| 5 star: | (11) | |
| 4 star: | (4) | |
| 3 star: | (2) | |
| 2 star: | (3) | |
| 1 star: | (19) |
I don't understand all the negative reviews of such a great bank. Maybe because people are more apt to leave a review when they are mad or unhappy then they are when things go right.I registered just to leave a review. been with the Credit Union since the 90s, and have had a good experience with them in all that time. Purchased two vehicles with no problems, have an IRA cd with them currently, and have a checking and savings account. They have been great with me and my family with fraud detection and always make good with disputed charges. They have several times caught fraud on my daughter's account without us even calling them. I don't know what people expect a credit union to look like, but the branches around here are gorgeous inside and out. I love America First Credit Union or I would not be with them for nearly twenty-five years. Customer service has always been great to me and I get answered in a decent time whenever I call.
Absolutely terrible institution with terrible customer service-if I could give negative stars I would. I live in Southern California and after putting me through an exhausting verification process on the phone and successfully validating myself they tell me that since I live in California and since there isn't a physical branch here they wont be able to approve my membership. This is beyond ridiculous. If you don't want people who live in California state that on your website up front so people don't have to waste their time. The reps had an attitude problem and their tone was disrespectful on top of that. I don't know why anyone would want to join this terrible credit union. I would advise everyone to STAY FAR AWAY FROM AMERICA FIRST CU!!!
This CU is the biggest joke out there:
* Phone hold times mostly over 1 hour
* customer service reps are rude
* if you have fraud - you're up the creek without a paddle - they don't care about helping.
Pending fraud charges will get paid and it will take aprox 6 to 8 weeks to get your $ back
If you care about your credit score i would not do any business with this bank from the 1990s internet age.
Their systems are terrible and you will pay the price for it.
There CEO Thayne Shaffer claims to care about their customers wellbeing but that could not be further from the truth.
Take my advise and go elsewhere for you needs.
If I could I would give them "0" stars.
Unfortunately, due to Covid pandemic, inflation, and car repairs I needed to file for bankruptcy.
I had 2 checking accounts, 2 savings accounts, a credit card, and a personal loan through them.
After my paperwork for the bankruptcy was filed, they took my money from my checking accounts and transferred it all to my saving accounts.
They then took the little bit of money I had in the one savings account and put it towards the personal loan.
The other savings account they, created a check and sent it to me via mail (I found out they mailed it to me after talking to them over the phone).
They did all of this without my knowledge, and without letting me know they were doing this.
I went to log into my accounts on my phone app and noticed the transfers. I tried to log in through my computer, and it showed I had no accounts except the loan and the credit card.
I called them, and they told me that since they were losing money they closed my accounts, and it was ok for them to take my money from my accounts and put it towards the loan (after I filed for bankruptcy) since it was under $50.
They closed my accounts, without notifying me. I had part of my paycheck being direct deposited into those accounts. So, now I am scrambling to figure out where my money is that was supposed to be deposited into these accounts. As of today, 5 business days later only 2 of the smaller direct deposits have bounced back to my work. The larger deposit and the other small auto deposit still have not bounced back.
I just logged back in today, and see they re-opened the accounts connected to the credit card and loan. They excepted the direct deposits that were supposed to go into the other checking and savings account, and it will not let me transfer the money out. I need to buy food for the week with that money. They are stealing my money at this point.
I had perfect credit until AF dinged me for being $30 late.
As you can imagine from my perfect credit not making payments is not how I operate.
It was completely unintentional, after all, I was ALWAYS logging in to try and make payments or transfers to make payments.
From their car loans to their credit cards their banking system is VERY cumbersome and confusing and I'm here to tell you it can cost you your credit in a hurry.
For one, you can only make a payment on your credit card from another banking account with them. It was a multiple step process to make a payment in which it was not uncommon their system would say "cannot complete this transaction at this time" and I had to take more time to try again the next day. I was constantly trying to make transfers and payments.
While I was traveling and trying to make a payment from my phone everything looked different, it talked about making a transfer but not making a payment. OHHH, making a transfer is making a payment.
They sent me a letter of a missed payment on my loan. It was for an odd amount and I confirmed with my husband he had made the car payment (although that was a big cluster to figure out as well) Come to find out the "loan" they refer was my credit card.
Charge me a late fee all day long, but be so quick to ding my credit and you lost me, my husband and any future business account we were going to bring over to you.
After bringing this to their attention and saying give me a break for their system wouldn't allow me to complete transactions at times. They said it is against the law to remove a late mark on your credit if it is actually late. I say take some ownership on your end for your terrible system and give your members a break. It's not against the law not to put it on my credit in the first place.
The only reason I realized what was going on was because I saw a late fee in which I still thought how can I be late?
Anyways, a late fee would of been a great place to start. Not sure how it helped you, and what you gained to ding a member.
