Attention: Online Banking Users
May 1, 2013

Financial institutions across the country were notified that Hacktivist Groups, with an agenda against the U.S., are intent on disrupting financial institution websites. These groups attempt to send an enormous amount of data to a website which then makes the website unavailable.

The issue is very similar to a busy phone line which causes an inconvenience. No member information is at risk. The issue only affects the ability to connect to a website address.

If you experience some online difficulties, please consider using other alternatives, such as, PhoneFacts, calling our Member Resource Center, or visiting one of our convenient branch locations.  

• PhoneFacts:  502-942-7979
• Member Resource Center:  800-285-5669

PRP/Valley Station Area Business Association Presentation
February 6, 2013

PRP/Valley Station Area Business Associations presented a framed photo collage to Angie Keeling (right), Valley Station Branch Manager; Michael Richardson, Commercial Loan Officer; Michael Bateman, Vice President of Marketing; and, Charlotte Masterson, Business Development Representative.  The pictures were taken at the new Valley Station Branch ribbon cutting and groundbreaking ceremonies.

Valley Station Open for Business
December 3, 2012

Our Valley Station Branch opened for business on December 3, 2012. Below our some photos of inside the branch as well as some of our very first members that came through the doors. Our Grand Opening celebration will begin for this branch beginning in January 2013!

Hardin County Veteran's Tribute - The Unveiling

Fort Knox Federal Credit Union was one of the major corporate contributors to the creation of the Hardin County Veterans Tribute that was unveiled on Sunday, 11/11/12, in the Nature Park in Elizabethtown.

Your Fees, Their Bank
By: Nancy Folbre | The New York Times Blog

Nancy Folbre is an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She recently edited and contributed to “For Love and Money: Care Provision in the United States.“

October 22, 2012 - Financial regulation is a never-ending saga. Restrict banks’ opportunities to turn a profit in one area, and, not surprisingly, they redouble their efforts in another. New credit card rules that went into effect in 2010, as well as legal tussles over “swipe fees,” have created pressure to find other sources of revenue.

Fees for late payments and overdrafts are making a big contribution to bank balance sheets these days, partly because consumers don’t pay as much attention to fees as to interest rates.
Efforts to regulate such fees may prove less effective in the long run than a consumer-driven shift toward nonprofit banks. Credit unions typically charge much lower fees than banks and offer more attractive interest rates. In rankings of customer satisfaction, they beat for-profit banks hands down.

Last year Bloomberg News published an article, “Bank Fees Are a Credit Union’s Best Friend,” and the trend continues. As one reporter for Forbes put it, “The fee environment worsened for bank customers in virtually every way possible in the first half of 2012.”

Consumers aren’t oblivious to all fees. Last year, loud protests led Bank of America to scrap its plans to charge for the use of debit cards. But fees based on late payments and overdrafts are less salient, even to highly educated, well-informed customers, for three reasons:

First, the variety of fees paid under different circumstances makes it hard to comparison shop. Try asking your bank for a complete schedule of all the fees it charges. Even if you can get the information, it’s not easy to understand. Many banks now aggressively court low-income borrowers who are more likely to make late payments and less likely to ask inconvenient questions.

Second, banks can manipulate the timing of payments to maximize penalty charges. Several banks, including US Bank, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, have paid millions to settle accusations that they improperly manipulated debit card transactions to generate higher overdraft revenue.

Third, people don’t like to believe they will make a late payment. If they do, they tend to feel just guilty enough to accept the punishment inflicted. It’s hard for customers to know how many others are in the same boat. Yet the boat holds a lot of passengers. A 2007 study by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation estimated that about 25 percent of Americans paid at least one overdraft fee that year.

Late mortgage payments are also common. When the financial crisis hit, many families found themselves unable to pay but received relatively little effective assistance renegotiating their loans.

Both Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase are facing class-action lawsuits accusing them of charging excessive and abusive fees to people delinquent on mortgage payments.

Late fees are designed to discourage bad behavior and are influenced by estimates of risk. But a study of credit card penalties published last year in the Journal of Financial Stability, “The Cost of Being Late,” shows that banks with bigger market shares tend to charge higher fees.

It can be more time-consuming to switch banks than it used to be, because many consumers now rely on direct deposit and online payment systems that can be cumbersome to modify.

Improved regulation could help consumers, even though banks seem to be able to burrow their way around new rules, poking their heads up in different places. The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may develop strategies in this game of whack-a-mole.

But why bank with moles in the first place? Credit unions charge fees, too, but they don’t design them to maximize revenue, because their goal is to serve their member-owners, not to turn a profit. That’s why their fees are lower and their loans more open to renegotiation.

Credit unions are painfully small compared with multistate megabanks, representing only about 6 percent of all financial institution assets in 2011. But they are growing fast on the basis of their reputation for excellent customer service.

