1 star ratingAverage User Rating:
1 star rating based on 23 reviews.

Sound Credit Union

Sound Credit Union Locations
1331 Broadway Plaza
Tacoma, WA 98401
(253) 383-2016
www.soundcu.com

NCUA


Sound Credit Union is headquartered in Tacoma and is the 7th largest credit union in the state of Washington. It is also the 182nd largest credit union in the nation. It was established in 1940 and as of December of 2012, it had grown to 231 employees and 96,226 members. Sound Credit Union has a 5-star health rating.

Sound Credit Union Routing Number: 325183220

Related Posts

Checking Account $100 Bonus Continues at Sound Credit Union - WA Only - 1/15/2013

Sound Credit Union has long been offering a $100 bonus for opening one of its checking accounts and establishing direct deposit of at least $250 per month. One small change in the qualifications since ...

$100 Checking Account Bonus at Sound Credit Union - Washington State Only - 1/27/2011

Sound Credit Union is offering a $100 bonus for opening one of its checking accounts and establishing direct deposit of at least $250 per month. This offer is listed in the credit union's checking pag ...

3.00% 24-Month CD at Sound Credit Union in Washington State - Local Only - 6/15/2009

Update 7/04/09: The CD rates have fallen. Please check the credit union's website for the latest rates.Sound Credit Union is offering a very competitive 2-year CD with a rate of 3.00% APY. Minimum deposit is $500. There's also a competitive 18-month CD...

4.25% 12-Month CD at Sound Credit Union in Washington State - 9/12/2008

Sound Credit Union is offering a special 4.25% APY 12-month certificate. The minimum deposit is $500. The Jumbo 12-month certificate with a minimum of $100,000 has a yield of 4.35% APY.My last post on this credit union was in April when it was offering a...

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See Rates for: Checking | Savings | Money Market | CD | IRA

Sound Credit Union Checking Account Rates

ApyMinMaxProduct
0.20%$50k-High-Yield Checking
0.20%$50k-High-Yield Business Checking
0.05%$1k-Plus Checking
0.05%$1k-Advantage Checking
0.05%$50-Visions Checking

Sound Credit Union Savings Account Rates

ApyMinMaxProduct
0.20%$25-IRA Savings
0.15%--Health Savings Account
0.05%$25-Prime Savings
0.05%--Johnny Appleseed
0.05%--Club Account
0.05%$100-Business Savings
0.05%--Secondary Business Savings

Sound Credit Union Money Market Rates

ApyMinMaxProduct
0.40%$500k-High-Yield Money Market
0.40%$500k-Business High-Yield Money Market
0.20%$50k-Money Market Plus
0.20%$50k-Business Money Market Plus
0.10%$5k-Money Market
0.10%$5k-Business Money Market

Sound Credit Union CD Rates

ApyMinMaxProduct
0.95%$100k-60 Month Jumbo CD
0.95%$100k-Business 60 Month Jumbo CD
0.90%$500-60 Month CD
0.90%$500-Business 60 Month CD
0.55%$500-48 Month CD
0.55%$500-Business 48 Month CD
0.45%$100k-36 Month Jumbo CD
0.45%$100k-Business 36 Month Jumbo CD
0.40%$500-36 Month CD
0.40%$500-Business 36 Month CD
0.30%$2,500-30 Month Flex CD
0.30%$100k-24 Month Jumbo CD
0.30%$100k-Business 24 Month Jumbo CD
0.30%$2,500-Business 30 Month Flex CD
0.25%$500-24 Month CD
0.25%$100k-18 Month Jumbo CD
0.25%$100k-Business 18 Month Jumbo CD
0.25%$500-Business 24 Month CD
0.20%$2,500-18 Month Flex CD
0.20%$100k-11 Month Jumbo CD
0.20%$100k-12 Month Jumbo CD
0.20%$100k-Business 11 Month Jumbo CD
0.20%$100k-Business 12 Month Jumbo CD
0.20%$2,500-Business 18 Month Flex CD
0.15%$500-11 Month CD
0.15%$500-12 Month CD
0.15%$100k-6 Month Jumbo CD
0.15%$100k-9 Month Jumbo CD
0.15%$100k-Business 6 Month Jumbo CD
0.15%$100k-Business 9 Month Jumbo CD
0.15%$500-Business 11 Month CD
0.15%$500-Business 12 Month CD
0.10%$500-3 Month CD
0.10%$500-6 Month CD
0.10%$500-9 Month CD
0.10%$500-Business 3 Month CD
0.10%$500-Business 6 Month CD
0.10%$500-Business 9 Month CD

