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Navy Federal Credit Union offers an impressive range of loan amounts, especially for borrowers who only need a small sum of cash. However, there are stringent membership requirements that make the credit union inaccessible to some borrowers. The best personal loan for you depends on your credit score, which will determine what you qualify for and can lower your rate.

Who Are Navy Federal Personal Loans Best For?

Navy Federal offers unsecured personal loans, which are loans that don't require collateral, such as a house or car.

You can get a personal loan from Navy Federal for several reasons, including auto repairs, vacations, and other major purchases.  

Unlike other credit unions, you need to be a member of Navy Federal to apply for and receive a personal loan. You're only eligible if you are active military member or a veteran, as well as an employee or retiree of the Department of Defense. Family members of any of the aforementioned groups are also eligible. 

You can get a personal loan from Navy Federal in all 50 states. Navy Federal allows you to apply with co-borrower, which may help you get a better rate if your co-borrower has a great credit score. You can fill out your application online and get your rate within several minutes. If you're looking for a debt consolidation loan or home improvement loan, you'll have to apply over the phone or in person. 

In most cases with Navy Federal, you'll get your money the same day you apply.  

There are many options to get your customer support questions answered. You can call customer support 24/7, send a secure message from your online banking account, set up an in-person meeting, message a chatbot, send physical mail, or reach out to the company on social media. 

Navy Federal has a mobile app in the Google Play store, rated 4 out of 5 stars, and an app in the Apple store, rated 4.8 out of 5 stars. Both are good options if you want to manage your loan away from your computer. 

Navy Federal Personal Loan Details

Navy Federal has personal loan amounts that range from $250 to $50,000. Navy Federal has one of the lowest minimums around, and comparable maximums to other credit unions. For example, PenFed's loan amount range is $600 to $50,000, and the range for Alliant's personal loans is $1,000 to $50,000. Most online lenders have higher minimum loan amounts. 

Navy Federal offers term repayment lengths from six months to five years. There are no prepayment penalties on your loan.

Navy Federal Credit Union offers an impressive range of loan amounts, especially for borrowers who only need a small sum of cash. However, there are stringent membership requirements that make the credit union inaccessible to some borrowers. The best personal loan for you depends on your credit score, which will determine what you qualify for and can lower your rate.

Navy Federal Personal Loans Pros and Cons

Navy Federal Personal Loan Pros

• Wide range of loan amounts. You can take out as little as $250 or as much as $50,000.
• No origination fees or prepayment penalties. Other lenders may charge these fees. 
• You can apply with a co-borrower. A co-borrower can help you get a better rate on your loan if they have a good credit score.
• 24/7 customer service over the phone. You can speak to someone around the clock, whenever you need.  

Navy Federal Personal Loan Cons

• You have to be a member to get your loan. It's relatively hard to qualify for Navy Federal membership. You're only eligible if you are active military member, veteran, employee or retiree of the Department of Defense, or family member of someone in one of those groups. 
• Late fee. The credit union charges a $29 late payment fee. 
• High minimum APR. If you have a great credit score, you can likely get a better rate elsewhere. 

How to Apply For a Navy Federal Credit Union Personal Loan

1. Become a Navy Federal Credit Union Member. You can only take out a loan from Navy Federal Credit union if you're a member. To become a member, you or a family member must have ties to the armed forces, Department of Defense, or National Guard.

2. Decide which method to use to apply. Navy Federal Credit Union allows you to apply for a personal loan online, by phone, or in person. Online applications are typically the fastest.

3. Submit your information and apply. You'll enter your name, Social Security number, income history, proof of income, and other information that Navy Federal will use to determine if you're qualified for a personal loan.

4. Review the offer and sign off on your loan. Navy Federal will offer a loan with an interest rate and term based on your creditworthiness if you qualify. Be sure to carefully review the offer and make sure you're able to afford the payments before agreeing to it.

5.  Receive your funds. Navy Federal Credit union says in most cases you can get your money the same day you're approved for a personal loan.

Navy Federal Personal Loan Credit Requirements

Navy Federal doesn't make its minimum credit score to be eligible for a personal loan public — though in general, a higher credit score will secure you a lower rate.

If you need to access your credit report, you can get it at no cost from any of the three major credit bureaus on annualcreditreport.com weekly through April 20, 2022. This report will give you information about your payment and credit history, but it won't provide you with your credit score. Looking over your credit report can help you spot errors and find areas for improvement.

You can get your score for free on your credit card statement or online account. You can also buy it from a credit reporting agency.

Unfortunately, you can't apply for a loan with Navy Federal without the credit union generating a hard credit inquiry. A hard inquiry gives a lender a complete view of your credit history, but might negatively affect your credit score. Other lenders allow you to check your rates without impacting your credit score. 

After you accept the loan, your payments (or lack thereof) will show up on your credit report. Consistent payments can help boost your credit score, while late or missing payments may lower your score. 

Are Navy Federal Credit Union Personal Loans Trustworthy?