Your fees, your fault — especially if you pay them to banks instead of to a local credit union.

Award Winning Volunteers

Fort Knox Federal Named Army Credit Union of the Year
RADCLIFF, KY – August 21, 2012    
Fort Knox Federal Credit Union was awarded the Department of the Army’s 2011 Distinguished Service Award for Credit Unions during the Defense Credit Union Council Annual Conference held in Denver, Colorado on August 20.  

Fort Knox Federal recieved this honor in recognition of its many, varied and ongoing support activities extended to the Soldiers, civilian employees, veterans, retirees and their families who serve or are affilated with the Fort Knox military post.  Fort Knox Federal was selected from all on-post credit unions in the nation.

Since 1950, Fort Knox Federal has served the post and surrounding communities providing low cost financial services with a special appreciation for the unique cirrcumstances faced by many military families.  Specifically during 2011, Fort Knox Federal supported the mission of Fort Knox by improving special services to members; expanding its role in support of the post command and communities, and substantially increasing its involvement and collaboration with key partners both on and off post. 

“The commitment of Fort Knox FCU to provide quality products and efficient service to Soldiers, DoD employees and their family members is outstanding.  Selection for this award is an indication of the excellent working partnership that exists between you, the Credit Union Liaison Officer and the credit union staff.  Results of this relationship are also evident in the financial products and timely delivery of financial services to the Fort Knox community,” said James J. Watkins, Director of the U.S. Army Accountability and Audit Readiness Department, when announcing the award to the post command.

Fort Knox Federal also dedicated a full-time seasoned employee to assisted hundreds of newcomers, mostly  inbound Soldiers and their families, coming to Ft. Knox at no cost or obligation.  Relocation Specialist/Liaison Officer, Charlotte Masterson, also provided support to groups such as Family Readiness, Duke Association, Wounded Warriors Transition Unit and Financial Readiness Program.  Fort Knox Federal provided a wide range of services from housing referrals to arts and recreation suggestions to transportation and lodging information to family financial management workshops, all free of charge.   

In 2011, the Fort Knox Federal sponsored a platoon deployed to Afghanistan.  The troops of Recon Platoon, A Company, Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division received many care packages and shared supportive messages between the unit members and the Credit Union staff.

Refinancing Gets Even More Attractive
By AnnaMaria Andriotis | Wall Street Journal

Jan. 3, 2012 - Homeowners who have resisted the urge to refinance their mortgages until now could be rewarded for their willpower. Mortgage rates have fallen to new lows—and banks are rolling out incentives to win business.

Economic uncertainty in Europe and slow growth in the U.S. are prompting investors to pile into ultrasafe U.S. Treasurys. That, in turn, is pushing down mortgage rates, which are tied to Treasurys.

The average interest rate on a 30-year mortgage fell to 4.05% for the week ended Dec. 23, the lowest in 60 years, according to HSH Associates, a mortgage-data firm. And rates on jumbo mortgages—private loans that in most parts of the country are larger than $417,000—also have hit new lows, averaging 4.61%.

"It's hard to argue rates will get much lower than they are today," says Stuart Gabriel, director of the Ziman Center for Real Estate at the University of California, Los Angeles.
That's good news for homeowners. A person who refinanced a $400,000 30-year mortgage in February would pay an interest rate of 5.04% on average, according to HSH Associates, and fork over $2,157 a month; at the current rate of 4.05%, he'd save $236 per month, or $2,830 per year.

What's more, demand for refinancing is declining, since many homeowners already took advantage of lower mortgage rates. Applications for refinancing are 17% below this year's peak in September, according to the latest data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

That and other factors have prompted some lenders to offer incentives to win new business—particularly regional and community banks, which are focusing more on jumbo mortgages, says Stu Feldstein, president at SMR Research, which tracks the mortgage market.

The discounts can be sizable. Regional bank Valley National Bank charges homeowners in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania a flat fee of $499 for closing costs on mortgages as large as $1 million. Since average closing costs on a refinance run about 2% of the total loan amount, a person with an $800,000 mortgage could save about $15,500.

A spokesman for the bank says it is aggressively marketing the discount in part to bring in more customers.

While many lenders don't refinance mortgages that are larger than about $2 million, Union Bank—which has branches in California, Oregon and Washington—refinances up to $4 million at no extra cost. (Many banks that refinance multimillion-dollar mortgages tack up to an extra quarter of a percentage point on the interest rate.)

Since November, Union Bank has also allowed borrowers to roll the costs of a refinance, like the appraisal fee and loan processing fee, into the mortgage. And borrowers whose original mortgage is from Union Bank don't have to provide all of the income documentation that other customers do in order to refinance.