Sound Credit Union IRA Rates

ApyMinMaxProduct
1.00%$1k-60 Month IRA
0.50%$1k-36 Month IRA
0.35%$1k-24 Month IRA
0.30%$1k-18 Month IRA
0.25%$1k-12 Month IRA

Rates updated: 6/18/2013

Data for Q4 2012


Institution Statistics


SOUND
NCUA #66331
BankRate ReportView
Year Chartered1940
Employees231
Primary Regulator

Assets and Liabilities

Assets$1.07 billion
Loans$597.33 million
Deposits$936.72 million
Equity Capital$94.96 million
Loan Loss Allowance$6.95 million
Unbacked Noncurrent Loans$5.33 million
Real Estate Owned$1.20 million

Historic Data - December 2011

Assets$1.04 billion
Equity Capital$76.21 million
Loan Loss Allowance$7.50 million
Unbacked Noncurrent Loans$9.43 million
Real Estate Owned$727,000

Profit Margin - Quarterly

Net Interest Margin5.51%
Return on Assets1.74%
Return on Equity19.67%
Interest Income$38.83 million
Non-Interest Income$20.70 million

Institution Health


Overall Score:
5 out of 5
5
Texas Ratio5
The Texas Ratio is an indicator of how much funds a bank has available compared to the total value of loans considered at risk. As of December 31, 2012 Sound Credit Union had $6.53 million in non-current loans and owned real-estate with $101.91 million in equity and loan loss allowances on hand to cover it. This gives Sound Credit Union a Texas Ratio of 6.41% which is excellent. Any bank with a Texas Ratio near or greater than 100% is considered at risk.
Texas Ratio Trend5
The Texas Ratio for Sound Credit Union decreased significantly from 12.14% as of December 31, 2011 to 6.41% as of December 31, 2012, resulting in a positive change of 47.21%.This indicates that the balance sheet and financial strength for Sound Credit Union has improved significantly in recent periods.
Deposit Growth4
In the past year, Sound Credit Union has increased its total deposits by $18.26 million, resulting in 1.99% growth for the year. A strong track record of growth is an indicator of consumer confidence and the bank's ability to strengthen its balance sheet. The growth Sound Credit Union has shown is above average.
Capitalization3
Both FDIC and NCUA consider capitalization levels of banks and credit unions to be of high importance. Higher capitalization allows for a greater buffer when cover loans that may fail in the future. Sound Credit Union has $1.07 billion in assets with $101.91 million in equity, resulting in a capitalization level of 9.52%, which is average.
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Just Another Callous Credit Union
1 stars - Daisy - Tuesday, September 20, 2011 - 2:59 PM

This credit union used to be a "home town" credit union.  It has recently changed its policy of understanding to one of strong-arm collection tactics.  Fair warning: if you get behind on your payments, they stop accepting payments, turn your account over to Merchant's Credit, who will tack on 25% to the debt.  Steer clear.

13

Sound Credit Union
1 stars - rpgramma - Friday, October 28, 2011 - 3:22 AM

NEVER had such a bad time with a financial institution in my life! God help you if your spouse passes away unexpectedly and your accounts are at sound. They freeze all accounts so you have NO access to ANY of your money until they are PAID IN FULL. They could care less you have just had a tragic loss in your life. Nope...they freeze your checking account so you cannot possibly pay your bills. Then they charge you late fees for not paying! They finally took their loan payment out of my account and charged me a late fee the same day! Way to go Sound!

