Navy Federal has gone from a "member-first" philosophy to a "cover-our-ass" paradigm in the past few years.

My problems started when they changed their policy on their ShareDraft Visa card. It used to be that the account would be debited from the account when the transaction posted. Now they backdate it to the time the card was swiped. Why? To collect more fees, of course. Even if you swipe the card, put gas in the car, get home and transfer the $5 difference 5 minutes later... when that transaction posts you'll get the $25 fee. WAIT, it gets better. That $25 fee will be BACKDATED, so if you went to, say, Starbucks, the supermarket, and drive-through and used your card... you'll get another $25 fee for EACH transaction when they shoehorn the backdated fee in. Even if your account never went below $0. Why? Well, that is how CEO Cutler Dawson makes his money. How much money does he make? You won't know as a member and part-owner of the credit union because they fear that kind of transparency. But I digress...

Know what is interesting? Many places don't let you use it as a debit card, only credit. It was explained to me that this was a choice made by the card issuer and not the merchants' systems. Now, why would they restrict that usage? Well, it's hard to rack up overdraft fees if folks are using their PIN number and the money is coming directly out at that time. Do you think NFCU would deliberately set up a system that would make them more money?

I've read many of the complaints about Navy Fed on this board and have seen the responses from alleged employees of NFCU. Maybe they are the same people who revel in schadenfreude at the folks on here who lost their jobs and can't pay their bills. Maybe they were involved in the lawsuit NFCU lost when they continued to harass a former member:

http://www.newyorkbankruptcylitigation.com/2008/01/14/navy-federal-credit-union-violates-automatic-stay-must-pay-over-13000/

Maybe they are the ones who look at my account on their computer screen and talk to each other in Tagalog so I don't know what they are saying. Maybe it's the supervisor who, after only refunding half of their ill-gotten fees, offered to "take the money back out if I don't like it".

Maybe, just maybe they don't realize that the unprofessional behavior they exhibit here and the vitriol they spew is being presented to the world. This undoubtedly will make their corporate overlords unhappy, but they don't realize that they are only small cogs in a giant money-making racket that chews up the little guy. So I can't really blame them for what they don't know.

Final words of advise, take it or leave it: Avoid Navy Federal. Find a small local credit union that will treat you well, kind of like how NFCU used to be.

I received a mailed notice that my IRA was going to mature in April. I called NFCU after receiving a written notice well in advance of the maturity date (more than 3 weeks ahead of maturity) and selected a 30-month 4.10% rate that they were offering.

When I reviewed my account last night, I saw where NFCU did not honor the rate I selected, but instead renewed my IRA for its original term (5 years) at a much lower rate of 3.3%. I was never informed via phone or email or U.S. Mail that the renewal was not going to be what I selected.

I called NFCU to inquire what happened thinking it was just an administrative error but was told that the 4.10% rate "expired two weeks before my IRA certificate matured." I asked why I was not informed and received no viable answer except that "the customer service person who assisted me didn't know what the expiration date was." Baloney! I insisted on speaking to a supervisor but "she was busy." I asked to be connected to a manager, but that person "is not available." I then asked to be called back and now, more than an hour later, no call back.

This is a BAIT AND SWITCH tactic as far as I'm concerned. At a minimum, NFCU should have called me before the certificate matured and stated that the 4.10% rate was no longer available. I certainly would have NOT chosen to renew to another 5 year term at a low rate.

These are deceptive practices and NFCU should be ashamed of itself. If they do not resolve this, a complaint will be filed via NCUA.

I've never had to much of a problem with them before, but I encountered one today (I was usuing the 800 number to try to get info on my title so I could register my car in FL). Let me just say that they were highly unprofessional and rude. Because of my bankruptcy (suddenly being single and having to handle ALL the bills of a household, raising a new baby with no help financially, etc - not from being irresponsible and blowing my money on stupid stuff) they said "why should we help you" and "you owe us money" (uhm its written off)...exact words, wish I would have been able to record them. The "lady" was a supervisor and If i remember correctly her name was Sherry, Cheryl, or something similiar to that. If they could have just faxed it to the DMV that would have been perfectly fine and acceptable with me, but they refuse to do even that...why? The DMV said that if they would even write something on company letterhead stating that they are not relaeasing the title to me, and why, that they would even accept that. NFCU wasnt even willing to sign a piece of paper saying they are unwilling to help or compromise in any way. I can understand it they didn't want to give me the title, that's fine. They said if the DMV got a hold of them that MAYBE they'd think about it then. Its assanine (spelling?). So much for customer service. I wrote the CEo last night and am sending it off otday. So thats my thought on NFCU now, don't use them if you have an option.

