Tropical Financial Credit Union
Tropical Financial Credit Union is headquartered in Miramar and is the 21st largest credit union in the state of Florida. It is also the 398th largest credit union in the nation. It was established in 1935 and as of September of 2013, it had grown to 166 employees and 55,848 members. Tropical Financial Credit Union has a B health rating.
Field of Membership Restrictions
Must live or work in Broward County, Miami-Dade or Palm Beach County. - See Details
Related Posts
FORCED FLOOD INSURANCE
I was going over my statements on line of my various accounts and came across a withdrawl of 1,418.09 from Allied Flood Premium,I immediately contacted my local Tropical branch and asked what this was she did some checking with Lillian Musso at the main office insurance Dept. What I was told was that I needed flood insurance because I have a HELOC with Tropical,now I have had this out since 2003 and renewed it in 2007 and only once did I get flood insurance because they threatened to take it out on me si took it out on my own had a survey done and sent them the survey showing I was almost 2 feet above the flood plain,never heard from them again until they decided to get me a policy for 1,418 dollars. I immediately went to my State Farm agent and took out the same policy for 224.00 and am now applying for a LOMA letter from Fema. they would not refund my money then after many phone calls they gave me a partial refund but wont refund 442.00 there are 2 issues here one with the Flood insurance that I am resolving with FEMA but the other is they keep telling me there ins. company sent 2 letters to me ,that is a total lie I never recvd otherwise I would have gotten my own insurance and fought it,I cant get anybody from Tropical to tell me why I wasnt notified by phone or by e-mail I accepted Tropicals request to go paperless and this is what they pulled. The person who is refusing a refund is Pete Valerioti he is the Vp. consumer lending, so much for being a customer for 32 years.,but not much longer!.If anyone reading this and thinks I have a legal lawsuit or who to complain to in the Govt. please contact me or give me some advise.richz747@bellsouth.net
AVOID This Credit Union!!
The ONLY way we ended up here is this is who approved our vehicle loan which we purchased approx. 15 months ago. There was some confusion on my part as to the actual loan payment amount and I could not locate my loan documents that were put into storage. I was paying $414 a month and on occasion I would pay $425 to $450 in order to pay it off sooner. Approx 10 months into payments, I was notified we had no insurance and needed to provide them with proof of coverage, which we did. 5 different times!!! We were finally told they received it, then the next month they charged our account over $4,000 for auto insurance!!! We called them yet again and yet again provided them with proof of coverage! They refunded the insurance as we had never lapsed, just had changed carriers. The next month, in Oct. 2011, they reported us as 30 days late!! We called yet again and were told that it was because of the added insurance and that we didn't send in the difference, but that we needed to dispute it and they would remove it. We did dispute it with 2 credit bureaus and they did not remove it and reported it as accurate. After many phone calls to Angel Gonzalez, who is worthless by the way. He does not do what he says he will. He does not follow up and take care of what he says he will. We also spoke with a Mr. Humes in collections who seemed very confused as to what our payment was as well. He kept referring us back to Mr. Gonzalez. Approx 6 weeks ago Mr. Gonzalez told my husband he would get a copy of the sales contract to see the correct payment amount because we still thought the added insurance was calculated in there. We never heard back from him. Then we started receiving letters saying we were past due and to submit $0.00. ???? What??? I called to find out what that was about and they didn't know. Just talked to Mr. Gonzalez again, 2 weeks ago. He said he had the sales contract and the payment in fact was $426 a month, not $414 as I thought. He said he would mail it out to me. Here it is October 19th and never got a copy of it from Mr. Gonzalez at Tropical Financial Credit Union. I just received yet another notification that TFCU has now for a second time charged us with being 30 days late!! We haven't had even one late payment in 10 years and this credit union is single handedly ruining our credit. We need to purchase another vehicle and have been fighting this for months, but only get erroneous information and no return calls!! Mr. Gonzalez told me last week that he would speak with his boss who was on vacation about removing the 30 day lates due to all the confusion and lack of follow up on their end. Guess what. Its been a week and no one got back with us or removed the now 2 30 day late reportings!!
Better Businness Bureau :Tropical Financial Credit Union Not A Accredited Businness ***** RATED F ******
Prospective customers and current customers of Tropical Financial Credit Union,having more problems with Tropical to be posted shortly,went to file a complaint with the Better Businness Bureau,guess what they already are rated F ,they are not a accredited businness,think about joining another Credit Union.
High rates
UPDATE: A representative from TCFU contacted me to say that they were in error for charging my account. He apologized and even called me. I don't know what this means for others who might get hit by this chage, but I thought it only fair to note that they did taker this step with me even though I had already terminated my account.
