What are the best military accredited banks or credit unions.

MSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 12:29:16 -0400

In your experiences what has been the best military (DOD) approved bank or credit union? Just thought I would ask this question to the RP community for the benefit of anyone looking for a good military geared financial institution.

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made Aug 4 at 2014 12:39 PM

MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 12:39:03 -0400

USAA for total banking and insurance services.

Response by MSG Wade Huffman made Aug 4 at 2014 12:55 PM

MSG Wade Huffman — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 12:55:06 -0400

I'm not sure that DoD accredits any bank or credit union.
Based on my experience, USAA is about the best bank I've ever worked with. As far as Credit Unions go, I have worked with Wright Patterson Credit Union for both a refinance on a mortgage and several car loans and find them to provide very good service and very competitive rates (and they are local to me).

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 4 at 2014 1:15 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 13:15:01 -0400

I use a combo of USAA and Navy Federal. Navy is handy if you need to do anything in a local branch.

Response by Capt Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 4 at 2014 1:15 PM

Capt Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 13:15:06 -0400

For those of you overseas, DoD contract banks have some serious drawbacks compared to other options. I am stationed in Germany and have a few options for DoD banks (Andrews FCU & Community Bank [BoA subsidiary]). Pros include banking options like you are used to in the US. Cons, however, include a DoD mandatory foreign exchange fee of 2.5% so when it comes to paying your bills or rent you can be hit with a $30-50 fee every month just to exchange money. That said, overseas, I keep my USAA account and withdraw cash from an ATM for regular use and to deposit into my German bank (I save the 2.5% foreign conversion fee by using my ATM card). That said, USAA is definitely the way to go when overseas ... excellent support, no foreign transaction fees (not even the usual 1% that Visa and Mastercard usually charges), and international phone numbers to contact them. Any questions for what I wrote, please let me know and I'll clarify.

Response by SCPO Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 4 at 2014 1:41 PM

SCPO Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 13:41:18 -0400

We have a savings account with USAA so that we can use ATMs anywhere free of charge, in effect. We make more extensive use of Navy Federal - and our other "bank" is a non-DoD affiliated Federal Credit Union. I started using Navy Fed when I was mobilized to Bahrain in 2003 and have been very happy with them.

Response by Cpl Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 4 at 2014 2:57 PM

Cpl Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 14:57:27 -0400

I am pretty satisfied with Navy Federal. Especially now that they have relaxed the rules on who may join.

Response by SPC Chelsea Fernandez made Mar 11 at 2015 1:25 AM

SPC Chelsea Fernandez — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 01:25:48 -0400

USAA

Response by PO1 John Widick made Jul 7 at 2017 11:00 PM

PO1 John Widick — Fri, 07 Jul 2017 23:00:16 -0400

I still use Navy Federal and USAA depending on which gives me the best deal at the time. I have friends that swear by PenFed as well.