Navy Federal paid some checks my son had inadvertently bounced just before he lost his job, and as expected, charged a $25 fee. Instead of letting him make payment arrangements to bring his account back into good standing, though, they continued to run the checks through their system (less than 10) and over the course of two months ended up charging over $1200 in overdraft fees.

He is in the military reserve and did receive pay from drill weekends and doing honor guard for veteran funerals, so he had some money coming in even though he had lost his job. NFCU took every cent he paid into that account, though, and used it to pay overdraft fees as they continued to add more fees every week!

When they had drained his account of every cent, they then proceeded without notice to drain MY accounts, because I was a joint owner with him. They took over $600 from my accounts, leaving us financially insolvent and having to borrow money to pay our rent that month.

They also tried to take money from another child's account because I was a joint owner on his account. They took a few hundred dollars out, transferred that money without any notice, to pay for their bogus overdraft fees, until I wrote to the board of directors again and informed our congressman. Then they returned the money, again with no notice -- very sneaky.

I spoke to a customer service manager who said that was too bad about our accounts being drained but there was nothing he could do, and I should have read the fine print that a joint owner's accounts can be drained. Well, it is in their disclosure statement, but I have talked to several other people with accounts at NFCU who said that was never done to them, even to the man whose wife overdrew their joint account by a few thousand dollars -- they never touched his private account to cover her overdrafts! So, it seems to be a very subjective process whose accounts they raid.

They do not give notice, either, they just begin transferring money, and they do not even specific what account it is going to -- the accounts only show the notations 'Transfer to Other' or 'Transfer from Other', so it took me a few days to catch on to the sneaky behavior.

I faxed letters to the company president, who ignored every one of them. I wrote letters to the board of directors, not one of whom contacted us to assist. Not one!

At that point I had to contact our congressman, and suddenly -- after nearly three months of having our accounts drained, my son was told that he could close his account and the bank would then stop adding fees. I do not know why they did not tell him that BEFORE they had taken over a thousand dollars from him. One rep said it would take 30 days to close the account.

But when we received another letter adding more overdraft fees for the same items, we called again and that rep closed the account within 24 hours.

I wrote and demanded the return of all but the initial fees, but was ignored yet again. The only correspondence we ever received were a few letters from someone named J.S. Cooper on stationery without an address, advising that he or she had been directed to respond to my letters, and he or she considered the matter closed.

The next issue involves a small loan (a few thousand dollars, he paid 3/4 of the cost in cash) my son took out to purchase a new vehicle. He applied online at NFCU, and they granted him the loan. They sent him a check to sign and turn over to Cleo Bay Honda. At NO time did any rep from NFCU or Cleo Bay tell him that the vehicle would be used for collateral, and we never received one piece of paperwork for him to sign off on regarding the loan or using the vehicle as collateral. That made sense because being military, they knew they would get their money one way or another, and the loan was relatively small.

However, since NFCU was taking every cent he made to pay for bogus overdraft charges, he could not make payments on the vehicle loan after he lost his job. He explained this to NFCU and the loan reps, but NFCU said it wasn't their problem, and the reps said they didn't care and continued with their threats.

We received calls several times a week, even after telling them to stop, and those calls were always threatening. The reps were always belligerent, and would tell my son they were going to repossess his vehicle, and they would end up shouting so loud I could hear them across the room. One time his brother picked up a call, and without even verifying who was on the phone, the rep began shouting and threatening his brother, and discussing personal financial matters. She did not even verify the identity of the person to whom she was talking!

