as Ally and Synchrony HYSA and money transactions problems are non-existent to all.

I’ve had no issues with either Fidelity or Vanguard transfers (I moved from VG to Fido a couple years ago so nothing recent for VG.)

2. Yes

2. have made multiple over last few months both directions, no issues,

 

[More Cowbell]

Thanks for all the help! DH and I joined NFCU, made an appointment on the website and had no problem getting approved for membership. We each got Flagship checking accounts and the default debit cards. The customer service representative said that the CUcard only works on Navy Fed ATMs and not the wider CO-OP ATM network. Also noted that some transactions and services may be affected by the east coast time zone.

I appreciate the modern website compared to the old credit union. It’ll take some time to unwind from the old credit union after almost 40 years!

 

[Out of Steam]

After our bank (of 20+ years) was acquired in a merger last fall, my wife and I are dealing with online bill-pay services at the new bank that are not user friendly, as well as their having a very limited ATM network. Badly worded security warnings by phone and email on transactions are so frequent as to be unhelpful. Even though ATMs matter less than they used to, they are still of concern to us. While we have dealings with Chase on Capital One on credit cards and online savings, we've found such very large banks to be uncompetitive on checking in the past. Neither bank has a significant network of local branches, but they have a couple of locations each.

So, we have questions similar to the previous poster's on Navy Federal Credit Union. I'm eligible to join as a retired employee of the Defense Department and they have two branches near us. It would help if I could fill in some information on their online services and phone app.

Savings interest is less important as we would maintain a high-interest savings account at Capital One, but I would prefer not to pay monthly account fees. Review of their site indicates that they offer somewhat fewer benefits to civilian retiree members than to active duty and veterans.

 

[pb4uski]

While I'm a big fan of credit unions generally and we had a credit union account for 30 years, we now just use Schwab Bank for checking. Much easier. No ATM fees as any ATM fees are credited at the end of each month. Free checks, Wide ATM network. It is simple and works well for us.

 

[jazz4cash]

I use NFCU and I am basically happy. I qualified as a defense contractor employee. They still offer add-on CDs which is a great feature but their rates are meh. My brother is retired Vet and he’s had some nightmare scenarios there. I guess he’s on the troublemaker list. They disabled most of the features in the app for his accounts. He has CDs that randomly disappear from the app. I think I finally convinced him to take his business elsewhere.

 

[GenXguy]

I had to initiate my my large transfers out from outside of NFCU. I couldn't do it within
NFCU.

No option to add a bunch of beneficiaries, or any unless you have their SSN.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

I'm a very happy NFCU member and they've been my primary institution since 1987.

Savings rates stink but loan rates and terms are usually very good. They haven't offered an ATM only card for a long time. My debit/ATM stays in the safe and I just use my DL when I go to a branch.... before they moved to Tampa Bay, I had a small account at a local CU for cash +/- but these days rarely use cash. Bill pay and ACH in and out have never been an issue. Not sure about POA, folks account is POD to their trust.... the don't really use NFCU though. Their primary CU had their own POA form so smart to ask.

 

[zinger1457]

I still have a NFCU that I opened many years ago but rarely use it anymore, just leave enough cash in my checking/savings to keep it active, I probably should just close it. Never had any problems with them it's just that I can get better Savings, CD, MM rates at my other bank/brokerage accounts. Their loan rates may be good but I've never had a need for any loans. I like to setup autopay with my credit cards so the statement balance is paid in full each month, for some reason NFCU doesn't offer this, probably not a big deal for many but I found it annoying.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

I still have a NFCU that I opened many years ago but rarely use it anymore, just leave enough cash in my checking/savings to keep it active, I probably should just close it. Never had any problems with them it's just that I can get better Savings, CD, MM rates at my other bank/brokerage accounts. Their loan rates may be good but I've never had a need for any loans. I like to setup autopay with my credit cards so the statement balance is paid in full each month, for some reason NFCU doesn't offer this, probably not a big deal for many but I found it annoying.

I have all my CCs on autopay (ACH debit) from NFCU as well as my NFCU cards on autopay from my NFCU checking account without difficulty.

 

[zinger1457]

I have all my CCs on autopay (ACH debit) from NFCU as well as my NFCU cards on autopay from my NFCU checking account without difficulty.

Maybe they made some changes, when I last had one of their CC's I could only set up autopay to pay a fixed amount each month, it wasn't setup to payoff the statement balance each month.

 

[More Cowbell]

Maybe they made some changes, when I last had one of their CC's I could only set up autopay to pay a fixed amount each month, it wasn't setup to payoff the statement balance each month.

I had trouble setting up autopay statement balance on my NFCU card, but finally managed to do it. It’s all in the timing of when to Move Money.

Right after you pay off your statement balance, the amount you owe is $0.

Set up autopay and select Remaining Statement Balance, and set your duration to Until I stop the Transfers.

Your Move Money confirmation page will show the Amount as Statement Balance.