[Resolved] Any use in having a NavyFed account, ok to close it ?

[sharukh]

Hi,

When there was a time when Navy Fed allowed anyone to open the account, I opened a checking account, just to get my foot in the door to have access to navy fed offerings.

I dont see them as competitive in any category that I need of (credit card, high interest checking, etc)

Is there any use in having access to navy fed ?

ok to get out of their system ? close all accounts ?

Thank you.

[nalor511]

They might have a product you want (CD?) in the future. Cost is very low ($5 on deposit?) to keep it until you may need it. Cost is also very low to close it. Do what makes you happy

[BL]

At one time they had good CD rates. My last one is due to mature and the check mailed to me, as they can not currently compete with low-cost brokerages with treasuries. I will probably leave the membership alone, in case I/they change again in the future. They may have decent insurance, credit cards, etc.

[hudson]

When my NFCU CDs mature, I plan to keep my account active.
NFCU is the largest credit union. You never know when or if they'll offer a great deal.
I'm a member of 4 credit unions. I'll stay as long as they'll keep me.

Top 10 credit unions by deposits: https://fintechmagazine.com/top10/top-1 ... unions-usa

[Arabesque]

I'm keeping mine because there is no foreign transaction fee on their credit card.

[Bcdkgf]

We are members of Navy because they had a great rate for a Jumbo Money Market Account. But, their rates cannot be compared with what we are now receiving in Treasuries. So we drained the Navy account into our brokerage account and purchased Treasuries this year. The membership account ($5.00) is still open because I feel we need some kind of building to go and have a face to face when we purchase/finance our next car. Yeah, I know boomer syndrome. Our old credit union is in GA and our account there is still open, but I don't know if the GA credit union will finance a car in Florida. We have no plans of buying a car soon as our 7 year old Prius is still running strong and has low milage.

[ClaycordJCA]

This topic is now in the Personal Finance (Not Investing) forum.

[lakpr]

If you close your NFCU account, you may never be able to get in again in the future; especially when you got in when they "let in everybody" and sounds like they tightened their membership rules since then. That would be a good reason to keep the account active, and as others said in this thread -- you never know when they would offer a great CD rate or a mortgage rate that is open only to members.

[manlymatt83]

I’m in a similar boat. I plan to close all of my accounts except my membership account and leave the $50 in it required to keep the account active without risking it going into “inactive mode” (I was told this by a rep — not sure if true, YMMV).

I too joined “just in case” but have been happier with Alliant.

[Bogle-Yardie]

Navy Federal Credit Union member for over 30 years. I used them for all my banking needs including mortgage. There is no need for me to go anywhere else because in my opinion NFCU is overall a trustworthy institution and that means a lot.
NFCU for banking
USAA for insurance
Vanguard for investments

[ralph124cf]

I closed my NFCU accounts yesterday. I was happy with them except for low interest rates on deposits, but I used to live five minutes from their nearest brick and mortar office, but I moved to a place 60 minutes away from the nearest B&M office. This makes them less desirable to me.

I will never need a mortgage again, and I never accepted a credit card from them, so there is nothing to keep me.

I am simplifying my accounts, and I am down from six financial firms that I do business with down to five now, and that will shortly be down to four.

Ralph

[TravelGeek]

I am simplifying my accounts, and I am down from six financial firms that I do business with down to five now, and that will shortly be down to four.

I never had a NFCU account, but got a PenFed account when they had their special end of year CD offer several years ago. Ever since the last CD matured, I have kept a few bucks in the share account and occasionally transferred $5 to and fro my hub bank (Ally) to keep it ”active” (not sure about them specifically, but another CU I have an account with charged me an inactivity fee once).

I, too, plan to simplify the number of accounts. Marcus and PenFed will likely be gone by the end of the year. Some credit cards with marginal benefits will also go into the shredder.

[friar1610]

We use NFCU as our primary “bank” and have for years. That aside, we would probably maintain it because their CD rates wax and wane and when they’re good they can be very good. (Not the case at the moment). Also, they sometimes offer “add on” CDs at attractive rates. For anywhere from $50 - $1000 (depending on the particular offering) you can open a placeholder CD with the option (but no obligation) to add to it later. I’ve successfully used them on a number of occasions. At the moment, I have an add-on whose interest rate is no longer competitive, so I’ll just let the $1000 sit there until maturity and not add to it. But, it would be worth it to me to maintain an NFCU account just for these options.p even if I didn’t also use it for savings, checking, credit card and (in bygone times) mortgages.

[manlymatt83]

I closed my NFCU accounts yesterday. I was happy with them except for low interest rates on deposits, but I used to live five minutes from their nearest brick and mortar office, but I moved to a place 60 minutes away from the nearest B&M office. This makes them less desirable to me.

I will never need a mortgage again, and I never accepted a credit card from them, so there is nothing to keep me.

I am simplifying my accounts, and I am down from six financial firms that I do business with down to five now, and that will shortly be down to four.

Ralph

Would you have kept them if you needed a mortgage? I hear their rates aren’t the lowest anymore.

[sharukh]

Thank you all.

Hopefully someday when i need a mortgage, they might be provide me at a better price than competition.

Cost of keeping this account is minimal. So set up a simple recurring transfer from primary checking to navy fed checking.

Thank you.

[Tabulator]

Would at least one recurring CD keep the relationship fully active?

I’m in a similar boat. I plan to close all of my accounts except my membership account and leave the $50 in it required to keep the account active without risking it going into “inactive mode” (I was told this by a rep — not sure if true, YMMV).

[devillif311]

OP, if you like credit cards and pay them off each month like me, they have amazing cards and fraud protection. I had a fraud incident fixed within seconds at 7 pm on a saturday with an actual person calling me. I now only use credit cards and have the navy federal AMEX rewards card as my primary and the Visa cash card as a secondary. If you set up a pin on it, you can use it as an ATM card as well.

[Mel Lindauer]

Do they redeem paper I Bonds? (Many credit unions do). If so and you own paper I Bonds, keeping the account open would be a good way to avoid having to deal with Treasury Direct.