Navy Federal Credit Union Reviews

by Cdubscharlotte

I was trying to deal with an urgent financial situation and NavyFederalCreditUnion forced me to fill out several detailed security questions to “protect me” some of which I wasn’t 100% sure on my answer and wouldn’t be sure I would type the exact same thing next time it asked. Worse yet I was not in a position to write down or type up these answers for later review. In the event I need them I will likely have trouble. While I got through the situation it was a huge inconvenience at the moment and it made me so much more mad when I tried to sign in online via the web browser on my phone and it forced through the same process there too!

Thanks for trying to make me safe but don’t ever withhold someone’s ability to move their funds without performing functions that easily could have waited until next time they signed in. Huge hit to your credibility on this one. How long until I am locked out of my account again until I perform some other tasks you want for “my protection?” I’ve already got two factor authentication turned on and facial recognition enabled. Why the hell is it so urgent to know what my mothers maiden name is. It could have waited Navy. It could have waited.

by Frozenarc

I love being able to bank with an app on my phone, but one feature in NavyFederalCreditUnion is driving me crazy! When you pay your bills through bill pay the running balance is not accurate. Up until the day of the bill payment you can see the amount of your bill payments in Bill Pay. But once you get to the day of payment, the list of what bills are being paid disappears completely until then payment clears the bank at midnight! It is NOT in Bill Pay or as a pending transaction in your account! If you pay multiple bills all on the same day and can’t remember exactly how must they totalled you could very easily overdraw your account! This needs to be fixed. Immediately either keep the pending payments in Bill Pay for an extra day, or show them as pending in the account the same way you would with a debit card payment. This should not be a difficult thing to do and the only reason I can think of for NFCU not doing this is so that they can collect overdraft fees.

Note: I have NOT overdrawn my account. I just see the potential for it to happen to many people and I want it to be fixed. Pronto.

by M12$7653

Updating this after reading other reviews. The balance IS NOT ACCURATE!!! After nearly two decades as an NFCU member, and believing in the accuracy of my balance and posted transactions, I got hit with two overdraft fees when an amount that allegedly “posted” to my account had not. This is the first time this had ever happened to me, due to paying off a fairly large bill that was listed as paid before I paid other bills. I saw when reading the one-star reviews of the new update that this has happened to others. You CANNOT TRUST THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN NavyFederalCreditUnion , including balance.

In addition, NavyFederalCreditUnion has lost functionality. It’s now very frustrating. Tried to add a biller and it tells me it can’t find the biller and suggests I enter it manually. But it no longer has the option to enter the biller manually if it can’t find the biller. So Catch-22. Tried to enter the bill as a person instead and when I had to enter the phone number I mis-typed the first digit. The system would not let me backspace over the mis-typed first digit. Had to completely cancel everything and re-enter all the information before I could save the biller. Plus since it would only allow me to manually enter the biller as a person instead of a company, there is no field for account number.

by JoMo71767

First let me say I have never written a review in my life. Love everything about NavyFederalCreditUnion , but because I’m 2 hours away from my nearest Navy Federal Branch, I have to resort to mobile deposits. Every. Single. Time. I try to deposit any amount of check I am constantly hindered and bombarded with the error of “the numbers at the bottom are blurry”.

Every single time I try it as instructed. Every time I try at every single angle, background, lighting, and any other type of condition you can think of in order to deposit. These deposits generally take anywhere between 15 mins to 2 hours or the next day or two because I give up on trying to deposit via this feature. Please all I ask is that this is looked into, this is the most irritant most hassle I have ever gone through to make a deposit each time.

(And every single photo is as clear as day, the most legible HD photo you can get, a photo that can be read and understood microscopically by the human eye, but apparently not a digital program/computer)

by Not A Fan Of The New App

We can argue that I SHOULD have always kept a paper register detailing all my transactions and running balances, but the fact of the matter is I didn’t need to. With the previous layout, I had all my transactions detailed out with a running balance all in one spot. It looked just like the paper register I use to keep. Now I have to look at the transaction detail on the right hand side then look to the top left for a my current balance. If you asked me what my balance was at the end of last mo th, I’d need to do the math. I do not see where removing this detail presents a value add for members.

