member services representative

mortgage processor

delinquency control specialist

loan officer

intern

Navy Federal Credit Union

I've worked for Navy Federal for about 4 years in the Contact Center. Most of this was in Account Services which is the most common department Navy Federal hires for within Contact Center Operations. Although my score is low, I would like to say that I believe for the most part I have been pretty lucky and a good bit of my time with Navy Federal was fairly pleasant. My goal is to explain what I experienced and saw so that whoever reads this understands better what they are getting into by working here and how to best utilize it. First and for most, I hope my explanation is personally useful to you.

When you are hired the biggest contributing factor to your success is your supervisor. Doesn't matter your personal merrit or capability. Who your supervisor is and the influence they project is the biggest factor to moving up and out of the contact center switfly (which is what anyone applying for Account Services does if they are wise, I will elaborate on this later). Supervisors vary incredibly widely in competency. Some have worked on the phones for years and can effectively empathize with their team members. But an equal amount or possibly more have only done phone work for a year or less and will often times not even know the subject matter well for the department they are promoted to. Many of them only became supervisors to escape the phones which I will explain in more detail below.

When I was hired we went through a 6 week training course. I don't have much to complain about with the training besides that it may be a bit hard if you are challenged by technology in anyway or if you don't have any prior experience in call center work. But even if it can be a bit stressful or difficult you'll likely be fine. However this is also when most people realize that the job is mostly back-to-back calls. It gets rough and it is almost non-stop everyday. I've recommended and assisted several friends with getting hired to the job  over my years of working for Navy Federal and its very common to lose up to 50% of a training class (usually 10-25 people) either by the end of the first 6 weeks or almost certainly by the end of your first 6 months. The turnover rate is very high because they will try to weed out anyone who cannot adapt and absorb the abuse efficiently enough to match standards. This seems fair on the surface, but this is really only applied to this one department and the standard is not really matched elsewhere in the contact center.

Day to day work after completing training consists of at least 95% of your time to answering back to back phone calls (on rare occasions you may get 2-3 minutes between calls but this is not consistent at all). Call reasons will vary immensely because the primary job of the Account Services Branch is to act as secretary. Most basic calls are routed here first. It is very common to receive a call, go through verification procedures and then have to transfer or introduce the caller to another department, basically as an acting secretary. Most other employees are pleasant but its not uncommon for them to give off an attitude of not wanting to speak with you. Or try to provide you the neccessary information so they can avoid having to speak with the member themselves (fun fact: many of these departments enjoy a lower average call volume because they are specialized skills. This means they can have up to 5-20minutes between calls while you are taking the back-to-back). Beyond being a secretary or an verbal abuse sponge; Account Services also handle assisting members with debit card transactions, debit card disputes and other checking services. They are also responsible for enrolling members in our notorious overdraft protection program which is just usually abused by members with poor financial planning. Its very common to speak with these same members again a few months later when they get stuck in a bind and were unable to pay us back, resulting in a charged-off account which just eventually requires them to pay us back when it hurts their credit. 

If this didn't scare you away, good on you. This job is stressful, and on its worst days are much worse than I described. I was lucky, and managed to do well compared to peers which helped me get promoted out of Account Services after about a year. This should be your goal as well. All but 3 or 4 of my hiring class had also quit up to this point. My best advice to to buckel down and take the abuse for the first 6 months. Avoid call outs, regardless of reason even if they are good ones. And make the minimum for all your stats. Due to my poor judgment, I stayed in the contact center. They will entice you with higher pay. But even so, I don't recommend that to anyone because business need almost always drastically causes wide-sweeping changes and if you are comfortable one day, you can bet you won't be the next.

Overall the company has been great for my development and I would say the company is great but the position is just like any call center. If I could redo anything over again I would have chosen to leave the call center after my first year. Staying was a mistake and made it even more unlikely to get out overtime which eventually drove me out. Demorilization is common place with this job even before Covid, which made it far worse. 

