Navy Federal vs. PenFed vs. USAA Routing Numbers: How the Three Compare

Last verified against primary sources: October 6, 2026.

The three numbers are different, and none of them is interchangeable. Navy Federal Credit Union uses 256074974. Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed) uses 256078446. USAA Federal Savings Bank uses 314074269. We did not take any of those from a comparison site: we pulled each one out of the Federal Reserve’s own E-Payments Routing Directory on October 6, 2026, which lists them as 2560-7497-4, 2560-7844-6 and 3140-7426-9.

That lookup turned up something the comparison tables usually miss. In the Federal Reserve’s directory, Navy Federal has exactly one routing number. PenFed has four. USAA has two. So the question “what is PenFed’s routing number?” does not have a single answer, and “what is Navy Federal’s?” does.

The short answer

All three serve the military community, all three are commonly held side by side by the same household, and all three print their number in the footer of their own website. That is where the resemblance ends.

What the Federal Reserve’s directory actually says

The Federal Reserve Banks publish the E-Payments Routing Directory, described on the page as “synchronized with the Federal Reserve FedACH and Fedwire databases daily”. It has two searchable lists: FedACH participant RDFIs and Fedwire participants. Searching each by institution name on October 6, 2026 returned the following.

FedACH Participant RDFIs — “The effective date of this FedACH directory is October 05, 2026.”

• “Name contains NAVY FEDERAL” → “There are 1 FedACH Participant RDFIs matching your search criteria.” — 2560-7497-4, Vienna, VA
• “Name contains PENTAGON” → “There are 4 FedACH Participant RDFIs matching your search criteria.” — 2560-7844-6, 2631-8099-0, 3049-8225-1, 3119-8156-2, all Tysons, VA
• “Name contains USAA” → “There are 2 FedACH Participant RDFIs matching your search criteria.” — 1224-8712-9 and 3140-7426-9, both San Antonio, TX

Fedwire Participants — “The effective date of this Fedwire directory is October 02, 2026.” This list uses short names, which is why the spellings differ.

• 2560-7497-4 — NAVY FCU WASH — Vienna, VA
• 2560-7844-6 — PENTAGON FCU — Tysons, VA; and 3049-8225-1 — PENTAGON FCU MCLEA — McLean, VA
• 3140-7426-9 — USAA FEDL SA — Phoenix, AZ

Querying the Fedwire list directly for PenFed’s other three ACH numbers returns “There are 0 Fedwire Participants matching your search criteria” for 2631-8099-0 and 3119-8156-2; only 3049-8225-1 appears. The same query for USAA’s 1224-8712-9 also returns zero. In other words: a routing number can be live for ACH and absent from Fedwire, which matters if you are receiving a wire rather than a direct deposit.

Every number the Fed lists for the three, decoded

Regulation CC, Appendix A, gives the rule for reading the first four digits: “The first four digits of the nine-digit routing number (and the denominator of the fractional routing number) form the ‘Federal Reserve routing symbol,’ and the first two digits of the routing number identify the Federal Reserve District in which the bank is located.” It adds: “Adding 2 to the first digit denotes a thrift institution. Thus, 21 identifies a thrift in the First District, and 32 denotes a thrift in the Twelfth District.”

Every one of those seven numbers passes the ABA check-digit test (weights 3, 7, 1, repeated, taken against the first eight digits) — we ran all seven, zero failures. Every one of the seven symbols also appears in the official symbol list printed in Appendix A. District numbers come from the Federal Reserve Board’s own list: 05-Richmond, 06-Atlanta, 10-Kansas City, 11-Dallas, 12-San Francisco.

Why two of them start with the same four digits

256074974 and 256078446 share the routing symbol 2560. That is not a coincidence and it is not a closeness in any meaningful sense: the symbol is the shared part, the remaining five digits are what separate the two institutions. Navy Federal’s transit-and-check portion is 7497-4; PenFed’s is 7844-6. A symbol is not an institution — the Fed’s own Appendix A prints dozens of institutions’ worth of symbols, with the plain and thrift versions side by side (0560 next to 2560, 1140 next to 3140).