In part, the bank's goal is to develop relationships with high-net-worth clients, says Stuart Bernstein, national production manager of residential lending at Union Bank.
Despite the incentives, many would-be applicants remain sidelined because they can't meet the long list of qualifications.

The home-equity requirement is one of the toughest hurdles, says Mr. Feldstein. Homeowners with at least 10% home equity make the cut, but people with less have a tougher time.
Borrowers with 10% to 19% equity in their home usually have to buy private mortgage insurance, whose cost varies based on many factors, including their credit score. A borrower with 15% equity and a FICO credit score above 720 could pay 0.44% of the total loan amount, says Keith Gumbinger, vice president at HSH Associates. On an $800,000 loan that would be $3,520 a year—eating into the potential savings of a refinance.

In December, the federal government rolled out a revamped version of the Home Affordable Refinance Program with relaxed home-equity requirements, to allow more borrowers to refinance. To qualify, the current mortgage must be owned or guaranteed by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae, and borrowers need to be mostly current on payments.
For regular refinancing, applicants need a FICO credit score of at least 740 to get the best rates, says Mr. Gumbinger. And they must provide copious documentation, including at least two years' worth of tax returns and proof of income as well as recent statements for assets such as retirement and brokerage accounts.

After clearing those hurdles, you might wait about 60 days for refinancing to be completed, says Mr. Gumbinger—longer than the typical 45 days. While some lenders are offering 60-day rate locks for free, others charge a quarter of a percentage point of the total loan amount for the service. On an $800,000 mortgage, that's $2,000.

Or you could opt to take your chances with a free 45-day lock and hope rates don't spike between day 46 and the date your loan closes. With the euro zone still in economic crisis and global investors rushing to the safety of U.S. Treasurys, housing-market analysts say it could be at least six months before rates rise significantly.

CUs Beat Record Industry Satisfaction Index
By NAFCU

Dec. 14, 2011 – Credit unions recently set an all-time record for their superior member service, beating out 47 other industries and increasing their lead over banks, according to data released Tuesday by the American Customer Satisfaction Index.

The index, which is a national economic indicator of U.S. consumers’ evaluations of products and services, rated the credit union industry with a score of 87 out of a possible 100 for customer satisfaction. ASCI said that is the highest score ever reached by any of the industries it assesses.

Customer satisfaction among banks decreased 1.3 percent to 75. The ACSI said the gap between the scores of large banks and credit unions is daunting. The ASCI report scored Bank of America in last place due to the bank’s revenue challenges and plans to charge new debit card fees that were later rescinded amid public outcry.

The outcry sparked Bank Transfer Day, the Nov. 5 Facebook event that encouraged consumers to shift their finances from banks to credit unions. Claes Fornell, ACSI’s founder, noted that the migration of consumers from banks to credit unions is just one of the multiple challenges the banking industry is facing.

The ACSI data suggest credit unions and smaller banks now have become an even more attractive alternative for consumers, Fornell said.

Supporting Our Troops
October 3, 2011

Adopt A Platoon

Above is Fort Knox Federal Credit Union's adopted platoon. We sent out multiple boxes of goodies overseas to say thank you and to let the soldiers know that we are still thinking about them!

KOSS (Keep Our Soldiers Safe) Flip-Flop Drive

LaRue County Middle School stepped up big in our KOSS Flip-Flop Drive. Together, they collected hundreds of flip-flops to send to our troops overseas. These flip flops, along with other items (pencils, candy, etc.) are being used to help our troops build relationships.

CUs A Good Deal For Consumers
August 23, 2011 | Link to story here

Consumers are “squeezed less” at credit unions, says the headline to an article posted Monday on TheStreet.com detailing the differences in consumer loan interest rates and fees charged at credit unions and banks.

“While credit unions have not been immune from a falling interest rate climate, their members are getting much better rates than bank customers are,” according to the article, which notes a decline in the average rate on bank certificates of deposit (4 percent to 0.47 percent) over the past 4 1/2 years. “While the subset of banks are in line with that national average, the same product at a credit union offers a 0.73% return – nothing mind-blowing, but still more than 55% higher than the national average for banks,” it notes. “Indeed, credit unions beat banks on deposit rates across the board.”

The article gives banks the advantage on mortgage rates, overall, but credit unions reportedly did better on other types of loans, according to the firm’s proprietary index.
For daily updates of credit union and bank loan and savings rates, visit www.culookup.com/CompareCURates.

Note:  TheStreet.com article also states that credit unions have an advantage over banks in personal unsecured loans, 36-month home equity loans and 48-month new auto loans, according to the Credit Power Index.

The 3 Best Gas Cards You Rarely Hear About
US News & World Report | Thursday, June 30, 2011

Click here to check out what US News & World Report says about our "Hidden Gem" VISA Platinum Credit Card!