#########
I had a Tropical Financial Credit Union account for many years and always held a balance well over $1,000. Recently I had to close the account because I moved out of state. Prior to closing, I moved the bulk of my funds out into my new bank before closing. But because I was under their $1,000 limit before I could get the account closed, they charged me a $6 "maintanence" fee. This was after a representative assured me I would not be charged fees of any kind on closing.
This was not neccessarily a big deal for me, although after being a good customer for a number of years, you'd think they might look the other way. But for anyone who has $1,000 or less to their name, it seems excessive to charge someone for not having enough money in their bank. One of the reasons people do business with credit unions instead of banks is to avoid the assortment of fees those banks use against their customers. How disappointing that TCFU chooses to do the same.
One Day Car Loan Approval Took Over A Week !!
Submitted an on-line application over the weekend and got a confirmation e-mail indicating I would be contacted in one business day. Five days later my pre-arranged deal opportunities for cars I was considering had slipped away. Contacted TFCU for the status of my application and was told it had not begun the approval process and I would be contacted later that same day. Guess what?? No contact. No issues with my application, they simply dropped the ball - TWICE, and it cost ME.
Great Customer Service
My bank representative called just to make sure everything was "ok".
Rude Customer Service
TFCU has very rude customer service. Everything was going well, I used to go deposit money every other week until one afternoon I was about to make a regular deposit a manager at the branch started asking me for id to deposit money into my account. I told him that I wasn't interested on knowing how much I had, I just want to deposit money into the account I provided him. I refused to provided him with my id because I noticed he was being rude and I've never seen a bank asking you for id to deposit money unless you're going to withdraw money. We got into an argument and he told me that he wasn't going to let me deposit money if I din't provide him with an id. The results, I close my personal and business account. I'll never go back to TFCU. I'm better off with Citibank, I've been banking with them for about 5 years and no problem so far. Excellent customer service.
Mortgage Frustration
I went with Tropical for my mortgage company since the rate was lower than most and they had been around for so many years. My husband and I are strong borrowers: Credit scores in the 770's, reliable varifiable income, extremely low income to debt ratio, no revolving debt, it should have been an easy process.
The appraisal has been a nightmare. First, Tropical used an appraisal company more than 100 miles away. I paid the $385 dollars and waited. One week later, they informed me that since it was so far away, I need to pay an additional $115 dollars. I next day aired the extra money. Another week went by until they actually came to the property. The kicker here is that they didn't send anyone 100 miles to the property, they sent a local person as a sub. The house appraised "HIGHER" than we are paying (the seller bought another place and 10 months later, really needed to sell). Now Tropcal wants questions answered about the appraisal, and it has been another week now that I have been waiting for the appraisal company to respond. I close in less than a week, and it just might not happen.
The appraisal process is unbelievable. I have to pay for it, but am not allowed to speak to the company or be given a time frame it must be completed by. The appraisal report came back 5 days ago, but because Tropical has questions about it, I am not allowed to know what they are or what is in the report. All I can do is wait and pray I don't lose the $8,000.
Wish I had gone with another lender and more importantly another appraisal company had been selected on my behalf.
Data for Q3 2013
Institution Health
Texas Ratio
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 September 30, 2013 Tropical Financial Credit Union had $7.01 million in non-current loans and owned real-estate with $46.06 million in equity and loan loss allowances on hand to cover it. This gives Tropical Financial Credit Union a Texas Ratio of 15.21% which is above average. Any bank with a Texas Ratio near or greater than 100% is considered at risk.
Texas Ratio Trend
The Texas Ratio for Tropical Financial Credit Union decreased slightly from 19.44% as of September 30, 2012 to 15.21% as of September 30, 2013, resulting in a positive change of 21.76%.This indicates that the balance sheet and financial strength for Tropical Financial Credit Union has improved slightly in recent periods.
Deposit Growth
In the past year, Tropical Financial Credit Union has increased its total deposits by $7.19 million, resulting in 1.48% 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 Tropical Financial Credit Union has shown is above average.
Capitalization
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. Tropical Financial Credit Union has $550.74 million in assets with $46.06 million in equity, resulting in a capitalization level of 8.36%, which is average.
