dschorr
OCS 20JUL2014
Perfect. Thanks.
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sTUPID qUESTIONS aBOUT ocs
- Thread starter TheBubba
- Start date
Kayeshorter
Member
Hey guys, yesterday my recruiting officer here in NRD San Francisco told me that after completing OCS I would qualify to take out a loan up to $25,000 at a low interest rate. I believe this was through Navy Federal, although I can't remember if he mentioned the specific lending institution that guaranteed this loan. He referred to it as the "Ensign Loan", although that's not really what it's called.
Does anyone have experience with this? I have student loans at 7.9%, so being able to refinance at a lower rate immediately after OCS would save me quite a bit of money.
Does anyone have experience with this? I have student loans at 7.9%, so being able to refinance at a lower rate immediately after OCS would save me quite a bit of money.
Coulanon
1 per diem, 2 per diem, 3 per diem, floor!
Career starter loan, believe USAA offers one as well. Give it a search on here and you shall find many discussions about it.
Kayeshorter
Member
Thank you! It helps to know the name of the program.
It's called the Career Starter Loan at USAA. Up to 25 grand at 2.99% APR for five years. I took it after OCS for the full amount, so payments are about $450 per month. A USAA checking account is required, with your direct deposit set up to it. Pretty good deal for paying down student loans and high-interest credit card debt.
Also, your student loan rate, along with any other high-interest-rate outstanding debt, should be lowered to 6% after you join the military, as part of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. This only applies to existing debt taken on before joining, so your student loans are eligible, but later loans won't be.
By the way, is there a similar deal at NFCU? Haven't heard anything about it, unless theirs is the Naval Academy one.
Kayeshorter
Member
That's good to know that my student loans will be reduced to 6%. The hard part for me personally is that a large part of my loans are "Parent Plus" loans, and are technically in my fathers name. They are ineligible to be reduced to 6% because they aren't technically my loans. The 25K loan would allow me to refinance a large part of that debt under my own name.
I'd be curious to know if NFCU has a similar program. What are the pros/cons of USAA and NFCU? I have friends with both, and I suppose at some point in the near future i'm going to have to choose between the two.
I'd be curious to know if NFCU has a similar program. What are the pros/cons of USAA and NFCU? I have friends with both, and I suppose at some point in the near future i'm going to have to choose between the two.
Spekkio
He bowls overhand.
The pros of USAA:
-Top-notch customer service. They are a phone call away with minimal hold times (usually instant).
-Easy to navigate website.
-If you have a smartphone, you never need a physical bank.
-Reimburses you for ATM fees anywhere in the globe.
-Cheapest way to convert cash to other currencies on deployment: just withdraw from a local ATM and they give you the baseline exchange rate and take something like 1 or 2% for fees, which is significantly cheaper than the kiosks you find in airports or whatever will do it.
-Car buying service will compile all the available discounts on new/used vehicles without having to haggle.
-They offer other services like car insurance, renter/homeowners insurance, etc. and dealing with USAA for claims is significantly easier than any other insurance company I've ever dealt with.
Cons of USAA:
-Lack of physical bank if you need it.
-Savings interest rates not competitive.
-Mutual funds/investment options not competitive.
-Credit card rewards points are a bit lower than what you can do if you shop around various other banks.
I don't use NFCU, but if I were to do something like buy a home or finance a car I would look into doing it with them and compare with what USAA offers.
-Top-notch customer service. They are a phone call away with minimal hold times (usually instant).
-Easy to navigate website.
-If you have a smartphone, you never need a physical bank.
-Reimburses you for ATM fees anywhere in the globe.
-Cheapest way to convert cash to other currencies on deployment: just withdraw from a local ATM and they give you the baseline exchange rate and take something like 1 or 2% for fees, which is significantly cheaper than the kiosks you find in airports or whatever will do it.
-Car buying service will compile all the available discounts on new/used vehicles without having to haggle.
-They offer other services like car insurance, renter/homeowners insurance, etc. and dealing with USAA for claims is significantly easier than any other insurance company I've ever dealt with.
Cons of USAA:
-Lack of physical bank if you need it.
-Savings interest rates not competitive.
-Mutual funds/investment options not competitive.
-Credit card rewards points are a bit lower than what you can do if you shop around various other banks.
I don't use NFCU, but if I were to do something like buy a home or finance a car I would look into doing it with them and compare with what USAA offers.
Funny, I've been wrestling with this firsthand over the past week or so. The big problem with USAA is that it has no physical locations, other than the HQ in San Antonio. They try to make do, they have ATM fee rebates so you can basically pull cash from any ATM worry-free, and you can deposit checks at any UPS Store, or take a picture of the check with a smartphone, or mail it in if it's not time-critical. But when I needed to put cash INTO the checking account, I had no idea how to do it. Ultimately I bought a money order and then deposit that at the UPS Store like you would a check.
