US ARMY GARRISONS

BANKING

Military personnel in Europe have stateside-like banking services at their disposal. Services of the Community Bank and the various Credit Unions include checking and savings accounts, ATM access, loans, credit and debit cards, online banking, automatic bill payments, 24-hour telephone access, bank-by-mail and currency conversion.

Community Bank

Community Bank is proud to be part of a tradition of military banking that goes back to the Civil War. To honor this tradition, and the overseas military communities it serves, it constantly seeks ways to make these communities better places to live and work. It starts by offering the highest level of banking service to its customers, and goes beyond banking by educating its customers about their money and promoting a spirit of community involvement among its associates.

Financial Education

Its ongoing educational efforts are aimed at giving customers the knowledge they need to make informed decisions about their finances. In 2007 it launched its Financial Readiness campaign, designed to teach customers about sound financial practices and to promote a higher rate of saving. Tools, such as financial calculators, are available on its website.

Community Involvement

Community Bank's relationship to its customers is different from that of stateside banks in this important respect: it shares the unique experience of being Americans stationed abroad and all part of the same close-knit base community. This makes for a special sense of connection with its customers and with the greater base community. That's one of the reasons why so many of its banking centers take the initiative to involve themselves in activities in their communities.

Banking Services

This connection with its customers also helps it to understand their unique banking needs. That is why it provides services such as a Standing Payment Order that automatically pays recurring monthly bills, such as rent, utilities or insurance. Not only are bills paid automatically, the U.S. dollars in the customer's account are automatically converted to the payee's local currency - saving both time and money. It also offers wire transfers to stateside accounts and extensive online banking services that are especially useful for customers who are deployed or otherwise unable to bank in person.

Non-Retail Services

In addition to providing banking services to individuals it also provides a host of services to the military as an entity. It provides financial logistics in support of operations as well as currency conversion and disbursement to other on-base financial and retail outlets.

Using Technology

Operating across such a large geographic area and under the jurisdiction of different countries, each with its own banking regulations, presents special challenges, not just to the Community Bank but to its customers as well. One of the ways it has met these challenges is by marshalling the power of emerging technologies.

Easing Transfers

Military life is marked by periodic moves. Military families routinely relocate every one to three years and the call to deploy can come at any time. For these reasons, service members are often not able to bank in person. Community Bank has responded by making many banking services available online or by phone. This includes accessing account information, paying bills, transferring moneys to stateside accounts and applying for a loan. Its website also provides customers with helpful educational information about their finances and their financial options.

Streamlining Operations

In addition to providing its customers with an unprecedented level of service, Community Bank is using technology to make its operations more efficient. It is developing a single consolidated banking system across all its banking centers, regardless of country. Not only will this help it to operate with greater efficiency, it will help customers by allowing them to keep their same account when they move to a new country.

Online Loans

The online loan application system beginning 2008 enables it to reduce response time to the customers, paperwork and labor costs; and consolidate all applications, either in person or online, into a single integrated system. Just another way it is using technology to bring extra service to its customers and efficiency to its operations.

For more information and a list of branches visit www.dodcommunitybank.com

Credit Unions

Credit Unions are another part of the military banking structure. They are not-for-profit financial cooperatives owned by their members. All members of a credit union have equal voting rights, regardless of their deposit balance, and profits are returned to members in the form of such things as higher savings rates and lower loan rates. There are presently four Credit Unions serving the military in Europe. Two of them have branches on Army installations.

Andrews Federal Credit Union - www.andrewsfcu.org - has branches in Brussels, Chievres, Darmstadt, Hanau, Schinnen, Schweinfurt, Wiesbaden and Würzburg.
Service Credit Union - www.servicecu.org - has Branches in Ansbach, Bamberg, Baumholder, Garmisch, Grafenwöhr, Heidelberg, Hohenfels, Mannheim, Panzer, Stuttgart, Vilseck and Vogelweh.

Authorized customers of the Credit Unions are pretty much the same as those for the Community Bank. One difference, until recently, was that Europe-based retirees could also use the Credit Unions. This has been changed and retirees can no longer open new accounts at the Credit Unions, though retirees who already had accounts may keep them.

Retirees denied access to the military financial institutions do, however, have the advantage of the Defense Department's International Direct Deposit program. Under it the Defense Finance and Accounting Service sends their monthly payments, electronically and in the local currency, to the recipient's overseas bank account.

For more information, with a list of participating countries, go to: www.dod.mil/dfas/