Lake Michigan Credit Union

Popular Accounts at this Credit Union

APY	ACCOUNT TYPE	ACCOUNT NAME
3.00%	Reward Checking	Max Checking 1.75% - National Average
2.05%	5-year CD	60 Month VIP CD Special 1.85% - Synchrony Bank 60 Month CD
2.05%	5-year IRA	60 Month VIP IRA CD Special 1.41% - National Average

View all Lake Michigan Credit Union rates »

Overview / Commentary

www.lmcu.org

616-242-9790

5540 Glenwood Hills Pkwy Se
Grand Rapids, MI 49512

Lake Michigan Credit Union is a Michigan-based, member-owned credit union that consistently ranks well among credit unions for dividends paid back to members. It offers depository and lending products on both its personal and business banking sides.

On its personal depository banking side, LMCU offers checking, savings, money market, Certificate of Deposit (CD), and IRA accounts. It usually offers an attractive checking account with a high interest rate on balances up to a certain amount and non-LCMU ATM reimbursements. LCMU’s reward checking account has been recognized in the past on DepositAccounts.com. The credit union’s savings account options include a basic account, a health savings account that comes with unlimited check writing privileges, and a children’s education account designed to function as a college savings fund. Money market accounts are available and offer higher dividends for higher account balances. LCMU’s Certificates of Deposit (CDs) and IRA CDs range in term lengths from 3 to 60 months.

Lake Michigan Credit Union online banking features easy account access for tasks like online bill pay, applying for mortgages, transferring funds, and viewing account activity history. LMCU also released mobile banking apps that provide smartphone and tablet-based account management functionality. The credit union’s website also features a learning center where members can view articles and videos that explain various banking services and account calculations.

Lake Michigan Credit Union was founded in 1933 as the Grand Rapids Teachers Credit Union. The original purpose of the institution was to provide banking services to teachers in the community. Since then, the membership has expanded to include local residents and current LMCU members’ family members. The credit union is headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and serves its members through multiple branches located throughout the state.

Field of Membership Restrictions

Membership is open to those who are donate a minimum of $5 to the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Association or to those who live, work, attend school, or worship in any county in the State of Michigan’s lower peninsula.
See current membership details

Great Rate, No Problems, No External ACH Connections

Posted by: curls | Dec 21, 2015

Signed up for the 3% on up to $15k on rewards checking a couple years ago. Been smooth sailing since.

Pros:
> Get display online of whether you've met monthly requirements. So you never have to count POS debits or guess or forget something silly (like to sign on 4 times.)
> Direct Deposit of $250 works for me. Worked with $50 one month too.

Negs:
> No external bank ACH ability. You can pull and push by going to your other bank and doing it there. It will go through. From the LMCU side, they don't offer it. (Last I checked.) Without free ACHs, I consider it a place to put money and that's about all. They may have a billpay or other way that works well enough.

I've only had a couple reasons to contact them. I remember them as pleasant events, and otherwise the details are not memorable. I wasn't asking for anything to be waved nor any of that significance. I haven't run into any fees.

The $5 sign up fee for some organization to become a CU member because I'm completely out of state, has been worth it.

Reply

5

Ive Had Good Experiences With LMCU

Posted by: RJM | Jun 12, 2016

I joined primarily for the 3% reward checking account and since then added an HSA which used to pay 2% but is now down to 1%. That bothers me.

I have also opened a couple of short term CDs with some kind of bonus rates.

Their system for tracking requirements for the 3% rate is the best of any bank or credit union I have used. You log in and click on a link that tells you if you completed your requirements or not.

I have been having a little issue with their 3rd party security...Every month near the first of the month, I try to knock out my 10 required transactions and I run into declines after 2-3 transactions. It makes it harder for me to knock out the required 10 in a day like I would prefer. With other places, all it takes is a call to explain this is normal for my account and it doesn't happen. With LMCU, their 3rd party security just doesn't get it.

The lack of ach from their site is bothersome too.

Opening the CDs required me to send the money in to my checking account before I could open the CDs. More cumbersome than other places.

Overall, I cant see where all these low 1 star rankings are coming from. Customer service people have that Michigan accent which might sound snarky to those who don't live around there. I was born there but have been in the deep south my entire life.

Reply

6

HSA Rate Switch

Posted by: Kevin Koons | Aug 6, 2016

I too was frustrated by the HSA rate switch. I transferred in several thousand dollars, expecting to enjoy the 2% rate for a while, only to have it cut in half to 1%. Thinking of switching to a different bank that will pay better rates.

4

Terrible Place To Bank

Posted by: Bpoort | Sep 20, 2016

This Credit Union is worse than a bank. I am a former banker, and they have several things they do poorly. First of all they have a terrible Online banking website and app, that is difficult to understand, and easy to overdraw your account with. I still do not understand it fully, and I have a BA in accounting, an MBA in business administration and 15 years experience in banking. It seems they allow pending transactions to overdraw your account, and then when they receive the "receipt" for the transaction, they send it through again as "posted" and allow that to overdraw the account as well. I paid more than $100 dollars in NSF fees monthly while I banked there, and now that I have switched, I have paid none in six months at the bank I now use. The staff is nice, and want to help, but the administration and management really do not know what they are doing in terms of banking. I also had a credit card, and due to a loss of my job could not pay it. Every other Bank and credit card company worked with me, reducing my interest rate to 0%, allowing me to not pay anything at all for several months until I found work etc....everyone but LMCU. They called family members, including my ex-wife whom I had a PPO order against, looking for money, and after just 6 months, filed to take me to court. Even banks that are known for their fees, and poor customer service treated me better than this Credit Union. I wanted a credit union barbecue I heard they were local, part of my community and cared about me as a person, as opposed to a bank that is just out for my money. Perhaps that is true of some other credit unions, but not this one. Despite their not-for-profit tax status, profit is all they care about, and even more so than the typical nasty banks so many of us dislike. Stay far away from them if you ever fall on hard times, because they could care less about you.

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1

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Health

A+

Data as of Q2 2016

Learn more about bank health

Health Grade Components

Overall
NCUA #	62514
Year Chartered	1933
Employees	961
Primary Regulator

Profit Margin
Return on Assets - YTD	1.91%
Return on Equity - YTD	16.31%
Annual Interest Income	$68.0MM

Assets and Liabilities
Assets	Q2 2016vs Q2 2015	$4.52B$3.83B
Loans	Q2 2016vs Q2 2015	$3.24B$2.80B
Deposits	Q2 2016vs Q2 2015	$3.49B$2.93B
Equity Capital	Q2 2016vs Q2 2015	$519.7MM$435.6MM
Loan Loss Allowance	Q2 2016vs Q2 2015	$4.4MM$5.5MM
Unbacked Noncurrent Loans	Q2 2016vs Q2 2015	$2.4MM$2.6MM
Real Estate Owned	Q2 2016vs Q2 2015	$1.1MM$367.00K

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