So I've had USAA since last February, when I opened a checking account there for my Direct Deposit, and they offered me a Platinum Mastercard, supposedly a deal for newly commissioned officers, so I took that. After API, I switched my auto policy from Allstate to USAA and added a renter's policy. Other than the one issue I had with trying to deposit cash, I've had no troubles with them. Nothing's come up that I haven't been able to deal with online or over the phone. Other than the fact that several of them don't know how to pronounce "Ensign," but whatever.
Anyway, I thought it'd be good to have an account at NFCU if I needed an actual location to go into for any money maneuvers, or get a mortgage down the road or something like that. They have a similar setup with ATM rebates for their Active Duty Checking accounts, which also requires Direct Deposit. So I went with Flagship Checking instead: fewer ATM rebates, minimum $1,500 balance to avoid fees, but with a higher APY and no Direct Deposit required. I also got an Overdraft Line of Credit there which was very handy. USAA doesn't have that, but if you have a credit card with them, you can link that to your checking for overdraft protection, and if you overdraw they'll take cash advances from the card instead of hitting you with tons of fees for bouncing a check. I also hear they offer a pretty competitive mortgage deal, low rate no money down, not sure on the specifics since I'm still renting.
Well, to make a long story short (too late), I now have both USAA and NFCU. There's no real reason why you can't have checking accounts at both, just make sure you know if there are any inactivity fees, minimum balances, etc. I think NFCU will close your checking account if you haven't touched it in a year.
I hate correct you, but no, your information is outdated. I lived across the street from a brick and mortar USAA location in San Diego. They don't have a lot of locations, but they have locations. Check it out: https://www.usaa.com/inet/pages/usaa_financial_center?wa_ref=contact_us_links
They might not be the most convenient locations (seriously, nothing in FL?!) but they are not limited to just San Antonio.
egiv
Well-Known Member
I just took this loan out recently after graduating OCS. 25K at an APR of 2.99%, payments of $449, as mentioned above. It makes sense to spread the whole thing over any debt you have, which most likely has a higher interest rate. Navy Fed does offer something similar, but I was told over the phone that it is not available to OCS grads, only Academy grads. The only alternative at NFCU would be a personal "signature" loan, but rates for that will start at about 8% anyway so there's no point. Just remember that it requires a checking acct with direct deposit, so make sure you want USAA to be your primary bank before taking out the loan.
Good call, thanks for the correction. As I was.
Fronch
OCS 03-15 (IW)
Here are a few random questions that I couldn't find the answers to from doing a quick search:
- Laundry. Do we do it ourselves? If so, is this something that needs to get squeezed into our already-busy weekday schedules (i.e. have to stay up late to get laundry done on your own time), or is Sunday laundry day? Is there a separate laundry facility, or are there machines in our "dorm"? What about uniforms, at least some of which I am assuming are dry-clean only? Also, ironing: Are we provided irons and boards?
- Showering: Most of the shower-related posts here talk about showering either first thing in the morning (before PT) or at night. Does this mean that everyone is sweaty and disgusting all day from not showering post-PT?
- Black socks: Bring some? If so, how many?
1. Initially, Candios will collect your laundry and do it. Then, you'll assign a "Laundry-Body" to collect the company's laundry. After a while, you'll do your own. There is a laundry room on every floor of Nimitz Hall (where you live). There is usually time after dinner to do laundry as well as Sundays. NWU's and Khakis are machine washable, otherwise the uniform shop does dry cleaning. There is a limited supply of irons & ironing boards in the supply room.
2. Usually showered at night during the first week or so. Usually you are given about 20min depending on schedule for hygiene after morning PT. Indoc week, everyone will stink. There's no way around it. There's also plenty of days you'll be sweaty and nasty after an RPT session or Drill practice and won't shower during the day. Once you get access to the NEX, baby wipes help.
3. I didn't bring any. We got them issued at the initial King Hall gear issue then bought some better ones from the NEX. Double up when you start wearing boots.
jaimej
Member
I am very confused. I have been studying the material from the OCS.mil memorization section, but now I have the Guide to Success gouge book my OR gave me. The Chain of Command is basically the same but has different wording. For instance, on the OCS.mil site the fourth person in the Chain of Command is "Officer Candidate School Lead Class Officer." In the gouge book it's "Leading Class Officer." I know that they are the same in general, but for something that has to be memorized verbatim, which should I memorize? Thanks.