Navy Federal's Better Business Bureau profile is currently not rated as the credit union is in the process of responding to previously closed complaints. Previously, the business had an A+ trustworthiness rating from the BBB. The BBB measures its trustworthiness score by looking at how a company's responds to customer complaints, its honesty in advertising, and its transparency about business practices. 

There is one recent controversy related to the credit union. A Navy Federal employee alleged that the lender pressured mortgage underwriters to approve loans even without proper reason to believe applicants could pay back the loans. She then filed a lawsuit and said Navy Federal retaliated against her whistleblowing by changing her job duties. She dropped the case in late 2020.

You might prefer a different lender if you're bothered by Navy Federal's recent controversy and lack of trustworthiness rating. 

Navy Federal Personal Loan Alternatives

Navy Federal Personal Loans  vs. PenFed Personal Loans

With a range of 8.99% to 18.00%, offers a minimum loan amount than what you can get with PenFed, which as a range of 8.99% to 17.99%. Navy Federal's APR range of 8.99% to 18.00% is comparable to PenFed's range of 8.99% to 17.99%. 

Navy Federal has more strict membership requirements than PenFed, as you only qualify if you or a family me ber are an active military member, veteran, or employee or retiree of the Department of Defense. You can join PenFed if you've served in the military or worked at a qualifying association or organization. You can also join by opening a savings account with a $5 minimum deposit.

PenFed Personal Loan Review

Navy Federal Personal Loans vs. Alliant Personal Loans

Alliant advertises APR range that starts at 10.49%, higher than Navy Federal's lowest rate. Alliant doesn't disclose a maximum interest rate for its personal loans. You can borrow anywhere from $1,000 to $50,000 from Alliant, compared with loan amounts ranging from $250 to $50,000 at Navy Federal.

Becoming a member of Alliant is relatively easy. You can so so by making a donation to Foster Care to Success. That compares with much stricter membership requirements for Navy Federal.

Alliant Personal Loan Review

Why You Should Trust Us: How We Rated Navy Federal Credit Union

We rate all personal loan products in our reviews and guides on a 1-5 scale. The overall rating is a weighted average that takes into account seven different categories, some of which are judged more heavily than others. They are:

• Interest rate (20% of rating)
• Fees (20% of rating)
• Term lengths and loan amounts (15% of rating)
• Funding speed (15% of rating)
• Borrower accessibility (15% of rating)
• Customer support (7.5% of rating)
• Ethics (7.5% of rating)

Each category's weighting is based on its importance to your borrowing experience. Rates and fees have the most direct impact on the overall cost of your loan, so we weigh those the most heavily. Customer support and ethics are still very important parts of the borrowing experience, but do not directly tie to a personal loan's terms, so they have less of an impact on the overall rating.

See our full ratings methodology for personal loans for more details.

Navy Federal Personal Loans Frequently Asked Questions

Are Navy Federal personal loans legitimate?

Yes, Navy Federal Credit Union is a legitimate credit union federally insured by the National Credit Union Administration. It offers a variety of financial products outside of loans.  

Is Navy Federal a good place to get a personal loan?

Credit unions are a good option to get a personal loan. Credit unions often have high-quality customer service and smaller loan minimums than online lenders. Credit unions also have their maximum interest rate capped by the National Credit Union Administration at 18%, so you may get a lower rate with one than with an online lender. 

What credit score do you need for a Navy Federal personal loan?

Navy Federal Credit union doesn't disclose a minimum credit score to qualify for a personal loan. However, the higher your credit score, the more likely you'll be approved for a loan with the best interest rate.

How long does it take to get a personal loan from Navy Federal?

In most cases with Navy Federal you can get your money the same day you're approved for a personal loan.

• Donald Trump chose Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his running mate in the 2024 election.
• Vance met his wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, while they were both students at Yale Law School.
• They wed in both Christian and Hindu ceremonies in 2014 and have three children.

When Fox News asked Usha Chilukuri Vance in June how she felt about her husband, JD Vance, being considered as Donald Trump's running mate, she told host Lawrence Jones that she was "not raring to change anything about our lives right now."

But it appears she's come around, standing alongside Vance and Trump on the first day of the Republican National Convention once her husband was officially chosen to join the ticket.

Vance, the junior senator from Ohio and bestselling author of "Hillbilly Elegy," and Chilukuri Vance, a litigator whose résumé includes a Supreme Court clerkship, met as students at Yale Law School and wed in 2014.

Here's a look inside the relationship of the newest GOP power couple who could become the next vice president and second lady.

Born in Ohio and raised by his grandparents in Kentucky, JD Vance joined the Marines and graduated from Ohio State University.

Vance served as a public affairs marine in Iraq, liaising between service members and members of the press. After his military service, he majored in political science and philosophy at Ohio State University.

Usha Chilukuri Vance studied history at Yale and taught American history in Guangzhou as a Yale-China Teaching Fellow.

Chilukuri Vance grew up in a suburb of San Diego. Her parents are Indian immigrants, The New York Times reported.

Chilukuri Vance told Fox News in June that her parents' Hindu faith was "one of the things that made them such good parents, that make them very good people."

The couple met while they were students at Yale Law School.

