FAQs

A. The National Active and Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) Association has been protecting and improving the earned benefits of federal employees, retirees and their families since 1921. NARFE is an advocate for both active and retired federal employees before Congress and the White House. NARFE sponsors and supports legislation to protect the earned benefits and general welfare of members. For more information, see the NARFE YouTube channel.

A. In addition to NARFE’s legislative efforts on behalf of members, membership includes: advance information on changes to your federal retirement, health and other employee and retiree benefits; an award-winning monthly magazine and exclusive website access; access to live and recorded webinars about employee and retiree benefits; special member discounts and eligibility for college scholarships and disaster relief grants. For more information, visit the Benefits of Joining NARFE or NARFE Perks pages on our national website.

A. Call NARFE at 1-800-456-8410 (press option 1 for Dues Payment or Membership or Join NARFE (link).

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A. Membership is open to civilians in any agency of the federal or the District of Columbia governments who contribute(d) to a federal retirement plan, either the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). This includes current employees, former employees, retirees, spouses and surviving spouses of those eligible to join NARFE, and former spouses who are legally eligible for a survivor annuity. You don’t have to be retired to join NARFE. One out of every five new members is an active federal employee.

A. Yes, postal employees and retirees are eligible for NARFE membership.

A. Military service does not qualify for membership in NARFE. To find other groups you could consider joining, see Wikipedia’s list of US Military Associations or Reserve & National Guard Magazine‘s list of veterans’ organizations.

A. Spouses are encouraged to join NARFE so that they can participate in activities of the Association, vote, hold office and become more knowledgeable about federal employee and retirement benefits.

A. Download the Membership Fillable Form here.

A. Active federal employees, retired federal employees, their spouses and survivor annuitants can enroll for $48.00 for the first year in lieu of national and chapter dues. Upon the anniversary date for renewal, these members have the option of renewing for multiple years. Dues for National membership are $48 per year. The two-year dues rate is $92 ($2 savings), and the three-year dues amount is $126 ($6 savings). Auto-pay can be used to charge a credit card for multiple years. To sign up, login to NARFE, click on “My Account”, “My Settings+ and then “My AutoPay Account”.

A. By signing an authorization form, retired members and survivor annuitants instruct the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to withhold 1/12 of their annual Association dues and for chapter members 1/12 of their chapter dues monthly from their annuity. OPM will send the money to NARFE. Dues cannot be deducted from the paychecks of active federal employees.
Call NARFE at 1-800-456-8410 (press 1 for Membership) or complete the appropriate Dues Withholding Form and mail to NARFE at the address provided on the form:
DW-2 Dues Withholding Application for Retirees
DW-3 Dues Withholding Application for New Members (Retirees)

A. One-twelfth of your total dues is automatically deducted from your monthly annuity. Your monthly deduction is determined by the following formula: New members first year: $48 NARFE dues ÷ 12 = $4 monthly deduction ($42 National dues and $8 chapter dues if they selected a chapter, otherwise for National-only members $48 National dues). Subsequent years: ($42 NARFE dues ÷ 12) + (if applicable, Chapter dues ÷ 12) = Total monthly deduction. How do I sign up? It takes 60-90 days to process your application. Once the process is complete, you will receive a special membership card distinguishing you as a NARFE dues-withholding member. Your membership starts as soon as your application is received but is contingent on approval by OPM. See form DW-2 for current members (copy in NARFE Magazine), DW-3 for new members.  See Dues Categories Overview.

A. No. NARFE national life membership is no longer available. NARFE members voted to eliminate life membership effective October 1, 2024. However, life memberships processed before that date are still valid. Other ways to pay your membership are Dues Withholding and Auto-Pay. You can also contact Member Services at 800-456-8410, option 1, or email them at MemberRecords@NARFE.org for information.

A. Yes. Member Records at 800-456-8410 can respond to questions regarding billing, dues withholding, renewals or change of information. Dues also may be submitted via the NARFE website, www.narfe.org. In the menu at the top right, select FOR MEMBERS and then Renew Your Membership. You will need to log in the NARFE website with your User ID and password to get to the renewal form.

A. It’s your choice. You are encouraged to join your local Chapter, and the dues amount varies by chapter.
You can donate to NARFE’s Alzheimer’s Fund, NARFE-PAC, the scholarship fund or other areas of interest. But these are all voluntary contributions and are not required.

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A. Once you join NARFE all members are assigned to a Federation where the member’s primary address is located. The member becomes known as a National-only member supported by the Federation as chapter members are also supported. National-only members can attend federation annual convention/meetings, can vote in federation and national elections and hold federation and national elected offices.

A. No, chapter membership is voluntary. Members who do not join a chapter are categorized as National-only members. They pay NARFE association dues only. They are still supported by the federation for the state in which they reside, can attend their federation’s annual convention/meeting and can vote in federation and national elections. They may occasionally receive updates from their state federation.

A. A member’s assignment to a chapter is usually based on the zip code of the member’s permanent legal residence. However, each member retains the right and option of belonging to any chapter.

