@Anonymous wrote:
@tothephonebooth wrote:
Hi everyone,
So I've been looking into credit unions and it seems the best ones are Navy Federal and Pen Fed. I'm a member of Voices for Troops so I qualify for Pen Fed. Is there a partner I could join to be eligible for Navy Federal?
Has anyone had experience with Pen Fed? I'm just starting and would use it for: personal banking, credit card, and eventually (potentially) a mortgage.
Thanks!Anybody who is current or past military can now join Navy Federal Credit Union (NFCU). If you do not have a military way into NFCU, there is a way to join through the Navy League of the United States-San Diego Council.
Please read only the first posting here:
And if you have some time to kill, you may look at the last few pages of this thread here:
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Personal-Finance/NLUS-San-Diego-alive-and-well/td-p/4640823
It may sound like a long drawn out process but it really isn't and it is worth it to be a member of NFCU. You help out a great military organization in the process (NLUS).
I am a member of both PenFed and NFCU and I like them equally well. I do not find any one credit union does everything better all the time. So it is great to have a few credit unions on deck so that you can cross shop. I really like NFCU's customer service both at the contact centre and at the branch and I am loving my Cash Rewards card. They have good rates on regular share savings, money market and often have special CD rates. I have found that NFCU also has better personal loan rates and used car rates (for 5 years) than PenFed. I find that PenFed usually excels in new car loans as well as their quarterly pre-approvals for different products without a hard inquiry. I have had two personal loans through PenFed (back when the rates were 7.99% and 8.99%) with no problems at all. I also have a PenFed Promise card which I am probably going to close as I do not have much use for it. I guess I'd have to say that I prefer NFCU but really PenFed is great themselves. You can't go wrong with being a member of both!
Sorry to say, but the Navy League route via the San Diego council is now closed as of May 12, 2017. Navy Fed removed Navy League of San Diego council from its field of membership.
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/forums/forumtopicprintpage/board-id/Retirement/message-id/16761