Navy Federal is a Numbers Driven company.  They are hyper focused on breaking billions of dollars in revenue by overworking their Representatives to the point of burnout, utilizing Temp Agencies & Contractors to avoid paying benefits and negotiating hourly wage, taking advantage of low-income areas like Winchester and Pensacola to establish their Call Centers, and finding every petty excuse to not promote you.

This Credit Union shows no empathy for employees facing depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, or personal hardships. Instead of offering a part-time option to help alleviate some of the stress, they push for prescribed medication through their Wellness Center or have you contact New York Life, all to keep you working full time.  Any struggles you face are seen as liabilities that could eventually lead you to disciplinary action or wrongful termination if left unchecked.  You are treated as less of a person and more like a robot.

A Typical Day at Work
You are bombarded with dozens of back-to-back phone calls each day; some conversations lasting a few minutes to an hour.  Most Members you speak with can be nice, but you will run into some people that will yell at you, curse at you, talk down to you, and make irrational demands because of how careless and/or financially irresponsible they are.

The Hardest Part of the Job
Meeting Navy Federal’s unrealistic and absurd expectations.  You will get dinged if you place Members on Hold, waiving fees for Members in desperate situations, talking too long with Members, reaching out to your Assist Line for help, transferring calls that has nothing to do with your department, using the provided Unscheduled Leave if you’re sick, not engaging enough with your team and answering questions on Group Chat, not meeting Adherence, and much more.  It doesn't help that the computers provided are incredibly slow, and the software Representatives use to assist Members feels like a nostalgic throwback to the Windows XP days.

The equipment provided is so slow that MSRs have to arrive 10-15 minutes before their shift to start up their computers and boot the software needed to log in, as only five minutes are allotted for startup time.  If you try to start up your computer at the beginning of your shift, you could put yourself at risk of being late.

Another challenge of this job is consistently meeting your targeted Adherence.  Representatives are supposed to be in a specific AUX throughout their shift in order to achieve Adherence.  What is not taken into consideration is the technical issues that occur, accidentally using the wrong AUX, or assisting the Members that can go over your scheduled 30min Break.  Using your two 15-minute breaks goes against adherence as well.

Management
Your Supervisor might congratulate and praise you for the quality of service you provide towards the Members but they will absolutely go above and beyond to find any reason to keep you stuck at the same position, leaving you hopeless and financially strained.  More than two-thirds of the coworkers I trained with have been stuck at the same MSRII position for about a year or more.

Workplace Culture
Just like with most jobs, you have to be very lucky to be part in a team of kind, humble, trustworthy co-workers and a Supervisor that doesn’t micromanage and/or ignore you.

The Most Enjoyable Part of the Job
Helping Members in their financial endeavors can be a rewarding feeling.  Also, being able to talk to your coworkers whenever you are off the phone.  That’s about it.

Human resources does not handle employee issues, instead employee relations does. They pretend to be a confidential and supportive group but they aren't. They are there to protect NFCU from litigation for breaking employment and labor laws. They do not completely investigation employee complaints from both sides but deal punishment without speaking too the employee being punished. They hurry up and implement disciplinary action right before bonus time just to take it from employees. If you run the ER department your boyfriend is allowed to act inappropriately to other employees and its not considered harassment because it didn't happen at work. 
 Lies and slander are allowed because if the person didn't say it to your face, you're making it up. Management does not support supervisors, instead they are blamed for things like attrition and not "coaching to success". We are under our managements direction and have to follow orders but once that direction doesn't suit them they blame everyone else instead of taking ownership. Management does not "walk the walk" and is under so much stress from the VP management that they are only looking out for themselves. They have favorites and pit employees against each other. 
Assistant mangers are allowed to act inappropriately and without any recourse, instead they move them to another department where they cause more discourse when they should be demoted or fired (like they do to other employees who are without a title for less). 
Promotions do not go to those who deserve it. Its all about who you know.
 Employees are coached  to smile more when they walk through the hallways as the VPs want everyone to smile and kiss their behind when the entire place is oppressive. We are all micromanaged and must account for all of our actions, those of every employee, and when and where an employee is at, at all times. 
Even if that employee is exceptional at what they do, the must have a goal to do better. They are budgeting our performance reviews and they don't allow a certain number of employees to receive better reviews as it costs the company money. Instead they down grade the employee but tell them to beat their performance from the year before if they want a better review, instead of following the set expectations for an employee in their position. The review effects the annual pay increase and bonus % paid out in January. 
Health care providers in the area are on high alert when they have a patient from NFCU. Someone once said if they could vote NFCU would not be fortune 100 best places to work because of the way they treat employees. Management knows this and thinks its just doctors against NFCU. Educated professionals who have lived and worked in the area, who are experienced and work in all different fields, but how could other people/doctors see a negative trend in the community? 
It's an abusive environment with little regard for the well being of the employee. The supervisors who care for their employees do not get recognized.  The benefits aren't worth your mental health. Yes, men get paid more here, I've seen it. It's almost impossible to get a day off during the holidays or times for the company because they come first.

