Greenwood Village, CO 80111
Colorado Federal Savings Bank is an online, savings-focused institution that makes limited banking options available to customers and potential customers. It offers savings accounts and certificates of deposit on its depository banking side, and mortgage loans on its lending side. Its deposit accounts typically offer interest rates that are higher than the national average because the bank exists solely online and does not have expenses related to branch operations. The savings account offering has a minimum initial deposit requirement and ensures FDIC insurance of up to $250,000 per depositor. The certificates of deposit range in term lengths from 6 months to 5 years and have initial minimum deposit requirements.
Since Colorado Federal Savings Bank online banking is the exclusive medium for account openings and management, the bank employs the industry standard security protocols for its web-based platform.
Colorado Federal Savings Bank was originally established in 1990 and is headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado. Its headquarters also function as a full-service brick and mortar office for customers banking locally.
Refreshingly Delightful Experience
I have a lot of experience with financial institutions when it comes to savings, because I have always preferred CDs to riskier investments.
After having a ton of trouble trying to open a CD at Eagle Bank, which was terribly slow and inept, I applied for a CD at Colorado Federal Savings Bank, and this latter experience was refreshingly delightful!
The online application process at Colorado FSB is perfectly clear and streamlined (although I have minor suggestions for improvement, noted at the end of my review).
What sets Colorado Federal Savings Bank apart is the absolutely delightful customer service: my call was picked up immediately, and my questions/concerns were listened to very patiently, and answered efficiently and kindly by Karen and Donna.
Now some details about the CD application process, which took 2 days for me.
The most part of the 2 days was spent waiting to verify the external account by 2 small deposits.
After linking the external account as a source for the CD, I got a welcome email in less than 1 hr, and was able to register for the online account immediately. The instructions provided by email were clear and straightforward.
The financial institution that is the source for the CD must be added at the same time as entering the data for the CD application, and verified BEFORE the application is approved.
The mother's maiden name also must be entered BEFORE the application is approved.
This is where I balked a little, as I don't like to enter more personal data than absolutely necessary.
IMO both pieces of personal information should be required only after the account is opened, but perhaps there is a good reason for not doing it this way.
The online account user interface is well designed, intuitive, and flows well.
Overall, I am very impressed with Colorado Federal Savings Bank, and would happily recommend it to my family and friends.
Great Communication, Instructions, & 2 Biz Day Process
Highest Rate for 12 Month CD at this time with a bank, not a credit union. I read the reviews below, but still decided to move forward. After reaching out to a few of the higher rate credit unions on this site that couldn’t answer my questions or call back within 2 biz days, CFSB was a breath of fresh air!! I called customer service before applying online and got a human right away and he was well trained and effortlessly answered my questions and said call back if you have any issues or questions applying online. I didn’t need to call back as all their disclosures, application steps, and emailed instructions were easy to follow and covered any questions I had. The emails were very timely too. The application was started on Weds. morning and the CD was funded at CFSB by Thursday end of day!! I was also able to add a joint owner and beneficiaries during the application process.
TIPs:
1) Have your money AVAILABLE in the bank account you are transferring from BEFORE starting the online application. Once you confirm the verification deposits from CFSB in your bank account then the money will be requested by CFSB for transfer.
2) Keep it simple for yourself and leave that bank account open for transferring your basis and interest earned back after the term ends OR you will have to go through additional steps to verify a different bank account with CFSB which if not done ahead of the 10 day grace period will use up time in the 10 days grace period window to transfer the money.
3) The request to transfer money at the term end during the 10 day grace period needs to be done logged into your CFSB online account through secure message. If the maturity date is on the weekend (when bank is closed) remember these days count as part of the grace period, thus, be on top of getting the request in for 1st biz day in grace period for transfer. The CFSB disclosures said they will send a 45 days before maturity date email reminder and then on the day of maturity email reminder. So mark those dates and make sure the CFSB email address is on your safe email list and/or check junk email if the emails are not in your inbox.
4) Read ALL of the CFSB disclosures FIRST because the information is there to answer the many of the issues from the other negative reviews. If you can’t find an answer call their customer service M-F 7am - 5pm MTN 1.877.484.2372
I confirmed also on the FDIC website that they are FDIC insured.
This is an online only bank and it has been a great experience so far for a CD product. I can’t speak to working with them for their other financial products.
Online Access Can Not Be Established!
I opened a CD and they could not establish online access. I spent lots of time on the phone with all 3 bank associates: Donna, Karen and Brandon.
Worst On-Line Bank
If you plan on investing on any CDs that this Bank is offering, Please look elsewhere. They have the worst on-line access of any bank that I know of and I have invested in several. I have opened a CD for a month with this bank as of today and still don't know what is going on with my money!!!!!
CD Application Denied
After spending all the time to complete a CD application, Colorado Federal denied it via email with no reason specified. When I called they said the reason was because I answered the identity verification questions wrong. In fact, I answered the questions correctly. THEY (actually the 3rd-party they sub this to) had the answers wrong. I'm pretty familiar with my life, having lived it myself.
The only recourse was to have a form notarized "proving" who I am, as if that couldn't be fudged. Well I know who I am, and I'm not driving an hour to a notary for them.
Having wasted a couple hours, I certainly can't recommend Colorado Federal. It's beyond me why a bank would be reluctant to accept my money.
Small Bank, Big Issues
Bad experiences with this bank and maturing CD's. I wanted the funds returned to my external bank and not rolled over into another CD. After several phone calls, and messages sent through their secure message center giving them instructions, they still rolled over the CD's! And at a terrible rate! It took 5 days to finally get my funds returned, costing me a week of investment income! I requested they wire the funds to my external bank to cover their mistake and they refused, saying a (three day) ACH was the best they would do. Why was I paying for their mistake? Or, is the shell-game one in which they wait for the retiree to forget about a CD, allowing them to roll over at terrible rates? As a retiree, I live on these small investments, and the loss of a week's income is meaningful, and painful when it's lost.
Data as of Q4 2024
Learn why bank health mattersHealth Grade Components
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| FDIC Certificate # | 33111 |
| Year Established | 1990 |
| Employees | 66 |
| Primary Regulator | OCC |
| Profit Margin | |
|---|---|
| Return on Assets - YTD | 0.62% |
| Return on Equity - YTD | 5.93% |
| Annual Interest Income | $111.5MM |
| Assets and Liabilities | ||
|---|---|---|
| Assets | Q4 2024vs Q4 2023 | $2.32B$2.33B |
| Loans | Q4 2024vs Q4 2023 | $1.67B$1.54B |
| Deposits | Q4 2024vs Q4 2023 | $1.2B$1.13B |
| Equity Capital | Q4 2024vs Q4 2023 | $240.9MM$241.9MM |
| Loan Loss Allowance | Q4 2024vs Q4 2023 | $13.7MM$13.7MM |
| Unbacked Noncurrent Loans | Q4 2024vs Q4 2023 | $4.7MM$570K |
| Real Estate Owned | Q4 2024vs Q4 2023 | $0$0 |