Patelco credit union got its start in 1936 with just $500 pooled together for the benefit of employees of the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company (which is now a part of AT&T). Today, the credit union serves its over 300,000 members from over 30 branch locations in Southern California.
Patelco offers its members a full range of financial products and services, including quick, easy, and secure access to funds through online and mobile banking options. Its personal depository banking products include checking accounts, savings accounts, health savings accounts (HSAs), money market accounts, Certificates of Deposit (CDs), and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs).
There are both interest and non-interest-bearing checking accounts available, including an option with tiered interest rates for higher account balances. Patelco requires a basic savings account for membership, but also provides savings account options for youth and for specific saving goals, such as holiday spending. The credit union’s money market account yields tiered dividends, depending upon account balances.
Patelco CD terms go from 3 to 60 months. The credit union provides both Traditional and Roth IRAs, as well as Coverdell Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) – all available as either CDs or money market accounts.
Patelco Credit Union is open to anyone through joining the Financial Fitness Association ($8 yearly membership), or who lives, works, goes to school or worships in Alameda, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Marin, Merced, Napa, Placer, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, or Yolo counties or the cities of Bakersfield, Eureka, McKinleyville, or Santa Cruz in California. Membership also extends to Alumni of the University of California Berkeley, San Francisco State University, and California State University East Bay.
See current membership details
Patelco has a unique money market account that allows an unlimited number of ACH transactions. I use it as a high yield checking account.
Patelco's Traditional IRA CD's are also unique in allowing early withdrawals for people above age 59.5 with no penalty. Patelco's CD rates haven't been competitive recently, but Patelco has a long history of offering CD promotions from time to time.
Patelco's mobile app is very reliable, customizable, and offers almost everything you need, but e-statements are only available through the website. External ACH transfer limits are low - $10k outbound and $20k inbound per month - but there is no limit on externally initiated ACH.
I've never been charged any fees, and adding beneficiaries can be accomplished by uploading a form through Patelco's secure messaging system.
I like Patelco, as they have good CD rates. However, there is no way of knowing how the ownership of your accounts are registered except by calling them and taking their word for it. They told me you can get this info from the e-statements that are on their web portal, but the information in their statements is wrong, at least if you have POD designations. For example, if you have any POD designations, the statement will indicate a joint account owned by both the owners AND beneficiaries as joint owners. They should really correct this bug in their system as it can have legal implications if one of the beneficiaries wants to argue that they are in fact owners.
I recently withdrew my CD money from Patelco and now because I have only a regular savings account I'm being charged a low balance fee of $5.00 per month. According to the CSR you need a balance of at least $150.00 in your regular savings account if you have no other types of sub-accounts such as checking or a CD to go with it. They didn't mention this when I was arranging for the CD withdrawal, by the way. I don't appreciate being dinged in this petty manner so I'm pulling out. I usually keep my accounts open in cases like this to make it easy for me to come back if and when circumstances change but I don't really need Patelco that badly now or in the future.
Beware! Avoid this corrupt credit union like the proverbial PLAGUE!
Sure, it keeps up a fake and phony PRETENSE of customer service until confronted with customer complaints severe enough to warrant an irresponsible cover-up of its own supreme incompetence and ineptitude in badly mis-handling a serious problem's resolution, intending to evade responsibility for its blundering and bungling staff at any and all costs. Instead, then, of stepping up to accept that responsibility and rightly apologize for its mistakes, it delegates responses to those complaints to its Black Ops-style, dirty tricks department called, Voice of the Member, which resorts to deliberate omissions and outright lies, falsehoods, and distortions of truth and fact to discount and discredit the complaint and besmirch the character and good name of the complainant. These amateur character assassination antics, as Patelco shall shortly learn, are both ill-advised and self-destructive. Patelco's teachable moment has arrived with publication of this pamphlet in both paperback print and e-book formats, Patelco, Corrupt Credit Union: And Its Dirty Tricks Department. Californians, meantime, can file their consumer complaints against Patelco with the National Credit Union Association(NCUA), or with the state Department of Financial Protection and Innovation(DFPI).
Linked here is the pamphlet exposing Patelco's inept corruption:
https://www.amazon.com/Patelco-Corrupt-Credit-Union-Department-ebook/dp/B09Y3FQ435/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=joseph+covino+jr&qid=1650546029&s=books&sr=1-2
Overall | |
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NCUA # | 68579 |
Year Chartered | 1936 |
Employees | 794 |
Primary Regulator |
Profit Margin | |
---|---|
Return on Assets - YTD | 0.75% |
Return on Equity - YTD | 8.99% |
Annual Interest Income | $185.2MM |
Assets and Liabilities | ||
---|---|---|
Assets | Q3 2022vs Q3 2021 | $9.05B$8.93B |
Loans | Q3 2022vs Q3 2021 | $6.38B$5.73B |
Deposits | Q3 2022vs Q3 2021 | $8.01B$7.79B |
Equity Capital | Q3 2022vs Q3 2021 | $746.8MM$818.0MM |
Loan Loss Allowance | Q3 2022vs Q3 2021 | $37.5MM$36.2MM |
Unbacked Noncurrent Loans | Q3 2022vs Q3 2021 | $19.8MM$15.1MM |
Real Estate Owned | Q3 2022vs Q3 2021 | $0$0 |
Always verify rates and promotions with the bank or credit union. We are not Patelco Credit Union; we are a rate comparison website and cannot provide official rates or promotions.
* The APY shown varies based on the deposit amount. Expand the listing to see APYs for other deposit amounts.
APY | MIN | MAX | ACCOUNT NAME | VIEW DETAILS |
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0.05% | - | - | Interest Checking |