My experience with Navy Federal Credit Union has been quite a journey. In the beginning, I was extremely excited to work for a place that really seemed and felt as though they had it all together. It's rated such a great place to work for and the offering pay was amazing. It was far more than I had ever made in my entire life. I was interviewed by an assistant manager and manager at the time and the interview was slightly intimidating but nothing I felt like I couldn't handle. Navy Federal has a really strict policy on what you are and are not allowed to wear. Tattoos need not be visible. If you have any facial piercings aside from earrings, you do need to take those out. Nails need not be a "distracting" color or length. Blazers/suits are HIGHLY recommended. Some branches vary on what they make you wear but to be on the safe side, assume business attire at all times. Once I actually got hired and started working there, the training courses were pretty great. I really felt like I learned a lot of vital information as a result of the training process. As an employee of Navy Federal, you are expected to know almost everything (bank teller side, loans, credit cards, etc). You are expected to be a universal employee and the one major downfall that I have found working with Navy Federal is that it isn't always black and white. There's room for a lot of gray areas depending on members situations and circumstances which can in turn lead you to have to make rather difficult situations and sometimes, they aren't always the best decisions to make. I have never felt like they have an order or "rules" to follow in how they run their operations so be mindful of that before going in. The benefits are amazing and even as a part time employee, you do still have benefits which is really neat because this is the only company that I have ever seen do that. I can only speak specifically for my branch alone, but I will say there are a couple of cons. Members can and WILL be very disrespectful. You are to maintain a calm demeanor at all times and not go back and forth and that can be a bit of a challenge for some and more often than not, leaders and management are going to want to appease the members because after all... they're partially the reason we have our jobs in the first place. We're not punching bags though and I personally have felt on numerous occasions that we are to just sit and take the abuse that members bestow upon us which isn't fair by any means. Co-workers can be very catty and gossip is inevitable anywhere you go. Navy Federal says that they have a strict policy against such things, but even leaders and management get involved in the drama and gossip most of the time, so my advice... go in and remember that most people are not your friends. Watch what you say and remember, you're there to work - not make friends. There's a lot to be said about Navy Federal as a whole, but it's not a TERRIBLE place to work for by any means. If banking and financial services are something that you find to be interesting and you genuinely enjoy problem solving for other people, this is probably the perfect fit for you.

The whole environment fosters false hope of advancement. An extreme push for more rolls with responsibilities and increased work load. No advancement or promotions unless your in a click. The pay is not good all and the terminology about the employment in the company is feed to you and not real. Prior experience and education is not valued in anyway that benefits the employee AT ALL. You are micro managed unless you have been there over 10 years and can get away with anything including not working at all. Veterans are not valued as employees including experience in the military.  I have seen veterans with degrees and experience including staying in the company for years and doing an amazing job and be passed up for promotions and discouraged to advance into leadership. 

