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Saturday, June 19, 2010 - 10:14 AM
(1 stars)
Christian Financial Credit Union -- Avoid Them
Christian Financial Credit Union (1 stars)I had a CD at Christian Financial CU -- and a very bad experience. I would recommend to just stay away from this place.
They charge a fee to join and also require that you deposit at least $5 into your share savings account, as many CUs do.
But if you decide to close your membership at any time, they will not let you have back that $5 "deposit," as most credit unions do. So, it is not really a deposit but a second fee.
But more importantly, when I wanted to close out my CD, I found insurmountable problems -- no matter how much or how vociferously I fought. They require what they call at least "10 days" notice of what to do with your CD other than let it roll over. I gave 12 days notice -- only to find out that the notice requirement was not actually "days" but "business days." The Terms of Service does NOT says "business day," merely says "days." And because I did it at the start of a 3-day holiday weekend, it meant I was only 9 "business" days in advance!
At any rate, they refused to do anything to honor my advance instructions -- despite several contacts over that time about the issue and even some heated exchanges. They said because I missed the deadline, I would not be able to even give any instructions until AFTER the CD matures. That's right, they would not even start the 10-day count at the 9 "business" days in advance that I gave the instructions, nor would they even accept those instructions; they would only start that count after I gave new instructions AFTER the CD matured. And then, they would take up to 10 days to close it and send me my money! And mind you, if you close a CD with them during the grace period, you get no interest for the time of that grace period -- meaning if they took 10 days (10 BUSINESS days), they might hold my money interest-free for two weeks!
And this they did, held it interest-free for two weeks -- and it was a substantial sum so a substantial loss of interest. Plus the loss of the $5 to the share savings.
I chose not to bother to close my membership since I could not get my $5 back anyway. I just left it on their books to chase down.
I note, even that adds another issue. They, as most places, have a policy about dormant accounts. It is dormant after a year, at which time they may start to take a fee out. Well, MOST places will alert you before they take out such a fee, giving you a chance to make a transaction to avoid the dormancy and keep your account. But not Christian Financial. They took the money out first, emptying my acount altogether, and only after the fact sent me a notice of them taking out the dormancy fee (I got it about a week and a half ago) -- which also brazenly urged me to then make a deposit to my share savings to bring it up to the minimum in order to keep my account open. That is, they were going to spend the postage and send the notice -- but they would be ****ed if they would do so before taking the money, because they clearly really wanted to grab the money.
This place may be called "Christian," but they violate all values of that name. Stay away from them.
They charge a fee to join and also require that you deposit at least $5 into your share savings account, as many CUs do.
But if you decide to close your membership at any time, they will not let you have back that $5 "deposit," as most credit unions do. So, it is not really a deposit but a second fee.
But more importantly, when I wanted to close out my CD, I found insurmountable problems -- no matter how much or how vociferously I fought. They require what they call at least "10 days" notice of what to do with your CD other than let it roll over. I gave 12 days notice -- only to find out that the notice requirement was not actually "days" but "business days." The Terms of Service does NOT says "business day," merely says "days." And because I did it at the start of a 3-day holiday weekend, it meant I was only 9 "business" days in advance!
At any rate, they refused to do anything to honor my advance instructions -- despite several contacts over that time about the issue and even some heated exchanges. They said because I missed the deadline, I would not be able to even give any instructions until AFTER the CD matures. That's right, they would not even start the 10-day count at the 9 "business" days in advance that I gave the instructions, nor would they even accept those instructions; they would only start that count after I gave new instructions AFTER the CD matured. And then, they would take up to 10 days to close it and send me my money! And mind you, if you close a CD with them during the grace period, you get no interest for the time of that grace period -- meaning if they took 10 days (10 BUSINESS days), they might hold my money interest-free for two weeks!
And this they did, held it interest-free for two weeks -- and it was a substantial sum so a substantial loss of interest. Plus the loss of the $5 to the share savings.
I chose not to bother to close my membership since I could not get my $5 back anyway. I just left it on their books to chase down.
I note, even that adds another issue. They, as most places, have a policy about dormant accounts. It is dormant after a year, at which time they may start to take a fee out. Well, MOST places will alert you before they take out such a fee, giving you a chance to make a transaction to avoid the dormancy and keep your account. But not Christian Financial. They took the money out first, emptying my acount altogether, and only after the fact sent me a notice of them taking out the dormancy fee (I got it about a week and a half ago) -- which also brazenly urged me to then make a deposit to my share savings to bring it up to the minimum in order to keep my account open. That is, they were going to spend the postage and send the notice -- but they would be ****ed if they would do so before taking the money, because they clearly really wanted to grab the money.
This place may be called "Christian," but they violate all values of that name. Stay away from them.
9
2. Saturday, June 19, 2010 - 1:28 PM
The Account Fee schedule posted on the Christian Financial CU website should be enough to scare one away.
Check cashing fee: $5
Account opening fee: $10
Account closing fee: $10
ACH fee (transfers into CFCU using EZ-In) $3 each
ACH fee (transfers out of CFCU using EZ-Out) $3 each
Since many, if not most, customers use ACH transfers for deposits and withdrawals, the $3 fees could become significant. All the more reason to make transfers to banks and credit unions from a "home base source" such as Alliant CU which allows ACH transfers (free) into and out of other banks, credit unions from a checking account (free) paying 1.50% interest. Alliant is an outstanding credit union open to ALL, with truly great customer service. Membership at Alliant can me met by joining a PTA ($5) for those not meeting another membership qualification.
Check cashing fee: $5
Account opening fee: $10
Account closing fee: $10
ACH fee (transfers into CFCU using EZ-In) $3 each
ACH fee (transfers out of CFCU using EZ-Out) $3 each
Since many, if not most, customers use ACH transfers for deposits and withdrawals, the $3 fees could become significant. All the more reason to make transfers to banks and credit unions from a "home base source" such as Alliant CU which allows ACH transfers (free) into and out of other banks, credit unions from a checking account (free) paying 1.50% interest. Alliant is an outstanding credit union open to ALL, with truly great customer service. Membership at Alliant can me met by joining a PTA ($5) for those not meeting another membership qualification.
3
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