Armed Forces Bank (AFB) is a

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

servicing members of the

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

and their family members.

History

Armed Forces Bank was founded in 1907 in

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth, Kansas, Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., an ...

, where it is currently headquartered. AFB and its sister bank, Academy Bank, are owned by Dickinson Financial Corporation (DFC), which is headquartered in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

Military connections

Armed Forces Bank operates the most locations on

military base A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

s in the United States, including 23 locations on 17 bases. Much of the Bank's retail team is also composed of people with direct connections to the

U.S. military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. U.S. federal law names six armed forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the Coast Guard. Since 1949, all of the armed forces, except th ...

, including veterans,

reservist A reservist is a person who is a member of a military reserve force. They are otherwise civilians, and in peacetime have careers outside the military. Reservists usually go for training on an annual basis to refresh their skills. This person ca ...

s, and

military dependent Military dependents are the spouse(s), children, and possibly other familial relationship categories of a sponsoring military member for purposes of pay as well as special benefits, privileges and rights.DoD 601O.8-R This generic category is e ...

Community

In July 2022, the Bank launched a

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

titled "Militarily Speaking", which discusses finances and overall life for the military community. AFB and DFC also support some

philanthropy Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

organizations, including

Fisher House Foundation Fisher House Foundation, Inc. is an international nonprofit that works alongside the Veterans Health Administration to provide complimentary quality of life services for active military members, veterans, and their families. The foundation prima ...

and the Armed Services YMCA.

Criticism

AFB relies on

overdraft fee An overdraft occurs when something is withdrawn in excess of what is in a current account. For financial systems, this can be funds in a bank account. In these situations the account is said to be "overdrawn". In the economic system, if there i ...

s for over half its

net income In business and Accountancy, accounting, net income (also total comprehensive income, net earnings, net profit, bottom line, sales profit, or credit sales) is an entity's income minus cost of goods sold, expenses, depreciation and Amortization (a ...

, leading to calls for consequences from bank regulators.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.afbank.com/
''Militarily Speaking'' podcast
Dickinson Financial Corporation Banks established in 1907 Banks based in Missouri