<p>I was wondering should a future cadet set up another Bank Account at West Point? Or should he or she just have their original bank account be where the money goes in and out of. Also, what are the positives and negatives of having a bank account at West Point? </p>
<p>And just out of curiosity, how does the "money" system work at West Point? Like, after the books, clothes, laundry are all paid, I heard that the left over money goes to the cadet bank account or a cadet future fund? </p>
<p>Thanks guys and I look forward to your response.</p>
<p>My son chose to open a bank account at WP. That way he does not pay ATM fees when he draws money. </p>
<p>Others prefer to have a home account. That can make it easier for parents to transfer funds if they need to. Our son has a credit card linked to ours for emergency funds, and to use when we want to treat him to a meal etc. so that was not a problem for us.</p>
<p>“And just out of curiosity, how does the “money” system work at West Point? Like, after the books, clothes, laundry are all paid, I heard that the left over money goes to the cadet bank account or a cadet future fund?” </p>
<p>This was a good explanation given on the West Point parent forum a while back.</p>
<p>1- When you enter the academy you pay an initial deposit to West Point which is used to start your cadet account.
2 - The academy then estimates how much money will be required for various significant cadet expenditures over the four years. This estimate includes cadet uniforms, books, class ring, officer uniform purchase for Firsties, Corp trips, and several other mandatory purchases.
3 - The estimated expenditures for each year are used to calculate how much should be set aside in the cadet account from each paycheck.
4 - Based on the spending plan, the academy then also estimates the minimum balance for the cadet account each month.
5 - At selected points in time, cadets are told how much excess money is in the cadet account, and are offered the opportunity to withdraw the amount over the minimum (Top Off). This withdrawal is optional.
6. After the set amount is deducted from your pay check every month and paid into your cadet account, the rest is paid into your checking account.</p>
<p>Our cadet’s a regular checking account is with the Pentagon Federal Credit Union (<a href=“http://www.penfed.org%5B/url%5D”>www.penfed.org</a>) He can transfer funds directly from his cadet account with no fees. This was the first account he created when he went to West Point.
He has since opened another account with USAA (<a href=“http://www.usaa.com%5B/url%5D”>www.usaa.com</a>) but has kept the first account. The “Cow Loan” is through USAA.</p>
<p>I’m sure that current cadets can give you specific details.</p>
<p>As a plebe you don’t have access to your “cadet account”. You will get the top off deposited into a Pen Fed account at the beginning of Yuk year.</p>
<p>This year plebes got a deposit of $175/month into their personal checking account. This increases every year.</p>
<p>You need to open a checking account to have your monthly pay deposited. it can be at any bank. One big advantage of USAA is they will reimburse you ATM fees up to $15/month.
USAA is basically an on-line bank, so you can bank anywhere. They are fabulous for when you are AD and moving all the time.<br>
If you have a joint account with your parents at your hometown bank then you can set up your USAA account to transfer money electronically in and out. It is really easy.</p>
<p>JAMof4 “If you have a joint account with your parents at your hometown bank then you can set up your USAA account to transfer money electronically in and out. It is really easy.”</p>
<p>That is what we did with our son. We are keeping his joint account with us locally, and we set up the USAA checking account. We transferred an initial amount to get him started BUT there was a 3 day waiting period until the funds were available. So, I am guessing that is then the normal amount of time for money to be available each and every time when we transfer into that account from his local account? He will have his check card from both checking accounts… just in case of emergency and there isn’t enough in the usaa account this way he would be able to access the local account where we could immediately put funds in from home.</p>
<p>I heard for a cadet from West Point that you “will” have to set an account with Pentagon Federal Credit Union, and later you “will” be forced to set one with USAA? </p>
<p>When you “Top-Off”, the money is transferred to an account at the Pentagon Federal Credit Union. The Academy sets up this account for you.
If you opt to take the “Cow Loan” (a pre-commissioning loan) it is through USAA.</p>
<p>You WILL set up an account because that makes life 1200 times easier logistically for the treasurer. They have a deal where you fill out forms for an account and direct deposit during Beast. Can you imagine if they had to track down information from local branches? Conformity and Uniformity are pretty key in all the operations.</p>