Redwood Credit Union is headquartered in Santa Rosa and is the 8th largest credit union in the state of California. It is also the 37th largest credit union in the nation. It was established in 1950 and as of June of 2023, it had grown to 794 employees and 349,972 members at 22 locations. Redwood Credit Union's CD rates are 4X the national average, and it has an A health rating.
Field of Membership Restrictions
Membership in Redwood Credit Union is open to those who live or work in the greater California Northern Bay and San Francisco area, including Contra Costa, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, San Francisco, Solano, and Sonoma Counties.
See current membership details
Someone You Can Rely On
Best credit union in California! So trust worthy and helpful :) 100% recommended
RCU Always Has My Back
I've banked with Redwood Credit Union since I was about 15 and ive always been 100% happy with their customer service. I started with one of those parent-owned shared bank accounts that let me put money into a savings account for something like $15. It turned in to my checking account when I turned 18. I like them over other banks because they are very reasonable with fees, and they also happen to be local to my area. Again, very happy with their customer care, they helped me out by reversing fees a couple times, due to my error of messing up the auto-pay settings on credit cards.
Their credit and debit cards also have no international fees (!!!) which helped me out a ton when I studied abroad in Spain for 3 months.
Redwood Credit Union
Redwood has some of the best trained bank employees I've ever encountered. From the tellers to the bank manager, everyone knows Redwood's products, can intelligently explain them. I no longer bank with them because I moved out of state, but I recall when other banks were charging fees for everything they could think of, Redwood only charged a very small fee for checking if you're savings account was under $500, I believe. For a variety of reasons, I had accounts with Wells Fargo at the time, and their fees were bigger and more numerous by far. Also, Redwood's staff were more friendly and seemed happy to be be there, unlike Wells.
Always Positive
My experiences with Redwood Credit Union were always very positive. Everyone at the bank was not only knowledgeable about the products and services offered, but were very personable. At the time, I also had an account with Wells Fargo. It was akin to walking in to a the Department of Motor Vehicles in a big city. No one seemed to care. The Redwood folks would always ask questions, find out your needs, explain the benefits and features of various accounts and loan options.
Great Service And Low Fees
I joined to have a "local" credit union that I could see in person when I needed, and one of the draws for me was establishing a safe deposit box in my hometown. Fees are reasonable ($35/yr) and access is nice and easy -- just wait in line for a teller!
I've opened several checking accounts for a variety of purposes in my financial life, and they haven't blinked. (I've had some trouble with PayPal, so I like having a checking account that only PayPal has access to.)
Their funds transfer functionality is a bit limited - you can schedule no more than 4 transfers, so I can't use the bank as my "hub" for money to flow around, but it otherwise works nicely.
If you use a debit card, they give some rewards for debit card usage. It's only a 0.5% cash back, but that's more than many other banks/CUs will these days. Rewards points are also shared with their credit cards, which is nice.
They also have one loan product I haven't seen anywhere else - a solar loan, as of this writing, at 7%. More than most of their home equity products, but less than a personal/signature loan.
And they take customer service to a ridiculous degree. I applied for their Visa card on a Friday, and it required human underwriting. My card was approved on a Saturday because the loan department works on Saturdays, too!
Excellent!
I joined Redwood Credit Union while I was with my former employer. It started out as a way to keep a savings account, but over the years it has become an important part of our short-term finances as well. Their fees are excellent - only once have I overdrawn our account in the past 10 years and the fee was about $10 less than what a large banking institution typically charges. The only complaint I have about this credit union is customer service. Most of the tellers I've come across inside the bank are stiff, not very friendly and in one case even judgemental about how I was handling my account status (I had just gotten married and hadn't yet added my husband to the account and an issue came up with a joint check). I try to avoid talking to customer service as much as possible. I moved out of the area where the credit union is centralized but they have several other credit unions within a network. These credit unions provide the exact same services and help us whenever we have issues specific to our branch. Overall I'm very happy with this credit union and plan to close my big bank checking and savings accounts in the near future.
Happy Redwood Credit Union Customer
I joined up with Redwood Credit Union a few years ago after getting completely fed up with Wells Fargo's fees and callous attitude towards their customers. I have both a checking and savings account with RCU. I've been very impressed with their customer service. The few times that I have needed assistance (lost my debit card, had my rent check stolen from my landlord's mailbox) they have been able to help me quickly and have been more than happy to do so. Much friendlier, more personal service than that other big bank! I wish that their online experience was smoother (there is a ~24 hour lag for debits/credits to appear online) but overall, I am happy with RCU.
Data as of Q2 2023
Learn why bank health mattersHealth Grade Components
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| NCUA # | 60793 |
| Year Chartered | 1950 |
| Employees | 794 |
| Primary Regulator | |
| Profit Margin | |
|---|---|
| Return on Assets - YTD | 1.57% |
| Return on Equity - YTD | 13.64% |
| Annual Interest Income | $165.3MM |
| Assets and Liabilities | ||
|---|---|---|
| Assets | Q2 2023vs Q2 2022 | $8.28B$7.64B |
| Loans | Q2 2023vs Q2 2022 | $6.09B$5.16B |
| Deposits | Q2 2023vs Q2 2022 | $6.79B$6.73B |
| Equity Capital | Q2 2023vs Q2 2022 | $916.9MM$842.6MM |
| Loan Loss Allowance | Q2 2023vs Q2 2022 | $0$42.5MM |
| Unbacked Noncurrent Loans | Q2 2023vs Q2 2022 | $24.5MM$14.7MM |
| Real Estate Owned | Q2 2023vs Q2 2022 | $0$0 |
