BANKING
Military personnel in Europe have stateside-like banking services at
their disposal. Services of the Community Bank and the various Federal
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 is operated through a contract
between a commercial financial institution and the Department of
Defense. Currently, the contractor is Bank of America. Authorized
customers include active duty U.S. military personnel, DOD U.S. civilian
employees, U.S. employees of all other U.S. government departments and
NAFs, plus their sponsored family members. Community Bank has centers
in: Ansbach, Bamberg, Baumholder, Bitburg, Böblingen,
Büdingen, Darmstadt, Dexheim, Friedberg, Garmisch, Giessen,
Grafenwöhr, Hanau, Heidelberg, Hohenfels, Illesheim,
Kaiserslautern, Landstuhl, Mainz-Kastel, Mannheim, Ramstein,
Schweinfurt, Sembach, Spangdahlem, Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Vilseck,
Wiesbaden, Würzburg. Schinnen, Alconbury, Croughton and Fairford.
For further information:
www.dodcommunitybank.com
Then there are the Credit Unions, 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.
- Andrews Federal Credit Union. Overseas Operations.
Unit 29623, APO AE 09096. Tel: Overseas Operations: (+49) 0611-9787-500,
DSN: 337.6581. Loan Department: (+49) 0611-9787- 530, DSN: 337.5512
Web: www.andrewsfcu.org
Branches in Brussels, Chievres, Darmstadt, Giessen, Hanau, Schinnen,
Schweinfurt, Wiesbaden and Würzburg.
- Keesler Federal Credit Union. RAFB Lakenheath, Tel:
01638-533268,
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.kfcu.org.
Branches in Alconbury, Croughton, Lakenheath and Mildenhall
- Pentagon Federal Credit Union. Box 1432,
Alexandria, VA 22313-2032 Tel (DSN from overseas): 510-376-7328.
Web: www.penfed.org
Branches in Incirlik and Lajes.
- Service Credit Union. Unit 8195, APO AE 09094, Call Center - DSN 493-4394 or 493-4395, toll free 00800-4728-2000,
Email: [email protected],
Web: www.militarycu.org.
Branches in
Ansbach, Bamberg, Baumholder, Garmisch, Grafenwöhr (opening soon),
Heidelberg, Hohenfels, Mannheim, Ramstein, Spangdahlem, 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 new
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, including a list of participating countries, go
to: http://www.dod.mil/dfas/
All of these financial institutions move with the times and offer the
utmost in modern banking. They all have automated teller machines, and
customers can usually access their accounts not only at the ATMs of
their own military financial institution but also at the ATMs of all the
other military financial institutions. To use them you need an ATM card
and a Personal Identification Number (PIN) supplied by the bank or
credit union. They also offer 24-hour telephone service. You access this
by punching in or telling them your account and PIN numbers.
Probably the biggest modern breakthrough, though, is online banking.
With this Internet-based service you can view your account balances,
transfer funds, receive and pay bills, send service requests and more.
To get started, you need a checking or savings account at the Community
Bank or Credit Union, a PC, a modem, access to the Internet and a
browser. Once you have the website on screen, you feed it your account
and PIN numbers and follow the instructions that appear.
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