NavyFederalCreditUnion also has a lot of unused space on the left hand side below where it shows my current balance. Out side of that, and a few buttons, the remainder of the page shows no information.

In my opinion, the programmers have this a feel, similar to a credit card app. But the fact is, this is a banking app, and with the layout changes you made to the part of NavyFederalCreditUnion I use most, it’s now a terrible banking app!

by Meagandc

I too have been banking with Navy Federal for years. There are no branches near where I live, so NavyFederalCreditUnion is my go to! This year I have had to really keep my eye on NavyFederalCreditUnion . Twice this year I had return check fees for payments not going through. NavyFederalCreditUnion has been taking dayS to update withdrawals from bill payments. Everything else seems to be instant, expect bill payments which is most important to me! I’ve been building a new business, and my first large payment while building my business credit was returned. Not only does that hurt my score, but I was also charged a fee! Sometimes things move a little fast. I should be able to trust what my account says and not have to calculate the true balance before making transactions. In the past when transactions would be delayed it would post as pending until cleared. I’m not a fan of what is happening now. Years ago this was a huge issue with Hunnington Bank and a class action lawsuit was issued. I hope this doesn’t get that far!

by Adamhenley

Two points of feedback. 1, I usually love the NFCU app. However, so often there are missing pending checks and ACH transactions that clear either at random times during the day or during a processing period in the middle of the night. These checks do not show up in NavyFederalCreditUnion until they fully clear. Solution: please include checks and other electronic pending transactions shown as grouped and show how this relates to the “available balance.” Often it is not calculated in the available balance, which causes headaches when budgeting. Maybe also show another number that subtracts these amounts and call it “effective available balance.” 2, the pay dates for early and active duty pay were shown as January 12 and 13 for most of the time this month leading up to these dates. Then at the last minute they changed to the 13th and 14th. It made budgeting a bit difficult when that extra day occurred, not getting paid until a day later. Solution: somehow verify the dates are correct for the rest of the year and on an ongoing basis, please.

by Grogboshi

For users who have multiple different logins, such as multiple personal accounts or personal and business accounts, it’s very tedious to have to constantly sign in and back out to manage different accounts all owned by the same person. Especially when two-factor authentication is on and required every time you login. Other banks I’ve worked with allowed for all business and personal accounts under the same login and it made it much easier to manage accounts and transfers. If not having everything under one login, at least having a way to quickly switch between logins after they’ve been authenticated and stored on the device/app would really speed things up.

Also, as of 2016 the government recommended one-time passwords no longer be sent via text or email because of how easily they can be stolen. NavyFederalCreditUnion and the Navy Federal website need to switch to two-factor authentication that uses device push notifications, authenticator apps like Microsoft/Google authenticator, and Yubikeys for more security.

by Pro2ndamendment

For the most part I have no problems with NavyFederalCreditUnion but it has started to have several issues in the past week that did not exist before. All the issues I’m experiencing are related to the sign-in process. Even though I have Touch ID enabled and have been using it for months it suddenly no longer offers this option when I launch NavyFederalCreditUnion . I tried to disable and re-enable the Touch ID feature to see if I could get it back but it will not allow me to disable Touch ID. When I go to manually enter my password NavyFederalCreditUnion automatically remembers my user name but says that either my user name or password is incorrect. After a 45 minute call with tech support I was told to try logging in as an alternate user. Magically NavyFederalCreditUnion now accepts my user name and password when I go through this extra step. This is now the only way I can login to NavyFederalCreditUnion . This is not a satisfactory solution to the problem. Please get these bugs fixed ASAP!