 These positions are hourly and your micro managed heavenly on your time. The stress is not worth what your being paid. They saying  "oh this job pays well" hahha NO you have NO opportunity to grow above a Senior Member Service Representative and still do the same Job at a pay rate of non educated, experience- terrible job title extreme work load and never getting the opportunity you deserve. They have mastered the art of holding you down and preventing you from advancing, getting higher pay working less to reduce the cost of work on you and continue to feed you and everyone lies along with expecting you to complete surveys and expecting you to value the job and leadership like they are doing you a favor. 
 The Job title does not give you justice to what you are doing every day in and out. I think this is to prevent you from finding a job that you could step up in career. The work should have a salary position starting MSR II at $65,000, MSR III $75,000 and SMSR $85,000 for the work.

many people have degrees and experience. Don't be amazed at the benefits because the money for those "great benefits" comes out of your little little pay check and reduces your meager income to nothing.

 Discrimination runs rampant in nearly every position or location (Age, Race, Gender specifically males, military, disability's. There is a huge gap in pay with no respect for the employee. 

You will be worked to the bone and no one will care!!! No work life balance and is  defined by the management. No promotions, No Titles, No Benefits this is an entry level job that never changes and if you apply for leadership rolls you will be discouraged evaluated poorly from that point. talked negatively about with your team, region and upper management. Thus prevented from getting promoted or leadership rolls. Your HR team will know who you are and not select you for even an interview if you apply. Applying for jobs are Strongly discouraged and action is takes to prevent you from moving in any direction unless its a lateral move and then you have the same problem in a new location. You will be required to do extra duties much much more.  

You will always be tricked into thinking your next to get a promotion to the the Management level or outside the branch but that DOES NOT HAPPEN EVER. 

You will just be a number and expected to act like everything is Great and Put on a face for everyone. Not Fair!!!

I enjoyed learning new skillsets in my role as an MSRll with this company Excellent benefits, higher pay than most credit unions.

Now for the negative, when i got back from living in oregon i received a call to come in to an interview for this position. I was told it was laid back and was made to feel as if this would be a great plae to work for me, however after a week into the role i slowly started to realize i made a mistake. I believe i asked about the volume of the branch and staffing in the interview but i might not have in this case i cannot say however i let them know what i was looking for which basically wasnt high volume with low staff which ive dealt with and left with a prior institution. Everyday became a nightmare lines out the door, only me and one other person on the teller side or by myself. And commonly the lobby on platform is also full and understaffed. Did about a combined total of 2 weeks (1 week cash training ) 1 week platform basically both computer modules...cash i picked up very quickly because its second nature coming from a teller background already, they knew hiring me i had no loan experience ect and then had expected me to know and handle all of the grey area regarding loans clients have in a high volume independently with minimal help and if you ask for help your reprimanded. I was told i was going to be let go or have my bonus taken away for my par because my rating was too low and i told them i was planning on finding other work anyways, because i wasnt being supported on the loan servicing side of things, i was told by my branch manager that "We dont have enough man power". Well i dont have enough self capacity to stay anywhere where they basically tell me to deal with it and dont want to take the extra steps to assist me with something brand ?? Very corrupt management, not just at my specific branch but im sure upperhead aswell who knows. 85% of the time management didnt know themselves and it felt like they were annoyed to be put on the spot regarding something they didnt remember/know. I even had two people sitting at my desk ask THATS YOUR MANAGER? Appauled. I honestly didnt sign up for that, could i perform this? Sure...did i want to? NO. I felt cornered because the pay was a TAD bit better i felt like i couldnt walk away even though prior i told myself i wouldnt be working in that kind of environment with high volume and low staff any further...but things happen i guess people still need to pay bills and save money. Employees at my branch were extremely fake and gossipy towards eachother and even management...Very highschool oriented nature at the branch I was at, ive worked at two different banks. LEFT BOTH, but both banks didn't have this level of unprofessionalism, back and fourth policies ect. NEVER have seen this ever. Management seemed professional at first but then i realized they are the opposite, probably obtained based on who they know im sure. The company IS not what they sell you. Settle for a dollar less and be happy somewhere else if you're already in banking. Ive been in banking for 4 years and I enjoy it but not in this kind of atmosphere...Now I have a job that pays me more. Have fun dealing w all that mess!! :)

Working at NFCU was the first real job where I had healthcare, access to other wide benefits, a yearly salary, and a steady Monday through Friday kind of job. Being a assistant supervisor in consumer loan collections a typical day at work would be running reports in the morning checking over employee progress the day before, setting goals for that day along with continued goals for the week, then moving on to observing employees while motivating them to do their best and working on side projects.

