Arapahoe Credit Union

Arapahoe Credit Union- Bogus Fees

I recently experienced an extremely frustrating situation with Arapahoe Credit Union that I feel compelled to share as a warning to others. Their overdraft fee policy is not only unfair but borders on predatory.
Here's what happened: Venmo attempted to pull a payment from an incorrect account with my credit union - an account that didn't have any funds in it. Instead of simply processing this as a declined transaction (which would be the logical response to a request for money from an empty account), the credit union "returned the payment" and then charged me an overdraft/returned item fee for this rejection.
To be clear: this was an empty account that Venmo mistakenly tried to use. The credit union didn't advance any funds or cover any shortage - they literally just said "no" to the transaction, as they should have. Yet they still charged me a fee for this! To make matters worse, this rejection caused Venmo to assess their own returned payment fees against me as well, resulting in double charges for a transaction that never even happened.

This practice feels deliberately designed to extract maximum fees while providing minimum service. The credit union didn't front any money or take any risk - they simply declined a transaction from an empty account, which costs them virtually nothing to do and is exactly what should happen with an account that has no funds.
What's particularly frustrating is the lack of transparency. Many members don't realize that credit unions can charge these fees even when they don't actually cover any payment and even when the attempt was made to the wrong account. It's essentially a "fee for saying no" rather than a fee for a service provided.
I strongly urge Arapahoe Credit Union to reconsider this policy. A financial institution that claims to be member-focused should not be profiting from declined transactions that cost them nothing to process, especially when the transaction was attempted against the wrong account. At minimum, they should waive fees in situations where payment attempts are clearly errors.
For anyone considering this credit union, be extremely careful about which accounts are linked to payment services, and understand that you can be charged significant fees even when no money is advanced on your behalf and even when the transaction is attempted against the wrong account.