Lesson learned don't think you are in better hands being a member.
It would of been a better business move on your end to profit a late fee than lose customers!
Never ever do business with this company. Customer service is a wreck.
Only made this account to leave this review. Their Customer Service is awful. They allow transactions to be made even AFTER they have flagged your account for fraud. Then do not own up to it claiming it is " Not Their Fault." When you point out that actually it is since the card was allowed to be used after the flagging occurred.. it's still "NOT THEIR FAULT."
For some reason my mobile deposit was being denied and they contacted me to let me know I needed to come deposit a Check in person. So I did and they said I was good to go and thought nothing of it. Well 7 months later my account goes way into the negatives and I get a call saying that there was false money in my account due to a double deposit and they needed to take it all back. I had no idea as I dont regularly check that account. I guess a teller deposited it twice and now Im having to deal with the repercussions of that and they have no idea who it was so I cant file a complaint against them. Terrible terrible customer service over this issue almost makes we want to switch banks. Lesson learned to always check your accounts.
AFCU withheld me from making Zelle payments 2 times. AFCU withheld me from having my business funds transferred to my personal account. AFCU withheld me from being able to verify my business account through my personal account pin because my business account pin was not working. Although I had acknowledged to the call center supervisor Alisa 1229 that I could only verify my account by using my personal account pin number. Ms. Alisa still asked for my business acct pin and tried to use it to verify my account which failed. Then Ms. Alisa refused to allow me to make a transaction on my account because she said she could not verify my account
Rates sound good, had to join a PTA in another state to become a member. Then, they will force you to take their "collateral insurance" saying they dont have proof of your vehicel being insured. When it has been since before I bought it, I provided them proof of insurance last year, they stopped bugging me about the insurance, then they did it again this year. I get on the phone with them, again, they state that they charged me last year and this year. They tack it on to your loan. Basically $13,000!!!! What a bunch of slime ball scam artists! I will never do business with them again.
The worst company ever on all respects.
They lost my title
There customer service takes hours to answer and then you get very un professional reps
Full of mistakes
Do not work with them
Would give this 0 stars if I could. Absolutely do everything you can to not bank with America First Credit Union. For the last two years I have been making on time payments for my car loan through them. They did not tell me they applied collateral insurance to my car loan for the 1 week I didn't show proof of insurance. This collateral insurance they applied themselves required me to make an extra $20 payment on my monthly car loan. This extra $20 payment was not on their online banking platform. I could not have made this payment anywhere online.
Moving forward with almost a year and a half over making the wrong payment, my credit score is down 50 points and it is making life extremely hard. I went into america first credit union and was just on the phone with them for an hour. Even though I made all the payments now they will not reason at all with me. I even offered to pay them extra. Their reasoning for why they believe they are in the right? They we're MAILING me letters to let me know about this..... to the wrong address!!!
Pretty unbelievable. Do all you can to not work with them.
Buyer be where. I set up my account on auto pay. One month they did not remove the money out of my account they did not send me an email they did not send me a text they did not contact me in anyway what so ever. Instead they went straight to the credit bureau’s I lost 80 points. This cost me my refinance on my house. If you get enticed to use them do not set up auto pay or next time this can be you. I for one would gladly have paid an extra half of a point then to lose 80 points on my credit score.
On October 1, I looked at my account because I had just received my payment and I realized that there were two outstanding charges that I did not make $ 87.50 and $ 549.00, I was terrified and immediately contacted the bank, the clerk said that I would cancel my debit card and that these charges were from someone who used my debit card in another state that is not what I currently live in. On October 2nd I looked at my checking account and the $ 549 charge that was pending was charged! So I immediately went to the bank and the clerk said that I had to wait for them to investigate first and then I would be reimbursed, I was very frustrated because I have a check for more than $ 1000 to pay my rent .. in case I would have to be negative at the bank, I asked her for a provisory debit card so I could use it until my new one gets in my mail, and she informed me that she couldn't make a provisory card because I would have had to go to the bank when it happened and not the next day (even though I called the bank when it happened), she was super rude to me and said that the bank would investigate the charge ... the charges are online from cables and rock auto service and parts ... in short I will be negative and broke until the bank decides to do something in my account. Today I woke up and looked at my account and the $ 87.50 charge also went through. I am very frustrated with this bank and I DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT BANK TO ANYONE, run from that bank, they do not solve your problem and have no empathy for your problem.
