Financial Assistance-NAS Kingsville

Financial Assistance

Resources are available to help you understand and manage your finances, including one-on-one financial counseling to assist you and your family with financial readiness. Services are designed to focus on money management issues throughout your active-duty lifecycle and into retirement.  Financial readiness educational opportunities range from basic planning to long-term investing. Check out the information below to see what’s available at your installation.

Financial Assistance

The Fleet and Family Support Center provide a comprehensive range of information, education, and short-term counseling to prepare Navy personnel and their families to manage their finances wisely and increase mission readiness. PFMP goals are to: promote smart budgeting, and sound financial management, reduce stress on Navy personnel caused by financial hardship and integrate financial education/training with deployments.   The FFSC goal is to help Navy personnel and their families to understand their finances and develop basic money management tools to serve them well throughout their life cycles.

The NAS Kingsville FFSC is a training provider for the Command Financial Specialist Program. Service members, in pay grades E6 and above, are trained to assist members and families of their commands/departments. This training is held at least annually. Contact your Command Career Counselor for information.

One-on-one counseling is available to set up a budget. We also advise areas such as military pay and allowances, savings, insurance, home buying, credit card management, Thrift Savings Plan, and more. Contact the Fleet and Family Support Center at 361-516-6333.

Pay and Allowances

Temporary Lodging Entitlement (TLE)

This allowance is for PCS transfers in the United States. TLE provides service members a daily allowance for up to ten days to offset housing costs incurred locally before departing an old duty station or after reporting to a new duty station. TLE is figured by a complex formula similar to that for TLA. TLE is usually payable for a maximum of ten days. You must check into your command upon arrival to be eligible for TLE.

Temporary Living Allowance (TLA)

New arrivals at overseas bases are eligible for this allowance to help offset the cost of temporary housing and meals. You are entitled to TLA even if you move into temporary government quarters. The amount of TLA depends on several factors, including family size, local per diem rate, the actual cost of quarters, and whether the quarters provide cooking or dining facilities. A single person receives 65% of the local per diem rate if actual expenses are that much, and a member with one or two family members receives 100% of the local per diem rate if expenses warrant. For each additional family member, the per diem rate is raised by 25%. TLA is paid in fifteen-day increments and usually up to a sixty-day limit for those arriving and a ten-day limit for those departing overseas.

Please only consider as a last option. As soon as you receive your orders, a spending plan must be developed early enough to save extra money to be used to assist with the moving expenses. Many times advance pay is spent on other "emergencies" and often depleted before actual moving expenses are incurred. In addition, advance payment is a "dead horse" that automatically reduces your take-home pay to use for bills and unforeseen moving expenses. Talk to your Command Financial Specialist prior to drawing advance pay.

No more than three months of advanced pay may be drawn. The advance is normally repaid in equal installments over twelve months. In certain cases, re-payment can be spread over twenty-four months. Advance pay is your base pay, not pay with allowances. If approved by your commanding officer, an advanced housing allowance can be drawn. You must prove that this money will be used for housing costs. Advance housing allowance is up to three months BAH for a CONUS move. The allowance cannot exceed the anticipated housing cost.

For those moving overseas, OHA will offset your housing cost. Advanced housing allowances may be re-paid over a twelve-month period, and in exceptional circumstances may be re-paid over a longer period. Remember, all advanced pay must be repaid.

Retiring and separating service members are not eligible for advance pay.

Cost of Living

Naval Air Station Kingsville is located in a lower cost-of-living area. The median home price in 2022 was around $191K.  The average rental was $625-$1546 in 2022. (c/o city-data dot com).  Although the military provides reimbursement for some expenses, many individuals/ families also have expenses that are non-reimbursable. It is recommended that you review and revise your budget for your pending move. Consider all possible options, and ensure there is enough money for first and last month's rent, move-in costs, pet deposits, travel expenses, and monthly utilities.

Monthly utility costs vary by location and size of the residence. Because of the majority months are warm to hot with very high humidity, electricity is the highest utility bill you will pay. Electric bills can easily reach $250 to $300 in an inadequately insulated home if you like it cold.  Also, be aware that some landlords may not immediately accept personal checks on out-of-state accounts. There is a waiting list for PPV off-base housing as well as a waiting list for the Child Development Center. Your automobile insurance rates may increase therefore contact your current automobile insurance company for information on Texas rates and insurance coverage requirements.

Minimum Car Insurance Coverage Requirements

As with most states, Texas requires that you have at least coverage for injury to people hurt in an accident and damage to property resulting from an accident you cause.

For injury, you must have a minimum of $20,000 per person and $40,000 for all persons injured per accident. For damage to property, you must have a minimum of $15,000 coverage per accident. These minimum limits are also known as 20/40/15 coverage.

These are just the minimum limits required by Texas state law.  They may not be enough because you are still liable for costs above those limits. It's often a good idea to increase your level of coverage.