Lynchburg Municipal Employees Federal Credit Union

Giving (a little) credit where credit is due

Lynchburg Municipal Employees Federal Credit Union is a solid credit union in an extremely convenient location (right across the street from me!), but with technological shortcomings and archaic processes for some of its services and products.

To begin, my customer service experience has been about average with them. Most of the time, I've had very short waits (1-2 minutes tops), but there have been a time or two when I've had to wait 5-10 minutes to get a transaction done. There are usually 2 people at the counter and one in the drive thru, but at peak hours another person would not hurt. Most of the encounters with the employees have been pleasant, but there have been a couple of times where one of two employees would bother me in how they responded to my inquiries. One time, I asked about how I could order more checks, and she became visibly frustrated when I didn't understand what she was saying about the process. Apparently, I have to use up all my old checks, go back to the Credit Union, send off for more checks and order through them, and have them sent to me after some number of days. An online bank I bank with just allows me to order checks for $5 online and get them in around 7 days. No such option with Lynchburg Municipal.

Speaking of the web/mobile experience, it certainly isn't terrible, but it does nothing to stand out. As I mentioned, there is no option to order checks online. You also can't deposit checks online, you can only have one savings and one checkings account, and the interface is clunky and minimum. You can see estatements, check your transactions, and do transfers, but beyond that, the online site is so-so. There is no mobile version of the site. It is the same site, so the load times are underwhelming. There is no app either.



I've had no issues with the checkings or savings account, but I didn't get any bonus money for opening up either and there isn't much incentive to keep them open. The yields for interests are paltry. I don't remember the interest rate, but I've seen bigger gains from online banks. I've also had issues sometimes where they block my debit card for transactions despite having plenty of money. In fact, I still can't get refill my phone card or make Amazon purchases with the card I have. It only took $5 to start the savings account though, and checking was free, so that was good. There also are no fees for cashing checks or depositing.



All in all, Lynchburg Municipal Employees Federal Credit Union is okay and will get the job done for most, but it feels like it is kind of stuck in the stone ages of banking.