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.
Field of Membership Restrictions
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
Unique Money Market And CD Accounts, Great Mobile App
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 has a long history of offering CD promotions from time to time.
Patelco's mobile app is reliable and customizable, 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.
Patelco Does Not Give The Grace It Begs For
I have had my Patelco credit card for two years. I have never missed a payment or been late. When my check is deposited into my account, I pay my credit card bill on or very near to that day. As I am only paid once per month, my payments are typically sent in at the end of the month.
However, for the last two months, I have been fighting to have my June payment credited to my account. I have called multiple times and even went into the local branch. At the branch, the manager in Elk Grove told me she would send a notice to the department that handles these issues to have my account brought up to date. That was a month ago. No emails from her, just notices that my account is past due. I have shown them again and again how my payments are made at the end of the month for the next month. I have done this for two years. Now they are saying I pay my bill too early and it is taken as an extra payment not my monthly payment. Fine. I pay too promptly.
I worked in a bank for several years. If anything like this happened, we would have thanked the customer for their prompt payments, credited the payment, and let them know to pay after a certain date to avoid the issue in the future.
What I have been shown by Patelco is that explaining the situation is more important than fixing the situation. Their approach to someone who pays on time has been completely punitive. What makes this more confounding is that two months ago, they were expressing their appreciation and telling us how much their customers meant to them. The poor response to the cyberattack was bad, but the sheer lack of consistency of this institution is astounding.
Hacked June 29Th -No Online Access 2 Weeks
Stay away far away. They obviously have a terrible security department as they have allowed themselves to be attacked by a ransomware entity. Been a member for 40 years and I can't get at my money. I could only have access to my checking account by transferring money using an external account. I have other accounts I can't see or access and this has been for two weeks now. Going to close as soon as the online portal is up and running. Good bye Patelco. I'd like to say it was fun but it wasn't. Glad I have other accounts at other institutions.
Lack Of Professionalism
I opened my account with Patelco and applied for the Pure Mastercard, I was approved for 18,000. A week and a half later I applied for an Auto Loan and they approved me 50k, I start uploading all the required documents, I spent about a week uploading documents for the car, the day before picking up the vehicle they tell me that they can't give me the loan because I have less than 6 months with the Credit Union, a requirement as basic as that in a week uploading documents nobody noticed, a waste of time, NOBODY called me to apologize, I asked to speak with a Manager and I never received any call , the credit card was also denied to me after having approved it. I thought I was working with professional people but it turns out that they are unprofessional and they cover their things among themselves.
PATELCO CORRUPT CREDIT UNION
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
Not Ready For Online Banking
Application process was very cumbersome and could not communicate with the New Applications department. The chat only gave canned responses. Also, excessive ID requirements. Had to take a selfie with my driver's license. Days later, I received notification of approval by snail mail. After all of that, the promotional CD was no longer available. Called to request that my account be closed. A complete waste of time.
Data as of Q1 2025
Learn why bank health mattersHealth Grade Components
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| NCUA # | 68579 |
| Year Chartered | 1936 |
| Employees | 839 |
| Primary Regulator | |
| Profit Margin | |
|---|---|
| Return on Assets - YTD | 0.12% |
| Return on Equity - YTD | 1.33% |
| Annual Interest Income | $109.2MM |
| Assets and Liabilities | ||
|---|---|---|
| Assets | Q1 2025vs Q1 2024 | $9.47B$9.77B |
| Loans | Q1 2025vs Q1 2024 | $6.8B$6.62B |
| Deposits | Q1 2025vs Q1 2024 | $8.11B$8.18B |
| Equity Capital | Q1 2025vs Q1 2024 | $886MM$876.9MM |
| Loan Loss Allowance | Q1 2025vs Q1 2024 | $69.8MM$62.5MM |
| Unbacked Noncurrent Loans | Q1 2025vs Q1 2024 | $42.1MM$39.9MM |
| Real Estate Owned | Q1 2025vs Q1 2024 | $0$0 |