The more interesting pattern is on the other side. PenFed’s four numbers point at four different Federal Reserve Districts: 05, 06, 10 and 11. USAA’s two point at 12 and 11. Navy Federal’s one points at 05, which matches its headquarters in Vienna, Virginia, inside the Richmond District. We are not going to tell you why a single institution ends up with symbols from four districts — no official source we could reach explains it, and guessing would be worse than saying nothing.

Try it on any nine-digit number

This decoder applies only the rules quoted above. It tells you the symbol, the district the symbol is registered under, and whether the check digit is consistent. It deliberately does not name an institution: nothing in the digits identifies the owner. Only the Federal Reserve’s directory can do that.

What this means when you fill in a form

• If you bank at Navy Federal, you only ever need one number. The Fed lists a single routing number for it, and Navy Federal’s own wire page confirms it: “Navy Federal’s Routing/ABA Number: 256074974”, alongside “Navy Federal’s address: 820 Follin Lane SE, Vienna, VA 22180” and “Navy Federal’s SWIFT/BIC: NFCUUS33XXX”. Savings, checking and business accounts all sit under it — see why savings and checking share it.
• If you bank at PenFed or USAA, use the number printed for your own account. With four and two numbers in circulation respectively, copying one off a forum or a friend’s check is a coin flip. Your own checks, statements or app show the one attached to your account.
• Do not carry a number across institutions. The routing number routes to the institution, not to you. Getting that wrong is a different failure from a mistyped account number — we walk through what happens next in what happens if you enter the wrong routing number.
• Receiving a wire is not the same as receiving an ACH. Two of PenFed’s numbers and one of USAA’s are in the ACH list only, with no Fedwire entry. Navy Federal’s single number is in both.

On cost, the two institutions whose pages we could verify today publish different prices for the same job. Navy Federal’s wire page lists “Fee: $20” and “1–2 business days” for domestic outgoing wires and “Fee: $25” and “5–7 business days” for international, with incoming at “Fee: $0” and “Same-day processing, if received prior to 6:30 pm ET”. USAA’s checking page lists “$20 per outgoing domestic wire transfer”, “$45 per outgoing international wire transfer” and puts incoming wire transfers in its $0-fee list. Those two clocks are also kept in different time zones: Navy Federal states its incoming cut-off in Eastern time.

What we could not verify

• PenFed’s own website refuses automated requests. Every path on penfed.org returned HTTP 403 to us today, so none of the PenFed figures here come from PenFed directly; they come from the Federal Reserve’s directory, which is the more authoritative source anyway. We therefore quote no PenFed fee, no PenFed cut-off time and no PenFed wording.
• No official source explains which PenFed or USAA members get which number. The Fed lists them; neither institution’s public pages that we could reach assign them to account types. If you hold one of those accounts, read the number off your own materials.
• The Fed’s two directories disagree on USAA’s city. The FedACH list shows San Antonio, TX; the Fedwire list shows Phoenix, AZ for the same 3140-7426-9. We are reporting both rather than picking one.
• The directory is not a membership tool. It confirms who owns a routing number. It says nothing about whether you are eligible to join Navy Federal, PenFed or USAA.

Related guides

• What each of the nine digits in 256074974 means
• What to give someone wiring money to your Navy Federal account
• SWIFT code vs. routing number: which one goes where
• Where the routing number sits on a check

Sources: Federal Reserve Financial Services, E-Payments Routing Directory, FedACH Participant RDFI and Fedwire Participant searches queried October 6, 2026 (directories effective October 5 and October 2, 2026) — frbservices.org/resources/e-payments-routing-directory/; 12 CFR Part 229 Appendix A, paragraphs A and B (Federal Reserve Regulatory Reporting System) — federalreserve.gov; Federal Reserve Board, The Twelve Federal Reserve Districts — federalreserve.gov/otherfrb.htm; Navy Federal Credit Union, Wire Transfers — navyfederal.org; USAA, USAA Federal Savings Bank’s ABA or transit routing number — usaa.com; USAA, Set up direct deposit and Checking Accounts — usaa.com.