Navy Federal Credit Union

Navy Federal Credit Union or Navy Federal is a credit union that is headquartered in Vienna, Virginia. It is also a credit union that is chartered and regulated under the National Credit Union Administration or NCUA’s authority of the United States federal government. Navy Federal Credit Union is the largest natural member or retail credit union all over the world in terms of asset size and in membership. As of April 2010, Navy Federal Credit Union had over $40.7 billion USD in total assets, and over 3.4 million members.

On the 2008 Fortune’s 100 Best Companies, Navy Federal Credit Union was ranked number 78 which is created and produced by the Great Place to Work Institute.

History Of Navy Federal Credit Union

Navy Federal Credit Union was originally incorporated on January 17, 1933 as NDCU or Navy Department Employees’ Credit Union of the District of Columbia. Only the navy staffs and personnel who were members of the Federal Employees’ Union were allowed to join. The following year, President Roosevelt signed the law of the Federal Credit Union Act, which eventually became the basis of credit union business.

In 1947, the union was officially dissolved and chartered once more as a federal credit union and was named Navy Department Employees Federal Credit Union or NDEFCU. It also enlarged membership to include every Navy staff and personnel in the Washington DC area, both civilian and military. It was until 1951 that the daily operations of the union were officially handed over to professional management; since that time, the Board of Directors were personally included and involved in every major decision and approval that the credit union made.

Opening Membership Of The Navy Federal Credit Union

In 2003, the union opened its membership even further and included Navy contractors. There were also times in the credit union’s history that NCUA has asked the Navy Federal to merge with or absorb other unions that were experiencing financial difficulties. Members of these prior unions remained members of Navy Federal after the merger following NCUA’s policy: “once a member, always a member”.

One of the instances included the absorption of the credit union which served the US Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut. To this day, students at the Academy are now eligible to join Navy Federal, and to retain their membership for life while the actively serving Coast Guard members are not. Although Navy Federal now serves the whole Department of Defense, the CG is not a part of that department during peacetime but is instead under the DHS or Department of Homeland Security.

In May 2008, the Navy Federal Credit Union has widened its membership and included the entire Department of Defense. Their new fields of membership has included all active duty, retired and reserve Armies, Air Force personnel, Navy, Marine Corps, as well as civilian employees within the Department of Defense.