I have enjoyed my membership in America First CU! I have always been treated with curtesy and addressed as a member, not just an account number. If I have questions about CDs and Retirement instruments I can speak with the department that handles the different products offered. AFCU does offer competitive CD rates; I say this because I do the research nationally. No, their interest rates on checking and savings are non competitive with online savings institutions, that is because online account, such as Discover Bank, do not have the expense of brick and mortar Remember too that banks are for-profit entities, whereas, CUs are membership owned and can offer good rates to their members. Yes, it would be great to have the highest rates for all financial products in one financial institution, but competition is the way of healthy economic growth.
if I could give zero stars I would , absolutely the worst bank to ever use- zero communication between there underwriting- they claim they have no abilitiy to communicate with their other bank departments. They make you jump through hoops to get them what they need. DO NOT USE THIS BANK$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ IT WILL COST YOU MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've been with America First Credit Union for many years and have had nothing but positive experiences with them. I like the ease of use of their online bill pay. I lived out of the country for 3 years while with them, and never had any issues with my debit card or bills being paid on time. They have branch locations at convenient places, including grocery stores and Walmart. They are open longer hours than traditional banks. They have convenient ATM locations as well. There are no fees that I need to worry about and free checking. My one complaint is that they don't offer a higher interest rate on checking accounts with high balances. I keep over $20K in my checking, and it would be nice to earn some interest on that.
I started banking with america first credit union back when i was 18 years old. to get started they made it very simple for me just to get started with a regular savings account, you just need to have a minimum amount at all times to keep your account active, so no worries about scheduling transfers that can give you headaches. they easiy approved me for refinancing on my vehicle with great interest rates Im pretty sure other places would just flat out denied me due to my age and lack of credit history. they are truly great and offer the best rates. I f you want something done go with America First.
My wife and I have used America First Credit Union for the past several years. We first approached them for a car loan in 2012 on 2011 Chevrolet impala. The response we received was impressive. The car-loan specialist was friendly and professional. We received approval for the loan within a couple of days. The interest rate was favorable and were ultimately very pleased with the experience.
Since that time, we have used America First for check cashing, and savings deposits. About a year ago, we bought another car, a 2014 Dodge Caravan. As we were impressed with the service we received on or previous car loan, we approached them about this new purchase. Again, we received the same excellent service, with a favorable repayment schedule and interest rate.
They are an excellent banking service and we recommend them highly.
This credit union took care of all of my immediate family's needs as well as much of my extended family. I also had many friends that trust their finances with this institution as well. There was some fraud that occurred on our checking account a couple of times, and they made it really easy to go in and report the fraud and return the funds to our account as well as get us new debit cards super fast. Their online features made it really convenient and easy to do banking without having to go into a location and transfer funds between accounts. They had us on a great set-up where if we accidentally went over in our checking account, it would pull from another one of our accounts so we wouldn't ever have a fee. They are very community oriented and even sponsored a team for Ragnar, a relay race, I was on.
We have banked with America First for the 12 years we have been married. We have a savings and a checking account with them. We have always been impressed with their customer service. Any time we have had any issues, they happily resolve them in a professional manner. We always feel that they are trustworthy and are looking out for our best interests. Overall, I would highly recommend America's First and have done so with my family.
I've been with America First Credit Union for over 4 years now. In that time, things have been pretty steadily good. Our interactions with the staff, however, has been pretty phenomenal. They are always very attentive at their locations and have always been extremely friendly. I live in a friendly city, but they are more than normal and it's a breath of fresh air to get an institution that treats you so nicely. As far as the banking aspects, however, they don't offer the most competitive rates when compared to an online bank. Their web experience is not too shabby, but their mobile experience could use some revision. It's just really hard to navigate and doesn't contain all the features that are accessible if you were to use their website.
I opened my account with this credit union about six months or so ago after royally being screwed over by a different credit union. At the time I was picking credit unions I really really didn't want to open another account. After going to several banks and credit unions I finally decided on America First. So far I have had a great experience with them, I have been able to use their account protection several times without any issues and even if my account goes in the negative for more than 30 days they keep my account open (most other banks close your account). My credit isn't good enough to get a loan with them so thus far I have not even tried to do so but I imagine if I did it would be easy and they would be very helpful. I had an over draft fee come out because of a bank check from ebay and the credit union was awesome and reversed the charge even though I had already been in the negative that month from using my account protection.
I have used American First Credit Union for years. I have had good times with them, and some bad times with them. When I had recently started at a new job I was being paid in checks. The company had not moved to using direct deposit yet. When I took my checks into American First they would berate me for not depositing my checks online. Every time I was paid I was lectured on how direct deposit was better, and how I needed to make the switch. This was not appreciated, as I explained every time this is how I was paid and that my new company did not do direct deposit.
We have been members of the America First Credit Union for over ten years. They have always provided great customer service and a good overall experience. One time in particular, we were notified of possible a possible bank account fraud. Because they keep an eye out for suspicious activity they were able to help us avoid a complete disaster. Also, I love the mobile app they provide. The fact that we can easily monitor our account from our phones it great. Also, we love being able to deposit checks right from our phones! We live about 15 minutes away from the nearest branch and I have two small children, so I have found this very useful. When it comes to their interest rates, i think that they are very competitive.
