No credit card required
Browse credit cards from a variety of issuers to see if there's a better card for you.
@Anonymous wrote:
Geesh you would think I have been around here long enough to know this stuff, but here I go looking silly again ...What is NMFA and MOAA and ABCD (oops that one wasn't listed)? I am not familiar with all of the acronyms listed.
thrasher865 wrote:
cheddar wrote:
NMFA membership is all that's required to join Penfed, and anyone can join NMFA. Therefore, anyone can join Penfed.That's all there is to it.
But a lifetime membership to NMFA is $300Can you get a membership for one year, then join penfed, then opt out of NMFA the next year and retain your penfed membership?
@haulingthescoreup wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Geesh you would think I have been around here long enough to know this stuff, but here I go looking silly again ...What is NMFA and MOAA and ABCD (oops that one wasn't listed)? I am not familiar with all of the acronyms listed.
These are just affinity groups that might make you eligible to join PenFed or other credit unions.
MOAA = Military Officers Association of America
NMFA = National Military Family Association. To join this, you don't have to be a member of a military family! It's a group that works to help military families, period. If you go this route to join PenFed, you only have to pay one year's worth of dues. You don't have to re-up each year or do the life-time membership, although I'm sure that they'd be delighted if you did.
Credit unions were originally made up of people who all worked for the same employer, or belonged to the same social organization, or were in the same university, etc. who pooled their money to provide loans to one another. That's why so many have employer names in their name. In my area, we have several major CU's that might be titled "Appalachian Nuclear Weapon Builders CU" or "Big Honkin' Dam Builders CU." But several years ago, CU's won a battle with the banks to allow them to choose to widen their eligibility requirements. One option is geography, so our bomb and dam builders CU's now advertise that membership is open to anyone who works, lives, goes to school, worships, shops, or dines in their counties. For CU's with a wider presence, like PenFed, a different option is to join an affinity group that is felt to have similar goals to those of the CU members. That's when organizations like MOAA and NMFA come into play. Here's the PenFed eligibility link:
https://www.penfed.org/howToJoin/overview.asp
thrasher, PenFed doesn't like to see a lot of recent new credit, whether used wisely or not. I'd give it at least 6 months after your recent acquisitions, with very low util, before joining them. But I think they'll be a great option for you when you do.