EFCU Financial is headquartered in Baton Rouge and is the 3rd largest credit union in the state of Louisiana. It is also the 398th largest credit union in the nation. It was established in 1934 and as of December of 2024, it had grown to 131 employees and 68,058 members at 9 locations. EFCU Financial's money market rates are 8X the national average, and it has an A health rating.
Field of Membership Restrictions
Membership in EFCU Financial is open to those who live, work, worship, or attend school in the Louisiana parishes of Ascension, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Feliciana, Livingston, Point Coupee, St. Helena, West Baton Rouge, or West Iberville. Immediate family or household members of an existing EFCU member are also eligible to join.
See current membership details
This Place Does It The Right Way.
If you're eligible to join EFCU, do so. They're a great Credit Union that does business the right way.
One nice thing about EFCU that I hope they never change, is that EFCU's advertised savings rates are actually the APR not APY: Most places that advertise savings rates advertise the rate you'll get at maturity only if you keep the dividends in the CD to compound. But EFCU's advertised rates are what you'd get if you take the dividends out -- if you decide to keep the dividends IN the CD, you'll get a higher rate than EFCU's advertised rate. (If you see a place advertising a "4% CD", most places will offer you a CD with a "rate" of 3.93% that will TURN INTO 4% if you keep the dividends in the CD each month to compound, rather than taking them out every month. EFCU does it the honest way: if EFCU offers a "4% CD", that's their base rate, not the compounded rate, so you'll get the 4% even if you take the dividends out--and if you keep the dividends IN the CD, you'll get something like 4.07% instead, on that "4% CD"). That's the honest way to do it.
Their penalty for breaking a CD early is very decent as well: For terms up to 5 years it's 180 days (less for short term ones). The penalty applies to IRA CDs as well, but of course there's no penalty on mandatory RMD withdrawals.
If you're interested in an IRA, there's currently one person who handles most of the IRA stuff, but she's easily reachable (not always the case at many other credit unions!), knows her stuff, and is easy to work with.
EFCU's website doesn't have many features, but their CSR agents are always good. ACH transfers can indeed be set up on their website (there are amount limits for ACHs initiated from EFCU's website, but not if it's pulled/initiated from another place).
I have no idea if this will change, but before I switched to electronic statements, they even sent me out paper statements for free (no fee).
While rates can change at any time, EFCU usually updates their rates at the beginning of each month.
EFCU may not have a lot of fancy bells and whisltes, but they're a good, solid credit union, they do things the right way, they have great rates, and their fees and penalties (like a CD early withdrawal penalty) are reasonable.
If you're eligible to join them, I'd definitely do so.
Solid Credit Union
EFCU tries to provide good customer service to its membership as well as high deposit rates.
Hard (Pull) To Join.
Yet another land mine to explode in your face when seeking just to become a member. Find another place unless strong reasons exist to join here. The deposit rates might be one and I was tempted until asking about credit check against non-borrowing applicants. WHY are CU's so fortified against the remote possibility that a depositor might cause a problem someday? Applicants already face soft pulls.
Did Not Complete The Application
The account application was asking many questions unrelated to a typical bank account application. I stopped halfway through the application because I did not feel comfortable giving out irrelevant personal information.
Data as of Q4 2024
Learn why bank health mattersHealth Grade Components
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| NCUA # | 13 |
| Year Chartered | 1934 |
| Employees | 131 |
| Primary Regulator | |
| Profit Margin | |
|---|---|
| Return on Assets - YTD | 0.85% |
| Return on Equity - YTD | 10.44% |
| Annual Interest Income | $58.3MM |
| Assets and Liabilities | ||
|---|---|---|
| Assets | Q4 2024vs Q4 2023 | $1.17B$1.02B |
| Loans | Q4 2024vs Q4 2023 | $1.02B$912.3MM |
| Deposits | Q4 2024vs Q4 2023 | $1.01B$885.7MM |
| Equity Capital | Q4 2024vs Q4 2023 | $93MM$83MM |
| Loan Loss Allowance | Q4 2024vs Q4 2023 | $3.6MM$3.2MM |
| Unbacked Noncurrent Loans | Q4 2024vs Q4 2023 | $3.4MM$3.4MM |
| Real Estate Owned | Q4 2024vs Q4 2023 | $419K$0 |