topic Re: Couple Questions for PenFed/NFCU Members in Personal Finance

Couple Questions for PenFed/NFCU Members

Iusedtolurk — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 11:28:47 GMT

I am expecting a sum of money from by old job that they failed to pay me (long story) in the supposely near future.

Too much to let sit in my checking account so I'm planning on joining PenFed and NFCU and wanted to know members experience so far as funding the savings/share accounts.

I know they have small joining fees but I would like to join and fund immediately with about 5000 each.

Do I simply transfer the money from my checking account or is there something else to do.

I'm a little confused because I've read a few posts that stated certain difficulties in funding the accounts which seems strange to me.

My thoughts are you join and add them to external accounts for your checking and transfer whatever sum you would like.

Or is there something I am missing?

Any member experiences welcomed.

I'm not apping for any credit cards or other products simply looking to join and fund.

Re: Couple Questions for PenFed/NFCU Members

Fico82 — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 12:29:03 GMT

You are correct, setup external account on your primary checking ( nfcu, etc ) and hit the confirm button 👍 easy peasy . Some banks make you confirm little deposits unless the bank uses the plaid system.

Re: Couple Questions for PenFed/NFCU Members

MileHigh96 — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 13:12:12 GMT

I joined PenFed last month and had no issues funding my account. IIRC when you are signing up, they will ask you for the account info that you want to use to fund your new PenFed account and how much you want to initially transfer. When the membership is approved, then they will initiate the transfer.

And now that I have my membership going, I just have an automatic transfer from my primary checking account into my PenFed savings account. I find that by pushing the transfer from my checking account, the transfer takes only one business day versus if I have PenFed pull the transfer which takes 3 to 4 days.

Re: Couple Questions for PenFed/NFCU Members

SUPERSQUID — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 13:57:34 GMT

@Iusedtolurk wrote:
I am expecting a sum of money from by old job that they failed to pay me (long story) in the supposely near future.

Too much to let sit in my checking account so I'm planning on joining PenFed and NFCU and wanted to know members experience so far as funding the savings/share accounts.

I know they have small joining fees but I would like to join and fund immediately with about 5000 each.

Do I simply transfer the money from my checking account or is there something else to do.

I'm a little confused because I've read a few posts that stated certain difficulties in funding the accounts which seems strange to me.

My thoughts are you join and add them to external accounts for your checking and transfer whatever sum you would like.

Or is there something I am missing?

Any member experiences welcomed.

I'm not apping for any credit cards or other products simply looking to join and fund.

I will echo what fico82 said about nfcu. when i external transfer from my bank the funds are in my nfcu checking the next day. then to transfer funds between nfcu accounts is instant. lets say i wanted 5000 in savings and 5000 in checking, i would external transfer 10,000 from my bank to the nfcu checking and then do an internal instant transfer of 5000 from my nfcu checking to my nfcu savings giving me 5000 in each.

I have a savings at penfed but i opened it a while ago with 15 bucks and never use it so im not sure how the transfer works there.

The pluses and minuses,

NFCU has a checking account with no minimum balance required, it also gives you free unlimited checks for life. the one requirement they have is you need to write one check per year to keep the acct open. it comes with a debit card with thousands of no cost atm's.

PENFED requires a 500 minimum to open a checking account

Re: Couple Questions for PenFed/NFCU Members

Iusedtolurk — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 14:07:19 GMT

@SUPERSQUID wrote:
@Iusedtolurk wrote:
I am expecting a sum of money from by old job that they failed to pay me (long story) in the supposely near future.

Too much to let sit in my checking account so I'm planning on joining PenFed and NFCU and wanted to know members experience so far as funding the savings/share accounts.

I know they have small joining fees but I would like to join and fund immediately with about 5000 each.

Do I simply transfer the money from my checking account or is there something else to do.

I'm a little confused because I've read a few posts that stated certain difficulties in funding the accounts which seems strange to me.

My thoughts are you join and add them to external accounts for your checking and transfer whatever sum you would like.

Or is there something I am missing?

Any member experiences welcomed.

I'm not apping for any credit cards or other products simply looking to join and fund.
I will echo what fico82 said about nfcu. when i external transfer from my bank the funds are in my nfcu checking the next day. then to transfer funds between nfcu accounts is instant. lets say i wanted 5000 in savings and 5000 in checking, i would external transfer 10,000 from my bank to the nfcu checking and then do an internal instant transfer of 5000 from my nfcu checking to my nfcu savings giving me 5000 in each.
I have a savings at penfed but i opened it a while ago with 15 bucks and never use it so im not sure how the transfer works there.
The pluses and minuses,
NFCU has a checking account with no minimum balance required, it also gives you free unlimited checks for life. the one requirement they have is you need to write one check per year to keep the acct open. it comes with a debit card with thousands of no cost atm's.
PENFED requires a 500 minimum to open a checking account

@SUPERSQUID Just to clarify you say you external transfer to nfcu checking then from nfcu checking you transfer to nfcu savings.

Can't you just external transfer to nfcu checking and external transfer to nfcu savings. Or do you have to have a nfcu checking also?

I was planning on just having savings accounts and not checking.

Re: Couple Questions for PenFed/NFCU Members

SUPERSQUID — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 14:23:53 GMT

The external transfer would be from your bank to nfcu checking , it takes one business day for funds to appear in my nfcu checking..