In law school, Chilukuri Vance served as executive development editor of the Yale Law Journal and managing editor of the Yale Journal of Law and Technology, according to a bio on the website of her former employer, Munger, Tolles & Olson, that has since been removed.

She also worked pro bono with the Supreme Court Advocacy Clinic, the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic, and the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project.

Chilukuri Vance told NBC News that she and Vance took all of their classes together and were friends before they started dating. When they were assigned to work on a brief together, Chilukuri Vance said she was impressed by his diligence.

"I've never seen anybody so starstruck," their law school professor, Amy Chua, said of Vance in an interview with NBC News. "It was love at first sight."

They wed in 2014 and held both Christian and Hindu ceremonies.

Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019, The American Conservative reported. Chilukuri Vance was raised Hindu.

When asked about their interfaith marriage in a June interview with Fox News, Chilukuri Vance replied: "There are a lot of things that we just agree on, I think, especially when it comes to family life, how to raise our kids. So I think the answer really is that we just talk a lot."

In 2016, Vance published his best-selling memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy," in which he wrote about his relationship with Chilukuri Vance.

Vance's memoir details his working-class upbringing and the lives of poor, white Americans. He also wrote about how Chua, his professor, encouraged him to focus on his relationship with Chilukuri Vance as a Yale law student.

When Vance asked Chua to recommend him for a federal clerkship, she warned him that it's "the type of thing that destroys relationships."

"Amy's advice stopped me from making a life-altering decision. It prevented me from moving a thousand miles away from the person I eventually married," Vance wrote.

"Most important, it allowed me to accept my place at this unfamiliar institution — it was okay to chart my own path and okay to put a girl above some shortsighted ambition," he continued. "My professor gave me permission to be me."

After law school, Vance worked at VC firms while Chilukuri Vance landed prestigious clerkships.

Vance worked at Mithril Capital, a VC firm backed by Peter Thiel, in 2016. One former coworker previously told Business Insider that Vance was often away from the job promoting his book, "Hillbilly Elegy."

Thiel ended up being instrumental in Vance's rise to power in politics, donating $15 million to his Senate campaign and encouraging Trump to choose Vance as his running mate, The New York Times reported.

Vance went on to work at Revolution, a VC firm in Washington, DC, before founding his own firm, Narya Capital, in 2019.

Meanwhile, Chilukuri Vance worked as a litigator at Munger, Tolles & Olson before leaving to clerk for Judge Brett Kavanaugh in the US Court of Appeals and Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts. Following her clerkships, she returned to Munger, Tolles & Olson, according to a bio on the firm's website that has since been removed.

They have three children.

Their first child, 6-year-old Ewan, was born a month before Chilukuri Vance began her clerkship with Chief Justice Roberts, NBC News reported. Their son Vivek is 4, and their daughter Mirabel is 2.

Chilukuri Vance appeared in a political ad and at campaign events when Vance ran for Congress in 2022.

In the ad, Chilukuri Vance described her husband as "an incredible father" and "my best friend."

In an interview with Newsmax about the ad, Chilukuri Vance also responded to media reports about Vance's dramatic transformation from a "Never Trumper" to a staunch Trump supporter.

"Sometimes people say that he's changed a lot, but the truth is I've known him now for so many years and he's always been so true to himself," she said.

As Trump vetted Vance for the vice presidency, Chilukuri Vance expressed ambivalence about the possibility of him being chosen.

"I'm not raring to change anything about our lives right now, but I really believe in JD and I love him, so we'll see what happens with our lives," she told Fox News.

When Trump chose Vance as his 2024 running mate in July, Chilukuri Vance quit her job as a litigator.

On the first day of the Republican National Convention, when Trump announced Vance as his vice presidential pick, a spokesperson for Munger, Tolles & Olsen told ABC News that Chilukuri Vance had left the firm.

"Usha has been an excellent lawyer and colleague, and we thank her for her years of work and wish her the best in her future career," the spokesperson said.

• A monastery compound on over 3,700 acres near Aspen, Colorado, is on the market $150 million. 
• There aren't many monks left, and the land near the ritzy ski town is mostly used as a ranch. 
• This amount of land near Aspen is rare, but there aren't many viable, serious buyers. Here's why.

A 3,720-acre ranch in Snowmass, Colorado — a ski town 15 miles north of Aspen — is on the market for $150 million.

Its current owner is St. Benedict's Monastery, which no longer has enough monks to support itself and is looking for buyers who want a lot of land close to the slopes.

Listing agent Ken Mirr, who specializes in ranches, knows how rare a property like this is.

"It is such a unique landscape. Somebody will sit there and go, 'Wow, there's nothing like this,'" Mirr told Business Insider. "You're not going to duplicate it."

Mirr, of Mirr Ranch Group, shares the listing with Michael Latousek of Douglas Elliman.

The Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance, a Roman Catholic religious order colloquially known as the Trappists, bought the property in 1956 for an unknown price. It built the original monastery in 1958.

