Financial Assistance

Fleet and Family Support Center has a staff of Personal Financial Managers who can assist you with information and training to achieve financial goals such as buying a car, a home or saving for retirement. The Center can guide you in setting up an investment portfolio or saving for a child to attend college.

Contact FFSC at 228-871-3000 for services that include:

• explaining a credit report
• advising on how to get out of debt, plan for emergencies and avoid identity theft
• information on Thrift Savings Plan
• planning for a move
• Command Financial Counselor training
• Avoiding payday loans
• Explaining to you how to become a millionaire on military pay

The Fleet and Family Support Center has Certified Financial Educators and Counselors available to assist military families in planning their financial future. The Financial Counselors will assist by looking over potential purchase contracts, making sailors aware of their rights to legal protection from predatory lenders and from interest rates over 36%. They also are required to  have a disclosure statement with loan applications. These financial services are available for the member, spouses and children.

Allowances and Entitlements

Basic Allowance for Housing - Remember that BAH is an allowance to offset the cost of housing, if you are not in government provided housing. Your BAH will depend on location, pay grade and whether you have dependents.  Be sure you understand that in a relocation move, the amount of BAH will change. Do not commit to any rental or purchase until you know the BAH at your new duty station. Dislocation Allowance is intended to help with miscellaneous moving cost and is based on rank and dependent status.  It is not available from home to your first duty station: when assigned to government quarters, without family members, at new duty station: when transferred to a nearby duty station, unless a local move of household goods has been pre-authorized; and when separating or retiring from the military.

Monetary Allowance in Lieu of Transportation - This is the amount paid when a member and/or the member's family drove to their new duty station, based on the Official Military Table of Distances. MALT is figured on a table of miles times the number of travelers and approval is needed before MALT can be paid for more than 2 vehicles. May be advanced at 80% before the move, and is paid by travel voucher.

Per Diem Allowance -- This is the money reimbursement you and your family receive to pay for the costs associated with meals and lodging when you travel to your new duty station. Per Diem rates for car travel is based on a flat rate. The military uses 350 miles per day as the standard one-day travel distance to compute per diem rates. To determine the number of days per diem, use the Official Government Mileage between duty stations and divide by 350. An additional day of travel is allowed if the remainder is 51 miles or more. Per Diem rates vary by age. Each family member is entitled to a different percentage of the applicable per diem on the days they are eligible. The total per diem reimbursement on your move is the sum of all per diem for each family member. 

• Service Member--100% of rate
• Spouse--75% of rate
• Children over 12--75% of rate
• Children under 12--50% of rate

DO NOT USE PER DIEM WITH TDY TRAVEL WHICH IS BASED ON LOCATION.

Temporary Lodging Expense - TLE is designed to partly reimburse relocating members and their families for the cost of meals and lodging incurred when temporary housing is needed. TLE is CONUS only.  The formula used to calculate TLE includes member's pay grade, number of family members, actual quarters cost, availability of cooking facilities and the local per diem rate. The maximum TLE rate is currently $180 per day. The maximum amount of time you can claim TLE is up to 10 days for CONUS to CONUS moves and up to 5 days for CONUS to OCONUS moves. The Fleet and Family Support Center Relocation Consultant can help you figure out your TLE.

PCS Travel Advance - When making a PCS move, service members can request advance payment of the DLA, MALT, and per diem amounts. The remainder will be paid upon processing of the travel voucher filed after the move is complete. THIS MONEY DOES NOT HAVE TO BE REPAID, if the proper paper work is completed.  Advances may be requested 10 days prior to leaving the losing unit.  The funds are deposited into the service member's checking account, so do not close the account when leaving the installation. If no advance is requested, entitlements will be paid after completing the move and filing the travel voucher, and payment can take several weeks. The first PCS move is not eligible for an advance.

Advance Pay - If necessary, service members can receive an advance of basic pay, and of basic allowance for housing when making a PCS move. THIS MONEY IS AN ADVANCE AND MUST BE REPAID. Your base pay and finance offices or your Command Financial Counselor can provide more details.