I recently financed a new car purchase through NFCU. The process was painless, efficient, and enjoyable throughout. I received personal service from well-informed and responsive CSRs. The only exception was that I didn't get their very best rate, but almost.
Seeking a somewhat better APR, I decided to try and refinance my new car through PenFed, which advertised slightly better rates. By contrast, the process was painful, inefficient, and ultimately a failure. They offered me an interest rate higher than NFCU, so I declined their loan.
Some examples of PenFed's inefficiency include: My car wasn't on the list of auto manufacturers on their website; their customer service was uninformed; they asked for a copy of my Social Security card (no one else has asked for that in the past 30 years; I had to order a replacement from the government); failure to tell me the APR and term I'd been approved for; and finally, disbursing the loan funds before I'd even agreed to the terms! I had to call repeatedly to get anyone to pay attention to my loan application; many CSRs seemed pretty clueless. I finally found one willing to provide personal service, but by then it was too late.
The moral of this story? Consider financing your next car purchase through NFCU rather than PenFed unless you enjoy frustration! Of course, YMMV but I hope sharing my experience is helpful.
My first auto loan ever was through NFCU. It really was very fast (approved in like 20 minutes), easy, and an overall great experience. I can't speak for PenFed auto loans, but I'm not even fond of their online banking. I joined them last year and had issues from day one and closed my account shortly after. Their reps aren't that helpful in that department either.
It's been roughly 4 years since the last time I financed a vehicle.
That loan was through Penfed. I've financed a total of 3 vehicles through them.
It was pretty painless each time.
Not sure what my experience would be now, after reading your comments. 😆
I've witnessed a family member using Navy. It was definitely cut and dry. And a very easy process.
I'm looking over each now for a future purchase. Some have better rates on used vehicles while others on new vehicles.
AOD FCU is turning out to be terribly slow at processing auto loans.
I may hit up Redstone and see if they are more streamlined.
Both offer used auto rates that are significantly better than Navy, Penfed, DCU, SECU or Service CU.
For example a used vehicle loan for 72 months is 2.69% at AOD and 2.79% at Redstone.
The kicker, Redstone requirements to recieve that rate is to finance 75% or less of LTV with a 730 FICO EX 9.
While AOD gives the best rate with a EQ FICO 5 score. Which I believe is 720 or higher. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
