Brightstar Credit Union is headquartered in Hollywood and is the 30th largest credit union in the state of Florida. It is also the 513th largest credit union in the nation. It was established in 1946 and as of December of 2023, it had grown to 173 employees and 59,850 members at 8 locations. Brightstar Credit Union's money market rates are 11X the national average, and it has an A health rating.
Field of Membership Restrictions
BrightStar Credit Union offers membership to anyone who resides, works, or attends school in the Florida counties of Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lee, Manatee, Martin, Monroe, Miami-Dade, Okeechobee, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, or St. Lucie. Membership is also open to individuals associated with educational institutions in Broward County, and to employees (and their family) of local partner organizations.
See current membership details
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Overdraft Fees
I was charged 5 overdraft fees foe transaction lower than the fee amount and that was processed and pending for 3 days. 1 ach payment processed 3 days later and the bank refused to do anything about it. This bank is legal robbers.
BRIGHTSTAR IS A SCAM
I was charged 3 overdraft fees for three different transactions that I was trying to stop.
I was not allowed to transfer money into the account to stop the overdraft fees and after calling customer service and being on hold for an hour, the representative told me that there was no way to prevent a transaction from going through. And no way to prevent it in the future.
They don't have zelle or any way to transfer funds.
I have to send an online request to get the three overdraft fees returned. After being on hold for an hour she sends me to the website.
One of the transactions was $9 and I get charged $34 for it.
I'm trying to close my account and she said she wouldn't do that either. Brightstar is a scam bank!
Inaccurate Credit Reporting Practices
I paid off a HELOC mortgage with BSCU in August 2017, as evidenced of a satisfaction of mortgage filed with the county. My account has always had a perfect payment history reported and it was paid in full. In April, the account was all the sudden being reported as open and delinquent. I filed a dispute with the credit bureau and my account information was restored and report accurately. I went back to my happy life. Fast forward to today, June 2022 and the inaccurate account shows as open and delinquent...AGAIN resulting in a decrease of 202 points to my impeccable credit score. This company has got to get their reporting practices under control. This is unacceptable.
Customer Service
Wow! Melissa and the customer service team just don't care! They make a mistake, admit it but just don't care. Brightstar credit union has really shown how far they have fallen.
Stay Away From This Credit Union
Do no open a checking account with Bright Star Credit Union. They take $34 for overdrawn fees before the payment even posts, that is, when it is just pending.
That is their strategy to collect fees to laden their pockets, before you can even put funds into the account to cover the amount that will be posted the following day.
Horrible Bank And Customer Service, Do Not Trust With Your Money
I wanted to open business account as they advertised. Came to Hollywood branch, rep seemed uninterested. Said that they do not specialized in business accounts. Why advertise??? We left, next day went to branch manager Carlos he made application and said he needs someones approval and said he called next day. Of course nobody had decency to call. We call customer service centralized system waited 30 min on the phone and rep on phone said that we were not approved without any explanation. We never and and i mean never had bounced checks or inf funds in history. Unbelievable. Manager could have had some decency and work ethics to call Disgusting do not work with this kind of bank Your many are safer someplace else.
I Feel Robbed!
Don’t do it!! Brightstar Credit Union is the worst credit union I have ever worked with, horrible customer service, horrible management and horrible policies. Whenever you make a phone call be prepared to wait at least 20-45 mins before anyone bothers to pick up the phone. The first of many unpleasant moment with Brightstar was when they put a lock on my debit/credit card twice for no reason at all, I hadn’t went out of the state or made multiple purchases. When I called, waited 45 mins for someone to pick up the phone, no one was able to tell me why they put a fraud lock on my account and on top of that I had to wait 24 hrs before they removed it! Inconvenient does not even begin to explain it!
I recently overdrafted on my account, bad I know but things happen anyway money I was expecting to come into the account was two days late. They charged me $102.00 for borrowing $25.60 that is 400% interest!! How is that legal? I have a total of 4 other accounts, 2 with another credit union and 2 with a traditional bank and they do not have this ridiculous policy. When I called to have the fees reversed I was passed around from person to person for over 4 days and the final answer was “We can’t help you.” What a crock of bull! I inquired back in June on how to protect myself from overdraft fees and was told “There is nothing you can do.” I asked if I could put money in my savings account that they could pull from in case of emergencies and I was told no. Now I get, they don’t want to help you, they would rather charge you 400% interest and pocket the money. I feel completely robbed! Please if you are thinking about banking with Brightstar Credit Union DON’T!!!
BS Credit Union
Why all of you may want to reconsider BS Credit Union: A check deposit was made into a BS checking account. That check was from an account that had been used for deposits for a least once a month ever since the BS account was opened and was usually posted to the account within 3 or 4 days. This time BS decided to put a seven business day hold on the check. Why? What was so different this time from any other time? The check was under $5k and there had been other check that were higher than this one from that account. But here's the thing that raises eyebrows. Right before the deposit was made, 2 or 3 overdrafts were made at a cost of $35 each. With the money that was added automatically with the deposit there was enough to cover the fees and have a few dollar in the account to cover some automatic bill pays and living expenses until the deposit should of been post. That didn't happen! Now I have $.07 in my account and an -$10 monthly auto bill pay waiting to be posted to my account. Which if its posted before the deposit is posted would cost another bank fee and if it hadn't noticed the time delay in the posting of the deposit, might of cost more bank fees if more had been charged to the BS account. Might be assuming things here, but all things considered (holding a commonly made deposit longer than normal and keeping a customer's account balance near $0.00) doesn't this whole thing smell a little fishy? And can all of you understand my anger with BS Credit Union.
Data as of Q4 2023
Learn why bank health mattersHealth Grade Components
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| NCUA # | 67347 |
| Year Chartered | 1946 |
| Employees | 173 |
| Primary Regulator | |
| Profit Margin | |
|---|---|
| Return on Assets - YTD | 0.89% |
| Return on Equity - YTD | 10.99% |
| Annual Interest Income | $32.9MM |
| Assets and Liabilities | ||
|---|---|---|
| Assets | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $830.7MM$765.5MM |
| Loans | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $659MM$581.1MM |
| Deposits | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $725.6MM$679.1MM |
| Equity Capital | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $66.3MM$61.1MM |
| Loan Loss Allowance | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $7.5MM$2.6MM |
| Unbacked Noncurrent Loans | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $1.9MM$1.5MM |
| Real Estate Owned | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $0$0 |