by Ramg819

I came here from PNC upon referral from my sister. With the PNC application, you can use the calendar to add in preauthorized payments you made outside of bill pay (like if you went to a credit card app and made a payment to them, it’s posted to your credit card and you can add the authorization amount and who paid to into the calendar), checks you wrote, etc so you can see a real-time balance and not have to mess with a checkbook at all. It was very beneficial in that I could see all my accounts, what the balances were after the deductions scheduled to come out. If there is a way to do this on Navy Federal app that I’m not seeing, would appreciate if someone could advise. If that isn’t an option, perhaps someone could look into making it an option? I’ve tried different apps to link my accounts and haven’t been successful in linking them all and showing correct balances. Updating and such have been a pain. I’d just like to be able to add things on my app.

by Garrily

The 6.9 update follows the annoying trend of adding empty vertical white space to the information presented. Now, instead of seeing 4-5 transactions when I first open my checking account, I see only two. Scrolling to fill the screen with transactions presents far fewer than were visible previously, meaning it takes longer to find what I was looking for. This is not only not an improvement, it is a big step backwards in the usefulness of NavyFederalCreditUnion . I’d like to see the polling numbers on how many requests you had to present less information on the screen, because I have a hard time imaging that a significant number of users requested that fewer transactions be visible at a time. Just because something is trendy in UI/UX design doesn’t mean it is what users want or need. Users like large screens because it allows more stuff to be on screen at a time, not because they like to look at empty spaces.

by Wasting My Thyme

NFCU is an outstanding financial institution, but NavyFederalCreditUnion is aggressively bad. It cannot remember or process login credentials even after many months of this problem being known and pointed out. This seems like a very basic function to have down. How does this even get messed up and approved for release in the first place? Is there no function test?

Work-around for fellow users: Touch ID, etc., is useless because NavyFederalCreditUnion won’t remember you. If you close NavyFederalCreditUnion and immediately reopen and try to use Touch ID it will tell you that you haven’t signed in for a long time and that your password is needed. Literally 1 second after you just closed NavyFederalCreditUnion . It will also reject your password as being wrong. Your password is not wrong; you need to navigate the menu and select the option to sign in as a different user. From there, and only there, you can log in with your credentials.

Pardon the pointedness, but this is a stupid problem to have. And to have gone on for so long. Nobody cares about the color scheme. Listen to the first-hand user experience and fix the actual problems.

by Jmeisternixon

This is an honest review. I currently belong to two credit unions - The one I grew up using and then most recently Navy Federal. We will just say a couple things non app related but are essential to say. Navy federal’s customer service far surpasses all my and my wife’s expectations. That goes for app support as well. There have been times where we have needed help and just being able to call in and talk to an actual human being goes a long long way.

NavyFederalCreditUnion is loaded with resources that help you in NavyFederalCreditUnion as well as redirect you to their website for more information. But the amount of things you can do in NavyFederalCreditUnion is incredible. The UI is intuitive and is fairly easy to maneuver around in. My only complaint (and its really not a big deal because you can do it from the website but it should be a feature in NavyFederalCreditUnion in a future update) is the ability to transfer a $ amount directly towards principle when it comes to the mortgage. On the website this is an option which obviously is helpful - I think that the user experience could greatly benefit from having this ability. Thanks Navy Fed, keep up the great work!

by Tj_modern Warfare

Love NavyFederalCreditUnion , it serves its purpose, not too excited about the recent updates, I thought it was just fine before but I do have a suggestion, i'm always wondering how much money I’ve spent in a certain period of time but to do that I have to pull up a calculator and bounce back and forth between NavyFederalCreditUnion and the calculator and it’s inconvenient, I would like to see an in app calculator where I could possibly click on certain expenses on my statement and it would add them together in real time based on whether they are a negative or a positive transaction and then maybe an algorithm that breaks those expenses down into a daily, weekly, or monthly average, it would give me view on how much money I am spending on certain things in certain time periods, I think it would greatly help myself and others budget finances and get an outlook on spending habits... hope this gets through to someone i’m pretty sure I made this suggestion a few years back as well

Update: Navy federal has responded by email to my suggestion above and stated they’ve shared this with their technical team, I’ll probably keep my rating at 4 stars until they add this feature but it would be pretty awesome if they did

by Jcsimm027

NavyFederalCreditUnion is awesome and allows you to control and do almost any and everything related to your account. You can even freeze and unfreeze your debit card if you lose it and find it later or until you have it replaced. I only have two complaints:
1) Sometimes NavyFederalCreditUnion and website show different info. Although my balance is the same, the scheduled transactions that show on my computer through the website aren’t showing up in NavyFederalCreditUnion on my phone.

