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I became a member of Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PFCU) in May 1994, as I was graduating college. My older sister, Becky, opened a savings account for me there as a graduation present. Looking back on it now, I think it was a very creative and useful gift. She started me off with $100. The rest is history.

Over the years, I have opened (and closed) a checking account, maintained a credit card, gotten a used car loan, and financed my graduate school education through PFCU. I have few complaints about PFCU, though it’s no longer my main bank of choice.

Good things about PFCU

For the most part, I have been very impressed with PFCU’s service. I can call customer service toll free and talk to a representative or email them. Though I don’t think I’d equate PFCU’s level of customer service with USAA’s, they’ve generally been pretty good to deal with. A few years ago, when I was unemployed and totally broke, a representative noticed that there had been very little activity in my checking account. PFCU charges monthly fees for checking and she commented that having the money sitting idle was costing me. I told her I didn’t have a job and she waived the fee for me for three months.

In 1998, I bought a used car. Since I was still pretty young, I didn’t have much of a credit history. My mom cosigned the loan I took out with Toyota. Later, when I decided to refinance, PFCU gave me a very competitive rate of about 6%. Right now, PFCU is offering rates as low as 4.25% for used car loans.

Over the years, I’ve used a credit card with PFCU and generally, my interest rates have stayed reasonable. Right now, my APR for my PFCU credit card is 13.99%. While it’s not as low as my USAA card, I carry a very low balance that will soon be paid off.

Not so good things about PFCU

In my experience, PFCU is a very conservative institution. When I decided to go to graduate school, I applied for student loans through PFCU. It took a long time for me to get a loan decision from them, plus, after about a year, my loans were sold to Citibank. As it turns out, though, Citibank has been easier to deal with than PFCU was. When PFCU was handling my loans, I had to go to the financial aid office and physically endorse the loan checks. When Citibank took over, that was no longer required. I pay my student loans online through an educational loan service and barely have to think about them anymore.

PFCU is slow to raise my credit card limits, which isn’t such a bad thing. It’s kept me from running up a huge amount of debt. But, they seem slow to trust. After ten years of dealing with them, my credit limit has gone from $500 to $3700. Over the past 14 years with USAA, by contrast, I’ve watched my limit go from $1000 to $14,500. Meanwhile, my USAA interest rate is about four points lower than PFCU’s is. That might be because USAA can better afford the risk, since it’s a much larger institution.

Once, when I ran out of deposit slips, I called PFCU to order more. The representative I spoke to said that I should download and print the slips from my computer. When I told her that my printer wasn’t working, she basically blew me off. I later got deposit slips when I sent an email explaining that I didn’t have a printer. But instead of the nice pre-printed and pre-cut ones they used to send, I got a few sheets of downloaded slips that I’ll have to cut myself. I’ll also have to use my own envelopes and pay postage to send in my deposits, whereas USAA offers pre-printed, postage paid envelopes for deposits.

PFCU has few branches, mostly clustered in and around the Washington, DC area, so most banking has to be done by mail or online. When I lived in the Washington DC area, I could go into a local branch and deal with someone face to face. But it was more of a hassle than it was worth. There are international branches available at Lajes Field in the Azores, in Okinawa, Japan, at Anderson Air Force Base in Guam, and at Incirlik, Turkey. There are also branches in Hawaii.

Fees!

I maintained a PFCU checking account for several years but finally closed it because I was tired of having to pay $6 a month for the privilege, especially when USAA offers free checking complete with free checks and no ATM fees. Once, when I did have a PFCU checking account, I did get slapped with a big fee when I tried to withdraw money from my account on the same day as I made a deposit. I was a poor student at the time, so the fee hurt. But more accurately, I was very annoyed that they charged it, since it seemed to be a deviance from their normal practice. I had checked my balance before I hit the ATM and I supposedly had money. I just withdrew it sooner than they wanted me to, hence the $20 charge.

PFCU also doesn’t offer free checks and, while they do have a free basic online bill pay service, their premium service costs $5 a month. USAA, by contrast, offers free checks and free bill pay service.

Things are a little slow here…

PFCU has improved a bit over the years in terms of getting up to speed with technology. Not long ago, they overhauled their Web site, making it more secure and easier to use. However, I have noticed that they are slower on the draw than USAA is about a lot of things. For the longest time, PFCU sent me credit card statements that had my entire account number printed on them.

I also remember having a heck of a time starting a checking account with them back in 1997, when I was fresh from the Peace Corps. It just took forever to get it set up so I could pay my bills. In fact, PFCU even had to wire me some money at one point so I could stay current while they got my account started. Things are no doubt better nowadays, but the memory still lingers.

I still recommend them… for some services

Nowadays, I still maintain a savings account and a credit card with PFCU. I’ve also been giving serious thought to refinancing my car loan with PFCU, since they offer excellent rates and my husband is eligible to get a loan with them. When it comes time to buy a house, we might also give some thought to going to PFCU for a mortgage.

If you’re interested in joining…

Bear in mind that you have to meet certain eligibility requirements. Membership in PFCU is open to people who fall in the following categories:

1. People in the United States Military & Uniformed Services- United States Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, Navy, Marines, National Guard, Reserves, Cadets, and ROTC.

2. Member of an Eligible Association or the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA)

American Society of Military Comptrollers, Army Warrant Officers Association, AUSA, and more…

3. People who are United States Government Employees:

Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Defense, Department of the Army, and the Department of the Air Force.

4. Immediate family members of PFCU members or their housemates.

5. Employee of an Eligible Place of Business, including

Andersen Air Force Base, DCVA Medical Center - Contractors, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, etc.

6. Member of the National Military Family Association (NMFA)- If you do not fall within PFCU’s regular field of membership, you can join the National Military Family Association (NMFA) in order to become a member with Pentagon Federal Credit Union.

PFCU makes it fairly easy to qualify for membership.

Overall…

PFCU is not a bad place to bank, but there are better financial institutions out there. For now, I remain partial to USAA and use PFCU as a backup.

PenFed’s Web site: www.penfed.org

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