12

Steer Clear
1 stars - asdfasdfasdf - Saturday, June 2, 2012 - 12:23 PM

My bank of 10 years was bought out by by Sound Credit Union 2 weeks ago.  Since then, they have charged me an obsurd fee, incorrectly setup my card 3 times,  and held a payroll check for 5 days.  I loved my old credit union, but my account with Sound Credit Union will be the shortest lived account of my life.  save yourself the hassle and potential loss of money and go with another Credit Union.  I know I will.

10

Their Website Is Unusable!
1 stars - evergreen4804 - Friday, June 29, 2012 - 11:46 PM

After having been with Watermark CU (formerly TELCO) for 15 years, we were shuffled over to this poor excuse for a credit union.

I have a number of complaints about them, but the primary one that is currently driving me crazy is the accounts and billpay function.

Watermark had an elegant, easy to use interface. When you logged in, you could immediately see your accounts, what your balances were, who you had paid recently, and how much.

Sound's website is just a mess. First of all, everything is grayed out--there is no color, and everything is triple-spaced so that you have to scroll or page through to find an account. Watermark showed you everything, right up front. I don't know who the idiots were who designed the site, but they sure aren't people who know anything about creating user-friendly websites. Within our family, there are four people who are going to BECU tomorrow to open accounts and leave this horrendous excuse for a credit union.

I've heard that they're layering on ungodly fees--this from some other disgruntled customers.

If we wanted a regular bank's high level of disservice, we could always get our butts kicked by BOA. Credit unions are supposed to be better than this!

9

Callous - Insensitive - Horrible - Poor Customer Service. I MISS Watermark!!!
1 stars - SouthernHustle - Friday, June 22, 2012 - 1:18 PM

I used to love Watermark CU, was a member there for years; and bragged about them to everyone.

I have since been moved to SOUND and have hated it from the moment they started doing away with services and being more "bank oriented" and less "customer oriented".

 

I'm pulling my money out; and moving to another CU, or Chase bank...because if you're going to act like a Bank, you should have ATMS on every corner.

9

Underwhelming Service
1 stars - spanaway211 - Tuesday, June 12, 2012 - 5:31 PM

My old credit union (Watermark) just merged with Sound Credit Union; if I had known what was going to happen to the combined operation, I would have voted no! The local tellers and officers are the same as ever and are just as individually kind and helpful as they have ever been, but the newly centralized main office operation is confused, incompetent, and callous (as I believe someone else has pointed out).

I'm not delinquent on anything so I am not griping about that, and there are some people I have talked to at the main office who are decent people, but others seem to just not care about customers or customer service and it's difficult to get consistent and understandable answers out of them.

As long as I can just deal with my local branch I'll still use the credit union, for now, but I'm looking for something better and would encourage anyone needing loans or any extra services to look elsewhere.

9

They Should Be Called Sound Bank Not Sound Credit Union!
1 stars - sula23p - Thursday, June 7, 2012 - 11:37 AM

Their cold customer service reminds me of some banks that I have been in. I cannot stand being a member of Sound Credit Union (member by default due to a merger my prior Credit Union went through back in 2009). I am in the process of refinancing a loan so I can transfer my account to a better Credit Union. This Credit Union doesn't even deserve a 1 star rating, but the website won't allow me to post my frustrations without it.

 

9

I WANT Watermark BACK!
1 stars - margauxj - Saturday, July 7, 2012 - 4:28 PM

We were also members of Watermark...which we LOVED. Their website was NEVER down. If we didn't have funds in our account to use our debit card, they wouldn't let a charge go through regardless if it was a debit or "charge" and when they did pull from our savings they pulled enough to cover a few lattes not one at time which Sound does so each Latte not only cost $4...it cost an additional $5 each time they moved $4 out of our savings account. SERIOUSLY we HATE Sound Credit Union. 