One thing that sets AFCU apart from other credit unions that I have used in the past is the level of customer service. They really do put the customer first. It was a breeze to open a new shared savings account for my 1 year old son, and it was even easier to add my wife as a joint owner of my saving and checking accounts after we got married. The customer service representatives were very friendly and "held our hands" as we went through the process.
I am also impressed by their mobile banking app. AFCU is located predominately in Utah, and since I no longer live in the region, having an efficient mobile app to access my savings and checking accounts is a must. The app allows you to access all of your accounts, transfer money, and deposit checks.
My one area of complaint is the fairly small savings rate within their money market and shared savings account. I am currently only earning .09% interest which seems to be lower than other credit unions or online banks. If this rate was raised to be a little more competitive, I would have absolutely no complaints about my time with AFCU.
If customer service is what you are after, definitely take a look at AFCU!
America First is a great credit union! Setting up an account with them was easy, and they made sure to explain all the steps involved in great enough detail for me to understand completely what I was getting myself into. They even gave me tips on how to improve my credit and otherwise keep my account with them in good standing. There are multiple branches located in the area, all of which are staffed by friendly, helpful employees whom I never feel uncomfortable speaking with. Their 24-hour ATM was a bit of a shock at first, as it is very noisy and is on a timer, but this may be the case for all ATM machines- I've only experienced America First's. The money I put into the ATM was put into my account promptly, though, so the ATMs work well. They have great over-the-phone customer service as well, and have been more than happy to help me on several occasions. Their website and mobile app (iOS) both work wonderfully and are very user-friendly.
The level of incompetence and stupidity at this credit union is unsurpassed. Trying to get a loan to purchase a property that appraises at above $100K, we're buying it at $80K, we're putting down 20%, FICO score 750, charging us 4.25% points just because it is not owner occupied (basically stealing over $2500 from us) and it's been 6 months of jumping through hoops and still not done. For the past 2 weeks wasting time about our tax returns they finally talked to my accountant, and my accountant says they don't seem to be able to read your tax return! Which is btw a fairly simple return. They make me throw up!
Contrary to these other reviewers, I actually have had a terrific experience banking with America First. I got my first loan from them while still in high school, which was only made possible by their ability to underwrite their own loans. In my early twenties, I came into financial struggles that could've have damaged my credit, but America First actually under-reported the payments I missed and cut me a break. I love their online bill pay and find that their online services are quite good (you can even export all your online transaction data to spreadsheets or Quicken files, in case you manage your money with those tools).
I have never had a problem with them. They have always been helpful and good to work with.
When I lost my card it took them an entire month to issue me a new one. They apologized for the screw up and blamed it on the manufacturer but I had to do a month without my debit and a month without money. When I tried to contact customer service a new person would answer every time, a new person that didn't know anything about my case. I had to explain it all over again. "It should be here in a few days," they said. It showed up a month later! That meant no food for a month because most places don't take checks. Horrible bank.
I have been a member of AFCU for over 8 years. I have always had good experiences with the tellers and have received good services at good rates. I have been educated by the newsletters. The automated phone teller and the on-line banking have been easy to use. I have a safety deposit box which has a low rate and came with insurance. I have had CDs in the past and was pleased with the rate I received. I will continue to use AFCU for its convenience, good services, and personal touch.
We moved to Utah 2 years ago and moved our banking to America First because it seemed like a small-town bank that would provide good service. Our experience has been nothing but a sequence of poor service mixed with strange experiences. It began with not getting any checks when we opened our account. We wanted to setup direct deposit and needed checks so we called in to see what we needed to do. The customer service people told us to go to the branch and ask the tellers. We did so, but the tellers (3 of them, not just 1) wouldn't help us. Instead, the claimed that they didn't know what I was talking about. They said I would need to go "somewhere else" but wouldn't tell me where. I asked them to talk to the customer service people that sent me to them. After a lot of attitude, they called customer service and confirmed what I had been told. Then they suddenly knew what to do and gave me the checks. At first I thought they were just untrained, but one explained that they knew what I was asking for, but said a policy had changed and they were supposed to give the initial checks to customers. It was a crazy experience. They spent 10 minutes acting like they had no idea what I was requesting and were going to just send me away, then all of a sudden knew exactly what to do. That was just the tip of the ice berg. Our experience with the bank since then has been just a poor at every turn. Their online banking system Is very odd and can't do half the things a normal bank can do online. It doesn't work with any of the applications on an iPhone. We opened a business account with them as well and setting up online bill pay has been almost impossible. We gave up on the process only to find that they did set it up for us and then the next month received a notice that if we didn't use it every month, we would be charged $10 per month. At the end of the day, we have been so disappointed with this bank that we are going through the trouble of moving back to Wells Fargo. At first we thought it was just the people at our branch, but as we have worked more with others, it seems poor service is just part of their culture.