Early on, the monks supported themselves by cattle ranching, making candy, and selling eggs to local restaurants and farmers. Later, they tapped a local cattle rancher to do the physical work with livestock on the land.

The monastery includes a chapel, prayer areas, and living quarters for the monks. The compound added more buildings since the 1950s, including a retreat center hosting events.

The late Reverend Thomas Keating founded the Snowmass Interreligious Conference in 1984, bringing regular interfaith retreats to St. Benedict's. The space has also been used by the Aspen Institute, Mirr said, which hosts the yearly Aspen Ideas Festival that is attended by business executives, public officials, and other thinkers.

The property might sound like the perfect location for an ultrawealthy buyer to erect a massive family compound. But Pitkon County, where Snowmass and Aspen are located, won't let large developments be built without scrutiny.

The county has caucuses that uphold its laws and approve land uses. In Snowmass, the caucus approved a 5,750-square-foot limit to the floor area of homes — so putting up an extra-large megamansion on the ranch is out of the question.

The county is known for oversized luxury homes that trade for handsome sums — a 22,405-square-foot mansion in Aspen sold for a record-setting $108 million in April to an LLC called Buddies Aspen, which the Wall Street Journal reported is a powerful duo: billionaire financier Thomas Peterffy and former casino developer Steve Wynn.

Mirr said he has already turned away buyers who are not the right fit for the property. He and the monastery leadership are looking for someone who want to do a little with a lot.

"There's going to be a limited buying pool, and we understand that," Mirr said. "Our focus really is to look at a conservation buyer ultimately who can work with the code and work with the open space."

The property, as it exists today, is about 3,720 acres in total.

The monastery accumulated multiple parcels over time, Mirr said.

The Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance acquired the property in 1956.

Before monks bought the property, ranchers and farmers who had settled there years before occupied the land.

The early monastery buildings — built by the monks themselves — were finished in 1958.

"They based it on a 14th-century design of a monastery from France," Mirr said. "They had the brothers there help build it."

There have been additions since then.

The buildings that make up the monastery total about 18,000 square feet.

Along with a chapel, prayer areas, and living quarters for the monks, there are additional buildings that were built during expansion, like barns, sheds, and an old schoolhouse.

There's also a retreat center where events are held.

However, the living quarters are sparsely occupied today.

According to Mirr, only about six monks still live on the property. More than a dozen monks lived there in the late 1950s.

"That is part of the reason they're shutting down," Mirr said. "There are just not as many gentlemen in the world — at least in the United States — who want to become monks. And it's just much more of a facility now that they can manage.""

The monastery is hardly in use these days.

On Sundays, the monastery still holds mass for the public.

But the next buyer doesn’t have to be a monk.

"Somebody can have a different idea of what can be done," Mirr said. "Some people say, 'Does this have to be a faith-based enterprise advisor?' Well, maybe there could be a combination of uses out here, too."

Mirr tries to be realistic with the real-estate developers who have approached him.

One developer approached him with dreams of building a swanky private club, Mirr said.

"When a developer comes up, and they say, 'Oh, we're going to try to go after this many homes or make it like a Yellowstone Club.' And maybe in any other area that could work, but we just know it won't likely work here," Mirr added. "Why go through the brain damage of going through a county approval process that's subject to public scrutiny that would just taint the property?"

The buyer should expect to spend a lot of time maintaining the property — or at least be prepared to pay someone to do it.

"The owner won't be there 24/7, 365 days a year," Mirr said. "But they will have a rancher that will manage the ranch subject to a grazing plan."

There is a local rancher that takes care of the property and takes into account wildlife conservation, water irrigation, and cattle, Mirr added.

There are about 1,500 acres of irrigated land from the snowpack of the surrounding mountains that support the property.

The property has water rights that date back to the 1800s, and the water carries to the Colorado River.

"Water is important, and certainly they mainly use it for growing hay, but that ground that is irrigated helps support wildlife habitat and other things for the area — and it's just a great amenity," Mirr said.

Buyers who want to turn the monastery land into a residential compound might be out of luck.

Mirr said that unlike a state like Texas, which sometimes allows basically unfettered building on wide open spaces, Pitkin County has a "growth management quota system," which essentially sets limits each year on the amount of square footage that can be built in a neighborhood.

"Ultimately, somebody who buys this will have to work with the county on some level," he said. "Either accept what they're going to give you, or negotiate with them through a process called the Open Space Master Plan Concept or something similar where you can have a negotiated settlement and still provide a lot of conservation results and outcomes."

While Mirr has fielded a small number of serious inquiries, he’s looking for a buyer that makes sense for the property.

"You can count them on two hands," he said. "Our focus really is to look at a conservation buyer, ultimately, who can work with the code and work with the open space."

Mir added that an eventual buyer could build "a family compound or something of that nature, where you could build home sites, and you could build more barns and outbuildings."

Snowmass, Colorado, is about 15 miles outside Aspen, which drove the asking price up.

"If this were 3,800 acres in central Colorado, nowhere near here, it would take on a much different valuation," Mirr said.

Pricing the property was difficult as there are not a lot of similar properties nearby.

