@Claymore wrote:Sorry to say, it is a NFCU policy. You must go to a branch. I live out west. I live two hours from my nearest branch. I went through the same thing. You have to go to a branch. That's all I can tell you. I have no reason to lie about this. I am telling the truth. Something like that old saying comes to mind now: "You can lead a horse to water..." Have a nice day.
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I opened a savings account in June and just got a NFCU credit card about a month ago. When I first opened the savings account I had to e-mail them a copy of my driver's license and social security card, but that was it. I have never been to a branch. The nearest branch is 6 hours away from where I live.
@ficojoe wrote:
@DaveSignal wrote:I can confirm that I have never been to an NFCU branch, although I could have gone easily while in FL where I applied for membership. I don't specifically remember faxing them anything either. If anything, I would have sent a copy of my leave and earnings statement. I don't have any banking accounts with NFCU, only my credit card, but if this sort of thing happened to me, I would promptly close all of my accounts and take my business elsewhere.
To OP, are you eligible for membership? Are you military or family? If you are, there are other credit unions directed toward the military as well. And USAA bank, which is awesome. I prefer to do all of my banking with USAA.
My eligability for NFCU comes through my grandfather's retirement from the service. USAA denied me for a credit card, when calling for recon the underwriter told me I would qualify if I was a full USAA member, but my score wasn't quite high enough for a non-member. He suggested that I get a cheap insurance policy for my grandfather, then for my father, then I would qualify. I have not been able to put that together yet.
My primary frustration comes from the fact that I just got done switching everything to NFCU. They have my checking, savings, line of credit and two credit cards.My account was open long enough for a few direct deposits to go in. I had switched all automatic payments over, etc. Plus, having the two credit cards, membership, and a line of credit means that they gave me a total of 12 hard inquaries over the 2 months that I slowly opened these accounts. First I opened share savings, then applied for 1 credit card, was happy with it, then opened checking, then line of credit, then a second CC over the course of about 2 months.
I hate to go through all that again, but I did open a share savings with a local credit union, then a credit card, if this takes much longer, I will be opening a checking and line of credit there and will not have much need for NFCU.
I can tell you this sort of thing doesn't happen to military. I think you are stretching the eligibility requirements by trying to belong to a military-based organization:
Family Members—including grandparents, parents, spouses, siblings, grandchildren, children (including adopted and stepchildren) and household members
Once your family members have joined, they can extend the membership opportunity to their family members, too.
Your grandfather needs to join NFCU. This is why there is a security freeze on all of your accounts and they are going to be closed. Your direct deposits are not from DoD. Your family are not members. You don't belong at this place.
EX:694 TU:744 EQ:777
@llecs wrote:
@DaveSignal wrote:Your grandfather needs to join NFCU. This is why there is a security freeze on all of your accounts and they are going to be closed. Your direct deposits are not from DoD. Your family are not members. You don't belong at this place.
I agree there could be issues if the grandfather isn't a member, but we could be assuming that (too lazy to read through every post). But I also know that NFCU will offer some leeway in those rules. I was going to post in CCs after investigating further, but I was at a branch the other day when a father and son both walked into NFCU and asked to join. The receptionist asked the father if he was a member and he said "no". She said in order for your son to be a member, he would have to be a member too. Then she asked if there was a grandparent that was a member. He said no. She asked if anyone in their household was a member and he said no. Then she asked a question to the son that did not apply to membership: "Do you have an uncle that is a member?" Uncle-nephew relationships aren't allowed per their website I don't think. The father said no and moved along. But that got me to think that maybe they are open to extending it out to other family members (unless she would ask the father to join under his brother/bro-in-law). I was going to go back and ask but never did.
That sounds kind of iffy too. I wouldn't be surprised if a security freeze and account closure happened to that random father and son after a month or two. You can't just walk in because you've heard of NFCU on myfico forums and think you can get extended a lot of credit without first joining the military or being related to someone who is alaready an NFCU member and willing to extend the privlege to you. This is highly exclusive.
I'm a full member at usaa through my dad but my dad is not an nfcu member. When I applied over the phone I gave her his ssn and info and had no issues becoming a member.
Starting Score: 492-TU04, 480-EX FICO V2, 467-EQ Beacon 5 (Via Mortgage PreQual March '12)
@jordanmedical wrote:
I'm a full member at usaa through my dad but my dad is not an nfcu member. When I applied over the phone I gave her his ssn and info and had no issues becoming a member.
I think there are some exceptions that aren't truly legitimate reasons for membership. When I was in my 20s and living in New York City, I was able to get 20 year-old friends into some clubs without showing ID because I was friends with the bouncer and just kind of walked in with a "they are with me" type comment. Of course, it probably wouldn't happen, but any of those friends could have been carded later while in the club and would have been promptly thrown out.
Not everyone at nfcu is military since they purchased another cu. I still don't see the point in them having to get my dad to join just so I could. Most reps will tell you that's not a requirement since you can join through a deceased family member as some have done.