2) In-process and pending transactions should show in the scheduled transactions list on the account page so you’ll know to deduct them from your available balance. Today I noticed my in-process transaction wasn’t showing up in the scheduled transaction list. This could be a major issue because if you forget about it and if you don’t check the bill paying tab you could think you have more than what’s available to spend.

by Deejohns

I usually don’t write a lot of bad reviews, but my PIN number was the first thing. It was just randomly disabled one day, which isn't too big of a deal. I could still log on, but now they’re trying to add two factor authentication and whenever it asks to send an email to verify your account it says we’re having technical issues right now please call ***-**** for help. I called them and it’s over an hour wait to talk to someone. I actually started writing this review after being on wait with them for 47 minutes so far for what should be a simple problem to fix. Navy fed is a great bank, I’m just really disappointed with they’re technical division.

Edit: I had that problem yesterday, but I am pleased to say that they tactfully explained the situation and while still frustrating it was understandable. They even sent an apology email which was a pleasant gesture and showed their understanding of my disappointment.

by Coolman93!!

The Navy Federal mobile app is the absolute best and incomparable. I can honestly say I boast about the features and functionality of the application. It’s extremely easy to use, the home page shows all your funds, you can apply for credit cards on the spot and transfer money easily. When I ask non navy federal users about transferring money, they cant do it using their mobile banking app or it cost money to wire funds to other banks. I love NavyFederalCreditUnion and customer to the full extent.

I can make 1 suggestion, I have a prepaid Navy Federal Go card to provide money to my siblings, and that site is a blast from the past. I would like to see that incorporated into the navy federal mobile app.

Thank you navy federal for providing excellent service.

by Jumwon

I use both Bank of America and NFCU, and NFCU’s mobile app and overall customer support combined with integration with NavyFederalCreditUnion is completely seamless and eons ahead of BoA. The NFCU app has an extremely user friendly interface, and I love that it has direct links to customer service chat and call. Overall its security and banking-tech integration is fantastic. There was an example of a time I forgot my PIN to my card and after speaking with a representative she informed me that I was actually able to reset my PIN directly through NavyFederalCreditUnion . In comparison for BoA I can only reset my PIN by going in person to the bank during their working hours, which obviously poises a challenge for customers with 9-5 workdays. I am so impressed with the apps’ highly secure, detailed and user friendly interface. Even today when I went to make multiple payments to my credit card, it prompted me with a screen checking if I knew I was making multiple payments. I really appreciate developers’ high attention to detail and clear care to make NFCU customers’ experience using NavyFederalCreditUnion as positive, secure, accurate and responsive as possible. Thanks NFCU! Amazing service as always.

by Sage Pitre

My name is Sage Pitre better known as YouTuber, Boxer, Motivational Speaker, & Public Figure: Lit Wichi. I love NavyFederalCreditUnion & Navy Federal so much , they make banking as easy & accessible as possible. Everything you need is literally a few clicks away, the also makes sure you are doing well & finding everything fine , or need any further help. The only thing I want that’ll make Navy Federal & their app better is quicker deposit when turning in funds, or accepting funds. This would make NavyFederalCreditUnion better because I won’t have to worry about stressing if I’ll have all the money to pay my bills, finical needs, & wants in the time that they need it. Other than that I love Navy Federal & all the different offers they have , and the process for signing up is quick, easy, & very understandable. If you want a great bank & banking app download the Navy Federal app & bank with Navy Federal!