What I learned in my position was what the expectations of front line management wanted, how to coach employees, experience what it was like running a section of 8-12 employees working towards a common goal. I also learned what mistakes of managing employees to avoid how to effectively counsel and track employee performance, giving recognition & rewards when justified along with handling difficult employees and enforcing corrective actions. I learned that as a supervisor there are many different types of people, each with a different world view and personality that you must lead effectively and that as a supervisor you will take 90% of the blame & 10% of the praise.

Management at NFCU was reachable but sometimes felt that the open door policy was not always too open. Having said that, they were supportive of general discussion on employee empowerment and did encourage supervisors to create projects/presentations on how we as a consumer loan collections branch could better ourselves, our employees and our collection figures.

My co-workers were typical of any financial institution or any large company for that matter. They were there to come in and give an honest day's work, for an honest day's pay.

The hardest part of the job was not being able to assist someone who was in a collections status, that truly needed the help and we were unable to give it to them because of policy means or they were too far in the red. Many people think that collectors only care about the money, but at a Credit Union we also cared about the financial well being and if we could give some assistance if they had a justified hardship that qualified for assistance and they would be able to make a meaningful effort to repay their debt, then we could do something. However there were some member which were unable to help and we knew that they would be an ultimate loss to NFCU. Another hard part of the job was the demand from management to produce large results with sometimes short resources or tepid incentives/encouragement.

The most enjoyable part about the job for me was working with some select individuals who great to work around with and whom I founded a good teamwork bond with them. Another would be the wide range of workshops that you could take to better your self in your department and professionally.

When you start out everything is very exciting from training to the awesome facilities and the pay and benefits. You are told in training that after 6 months if you do great there will be opportunities to grow. Which is true but only within your department (moving from MSR1 to MSR2). If you work in the contact center you will have to put in over time and and be there for at least a year in order to be considered for other departments. I have a Bachelors Degree (Business) which I thought would give me some weight when being considered for other departments but it does not. I received exceeds expectations on my PAR reviews  and had to call out two days due being sick during COVID (I was working in the office still). Applied for several positions within a three year period to try and move out of account services but was never offered anything and I was never given a legitimate answer, not even from the hiring managers who me and my supervisor started reaching out to because my supervisor didn't understand why I wasn't being offered anything. I even did mock interviews with different supervisors to insure I was giving good answers.What I learned is they will hire someone who doesn't work with NFCU and doesn't have any experience instead of training someone who works with the company and has the same qualifications. I know this because I had a friend who was not working at NFCU apply for the same positions as me. We have the same degree and similar work experience and they offered her the position.  They don't have anyone that wants to work in Account services therefore it will be very hard to be transferred out. If you do want to move around it is all about who you know and how much you are willing to suck up. Most supervisors are under qualified and got there because of favoritism.

My suggestion don't work in account services if you want to move up (you will be trapped). They have a very high turn over because account services gets all of the calls. Mainly because customers get confused on what department they need to go to in the automate call routing system. Then we basically play secretary and transfer to other departments. Also you deal with some of the rudest most disrespectful members which will take a toll on your mental health. They tell you to just brush it off but its a little hard when you have 7 seconds in between each call and every call is someone screaming at you about the wait time, why there account is overdrawn or something someone else messed up that you have to fix. 
NFCU is a great company and overs great benefits but the call center is horrible avoid it at all cost. Apply for any other position but the call center. This review is only half of the things I could say about the call center. 