Snowmass Falls Ranch, a 650-acre parcel in the same county, sold to the county for $34 million earlier this year.

The monastery is more than five times its size, but it helped Mirr get a sense of an appropriate asking price.

Mirr anticipates that the monastery's buyer will be someone who wants access to Aspen's skiing — and its wealthy, high-profile residents and visitors.

"Aspen's an international city," he said. "If you look at the people who own properties in Aspen, they're from all over the world ‚ a much more diverse buying pool than any other city in Colorado for sure."

In addition to the Aspen Ideas Festival, Aspen hosts other events that draw national and global attendees, including the Food & Wine Classic.

"Thirty minutes to a ski area at 3,800 acres — there's nothing like this in the United States," Mirr added.

• "Bridgerton" season three adapts Julia Quinn's fourth novel from the "Bridgerton" book series.
• However, the show's plot strays quite a lot from "Romancing Mister Bridgerton."
• Here are the seven best and seven worst changes the TV show made.

"Bridgerton" season three might be based on "Romancing Mister Bridgerton," but the Netflix series took some major liberties with the source material.

Season three follows the general book plot by adapting the friends-to-lovers romance between Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton). But the rest of the story is filled with changes, including the love triangle in season three, part one.

This is not uncommon for "Bridgerton," which has been a roaring success since its first season and is one of Netflix's most-watched series ever.

Here are the best and worst changes "Bridgerton" season three made from the books.

Best: Cressida and Eloise's friendship

In "Romancing Mister Bridgerton," Cressida Cowper is a one-note bully of London's high society, and she never becomes friends with Eloise Bridgerton, Colin's younger sister.

However, in the series, the writers evolve Cressida (Jessica Madsen) as a character through her friendship with Eloise (Claudia Jessie). We learn that Cressida bullies others due to her insecurity of not having any friends or suitors.

We also learn that Cressida is in a tough position because her parents insist on her finding a suitor. She needs a husband to escape her family.

Cressida develops from the one-note bully to a fully realized woman trying to survive in the Ton.

The friendship also develops Eloise. Since season one, she has been a self-obsessed, slightly insensitive, reckless young lady. She doesn't listen to anyone's advice until her friendship with Cressida, and the audience can see her maturing this season.

Best: The addition of Lord Debling

In "Romancing Mister Bridgerton," most of the tension in Penelope and Colin's relationship comes from his realization that she's Lady Whistledown.

But the timelines are a bit different in season three of the show. To up the urgency, "Bridgerton" instead creates a romantic rival: Lord Debling. Like Penelope, Lord Debling is looking for a match — but he seeks a practical, rather than romantic, one given that he plans on traveling for years at a time. For Penelope — a.k.a. the Ton's most prolific gossip columnist — that's pretty ideal, even if she'd prefer love.

It's nice to see someone genuinely interested in Penelope (other than Colin, after he gets his act in gear), and Sam Phillips' Lord Debling is a great mix of polished, detached, and a little bit odd. Seeing Colin jealous is pretty delightful, too.

Best: Francesca Bridgerton makes her debut this season

Francesca Bridgerton is the not-so-secret second lead of "Bridgerton" season three. Hannah Dodd takes over the role from Ruby Stokes, who departed after the show's second season, and handles Francesca's debut with aplomb.

Francesca's storyline this season is different from what we've seen from the other "Bridgerton" couples, due in part to the fact that her true love story in the books is still yet to come. Contrary to her mother's aspirations, Francesca isn't set on a love match — she mostly wants a kind husband and a good life. Still, she finds a kindred spirit in Lord Kilmartin, a man who prefers to bond in silence and rearranges music for her at the drop of a hat.

This part of Francesca's story takes place on a different timeline in the books vis-à-vis Penelope and Colin's. But it's great to see her develop a relationship and get more space as a character prior to her eventual time as a romantic lead.

Best: Gender-swapping Michaela Stirling

In season three, part two, "Bridgerton" revealed that it had changed the gender of Francesca's eventual love interest: Michael was now Michaela, her husband John's cousin.

In "When He Was Wicked," Francesca's book in the series, she eventually falls in love with John's cousin Michael after John's death two years into their marriage. But in the season three finale, John introduced Francesca to Michaela — and Francesca was visibly smitten.

Changing Michael's gender, and therefore key elements of his and Francesca's story, has proven to be divisive for book fans, though Quinn publicly stands behind it. But Francesca's story does easily lend itself to a queer interpretation, and it's huge for "Bridgerton" to set up a queer relationship for one of the siblings.

Best: The balloon incident

Every "Bridgerton" man needs a good opportunity to showboat, and this is Colin's.

Before a hot-air balloon launch, an unmoored rope and an unusually windy day cause the balloon to drift off. Colin, his forearms exposed, grabs one of the ropes and rallies a group of men to heave the balloon and its basket back onto the platform.

This scene has everything: a brute display of strength, Penelope almost getting caught in the balloon's path because she was busy staring at Colin, and Lord Debling chivalrously protecting her from harm. Colin receives plenty of adoration from the audience, but he only has eyes for Penelope. If only he understood that he was in love with her!

