NFCU, PenFed, USAA

[Anonymous]

My paternal grandmother was in the Marine Corps, served in the Pacific Theater back in WW2.  She passed away in the late 1960s.  Would I be able to use her service to qualify for any of these three?  For USAA, would it enable me to have "full membership"?  Would I have to supply anything in particular, like the DD 214?

Thanks. 

[llecs]

She would have to have been a member. I remember calling USAA, for example, because I had a grandfather in the Army Air Corps and had several great uncles and uncles who served from WWII through Vietnam. No dice because none of them were members.

ETA....you can join Penfed now without an service affiliation.

[nicemann]

Penfed is a great CU....if you have good credit go for a credit card from them.  I hve two and love it!

[LS1]

I called NFCU a few weeks ago to ask about eligibility and they confirmed that you have to have someone who is a member of NFCU or was a member at time of their death in order to apply.

[Anonymous]

Are there different levels of PenFed membership? Like I can join USAA "lite" membership by supporting an organization; is that the case with PenFed?

[ficofox]

You might just try and apply online for NFCU without any affiliation.  Just select an option from the list and go from there.

[llecs]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Are there different levels of PenFed membership? Like I can join USAA "lite" membership by supporting an organization; is that the case with PenFed?

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No. Once in, you are in, and anyone can join and you can apply for any product. IIRC, there are a couple of different organizations you can join for membership. As mentioned, their lending standards are relatively tough. I remember when I had no baddies and util was around 15-18% and scores in the mid-700s, I was turned down for too high of util.