A. With chapters in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, it is likely that there is a chapter close to your home or workplace. Check the NARFE Find a Chapter Tool, contact Member Records at 800-456-8410 or write to Member Records to find a chapter near you.

A. Chapter set their dues; they range from $2.00 to $20.00, with the average being about $6.00. As a chapter member, you have a voice in setting your chapter’s dues, based upon the programs developed within that chapter. Lansing Chapter dues is $12 a year.

A. Check the NARFE Find a Chapter Tool, contact Member Services at 800-456-8410, or write to Member Services to locate area chapters and to register your chapter transfer.

A. Call or email NARFE Membership and ask them to add you as a chapter member. If you are transferring from another chapter, ask the new chapter’s membership chair for a transfer form that you can send to NARFE National. Finally, you can attend a meeting of the chapter you want to join and give their treasurer a check for your dues. (NOTE: new members are eligible for free Chapter membership for the first year of NARFE membership!)

A. Yes. It is necessary to submit an F-7 annually to also ensure the proper collection of chapter dues. Chapters need to submit an F-7 Chapter Officers Roster to Federation and Chapter Services. The amount of chapter dues, and any officer additions, deletions, changes and/or vacancies, should be indicated on this form.

A. Both Federation and Chapter leadership have elected positions based on the members volunteering to run for the office. Anyone interested in becoming an Officer should express their interest to the Federation/Chapter President. Both also have chairperson positions that are not elected but members volunteer for these positions of leadership. The specific number of elected officers will vary based on the Federation and Chapter Bylaws but at a minimum, each Federation and Chapter must have a President and Treasurer or Secretary/Treasurer.

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A. NARFE Legislative Action Center is our online advocacy tool designed to help members and other supporters of federal employees and retirees easily engage in the legislative process. Scroll down below the copyright to find the different list of actions.

A. Every time members engage effectively with lawmakers and staff Headquarters collects the data and issues a scorecard for each Federation quarterly.

A. The NARFE Member Congressional Event Feedback Form Scroll down to find the Form and questions to complete to provide and share information with HQs about interactions with lawmakers. This information helps to strategically continue conversations. It also helps NARFE tabulate your interactions with lawmakers on behalf of your Federation.

A. NARFE-PAC  is our Political Action Committee. They work to protect our pay and benefits by using our funding “to elect members of Congress who support the federal community”. See the NARFE-PAC page on the national website for more information and/or to make a contribution.

A. Members fund NARFE-PAC through their voluntary contributions. “Federal law prohibits NARFE-PAC from soliciting contributions from anyone other than NARFE members and the immediate family of these individuals. Any contribution received from any other person will be returned to the contributor.”

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A. You may call OPM on 1-888-767-6738 or visit www.opm.gov

A. NARFE’s Federal Benefits Institute is staffed with skilled professionals waiting to assist you in resolving benefit and insurance problems. In addition, there are 122 service centers nationwide maintained by NARFE in federal agencies or on military installations. Chapters also have volunteer Service Officers ready to help. You can contact the Institute by filling out the contact form on the NARFE website.

A. You can find the current and archived webinars on the NARFE webpage under the Federal Benefits Institute Menu on the NARFE website.

A. NARFE’s Federal Benefits Institute is staffed with skilled professionals waiting to assist you in resolving benefit and insurance problems. In addition, there are 122 service centers nationwide maintained by NARFE in federal agencies or on military installations. Chapters also have volunteer Service Officers ready to help. You can contact the Institute by filling out the online form on their web page.

A. Contact Member Records at 800-456-8410 regarding missed magazines and other membership mailings.

A. Have you wondered how to update your NARFE information in the National System without calling the office?  Here is a guide to use to assist you.

Guide to Update NARFE Profile

A. Federation and Chapter Services keeps these documents and can be reached directly at 703-838-7760.

A. Contact your Chapter or Federation service officer for help! They can guide you through the process of reporting the death and completing the necessary forms for federal survivor benefits.

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A. 1. Ask your Chapter Membership Chair to update the database for you
2. There is a tutorial titled Keep Your Member Data Current on the NARFE Configuration Advisory Board (CAB) to assist you in doing this yourself. First Log in to NARFE before trying to open the tutorial.
3. If all else fails, contact or call Member Records at 800-456-8410.

A. Pages for Zoom Instructions, Newsletters, and Meeting Minutes are locked to casual visitors of our website. NARFE has policy to protect sensitive and personal information of NARFE organizational units and its members. We don’t allow unwelcomed guests and robots with access to the World Wide Web (1) to zoom our Chapter meetings, (2) to read personal information published in our Newsletters, and (3) to learn our Chapter’s finances printed in our Meeting Minutes. All NARFE members may gain access to these pages by logging into their individual NARFE account. We consequently assume that NARFE members are respectful of any information that is associated with our Chapter and its members.

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A. It depends:
• If you have a question that you would like added to this page, please use the Contact Webmaster at the bottom of the page.
• If you want additional information about NARFE, the Federal Benefits Institute has an additional explanation of benefits available for members.