I have been with Navy Federal for 30 years. I really love them.
Customer service is unbelievable (very little wait time when you call)
Their web interface for banking is the best I've used.
Applying for loans is a breeze.
They have the LOWEST rates for transferring money overseas (bar none). You have to call them, but they use a Western Union product. BoA, Wells F, etc could not come close to the cost, simplicity and speed in which they do it.
I got my first car loan through them (zero credit) and multiple loans after that... they paid for me to go to college with a private loan (at the time capped at 15k).
Money transfers are free.
Balance transfers (zero fee & zero interest ~ every April)
Rewards CC sucks (I book tickets through points and the Airline didn't honor at the airport....though they totally made up for it)
Check deport by phone up to 5k
No downpayment mortgage up to 1M
I really really love them.

Possible minus' (which don't make a difference
We have a lot of branches in the DC area, however when you go other places it is difficult to find a branch
Internation ATMs (though who uses cash now and you can transfer cash-see above for insane exchange rates (most places have an unfair exchange rate and profit added to foreign cash transactions...including ATM)
I don't like the year in summary for my Accounts (AMEX is the gold standard)
They don't keep a lot of history in the web account...you have to do to account services and look at the PDF
Sometimes their rates are higher than other companies
Don't know much about their trading platform....I tried it out a few years ago and it looked like it sucked.



However, I just got married and my banking needs have gotten more complicated.
So I decided to move some money to BoA Wealth Management through ML
BoA...SUCKS!!!!
$3 for ACH vs 0 for NFCU
Used Bill pay to pay an account...I needed to wait 4 days for them to allow the payment...then they missed the payment. NFCU has always been flawless
A call to Customer Service was frustrating .....it is obvious they don't want you to talk to a real person. I cursed at the Automated attendant and she hung up on me. Took another 20 minutes to get a human....I'm a wealth management customer with platinum rewards...image how they treat everyone else.

I tested BoA, and I'm running back to NFCU for my banking needs.

I really wanted to find a bank with a good finance side and trading side (ira, stocks, options, bonds).
So far NFCU is miles ahead of everyone else.

My wife uses Cap One and she likes them. I have not used them
I have Well Fargo and I'm not impressed with their website.
I also have USAA and NFCU beats them, though I don't know if they improve if you are ex-military.

Jump to NFCU, I use a lot of financial products and I like them.

However I wish I could consolidate with one institution and so far that is hard.

Anonymous wrote:I had NFCU and BofA and dropped NFCU. Their rates were better but I found them to be a pain for other reasons. The lack of branches and ATMs for one thing. I am in Arlington and going to the one in Ballston was a hassle. Also they seem to require more hoops and paperwork for everything. I also had too many electronic transfers linked to BofA to drop them - for example tenants rent automatically goes into my BofA account.

There is a NFCU ATM in Crystal City.

I had NFCU and BofA and dropped NFCU. Their rates were better but I found them to be a pain for other reasons. The lack of branches and ATMs for one thing. I am in Arlington and going to the one in Ballston was a hassle. Also they seem to require more hoops and paperwork for everything. I also had too many electronic transfers linked to BofA to drop them - for example tenants rent automatically goes into my BofA account.

Go. We switched from BofA to a credit union 10 years ago and never looked back. Customer service is a million times better, and with our CU, all the same conveniences are there (online bill pay, etc)

BofA is shady as hell.

I love my NFCU. I only use it for savings though as my primary credit union is at another credit union.

We've had Navy Fed Credit Union for about 7 years and their services are excellent. When I was with BOA, they were always trying to sell me something whenever I went into the bank.

Navy Federal Credit Union phone customer service has been excellent. However, the customer service at the main branch in Vienna is not that great.

Overall, we've been very happy with them.

I also have a USAA account and I like that they reimburse you up to, I think, $15/month for ATM fees. That's a nice benefit. The only reason I prefer Navy FCU is that there is a physical bank I can go vs. USAA which is located in TX.

Didn't care for USAA banking. Unimpressed. Hate everything that BOA touches. They're nickel and diming assholes, and their customer service is uneducated (about their products, not generally) and flat out rude.
I bank with another credit union, it's not perfect but can't imagine NFCU is anything but a 75% improvement over anything BOA

We've had navy fed for over 15 years. Never have had a problem. Their customer service is fantastic.

If you have a credit union available to you, you'd be crazy to stay with a bank, especially BOA.

with usaa you can deposit checks with a phone or computer, you can withdraw cash at cvs for free and withdraw from any atm for free up to 15 dollars in fees a month

We use Navy Fed... pain on a lot of different issues.

I just made the switch from BOA (25 years with them) to Penfed and am very pleased with the change, although I do miss BOA's bill pay system--really preferred it. Got tired of the impersonal, don't care about the small customer attitude. Took my money and left. They probably don't care, of course! Be sure to allow several months for any automatic deposit changes to take place, as well as incoming checks, etc. I didn't officially close the account for nine months, to be sure all was okay.

Anonymous wrote:I like usaa

switched from boa

I like usaa

I am always complaining about BOA with all the fees etc and finally opened a credit union account with Navy Federal with intent of totally moving over. Only now I'm getting cold feet. I still have Wells accounts that I use for savings and my mortgage. Am I being crazy to be afraid to switch or crazy not to totally switch? I am really trying to get my finances in order this year once and for all.