The internal transfer would be from your nfcu checking to your nfcu savings, that tranfer is instant

Most banks have the external transfer option. it usually takes 1-3 days to set up. they will transfer some change like ie 23 cents and 48 cents in 2 different deposits to your nfcu checking and the ask you for the exact amount the two transfers were, after you complete that process you are good to go.

With nfcu you might as well have the checking too, its free and no minimum.

Re: Couple Questions for PenFed/NFCU Members

SouthJamaica — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 14:34:22 GMT

@Iusedtolurk wrote:
I am expecting a sum of money from by old job that they failed to pay me (long story) in the supposely near future.

Too much to let sit in my checking account so I'm planning on joining PenFed and NFCU and wanted to know members experience so far as funding the savings/share accounts.

I know they have small joining fees but I would like to join and fund immediately with about 5000 each.

Do I simply transfer the money from my checking account or is there something else to do.

I'm a little confused because I've read a few posts that stated certain difficulties in funding the accounts which seems strange to me.

My thoughts are you join and add them to external accounts for your checking and transfer whatever sum you would like.

Or is there something I am missing?

Any member experiences welcomed.

I'm not apping for any credit cards or other products simply looking to join and fund.

Navy has a peculiarity, that you can't pull an ACH transfer into your deposit accounts, only into loan or credit card accounts. But you can always push the transfer from your outside account.

PenFed has a peculiarity, that it offers no free checking account.

They each have other peculiarities, but those are the ones most relevant to the present moment.

Re: Couple Questions for PenFed/NFCU Members

Yasselife — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 15:00:06 GMT

Using Zelle is instant, just need your phone or email to create one. Discover checking for example, ACH deposit takes around 7days with a minimum of $25, Zelle is the remedy.

Re: Couple Questions for PenFed/NFCU Members

SouthJamaica — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 16:23:08 GMT

@Yasselife wrote:
Using Zelle is instant, just need your phone or email to create one. Discover checking for example, ACH deposit takes around 7days with a minimum of $25, Zelle is the remedy.

@Yasselife wrote:
Using Zelle is instant, just need your phone or email to create one. Discover checking for example, ACH deposit takes around 7days with a minimum of $25, Zelle is the remedy.

Zelle can be a problem. Your email address or cell phone number has to be dedicated to a single account. For people with multiple accounts it can be a disaster.

I can see using Zelle to send payments to other people. I can't see using Zelle to send payments to onesself at different financial institutions.

Re: Couple Questions for PenFed/NFCU Members

OmarGB9 — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 04:40:46 GMT

@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Yasselife wrote:
Using Zelle is instant, just need your phone or email to create one. Discover checking for example, ACH deposit takes around 7days with a minimum of $25, Zelle is the remedy.

@Yasselife wrote:
Using Zelle is instant, just need your phone or email to create one. Discover checking for example, ACH deposit takes around 7days with a minimum of $25, Zelle is the remedy.
Zelle can be a problem. Your email address or cell phone number has to be dedicated to a single account. For people with multiple accounts it can be a disaster.

I can see using Zelle to send payments to other people. I can't see using Zelle to send payments to onesself at different financial institutions.

Simple solution is to use different emails. A lot (most?) people have at least 2 emails. Or at least I do.

Re: Couple Questions for PenFed/NFCU Members

SouthJamaica — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 14:00:27 GMT

@OmarGB9 wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Yasselife wrote:
Using Zelle is instant, just need your phone or email to create one. Discover checking for example, ACH deposit takes around 7days with a minimum of $25, Zelle is the remedy.

@Yasselife wrote:
Using Zelle is instant, just need your phone or email to create one. Discover checking for example, ACH deposit takes around 7days with a minimum of $25, Zelle is the remedy.
Zelle can be a problem. Your email address or cell phone number has to be dedicated to a single account. For people with multiple accounts it can be a disaster.

I can see using Zelle to send payments to other people. I can't see using Zelle to send payments to onesself at different financial institutions.

Simple solution is to use different emails. A lot (most?) people have at least 2 emails. Or at least I do.

1. A lot of people don't use 2 or more emails. I would guess most people don't.

2. A lot of people have more than 2 bank accounts. OP certainly does.

Re: Couple Questions for PenFed/NFCU Members

brk1971 — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 20:10:13 GMT

@Iusedtolurk wrote:
...

I know they have small joining fees but I would like to join and fund immediately with about 5000 each.
...

Just to clarify... Neither NFCU nor PenFed have any fee to join.

The $5 minimum deposit to become a member is a deposit into your account and it remains a part of your account (but is not available for withdrawal). That's your money still (not a semantic difference), in your account, until you terminate your relationship with them. This is the same with any credit union, as it is the establishment of you as a 'member' (as opposed to a customer).

Re: Couple Questions for PenFed/NFCU Members

Yasselife — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 20:32:09 GMT

@SouthJamaica Ok, I didn't consider members who have over 10 checking accounts as they do with credit cards. What if you only use 2-3 Zelle accounts for specific situations like with NFCU?

Re: Couple Questions for PenFed/NFCU Members

SouthJamaica — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 21:34:59 GMT

@Yasselife wrote:
@SouthJamaica Ok, I didn't consider members who have over 10 checking accounts as they do with credit cards. What if you only use 2-3 Zelle accounts for specific situations like with NFCU?

I don't see using something so limited as a means for transferring money between one's own accounts, when almost every institution now has free ach transfers to and from external accounts.