This incident doesn't happen in "Romancing Mister Bridgerton," but it's the perfect dose of jealousy-tinged frivolity that we need in "Bridgerton."

Best: Violet Bridgerton's romance

The first two seasons and "Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Series" have been mainly focused on young people falling in love. The same situation occurs in the "Bridgerton" books.

But in season three, we finally get a hint at an older love story with the burgeoning flirtation between Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell) and Lord Marcus Anderson (Daniel Francis).

It is really great to see one of the show's best older characters get a romance. Violet and Lord Marcus have both been widowed, so it would be a great opportunity for the series to develop a "second love" relationship.

"Bridgerton" hasn't gone full out on this relationship just yet — but there's a lot of potential going forward.

Best: Making Benedict queer

This may not have been Benedict's season, but the writers' room didn't leave him hanging. The show has periodically teased that Benedict may not be straight, and this season, it finally pulled through by sending him tumbling into the sheets with Lady Tilley Arnold and her friend Paul. Benedict's queer! All rejoice!

Benedict is now firmly in his fling era, which is a bit at odds with the fact that it seems like his romance is due next season. But whatever — it's fun enough that "Bridgerton" finally opened up this side of his character.

Worst: Benedict is still single and lost

The other side of the threesome coin: Benedict is still a bachelor.

By "Romancing Mister Bridgerton," Benedict had found his lover and was already married.

However, the "Bridgerton" TV series skipped his romance for now, so he is still single and lost. While Benedict's casual relationships were fun in the first season, it was a little disappointing to postpone Benedict's romance to give him another fling.

Benedict is one of the best Bridgertons. We want to see his love story!

Worst: Lady Danbury doesn't have a friendship with Penelope

One of the best past of "Romancing Mister Bridgerton" was Penelope's friendship with Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh), a wise, independent widow in the Ton.

She was part of Penelope's transition coming out of her shell, and their conversations always showed that Penelope was so much braver than she thought. Their interactions are among the few insights into Lady Danbury's personality in the book series since she is a more minor character there.

Though Lady Danbury has been more developed in the TV series, she doesn't interact with Penelope much. Pen is left to fend for herself without any friends this season other than Colin, though Lady Danbury supports her after she reveals her identity.

This allows Penelope to find the courage alone but doesn't help Lady Danbury's arc in season three. Lady Danbury randomly props up Francesca instead, but this pairing has no interesting interactions.

Worst: The Featherington sisters' baby race

"Bridgerton" leaned pretty hard into the entire "these poor young women don't know how sex works" thing in season one. While potentially realistic, by season three it's become a bit tired.

Penelope's sisters, Prudence and Philippa, are both married, and their mother is putting pressure on both of them to produce a baby. If either of them had a son, that child would become the new Lord Featherington. That's particularly important, given that Lady Featherington herself is under threat from the Crown to have to transfer their estate to another family.

Unfortunately, Prudence and Philippa are shockingly clueless when it comes to procreation. But by this point in time, the bumbling sex schtick is a bit tiresome. In "Romancing Mister Bridgerton," the Featherington heir race isn't a part of the plot — and while it's an understandable concern, it could do with a bit of nuance this season.

Luckily, by the end, all three Featherington sisters have managed to conceive. In a twist, it's Penelope who has given birth to the new Lord Featherington.

Worst: Penelope doesn't have a younger sister

In "Romancing Mister Bridgerton," Penelope isn't the youngest Featherington sister. In addition to Philippa and Prudence, she has a younger sister — Felicity.

Felicity is close friends with Hyacinth Bridgerton and serves as another conduit of information between the Bridgerton and Featherington families. In the book, Lady Featherington schemes to set Felicity up with Colin, a prospect that Penelope balks at. But Penelope and Felicity are close, and her friendship with Hyacinth is a regular sense of entertainment.

It's easy to see why Felicity isn't around in "Bridgerton" — frankly, there are plenty of characters to keep track of, and she doesn't play an irreplaceable role in Penelope's story. But Felicity's inclusion in the story adds a bit of levity through her friendship with Hyacinth. It also underscores the tensions within the Featherington family: Lady Featherington thinks much more highly of Felicity than she does Penelope.

Worst: Penelope and Colin are much younger than their book counterparts

The "Bridgerton" book series has bigger gaps of time between the events of each book. This means that by the time Penelope and Colin get to their love story in the fourth book, Penelope is 28, and Colin is 33.

Penelope's desperation to find a husband makes a lot more sense in the book: In that era, she would definitely be considered a spinster at 28.

Penelope is only in her third year in society in the TV series, so her desperation feels forced.

In addition, the timeline in the book version supports their rapid transition from friends to lovers. Colin would be mature enough to realize Penelope's beauty and have known her much longer. Therefore, he would have less hesitation in marrying her quickly.

Worst: The anti-climatic Lady Whistledown reveal

This is a tricky one, because the Whistledown reveal in "Romancing Mister Bridgerton" is also a bit wonky. In the book, it's Colin who presents his wife as Lady Whistledown at his sister Daphne's ball — and he does so without Penelope knowing that he's going to do it.