With Watermark's online banking I could see real-time transactions. The woman with whom I spoke to about SC online banking told me I was wrong and that I did not see real-time transactions. Umm yeah I did...I was able to go onto my *smartphone* pull up my account and see a charge as soon as it happened....as I did when confirming a payment at the sprint store. Oh and it wasn't a debit -it was rang in as a credit. I don't know what bothered me more the fact that the customer service person told me what I knew to be true...wasn't, or that Sound Credit Union seems to be 10 years behind in regards to technology. Oh and the customer service person had this awful holier-than-thou attitude when I was explaining that I need to be able to see how much is in my account since my husband and I both use our debit cards for everything...saying well don't you keep a register of your charges? Register...really does anyone do that?And unless I was attached to my husband every moment of the day...how would I know what he was spending.  It should be simple of you have $500 in you account then you should only be able to buy $500 worth of stuff...period. God I really hate them.

Their customer service does not even come close to Watermark. 

Oh and on top of it I didn't get my new debit card until 2 weeks after my Watermark one was shut-off due to the merger. Arrrggh. They didn't even give me an option of overnighting it.

8

Courtesy Fees
1 stars - sann - Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 3:56 PM

I have had such a problem with sound. I was charged over draft or "courtesy draft fees" as they call them even though i had more than enough money in my account. There reasoning was that the charges were held because i used my debit card as a credit card. As i went back and calculated all the charges i had done on the account, i had more than enough money to cover them. When i called and explanded this, the "costemer service" agent just kept repeating her self and could not explain to me why they were there. She rather sit there and argue with me than actually do the math. After argueing for about a half hour, i said "**** you", took the loss, withdrew the rest of my money and went else where.

8

This Bank Is A Scam
1 stars - sdf123 - Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - 4:54 PM

I have been a customer with Watermark since 2007. Recently with the merger, everything has just gone to hell. First of all, they kept sending brochures and pamphlets in the mail that were no help at all. None of the information made any sense nor was it user friendly. I found out only when my account was overdrawn that they had taken out the 25 dollars that was placed in my savings account back when I first opened the account. That money was supposed to stay untouched in the account in order to keep it open. They did not notify me that they were taking the money off hold or allowing it to be removed so I spent it unknowingly and I was dumbfounded to find that my both accounts were overdrawn. When I tried to call and see what was going on, the representatives did not mention anything of use. Nor did they explain that they would be taking out five dollars every quarter or whatever it is. They took the money out even with it making my account overdrawn and when I tried to transfer the money that my mobile banking app said I had in order to fix the overdraw, they saiid I didnot have enough money. So my account lay in overdraft for a while. I had to talk to five different people on the call line and at a branch in order to figure out what the overdraft/courtesy fee really was about. Turns out that either way you are going to be charged the 29 dollar fee and you are charged per transaction that doesnt go through. I kept asking if I could get the hold back and I got mixed messages from every person I talked to. Some said yes, some said no. Fast forward to now, when I got paid from my new job and took the check to a shared atm branch at 7 eleven, which I always did with Watermark. The check was for 275. They did not tell me that they would hold the check for 6 DAYS! After I deposited the money and checked the balance, it showed I had a balance of 275. I went to the store and then I so happened to check online to see that my I had a zero balance in both accounts. It did not show that I had any holds--it just said 0.00 and plus I had two overdraft fees. I called in to the 253 number (another crazy change) and talked to someone who said that because they "Didnt know where the money was from" and because "a teller hadnt seen the actual check", they couldnt just approve the check or the transactions. She kept saying that this is how it is at all banks and that even though it was a shared atm, they still didnt know if it was a fake check. I had got the check from my job which is a multimillion dollar retail company down the street from the bank. I was outraged and told her I would close my account. She promised to talk to someone and call back which took about five hours to hear back from her. After that, she said that they were going to put a note on my account so I couldnt complain anymore about the fees. Immediately I went to try to close my account but I have to wait until next week when the second hold on my 275 dollar check comes clear. Run while you still can!!!!!