Pre-COVID, I would have given this job 5 stars.
Their response to the dwindling workforce and the struggles of the pandemic has been poor. 
I’ve been working for the company for 3+ years in the contact center. Our call volume was always high, but there were weeks where we might get a minute or 2 between calls. Our call volume hasn’t changed, but an alarming number of representatives have left the CCO, leaving us critically understaffed. We come in with 30+ minute waits every day, and we never get the queues under control. Members are angry about wait times and berate us constantly. There is a huge push for overtime; they previously offered incentives to take it, but they’ve now determined those are not necessary and will lower your performance ratings if you don’t voluntarily take the overtime. 
Favoritism runs rampant - and I say that as someone who is benefiting from it. Advancement is more about politics and getting to know the right people than performance or qualifications. 
Our work/life balance is nonexistent. I once asked for leave off 3 months in advance and was denied the week before the schedule was posted. You can ask for special approval to get time off, but doing it too often is frowned upon. 

The benefits are great. 15 vacation days and 10 sick days per year (although calling out and using your sick leave for unscheduled events is discouraged and WILL affect your annual review). Dental, vision, health, and even orthodontic treatment is covered. They match up to 7% for 401K and we have a pension. Compensation starts low - I began making about $29500 annually 3 years ago - but rises quickly if you are a high performer and can “get along” with management. I now make around $43000 as my base salary after 4 promotions in 3 years, but with the overtime and PIP bonus I grossed about $59000 last year. 

There was a huge sense of appreciation and belonging pre-COVID, but the immense pressure to perform really takes a toll on the mental health of the employees there now. All off-phone activities like learning and development courses, time for personal development, and frequently even team meetings are suspended and have been for more than a year. 

Hopefully they will get things back to where they were in 2019, but if they don’t, I definitely expect the overall member satisfaction and employee satisfaction to decline significantly in the next few years. 

I’ve been working here for a little over two years now. At first I really enjoyed my job with my first couple of supervisors. Then new supervisors came along and that’s when things took a turn. The previous supervisor to now, insured that we were not allowed to book time off at all. Yes there is a setting on the system that prevents you from booking time off. It will automatically deny your request. That supervisor had a seniority complex. It was his way or no way at all. If you questioned anything he would block your way to promotions or positions you’ve applied for within. The new supervisor, started out ok but took a turn. Treats their employees like children. At meetings, if you say anything that they deem as negativity or makes others at the meeting question their abilities, they will pull you out of the meeting to the side and reprimand you like a child. This supervisor also has a rule of, if the schedule is already out then you can’t request time off. Can’t give you a full day sick day. You need to book your sick days ahead of time. Yes, you need to look into the future and know when you’re going to be absolutely sick that it will prevent you from working to book that time off. 

Everything is down to the discretion of each supervisor. So if you get a good supervisor, then great, congrats. 

There is no breathing time between calls. It is call after call after call. The calls automatically connect. So if you had a bad call you’re expected to take the next one without collecting your thoughts. 

A big thing about this company is when I was interviewing, I asked if this is a type of quality over quantity position. After they confirmed it I was more than happy to take the position. However, due to the supervisors competing for bonuses, it is all about quantity and not quality. You have up to 45 minutes to speak with a member regarding applications and much less on other topics. So if you’re on the line pass the allowed talk time, you’ll be in time adherence and get in trouble for it. Even, if you can’t help that the member has 1001 questions. If I say too much, my boss will know who I am so I’m being cryptic about what I say.

There’s just too much to continue on in this review. Again it’s down to each supervisor. Apply at your own mental health risk. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Member services representative 28 salaries reported	$19.11 per hour
Mortgage processor 3 salaries reported	$20.00 per hour
Delinquency control specialist 8 salaries reported	$21.13 per hour
Loan officer 4 salaries reported	$48,500 per year
Intern 3 salaries reported	$24.33 per hour

Working at Navy Federal Credit Union: Company Overview and Reviews

Navy Federal Credit Union

Navy Federal Credit Union Ratings

Popular jobs at Navy Federal Credit Union

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected