Financial Assistance

Prior to accepting orders for an overseas duty station, it’s essential to visit your command financial specialist for an overseas financial screening. It’s important to take a hard look at your financial situation. Two critical areas to examine and assess with your financial specialist are your debt-to-income ratio and overall financial status.

When evaluating the debt-to-income ratio, no more than 20% of a family's take-home pay should be going to pay debts (home mortgages are not included). When screening for an overseas assignment, this ratio should be calculated using one income only. Recent data and research have shown that if a sailor has more than 25% of take-home pay going to credit and loan payments, the likelihood of an early return increases significantly.

To evaluate your overall financial status, make a projected budget for the new duty station. Debt is a major concern, but you must also be aware of your spending patterns and anticipated overseas income and living expenses. Your command financial specialist can assist you in determining your financial status and developing an anticipated budget for the overseas assignment.

A well-prepared financial plan should help you to avoid the need for additional assistance. However, despite your planning, there are circumstances that are beyond your control. For such circumstances, the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society is available for financial assistance.

All active-duty, National Guard and Reserve service members, their family members and survivors are eligible to receive no-cost financial counseling services. Services include support of mandatory training for services and individual and group counseling.

Planning for the Future

Invest in yourself and your future by planning ahead today. Use all the resources that are available to you as a member of the military community and start increasing your wealth. You’ll be glad you did.

The temporary lodging allowance is money issued to offset the cost of living in temporary lodgings (Navy Lodge, hotels, etc.) while looking for permanent residence. TLA is intended to cover only your basic lodging, meals and incidentals, and is based on Naples per diem rates.

Temporary lodging allowance is broken into two parts, lodging costs and meals and incidental expenses:

• Lodging has a maximum reimbursable limit. If your lodging costs are less than the limit, you will be reimbursed for only your actual lodging costs. If your lodging costs are greater than the limit, you will be paid only the maximum rate. Any costs beyond the limit are your responsibility.
• M&IE is a set rate based on the availability of cooking facilities. If you stay in lodging with no cooking facilities, you will be paid the full rate. If you stay in lodging with cooking facilities, your M&IE is reduced by 50%. The Navy Lodge has kitchenettes in every room, so the M&IE is reduced by 50%. Regardless of whether your expenses are above or below your determined M&IE rate, you will receive the full amount.

TLA is paid in 10-day increments. Military personnel must present lodging receipts and obtain Housing's recommendation for temporary lodging allowance approval at the Housing Service Center every 10 days. These claims must then be taken to your command TLA representative for approval. Finally, the Personnel Support Detachment uses your TLA claim to compute your reimbursement for lodging and M&IE. PSD will then subtract 10 days’ worth of your basic allowance for housing and basic allowance for subsistence, which you continue to draw while on temporary lodging allowance.

Military personnel are authorized for up to 60 days TLA when arriving in Naples.

If you’re not using government quarters due to none being available, you must obtain a certificate of non-availability from the Navy Lodge/NGIS before you obtain lodging on the economy. Please note, this is not applicable if there is no military lodging in the vicinity of your duty station.

• Naval Support Activity Naples Facebook page
• Commander, Navy Installation Command website

TLA, OHA, MIHA, COLA, PFTF – your sponsor may have thrown these terms at you, but it is completely normal if these acronyms still feel confusing. In essence, these are all programs designed to ease your transition to Italy and minimize your out-of-pocket expenses – both during your arrival and throughout your tour. These programs are great benefits, but you need to know what they are and how they work. Your finance center will show and explain your individual allowances during Monday's Personnel Support Detachment mass check-in.

Overseas Housing Allowance, or OHA

OHA is designed to partially offset housing expenses at overseas duty locations when service members live in privately leased housing on the local economy when government-leased or on-base housing is not available. 

Key facts:

• OHA partially offsets the housing costs of living on the local economy by adapting to varied housing conditions worldwide.
• OHA reflects what service members are actually paying in housing costs and is adjusted for local currency exchange rates.

The OHA Rate Lookup website below reflects all paygrades and their OHA Rental Allowance, Utility & Maintenance Allowance, and Move-In Housing Allowance, or MIHA, rates based on location code (e.g., Naples is "IT055"). (See more information on MIHA in the next section below.)

• OHA Rental Allowance: This is your maximum rental cap. If your rent exceeds this cap, you must pay the difference out of pocket. If your rent is less than the cap, you will only be reimbursed for the actual cost of your rent (converted to USD).
• Utility/Maintenance Allowance: This money is paid in addition to your rental allowance.

On your Leave and Earnings Statement, you will see these two rates combined into one under the "BAH" line item.

View OHA and MIHA rates at https://www.travel.dod.mil/Allowances/Overseas-Housing-Allowance/OHA-Rate-Lookup.

Move-In Housing Allowance, or MIHA

MIHA is a "one-time" allowance used to ease the financial burden of moving into economy quarters. It helps to reduce the costs of additional cabinets, light fixtures and various other home items. MIHA is not offered to personnel who choose to live in government quarters.

Cost of Living Allowance, or COLA

COLA is a variable allowance that is closely monitored to ensure that all service members receive an increase in the money required to survive fluctuations in the cost of living. Naples is considered a high cost of living area. Payments are determined by:

• Location
• Rank
• Years of service
• Number of dependents
• A service member's income, not a spouse's
• Additional considerations:
  • Overseas COLA fluctuations should be considered in household budgeting. Fixed expenses, such as car payments, should be based on what a service member can afford without relying on overseas COLA.
  • Overseas COLA will fluctuate based on the exchange rate and could go up or down from pay period to pay period.

View Cost of Living Allowance, or COLA, rates at https://www.travel.dod.mil/Allowances/Overseas-Cost-of-Living-Allowance/Overseas-COLA-Rate-Lookup/.

More Information

View additional info on policies for all above entitlements and more in the applicable chapter of DOD FMR VOL 7A at https://comptroller.defense.gov/fmr/vol7a_chapters.aspx.

Banking and Credit Cards

Several banking options are available to service members and civilian employees. Service members may easily maintain stateside accounts by utilizing the direct deposit system. Net pay will be electronically transferred on or before payday to your stateside bank. Navy Federal Credit Union offers full services, including a 24-hour ATM tied into the PLUS and Armed Forces Financial Network, for all active-duty military personnel and civilians employed by the Department of War (including their families). Clubs and associations of the above are also eligible for membership.

Banca Intesa San Paolo is an Italian bank located at Capodichino in Building 450, first floor, and provides various services. Their hours are Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and from 2:45 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. The Navy Exchange takes Mastercard and Visa. You may also wish to maintain credit with major mail-order companies.

Community Bank

Community Bank, operated by Bank of America, is contracted by the DOW to provide stateside-like banking services exclusively to the military community. Customers can take advantage of the wide range of services that are designed for the unique requirements of service members and civilians stationed overseas.

Community Bank is located at Naval Support Activity Capodichino and has two ATMs which dispense euros and dollars.

Community Bank also provides no-fee currency exchanges, euro money transfers for rent or local expenses, no-fee checking and savings and local utility bill payment services. The Community Bank is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.