7

Wish I Could Give ZERO Stars
1 stars - bluebell - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - 3:36 PM

I also would have voted no on the merger with Sound if I had known that this company treats their members with such disdain. And the website is terrible, are you kidding me? You are based in Puget Sound, could you not find programmers here? I will be moving my accounts to another credit union since I don't want to be a member of something so fourth string.

 

Watermark board members, you should be ashamed. I hope that the great Watermark employees find jobs at an institution that actually cares about their members.

7

Terrible In Every Way Possible
1 stars - dweber - Friday, July 6, 2012 - 9:41 PM

I am another unfortunate customer who was absorbed by the takeover of Watermark credit Union. SoundCU is terrible. Absolute opposite of Watermark. Feels like a big corporate bank. CS agents are much less educated, more scripted, and very patronizing, might as well be BofA. Hold times are much longer, IVR makes it much harder to get a person, and the icing on the cake with these fools, online banking has been down for over a week now and as I write this review it is still down. 

The Mobile access still works so here is a trick to use it on your PC. Download and install the google chrome web browser if you don't have it. Then install this UA switcher which will trick sound CU into thinking you are using an iphone or android phone. Here is the link for the UA switcher add-on for chrome: https://chrome.google.co…

Now at least I can check my balance from my PC like I could do way back in 1995 at BofA with this work around for these pathetic losers.

Also, transactions now take days to post so your available balance is always out of sync with your transaction balance, simple stuff like debits at Albertsons takes days with these losers....soooo annoying, I am shopping for a new CU, this is just beyond any level of incompetence I have ever seen in a bank. Even the big evil banks that **** you on fees have their s*** together more than this.

I almost forget, this is a big issue, their online billpay - it takes 10 days!!! My rent was actually late after being 3 to 4 days early to my landlord for 14 months straight since I starting the billpay account after renting the house. Now I have to mail a paper check to pay rent, pathetic.

6

The Worst Customer Service Ever Received!
1 stars - seatown - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - 10:11 AM

I dont normally write reviews. I left for vacation out of state, had a friend make a deposit for me. The bank wanted to place a ten day hold on my check. I tried to call a branch about a hold on a deposit. I just wanted help or understanding and they refused to talk to me, refused me talking to a manager and they hung up on me. I was very polite with them and I could not understand why the rep at the branch was so rude. As soon as I get back from vacation I cant wait to transfer my account to a new bank. Watermark would of never refused help to anyone. If I could of, I would of given them zero stars!

5

What Are All These Fees?
1 stars - pjbeav - Sunday, January 6, 2013 - 10:47 PM

They put a hold on my direct deposit payroll funds?  I never heard of such a thing.  Nor have they done this to me before.  Since there was a hold on my funds, they started transferring money from my savings at $5.00 each.  Previously, I also had a problem with a $29 overdraft fee when there were sufficient funds in my account.  This created a cascade of fees before I noticed the problem.  I was charged nearly $150 in overdraft fees.  If they hadn't removed the initial $29 when there were available funds, none of the rest of the charges would have ensued. 

I will be moving all of my money out of there.  I don't have time to keep a constant watch on my shrinking account and all of their fees.  Go anywhere else and keep your money.

4

Worst Customer Service
1 stars - frankmk - Friday, October 19, 2012 - 8:57 PM

She hang up on me cause of asking a question on my credit report. very un professional and don't care attitude.

disappointed customer.

4

The Unsound Bank Of Washington
1 stars - ogolab - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - 3:43 PM

I don't complain much but this bank has me seething with anger.

I believe the bank is manipulative in posting transactions to it's depositors accounts in order to create a situation where they will collect numerous non sufficient funds fee.

The whole of this week I have been fighting them after noticing an overdraft of almost $180, all in their fees! Upon going through my account, I noticed that I have been penalized while in the same line there's a balance to my credit. On calling them, they're telling me I have courtesy pay (which I believe I have never signed up for), which again would have enabled my payments to go through then if it was so.