In the show, Penelope decides to reveal herself by confessing to Queen Charlotte and asking to justify herself to the public. It means that Penelope gets to divulge the information more on her own terms. But the reveal ends up feeling rather anti-climactic on screen. Philippa Featherington ends the awkward moment with her now-iconic, "Now, Varley, the bugs," but the entire sequence comes off abrupt.

That's not to say the reveal in the book is perfect — but there's something to be said for the romance of Colin making sure the entire Ton knows that his wife doesn't stand alone.

Worst: Cressida finds out about Lady Whistledown mostly by chance

In "Romancing Mister Bridgerton," Cressida figures out that Penelope is Lady Whistledown due to Penelope's own error. Penelope says that it would "break my heart" if Cressida turned out to be Whistledown after she publicly makes the claim. Later, Penelope repeats the same turn of phrase in a column.

"She is nothing more than a scheming imposter, and it would break my heart to see my years of hard work attributed to one such as her," Penelope writes.

Cressida catches the mistake and figures out Penelope's identity, highlighting both her own cleverness and Penelope's carelessness.

The show goes for a more direct approach. Cressida learns about Whistledown from a printer who tells Cressida that Whistledown is a redhead.

Sure, we end up in the same place — but it's a bit more fun when Penelope's hubris is almost the cause of her undoing.

"Bridgerton" season three is available to stream on Netflix.

• The US and its allies have various plans to bolster their long-range weapons capabilities in Europe.
• The moves replicate one of the most dangerous aspects of the Cold War, experts caution.
• The renewed long-range strike arms race with Russia runs the risk of escalating tensions across Europe.

The US and some of its NATO allies are pushing ahead with plans to develop and field new long-range strike options in Europe as the Ukraine war highlights the combat value of these weapons and a lack of restrictions in this space gives way to new movement.

The new moves reflect one of the most dangerous aspects of the Cold War, risking escalation and a deep-strike arms race with Russia, arms control experts say.

"We've been down this road before, and it took us many decades to get off it with hard-learned lessons about the dangers of" an intermediate-range "missile escalation in Europe," Hans Kristensen, Director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists told Business Insider.

He called the potential "tit-for-tat escalation posturing" a hallmark of the Cold War that could make a comeback now.

The US announced plans last week to place long-range capabilities in Germany, beginning in 2026 with episodic deployments prior to permanent stationing at a future unforeseen date.

"When fully developed," the allies wrote in a statement," these conventional long-range fires units will include SM-6, Tomahawk, and developmental hypersonic weapons, which have significantly longer range than current land-based fires in Europe."

That announcement was followed a day later by movement on plans from a handful of NATO allies to develop new long-range missiles. France, Poland, Germany, and Italy signed the initiative focusing on ground-launched cruise missiles with ranges in excess of 500 kilometers.

In both cases, the US and its European partners are responding to what they see as critical gaps in their long-range fires arsenals exposed by the war in Ukraine.

The war has "demonstrated something that many already knew: Long-range strike weapons are of great utility for fighting wars," Fabian Hoffmann, a doctoral research fellow at the Oslo Nuclear Project at the University of Oslo, wrote in a War on the Rocks commentary.

"The ability to engage targets at operational and strategic depth critically enables the conduct of offensive and defensive maneuvers and can shape the conditions for victory on the battlefield," he explained.

The new plans follow years of rising tension between the West and Russia on a range of issues, including long-range fires in the aftermath of the 2019 US withdrawal from the INF Treaty, which Washington accused Moscow of violating. Russia denied the allegations and later also pulled out of the agreement, opening the door for both to develop and field new ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles.

In response to the US and Germany's plans, as well as other NATO actions, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: "This is a very serious threat to the national security of our country."

"All of this," he said, "will require us to take thoughtful, coordinated, effective responses to deter NATO, to counteract NATO."

Experts pointed to Russia's violation of the INF Treaty as prompting a snowball effect. "I have long said that Russians will come to regret Putin's violation of the 1987 INF Treaty. He opened the door to significant deployments of accurate, long-range conventional missiles in Germany and elsewhere," Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and a nuclear proliferation expert, wrote on X.

Though Russia set this in motion, the deployment plans for Europe certainly seem escalatory, Kristensen explained, and will likely prompt Russia to deploy more of its own long-range weapons.

"There is an element of autopilot in this dynamic because each side uses acts by the other to justify more and more steps to build up its military capabilities," he said, adding that it seems the East and West are back on track for "tit-for-tat reactions."

Kristensen's views echoed concerns from other experts and officials on the latest developments.

Jon B. Wolfsthal, a nuclear arms control and nonproliferation expert and an Obama administration official for national security affairs, posted on X that "we have recreated one of the most dangerous components of the Cold War in Europe and things will only get worse from here."

Conventional long-range strike capabilities within the 500-kilometer to 5,500-kilometer range provide a powerful ability to strike deep into enemy territory with little to no notice. Though the intention in fielding new capabilities may be deterrence, it could instead ignite an arms race.

