GATEWAY, Your Guide to the Greater Kaiserslautern Military Community

Kaiserslautern Area

Area Installations

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 centers in the KMC are at Vogelweh, Kleber, Miesau, Landstuhl, Ramstein North, Ramstein South and Sembach.

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.

Service Credit Union has KMC branches at Vogelweh (Unit 8190, APO AE 09094, Tel: 0631-535-6500 or DSN 489-6335/6336, Fax: 631-535-6529, and Ramstein South (Unit 3450, APO AE 09094, Tel: 06371-463-9600 or DSN 480-2425/5556, Fax: 06371-463-9650.

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 (IDD). Under it the Defense Finance and Accounting Service sends their monthly payments, electronically and in the local currency, to the recipient's bank account in certain countries, including Germany.

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

These financial institutions move with the times and offer the utmost in modern banking. They 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.

COMMUNITY BANK

The Community Bank's staff has, collectively, more than 1,100 years of military service, which is why it knows what it means to serve abroad and why it understands the unique banking needs of the military community.

With 42 branches in Germany, it is convenient for most. There are eight branches in the KMC alone, at Vogelweh, Kleber Kaserne, Landstuhl, Miesau, Ramstein North, Ramstein South and Sembach. Community Bank services include checking and savings accounts, ATM access, loans, credit and debit cards, investment counseling, automatic bill payments, 24-hour telephone access, bank-by-mail and currency conversion.

And it now offers Interactive Banking. You don't have to come to the bank to do your banking. You can access your accounts from almost anywhere with a computer, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The 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. For further information: www.dodcommunitybank.com.

SERVICE CREDIT UNION

Service Credit Union (SCU) offers its members the latest in technology and convenience. All branch offices offer money orders, travelers checks in euros and dollars, cashiers checks, IRA accounts and much more. Through its Internet Home Banking Service, it provides members free automatic bill paying, whether in dollars or euros.

SCU has an instant issuance program under which members get their Visa credit cards or ATM cards within minutes of walking into a branch office. They can have their pay directly deposited to their checking account and have access to it two days early.

Service Credit Union has 14 overseas branch offices, including ones at Ramstein and Vogelweh, and there is no need to close your account when you PCS; once an SCU member, always an SCU member. You can get access to your account 24/7 on the internet, making transfers and checking your balance, and also talk to somebody live day or night through its 24-hour call center.

If you have any questions or require additional information about Service Credit Union, feel free to stop by your local branch office or contact the Call Center - DSN 493-4394 or 493-4395, toll free 00800-4728-2000. You can get the latest euro exchange rate through its website (www.militarycu.org) or sign up to have the exchange rate e-mailed to you daily.