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| 1 star: | (11) |
Do not do business with this credit union. They are the most crooked credit union I have ever dealt with. So is Farmers Insurance! If you have any loans with them, please move it to someone else as quickly as possible! They will steal your money, lie, and you will never pay it off. Horrible business & 1 star is too high!
Customer service is terrible and they are difficult to work with if you can get ahold of them. The website looks like it was designed by a child and is not intuitive at all.
I have to believe the only reason they exist is to support the management and staff of Farmers Insurance.
This is another one of those clueless organizations that uses ChexSystems inquiries, disallowing membership to those who diversify their assets to stay within FDIC, NCUA insurance limits. In other words, if your net worth is above $250K and you want to minimize risk of loss, you are too bright to be their customer.
Poor business practice, but not uncommon.
he banking services provided by Farmers FCU are terrible. I have had checking, savings and credit card accounts with numerous banks over the years. FCU is by far the worst I have ever done business with. I joined FCU for their cash back credit card. Absolutely not worth the hassle.
A few examples of why Farmers FCU is terrible:
- Their website is terrible. The navigation is confusing and basic functionality is lacking. The website was down for several weeks at one point last year and I couldn't access my credit card statements online for months.
- You can only pay the credit card statement online from a FCU checking or savings account (not another bank)
- Transfers from my savings account at another bank to my savings account Farmers FCU failed more than once. I don't know why, but I do know I havent had this issue transferring money form this account to anyother banks, and Farmers FCU didnot provide me with any notice that the transfer failed
- There is no way to reconcile your credit card spending with the points earned on the credit card. The monthly statement includes a section on points earned and redeemed. But it is ALWAYS wrong by a lot - sometimes way too high other times way too low. The only way to confirm you are getting the points you've earned is to download all your activity into Excel and calcuiate the earnings yourself
- It takes MONTHS to receive the cash back after you earn points
- They refused to refund the $99 annual credit card fee in Year 2 even though my account was in excellent standing and I did not have a single purchase transaction during year 2. Once you cancel the card Farmers FCU WILL NOT let you redeem any points associated with purchases made during ~2 months prior to closing the account. I called FCU before my card auto-renewed and was assured they would rebate the $99 fee. This turned out to be a lie.
I would VERY STRONGLY discourage anyone from doing business with Farmers FCU.
So I filled out their online so called application for a 5 year CD. Was going to fund it starting with $25K.
I sent them my drivers license both front and back sides, a , bank statement (which showed I had plenty of funds to fund the CD) plus utility bill so they could match the address on my drivers license since they requested that. Also the regular information such as Full name, SS# and DOB.
After a couple days.. I get an email stating they could not move forward with my application due to not being able to verify my Identification! My credit scores are 810 on one and 820 on the other one the major credit card companies. Exper and Trans.
What's with that? Prior to even opening up a credit card with a merchant all they need is your SS# number, name and Date of birth!!
Something tells me this credit union may not be on the up n up.. At least when it comes to their CD offerings I feel something is not right.
I cannot comment on any of their other services.. but for a 5yr.. CD this was my experience. I have NEVER ever been turned down for any Bank accounts, savings accounts, CD's etc.. Guess I cannot say that anymore!
I will take this as a blessing .. as reading some of the other reviews on CD's.. its probably a good thing they denied me. I might have just missed a bullet. Whew!!!
Be sure to read the Truth in Savings Disclosure (page 29) before investing in a 5 year (or any) CD. It states that if you withdraw early the penalty will be 50% of the remaining interest for the CD, or 180 days interest, WHICHEVER IS GREATER. Understand what this could mean to you before investing.
SAVERS SEEKING CD's --- BE WARNED:
First they denied my application and send an automated message to apply again and answer security questions (which I did in the first application)... so I did just that. 48 hours later, I was denied again, this time for unspecified reasons related to CHEX System report. Like many savers, I've opened bank accounts elsewhere recently with recent uptick in interest rates. Apparently there is a very low limit on newly opened accounts you can have anywhere. There is no way to discuss this with a customer service rep. or provide any additional information. The email specifically states not to re-apply and that the email it came from is not monitored. I tried calling customer service, and they don't have a clue of what the application department is doing. Don't waste your time or additional dings to your CHEX report by this incompetent institution.
I've had this cu as a 2nd acct for years. I've had problems such as cards randomly not working, deposits not being made when promised & not getting a new card when the old card expires.
I get some things but it seems every time I have to contact them it's never a one time call. I've had to call 7x about a new debit card because mine expired and they never sent a new one.
I also had a collection years ago and the guy told me if I deposited money in my account every 2 wks he'd make the payments for me. Cut to 3 months later him emailing me asking why I haven't made my promised payments in 3 Mos. I forwarded him his own email telling me he'd do it automatically & his response was he'd need me to call him every 2 wks to remind him TO DO HIS JOB. I asked can't you just set a reminder? He acted like he didn't know what that was. I eventually called someone else and they did it. But everything is difficult with this CU. It's completely ridiculous.
My application for credit card was approved and i was told that i need to open a bank account to become a member. I applied to open an account as part of the application process, i had to go through a very intrusive and unusual "Identity verification" process to take a live pic of my ID and also a live pic of myself. After the flaky app failed numerous times,I finally completed the process only to receive a notification that my application was denied because my identity could not be verified. I was surprised that FIGFSU was telling me that i wasnt me. So i contacted customer service numerous and was told that i would get a call back, but to this day i havent received a call.
An associate finally told me that i will have to visit the bank personally to open the account which is absurd cos i live in Virginia and how will me walking into the bank prove that i am me, if a live video of me did not work for you ? Will i be fingerprinted or made to provide a blood sample????
I sent a message requesting a supervisor and not surprisingly am still awaiting a response.
I finally spoke to their branch manager Jeremy Maxey who is as incompetent as his staff. I asked what part of the information i provided, and he wudnt answer.
Update: I had an associate apply ..exact same outcome. This is very suspicous
Must provide "pay stubs"--am retired with direct deposits so no such things for many years. Tax forms 1099 showing federally paid high income are not enough. Also "could not verify my identity" over a long holiday weekend when everything is closed. Provided DL and I indicated I could easily pass Chex Systems if asked. And I would have to travel a few hundred miles to the nearest branch of their limited number to finish the application. After that, the Board must approve each new member individually.
Is there some kind of policy that my state's credit unions must brush off new members with crazy procedures not listed on their websites? This is the tenth screwy business I have encountered trying to become accepted into any of them.
For a living as a financial policy adviser to Congress I helped write banking laws covering CUs when they were actually friendly. They are getting worse.