Navy Federal Conscience

[K-in-Boston]

That really was a fantastic outcome that they've made this exception for both of you!  Others have not been as lucky.

[M_Smart007]

@UpAndComing74, Congratulations

[Conceptual23]

Good one!

[OmarGB9]

Grats!

[Anonymous]

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@BearsCubsOtters wrote:

He is correct. Prior to February 2017, NFCU was very difficult to join-even retired veterans could not join! NFCU was only open to active duty (or those who joined when they were active duty-I guess that is a different way to say the same thing) or immediate family members of current NFCU members were allowed to join. That, and the risky roommate sponsorship and a long ago, no longer active, backdoor way in. 

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I joined in 2012 or 2013 (cannot remember), got my Cash Rewards card in February of 2015, but I was Navy IRR (Individual Ready Reserve), also known as inactive reserve. My BF got his membership through me. I have a love/hate relationship with them. They are great about certain things, but some policies seem totally random (like when they will credit a payment to one's card and make it immediately available), meaning sometimes they will and sometimes they will not and both reps will quote the same policy.

Any way, congrats on being able to join.

[Wavester64]

@BearsCubsOtters 

>>If either you or the Mrs. had a grandparent, parent or sibling that served in the military, you should be eligible for membership; otherwise, I do not see a legitimate, verifiable way in. 

It's funny, I remember when apping for membership and my CC on the phone with the CSR, I remember mentioning on my own in passing that I was going to use my deceased Grandfather as a sponsor since he was in the Army in Korea (EDIT: Correction WWII) - but I don't recall having to give his name or anything and like I said, it was in passing, not like the CSR asked me. Weird.

[BearsCubsOtters]

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@Wavester64 wrote:

@BearsCubsOtters 

>>If either you or the Mrs. had a grandparent, parent or sibling that served in the military, you should be eligible for membership; otherwise, I do not see a legitimate, verifiable way in. 

It's funny, I remember when apping for membership and my CC on the phone with the CSR, I remember mentioning on my own in passing that I was going to use my deceased Grandfather as a sponsor since he was in the Army in Korea - but I don't recall having to give his name or anything and like I said, it was in passing, not like the CSR asked me. Weird.

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Yeah, they seem to be taking people's word for it ever since February 2017. Its weird how they were once the Fort Knox of credit unions (not to be confused with the real, former Fort Knox FCU) where it was difficult to join and now they have made it incredibly easy to join. I thought maybe it would be temporary in order to grow the CU but its been 3.5 years now. 

[Anonymous]

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@BearsCubsOtters wrote:

Yeah, they seem to be taking people's word for it ever since February 2017. Its weird how they were once the Fort Knox of credit unions (not to be confused with the real, former Fort Knox FCU) where it was difficult to join and now they have made it incredibly easy to join. I thought maybe it would be temporary in order to grow the CU but its been 3.5 years now. 

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I used to feel that way about PenFed. I remember being annoyed they needed to verify military ID when I joined and that they did a hard pull just to open a checking account. I jokingly asked the agent if I needed to send a copy of my commission and he said half-seriously: "not any more."

How things have changed. When I was talking to one of the agents the other day to ask what I needed to do to have my BF join, she said: “Oh, he can just go online and open an account. We now do soft pulls and no longer need any military connection at all. We now have an open charter.”

[Anonymous]

The CUs are starting to realize that their limited eligibility limits their growth potential and once membership stagnates, the health of the CU stagnates and begins to decline as their members age. AOD was starting to stagnate before they unleashed their 3% card on the world and added ways around their fence. It will be interesting to review their annual report next year to see just how much growth they experience.

Why should a CU be forced to stop growing for any other reason than banks don't want the competition? The world would be a much better place if we had a few credit unions large enough to push the big banks to have better policies and as long as NFCU continues to have excellent customer service and lending policies, I am all for continued growth.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Why should a CU be forced to stop growing for any other reason than banks don't want the competition? The world would be a much better place if we had a few credit unions large enough to push the big banks to have better policies and as long as NFCU continues to have excellent customer service and lending policies, I am all for continued growth.

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The issue is that the playing field is not level. Credit Unions are non-profits and, as such, are tax exempt for many of their activities. They justify this based on their limited field of membership. The further they get from that limiting principle, the more likely they are to lose their tax exempt status, something that hurts all of us who are members.