We notified our congressman of these calls and wrote the board again, and the calls stopped within a week or so. However, next we heard from the saleswoman at Cleo Bay Honda, Killeen, Texas who sent an email to my son. She said in her email that she 'heard' he was behind on his loan payments, scolded him, then told her to return the title to her! No other explanation, so of course, I replied to her email asking who she was talking to, advising her she was breaking privacy laws by discussing financial information without my son's permission, and asked why she wanted the title back.

This made no sense since Honda was paid in full, and the loan was from NFCU to my son. However, Sue Ramirez never had the courtesy to reply to my email. I then contacted the dealership manager, Brian Hoenig, to let him know what was happening. Even though I did it by forwarding Sue's email to my son, and my son gave him written permission, he refused to discuss anything with me.

It is apparent though that NFCU called Cleo Bay Honda and discussed my son's personal financial information with Sue and their finance department and told her to get the title back so they could repossess the vehicle.

We have now received a copy of a petition from the Texas Dept. of Transportation advising my son that Cleo Bay Honda is suing the state to have the title rescinded and changed! According to the letter from the Tx DoT attorney, he was receiving a copy because he has an 'interest' in the vehicle -- I should say so, with $16, 000 paid into it!

In the meantime, NFCU seems to be doing their best to cause my son as much grief as possible, because -- four months after his semester ended, my son received a letter from the VA saying he owed them over $200 for benefits to which he was not entitled! The letter was unsigned and did not specify which benefits, or give any information other than he owed them and what they would do if he did not pay.

Another issue we had with NFCU is that they appear to be retaliating by causing problems with my bank account. I lost my credit card and ordered a new one through their site. I received and activated it, but spent most of a week trying to use it. It was declined every time, when I had several hundred dollars in my account. The reps kept telling me there was no problem with it. Finally, after trying to make a purchase after another paycheck had been deposited and having the card declined again, I called a rep who did not have her head up her backside. She told me that someone had changed the data in the personal information fields, including part of my name and address. Someone had also linked the card to my son's account instead of mine -- had to be deliberate since our last names are different.

Another incident involved a trip from Texas to the east coast for a military graduation for another child. I used my card across five states, and made charges from a few dollars for lunches to over $100 for hotel accommodations. A few days after I returned home, it was the third time I had used my card, it was declined!

When I called customer service, the rep told me that the Security Department had 'closed' the card because they believed there were unauthorized charges. The problem with that was that the charges they were questioning -- four out of the several dozen we made on the trip we had just completed -- were for amounts ranging from $3 to approximately $25 -- all for insignificant charges like lunch, one iTune song, etc.

Even though charges had been made for months from Texas (me) and my son (Georgia), the Security Department NEVER questioned those. Nor did they question any of the charges made on our trip in Louisiana, Mississippi, or Alabama -- only those five small charges from Texas and Georgia.

I sent another letter to the directors -- again, no response at all.

So, we have been in touch with our congressman because NFCU's banking practices are sneaky, underhanded, and if a lot of what they are doing is legal -- it has to be marginally so! They are unresponsive, and they are vindictive.

Their website alone should tell you this, because I had to hire a researcher to go into special databases to find out their physical address, phone, fax, and the names of their directors. I sent 12 letters out every single time, one in particular going to Bill Briscoe, VP, Regulatory Compliance and Public Policy - and we never received one response, not even from Mr. Briscoe.

I will start off by saying that it would be nice if Cutler Dawson or any of the members of the board of directors took a strong look at the way there members are being treated. "Once a member always a member" Yeah right! Snap shot, 12 year member, two houses, three automobiles, four consumer or (signature loans), a credit card with a $30, 000.00 limit, a checking account and a saving account. First eleven years great year twelve a nightmare. I do not know if NFCU's collaboration with CIG is the reason for the awful service to its members or if they are just petrified like the rest of the world regardless they make on average $2, 500.00 a month in pure profit alone. If this ever does reach any member of NFCUs members of the board please understand that for the first eleven years you guys were great. At this point in my life based on the level of service and inconsistency among the different departments I would rather do business with a loan shark. You guys are awful, terrible, careless and unappreciative of your members faithful service. You truly should be ashamed of the business you are operating and I believe that if it continues you will self implode.


Thanks for taking my money.