The silver lining in the US agreement with Germany, Kristensen said, is that it's non-nuclear.

But, he added, "conventional missiles — especially fast-flying ballistic missiles — have their own problems in that they shorten the time leaders have to react and therefore increases risk of overreaction and mistakes, factors that drive worst-case planning and undermines crisis stability. And superior conventional capabilities can drive the other side to rely more on nuclear weapons to compensate."

Once a seafood powerhouse in America, Red Lobster is bankrupt and shutting down dozens of restaurants. Is Wall Street to blame?

• While AI jobs are booming, many colleges don't have specific degrees in AI yet.
• Allison Krinsky, a data scientist at JPMorgan, emphasizes hands-on experience over formal education.
• Krinsky advises building your own AI projects, like a travel system or sentiment analysis model.

Careers in AI are hot right now. And while many schools are adapting their curriculum to incorporate classes on the topic, there's still a short list of schools that offer an AI major.

Allison Krinsky graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in informatics in 2022. She now works as a data scientist at JPMorgan and makes videos about tech careers in her free time. She told Business Insider that many majors are interchangeable and that several degrees, such as computer science, math, information sciences, and data science, can lead to jobs in the field.

But even though Krinsky studied a traditional curriculum to get a tech job, she said her work at a research lab advanced her career more than anything else. She said during her year at the lab, she did a "heap" of things including building models and managing databases.

Most AI-related jobs require a technical portion in the interview process and Krinsky said candidates need to be able to talk about the projects they've done.

"A lot of times my interviews would just be people asking me about what I had built and what I did and the problems that I faced," Krinsky said.

Krinsky said while Big Tech names may look flashy on your résumé, hands-on experience is crucial to actually landing the job. In the internships she had before the research lab, she said she was given small projects that didn't involve too many skills.

"The internship is great to say somebody hired me, and that's a little bit of credibility," Krinsky said. "But you're not out of the game if you haven't had a traditional internship."

As AI jobs grow more in demand, some companies are growing increasingly picky about what they're looking for. So if you have limited experience or if you want to enhance your résumé, it's not a bad idea to build your own project and skill up. Krinsky said there are a number of avenues you could go down depending on the kind of roles you're interested in.

One option Krinsky recommends is a travel recommendation system built with large language models. She said you could do this project with limited experience and in different ways, like by using prompt engineering, retrieval augmented generation, or fine-tuning.

Krinsky also suggested creating a sentiment classification system for reviews, using natural language processing. She said this involves extracting information from text data and sorting it into entities like positive or negative sentiments. Krinsky said this can be used for financial analysis or identifying investment opportunities or risks.

Krinsky said you can also try an image recognition or computer vision project. This involves finding a set of pictures with labels and teaching a computer to identify what's in the images. She said it's a good way to learn about neural networks.

Krinsky said these projects can take between one and three months, depending on how much free time you have. Most projects start with scraping the web for data and then require building, training, and fine-tuning the model. Krinsky also recommended creating a report detailing the project process and results so that you have something to show for your work.

The projects don't have to be revolutionary, she said, but you should experiment with multiple data sets and be able to explain what's happening. She said anyone can recreate code from a tutorial so it's important to add a unique aspect.

"You have to get past 'I just wrote code and it didn't break,'" Krinsky said.

• Democrats told Politico they believe Nancy Pelosi is playing "3-D chess" behind the scenes.
• Pelosi has been meeting with top Democrats to discuss their doubts about Biden's chances. 
• But as time runs out to either nominate or replace Biden, the stakes of the game are only growing.

Nancy Pelosi may not be openly calling for President Joe Biden to step out of the 2024 race, but she's not exactly giving him her unconditional support either.

Behind the scenes, the former speaker of the House has been meeting with top Democrats to discuss their doubts about Biden's reelection chances, Politico first reported. In front of the camera, she's told the hosts of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that Biden still needs to decide whether to continue running despite the president's repeated assertions that he will not step down.

What Pelosi has said — and strategically not said — about Biden's campaign crisis in both public and private conversations has led some Democratic insiders to believe she is playing a game of "3-D chess," five Democratic lawmakers and senior aides told Politico.

One lawmaker told the outlet that in a private phone call, Pelosi was "very receptive" to that lawmaker's concerns about Biden's ability to defeat Donald Trump. The member also told Politico that, based on their conversation with Pelosi, they believed she is in favor of Biden leaving the race.

Much like Vice President Kamala Harris, Pelosi has been in a tough spot politically ever since Biden's flubbed debate performance led some Democrats to question his viability as a candidate. If Pelosi openly calls for Biden to drop out, she looks disloyal and could further hurt Biden's campaign if he is not replaced on the ticket. But, if she truly believes Biden cannot win and still chooses to stay silent, then she not only looks complicit but also puts her entire party at risk of major losses in the White House and Congress this November.

That tension may be exactly what's fueling her complex game of chess. But as time is running out for Democrats to either replace or formally nominate Biden, the stakes of the game are only weighing heavier on the future of the Democratic party and the country.

A representative for Pelosi did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.