, Sincerely Sage Pitre aka Lit Wichi

by Sgt Vivi

This Credit Union will take care of You and has your back All the way through. PNC, Chase, Bank of AMERICA, TD, I've had them. And they tend to be a jumbled mess and treat you like the same, from what their perspective is, as a ”Peasant” limping in off the streets. They make there hundreds to thousands of dollars off of you through Late fees and Interest and wait for the next $20,000 a year Annual earning man or women who walks through there Billion dollar a year earning double-doors.

Navy Federal, seems to actually Treat you like you matter. Your Worthy of at least a Chance to have a and reliable and comfortable financial existence for your Service and Hardship that you’ve done for this country. And NavyFederalCreditUnion is downright Silk and Butter. Open, 4 digit password, Pay, see ALL activity within less then 30 seconds slight of one hand.

And the customer service is amazing. They seem to treat you like your apart of a family. And you honestly are. We all cried, bleed, hurt during our times in the Uniform and Navy federal understands that.

Navy Federal Credit cards, Loans, all are given to your person with a Very generous Amount and Very low Interest.

I will be with this Credit Union until the end. Thank you Navy federal! I recommend this Union to ANY in-service or veteran!

by IM LP

In response to your invitation for input, NavyFederalCreditUnion for the iPad for example would benefit from having the Navigation Page Header & Link cascading on top of page instead of the left side bar. The balance sheet would be easier to read if the content used the row width from the left to right of the page. It would be helpful to have the info electronic or check displayed on the bill pay page when scheduling a payee payment. This is critical since it can take 7-10 business days for a payment to reach the payee when their system elects to send payment by US Postal Mail. In comparing the cascading stylesheet (CSS) for page header and links between iPhone and iPad, I suggest that the layout mirror each-other. "What is good for the goose is good for the gander."

"... we listen and take into consideration all reviews posted by our members so that we can make the proper updates to NavyFederalCreditUnion for an overall better mobile banking experience. With the past reviews and suggestions provided, we decided to make the change to NavyFederalCreditUnion to help ease the navigation process. We would love for you to provide us with suggestions on how we can make NavyFederalCreditUnion a better platform that is more desirable for use!"

by Njhgi

I know I’m not the first person to PCS to Guam. I’ve had to call customer service 5 times for issues with what they keep telling me is localized to NavyFederalCreditUnion ; I tend to believe them because their fix was for me to delete NavyFederalCreditUnion and reinstall it. The issue comes into play when I’m “asked” to update my security questions; “asked” is in quotations because you don’t have a choice but to update them or get kicked off. So I go thru the process of selecting and answering 5 questions and then hit save... only to be followed up with “update” your contact number so we can call you if there’s an issue with your account. I input my Guam number, since that’s where I’m stationed now, only to be ticked off haven spent all that time selecting questions relevant to me and that I’ll actually remember, then the information DOES NOT SAVE BECAUSE THE SYSTEM REFUSES TO RECOGNIZE MY ONLY CONTACT NUMBER. It will not allow you to continue leaving you with the only available option; cancel. Then you get kicked out with your work with the security questions deleted.

by This Thing Requires A Nickname

I love Navy Federal and NavyFederalCreditUnion is generally amazing. But, not sure what changed because when I try to make a check deposit through NavyFederalCreditUnion , the camera crops the image and takes inches off of the right side. I’ve usually found some way to work around it to get the check submitted and approved, but today it’s just not working. Super frustrating. The check is already endorsed as eDeposit only so I can’t go to a local bank and cash it. Now I’m stuck mailing it to a branch, which takes time, in addition to the usual 3 business day hold on the funds. This has been a problem long enough, you all should have fixed this a while ago! I live in Oregon and the reason why I can swing keeping Navy Fed as my bank is because of bill pay and eDeposit! If I can’t eDeposit checks on a monthly basis, I can’t keep my accounts here. Please please please fix this!