Navy Federal Credit Union

[mountainside]

For those who are NFCU members:  will NFCU ship debit/credit cards to your Philippine address?

[baronapart]

5 hours ago, mountainside said:

For those who are NFCU members:  will NFCU ship debit/credit cards to your Philippine address?

Yes, but use their Fedex service.

stolen or Lost Cards
Contact us immediately if your card has been stolen or lost. We'll cancel your lost card and issue you a new one, either through the mail or you can get one immediately from an international branch.

Here’s how to contact us:

eMessage: Sign in and at the top of the screen, tap Message to send us a secure online message.
Call: International toll-free: 800-0-842-6328 or collect: 1-703-255-8837
Mail: P.O. Box 23603, Merrifield, VA 22119-3603
Delivery Times for Mailed Replacement Cards
Card delivery times will vary, depending on the customs and postal service procedures in each country. For APO, FPO and other overseas addresses, it can take from 12 to 20 business days for regular mail to arrive.

You can choose to have your card expedited via FedEx for an $11.50 fee. It will be sent without a signature requirement and will be left on your doorstep or designated area.

[mountainside]

Any advice about which approach to take?  Option one:  set an extended travel notice and make a lost or stolen report before each card expires, while maintaining US physical and mailing addresses.  Option two: set mailing and/or physical addresses to a Philippine address and somehow specify delivery via Fedex.  Don't want to risk account closure, of course.

Edited February 15, 2023 by mountainside

[JJReyes]

4 minutes ago, mountainside said:

Any advice about which approach to take?  Option one:  set an extended travel notice and make a lost or stolen report before each card expires.  Option two: set mailing and/or physical addresses to a Philippine address and somehow specify delivery via Fedex.  Don't want to risk account closure, of course.

Some debit and credit card issuers no longer require that you inform them about your overseas travel.  Their AI technology will determine your location based on card usage.  I lost credit cards in Spain and asked for replacements to be forwarded to our next hotel destination in Portugal.  They arrived within 3 days.  Their websites had a much longer time period estimate, but I think this is purposely done to prevent anxious phone calls from customers.

The large credit card banks have correspondent banks in the Philippines.  I heard they can issue a temporary card.  However, no personal experience regarding this.  

[Ram1957]

When you order your card you will have to tell them to send it FedEx and pay the cost. If you just wait and have them send the card it will be sent by USPS and chances are you will never see it.

[Joey G]

I would just call the international number above and ask.  NFCU has lots of customers who live overseas... you still have a US address... you're still a US citizen... and if use you card they know where you are using it already.  

I would not make a false lost/stolen card report... 

I've always had good experience calling them... been with NFCU for 25+ years.

Edited February 16, 2023 by Joey G

[mountainside]

2 hours ago, Joey G said:

I would just call the international number above and ask.  NFCU has lots of customers who live overseas... you still have a US address... you're still a US citizen... and if use you card they know where you are using it already.  

I would not make a false lost/stolen card report... 

I've always had good experience calling them... been with NFCU for 25+ years.

I'll do that.  When I lived in the Philippines from 2016-2019 things were much easier in dealing with US financial institutions than they apparently are now.  I had a Schwab international account back then that was very useful, but they've since withdrawn from the Philippine market and will not change my current US domestic account back to international if my residence changes from the US to the Philippines.  They'd restrict my account to withdrawals only with no trading and no deposits.

Credit card issuers that once had no problem with me using their cards exclusively overseas for long periods of time are now reportedly closing the accounts of those who aren't seen as primarily based in the US.  There are various work-arounds, of course, but the ideal situation is a bank that knows I'm overseas, doesn't have a problem with that, and will mail my cards to my overseas address without me having to impose on a friend or relative with a physical US address to receive and forward cards.

A 2021 survey by the Association of Americans Resident Overseas revealed that 40% of expat respondents had experienced US financial institutions refusing their business, restricting their accounts, or closing their accounts.  I'm pretty certain that it's only gotten worse since then.

 I understand that the State Department Federal Credit Union accepts US citizen members even if their ONLY address is overseas -- I'll probably go that route if I decide to leave the US for an extended duration.  But like many folks, I don't want all my eggs in one basket.  I'm very glad to hear of your and baronapart's  and ram1957's good experiences with NFCU while overseas.  Like you, I'm a loyal and happy NFCU member and would like to keep that relationship intact.

Edited February 16, 2023 by mountainside

[mountainside]

Update:  Spoke with a Navy Federal rep a minute ago.  She confirmed that I can specify a physical and mailing address overseas.  When cards come up for renewal they'll be automatically shipped to the overseas address, about six weeks before expiration.  She also said that if I want shipment via Fedex (no insult to PhilPost,

but . . .) I should call or send a secure message about two months prior to expiration.

She also confirmed that if for any reason NFCU needs to call me, that a Google Voice number works fine.

Gotta say I'm a happy lad!

Update two:  USAA says the same thing, but the rep wasn't sure about Google Voice.

Edited February 16, 2023 by mountainside

[OnMyWay]

2 hours ago, mountainside said:

Update two:  USAA says the same thing, but the rep wasn't sure about Google Voice.

It should be fine.  I have my USAA set up with Google voice but they have never called me, that I know of.  If you have not done so, set your Google Voice to forward voicemail to your Gmail.  That way you have two places to be alerted.  Google does a decent job of translating the voicemail to text for Gmail, so you can read it to see if it is important.  Most of the time when someone calls from the U.S. it will go to voicemail because of the time difference.  After you get the voicemail/gmail , you can call back if needed.

Also, G Voice does not allow usage outside the U.S., so you need to use VPN to call back from the Philippines.  I have Express VPN on my phone and computers.

 

[mountainside]

59 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

It should be fine.  I have my USAA set up with Google voice but they have never called me, that I know of.  If you have not done so, set your Google Voice to forward voicemail to your Gmail.  That way you have two places to be alerted.  Google does a decent job of translating the voicemail to text for Gmail, so you can read it to see if it is important.  Most of the time when someone calls from the U.S. it will go to voicemail because of the time difference.  After you get the voicemail/gmail , you can call back if needed.

Also, G Voice does not allow usage outside the U.S., so you need to use VPN to call back from the Philippines.  I have Express VPN on my phone and computers.

 

Thanks for the VPN tip.  I use Express VPN here in the States.  My recollection from 2016-2019 in the Philippines is that I could make my free GV calls to the US without VPN ("free calls to the US from overseas") but either my memory is incorrect or things have changed.  I also "remember" using my GV account balance for calls to other countries without VPN, but that may not be true now, either.  Thought about setting up Google Fi, but changed my mind when I learned that at least half of one's usage has to be made in the US or the account will be closed.