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Navy Federal Credit Union

Lender or loan platform

PPP
Type
Company or group
Role
Lender or loan platform
Programs
PPP
Updated

The profile

The military credit union made 10,723 PPP loans averaging $22,327. In several fraud prosecutions, its accounts are where other lenders' PPP money landed.

  • Type: Credit union; PPP lender of record
  • Legal entity: Navy Federal Credit Union, a member-owned, not-for-profit credit union (SBA's file lists it as Navy FCU)
  • Membership: Service members of all branches, veterans, Defense Department employees and their families

In the archive

Navy Federal Credit Union was founded in 1933 by seven Navy Department employees and now counts 15 million member-owners, by its own description.1 SBA's loan-level file credits it with 10,723 loans and $239.4 million in approved dollars, 415th among the 500 largest lenders by dollars, though 116th by loan count.2 It also appears in criminal cases, where Navy Federal accounts received PPP and disaster-loan money approved by other lenders.

The PPP book

The loans averaged $22,327 and went to 9,229 borrowers, who reported 40,220 jobs, 3.8 a loan. Modeled loan by loan from SBA's published fee schedule, Navy Federal's processing fees come to $17.4 million: $7.7 million on 2020 first-draw loans, $4.1 million on 2021 first-draw loans and $5.6 million on 2021 second-draw loans, 263rd of 4,688 originating lenders.2 SBA never published what it paid each lender. That is about 7.3 cents in fees per approved dollar. Small loans paid best: the 2021 fee schedule gave lenders the lesser of $2,500 or 50 percent of the loan on loans up to $50,000.

A page on Newtek's partner site, titled "CARES Act | Navy Federal Credit Union," carried an application form for both rounds of PPP. It described the first round as loans for businesses under 500 employees at 2.5 times payroll, and the second as loans for businesses under 300 employees that could show a 25 percent drop in gross receipts.3 The page does not say how many applications it passed on or to whom.

Where the money landed

Several prosecutions name Navy Federal as the depository at the end of someone else's loan or grant:

  • In the Western District of Missouri, an indictment lists two February and March 2021 wires of $20,832.50 each from Itria Ventures to Navy Federal accounts as counts in a PPP fraud case.4
  • In the Middle District of Florida, an information charges that Prestamos sent $20,415 in PPP proceeds to the defendant's Navy Federal account.5
  • In Colorado, an indictment traces a $1,000 disaster-loan advance from SBA and a later $60,000 check into Navy Federal accounts.6
  • In the Western District of Washington, Navy Federal business-checking statements were admitted as government exhibits against Eric Shibley.7

Navy Federal was also a victim. In the Northern District of Georgia PPP conspiracy prosecuted as United States v. Thomas, the government listed it among the organizational victims, and Darrell Thomas's plea agreement included $104,000 in restitution to Navy Federal.89

  • Prestamos CDFI — the lender whose PPP proceeds reached a Navy Federal account in the Florida case.
  • Darrell Thomas — defendant whose restitution order includes Navy Federal.

Sources

  1. Navy Federal Credit Union, "About Us" page (retrieved Sept. 29, 2026). Original: https://www.navyfederal.org/about/about.html ↩
  2. Navy FCU PPP lender page, computed from SBA PPP FOIA loan-level data. Original: https://data.sba.gov/dataset/ppp-foia SBA PPP FOIA loan-level data (stored capture) ↩
  3. Newtek partner page, "CARES Act | Navy Federal Credit Union" (retrieved Sept. 29, 2026). Original: https://partners.newtekone.com/navyfederal/cares-act/ ↩
  4. Indictment, United States v. Sanders et al., No. 4:24-cr-00029 (W.D. Mo. Feb. 6, 2024). ↩
  5. Information, United States v. Harvell, No. 3:24-cr-00179 (M.D. Fla. Aug. 21, 2024). Original: https://ecf.flmd.uscourts.gov/doc1/047127414218 ↩
  6. Indictment, United States v. Foreman and Simbeck, No. 1:21-cr-00165 (D. Colo. May 18, 2021). Original: https://ecf.cod.uscourts.gov/doc1/03909464891 ↩
  7. United States v. Eric Shibley, No. 2:20-cr-00174 (W.D. Wash.), case filings. ↩
  8. Victim disclosure statement under Fed. R. Crim. P. 12.4(a)(2), United States v. Thomas et al., No. 1:20-cr-00296 (N.D. Ga. July 18, 2021), Dkt. 175. Original: https://ecf.gand.uscourts.gov/doc1/055113825714 ↩
  9. Guilty plea and plea agreement, United States v. Darrell Thomas, No. 1:20-cr-00296 (N.D. Ga. June 16, 2021), Dkt. 127-1. Original: https://ecf.gand.uscourts.gov/doc1/055113755934 ↩
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