Institution Statistics
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| NCUA # | 68476 |
| Year Chartered | 1935 |
| Employees | 166 |
| Primary Regulator |
| Assets and Liabilities | |
|---|---|
| Assets | $550.74 million |
| Loans | $380.14 million |
| Deposits | $492.29 million |
| Equity Capital | $41.36 million |
| Loan Loss Allowance | $4.70 million |
| Unbacked Noncurrent Loans | $6.37 million |
| Real Estate Owned | $635,000 |
| Historic Data - September 2012 | |
|---|---|
| Assets | $555.20 million |
| Equity Capital | $42.18 million |
| Loan Loss Allowance | $6.45 million |
| Unbacked Noncurrent Loans | $6.37 million |
| Real Estate Owned | $502,000 |
| Profit Margin - Quarterly | |
|---|---|
| Net Interest Margin | 3.36% |
| Return on Assets | 0.11% |
| Return on Equity | 1.48% |
| Interest Income | $13.94 million |
Always verify rates and promotions with the bank or credit union. We are not Tropical Financial Credit Union, we are a rate comparison website and can not provide official rates or promotions.
Tropical Financial Credit Union Savings Account Rates
| Details | APY | MIN | MAX | PRODUCT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.20% | $25 | - | Roth IRA Savings Account | |
| 0.20% | $25 | - | Roth Conduit IRA Savings Account | |
| 0.20% | $25 | - | Traditional IRA Savings Account | |
| 0.10% | - | - | Savings Account | |
| 0.10% | - | - | Holiday Club Account | |
| 0.10% | - | - | Business Savings Account |
Tropical Financial Credit Union Money Market Rates
| Details | APY | MIN | MAX | PRODUCT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.15% | $50k | - | SEA Money Market Account | |
| 0.15% | $50k | - | Business SEA Money Market Account |
Tropical Financial Credit Union CD Rates
| Details | APY | MIN | MAX | PRODUCT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.25% | $500 | - | 60 Month CD | |
| 1.25% | $100k | - | 60 Month Jumbo CD | |
| 1.00% | $500 | - | 48 Month CD | |
| 0.90% | $500 | - | 48 Month Bump Up CD | |
| 0.70% | $500 | - | 36 Month CD | |
| 0.60% | $500 | - | 30 Month CD | |
| 0.60% | $100k | - | 30 Month Jumbo CD | |
| 0.50% | $500 | - | 24 Month CD | |
| 0.50% | $100k | - | 24 Month Jumbo CD | |
| 0.35% | $500 | - | 12 Month CD | |
| 0.35% | $500 | - | 18 Month CD | |
| 0.35% | $100k | - | 12 Month Jumbo CD | |
| 0.35% | $100k | - | 18 Month Jumbo CD | |
| 0.20% | $500 | - | 6 Month CD | |
| 0.20% | $100k | - | 6 Month Jumbo CD |
Tropical Financial Credit Union IRA Rates
| Details | APY | MIN | MAX | PRODUCT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.25% | $500 | - | 60 Month Roth IRA | |
| 1.25% | $500 | - | 60 Month Traditional IRA | |
| 1.00% | $500 | - | 48 Month Roth IRA | |
| 1.00% | $500 | - | 48 Month Traditional IRA | |
| 0.70% | $500 | - | 36 Month Roth IRA | |
| 0.70% | $500 | - | 36 Month Traditional IRA | |
| 0.60% | $500 | - | 30 Month Roth IRA | |
| 0.60% | $500 | - | 30 Month Traditional IRA | |
| 0.50% | $500 | - | 24 Month Roth IRA | |
| 0.50% | $500 | - | 24 Month Traditional IRA | |
| 0.50% | $25 | - | 24 Month Roth Variable IRA | |
| 0.50% | $25 | - | 24 Month Traditional Variable IRA | |
| 0.35% | $500 | - | 12 Month Roth IRA | |
| 0.35% | $500 | - | 18 Month Roth IRA | |
| 0.35% | $500 | - | 12 Month Traditional IRA | |
| 0.35% | $500 | - | 18 Month Traditional IRA | |
| 0.35% | $500 | - | 12 Month Roth Conduit IRA | |
| 0.20% | $500 | - | 6 Month Roth IRA | |
| 0.20% | $500 | - | 6 Month Traditional IRA | |
| 0.20% | $500 | - | 6 Month Roth Conduit IRA |
| Tropical Financial Credit Union Locations | ||
|---|---|---|
| Branch Office | 3050 Corporate Way | Miramar, FL 33025 |
| Branch Office | 15740 Pines Blvd | Pembroke Pines, FL 33027 |
| Branch Office | 6786 Okeechobee Blvd | West Palm Beach, FL 33411 |
| Branch Office | 850 N Nob Hill Rd | Plantation, FL 33324 |
| Branch Office | 3050 Corporate Way | Miramar, FL 33025 |
| Branch Office | 20395 NW 2nd Ave | Miami, FL 33169 |
| Branch Office | 8000 NW 7th St | Miami, FL 33126 |
| Branch Office | 1201 N University Dr | Coral Springs, FL 33071 |
| Branch Office | 5900 N Federal Hwy | Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308 |