My car insurance did not go through, the bank denies that my insurance company tried to pull money from my account. I spoke to the insurance guys and they proved to me that they did. It took almost 40 minutes for the customer service representative to finally locate that figure. Now the story is that I didn't have money in the account on that day yet I can prove there was money to cover my insurance then. I checked, I even verified before I went to bed!!

I never thought I will have a fight like this with a credit union. Watermark was a great bank with happy and understanding people, bring it back!!!

The greatest insult is when they offer to reverse one of the charges ($29), like it's going to help.

I am moving to another bank before you greedy unSound WaMu-like bank even notify whoever you do to block me from doing it. None of my money is coming into this bank ever, however small it might be.

3

Happy Long Time Members!
5 stars - CUAdvocate - Tuesday, August 14, 2012 - 2:04 PM

We have been members of Sound Credit Union since 1991. From day one, we've been happy with our experience. They have some of the best loan rates around and our checking account is free. The service has always been great. We really like the updated website and the information we're looking for is easy to find. Their online banking and bill pay is user friendly making our account accessible 24/7. We look forward to many more happy years.....and thank you for making our banking experience a good one!

2

Worst Credit Union I Have Ever Experienced.
1 stars - rli - Monday, May 20, 2013 - 12:54 AM

This is the worst credit union I have ever experienced.  I would recommend any other credit union than this one.  The customer service is poor.  The staff do not understand banking.  The staff will contradict other staff members, such as procedures and processes.  The bank does not understand legal terms such as power of attorney and what to do with one.  If you want a poor credit union, that would be Sound Credit Union.

1

Awful Mess
1 stars - Anonymous - Friday, August 3, 2012 - 8:10 AM

After almost 20 years with Watermark CU, formerly Seattle Telco. I have recently pulled all of my money out of this inferior bank. Their website is ineffective and very frustrating to use. Also, after the transition, and unbeknownst to me, all of my recurring transactions didn't transfer over. So, for a couple of paychecks, funds had not been moving into the correct accounts. All history is gone as well! I've been through transitions before, but have to say this has been the worst banking experience in my life. As soon as I can confirm my direct deposit has been successfully transitioned to my new bank, I will close my account and discontinue any relationship I had with this credit union. I am not someone who enjoys "change" so this saddens me deeply. As others have stated, one star is not deserving but in order to provide feedback, it is required.

1

Not Consumer Oriented
1 stars - Anonymous - Tuesday, July 10, 2012 - 1:34 PM

I was with Watermark CU from when it was Seattle Telco. Always helpful and there for you. I got a home equity line of credit with Watermark. By the time I was finished with the first batch of renovations, I needed a bit more than the original home equity line and Sound had taken over. When I requested an extension, it was no-way and we wouldn't have given you that much to begin with. Checking around, my visa was also a lot higher interest rate than other CU's. I moved accounts. My home equity line was doubled so I could continue with renovations (and it is still a lot lower than the value of my house). And the visa interest is 4 points lower.

1

Watermark Was Great, Sound Is Awful
1 stars - Anonymous - Monday, June 18, 2012 - 4:15 PM

I'm unfortunately a member of Sound Credit Union by virtue of the Watermark Credit Union merger a few months ago. The new standard for customer service is awful, the new fee structure is abhorrent and I can't wait until I have a few hours in a business day to switch to BECU. If there was a 0 star rating, this is what they would get from me.

1

Infuriating
1 stars - Anonymous - Thursday, May 31, 2012 - 9:52 PM

I was perfectly happy with Watermark CU. Ever since the merge with Sound, I've been having nothing but problems. Proud to say I am now a member of BECU and won't have to worry about this pathetic nonsense any longer.

1

Bad Customer Service And Staff Does Not Know What They Are Doing
1 stars - Anonymous - Tuesday, March 20, 2012 - 6:41 PM

I had a very bad experience with this institution. I paid for my car payment and after month received a past due notice for my car.

Called customer service and received a very bad service. Just heads up, you cannot pay your mortgage with master card. Do not associate yourself with this institution.

1
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