| 5 star: | (11) | |
| 4 star: | (4) | |
| 3 star: | (1) | |
| 2 star: | (7) | |
| 1 star: | (38) |
GTE Financial will perform a hard credit inquiry for all applicants' background checks. If you have a credit freeze, you must temporarily release it to apply.
U.S. Social Security Number
Proof of residency, U.S. citizen or a U.S. permanent resident
Driver's license or other U.S. issued ID (passport, permanent resident card, state-issued non-driver's ID, military ID, or military-dependent ID)
Previous home address (if you have lived at your home address for less than two years)
$5 for your initial deposit funded by a credit card or bank account with a routing number
They do a hard pull when opening a new membership ouch!!!
UPDATE 1-4-23: I actually took the chance and applied, they did the hard pull, lowered my credit score, and actually DENIED for a simple saving and a CD, with no explanation.
Interestingly, I have an 823 credit score and no issues with the Chex system.
They took my MINOR SONS MONEY AFTER HIS MOTHER PASSED AWAY and told me there is nothing they can do to return it. She was the adult signer that is required for a minor child’s account and when she passed away unexpectedly at 39 years old, they used my sons account as an overdraft to cover an automatic debit bill that she had set up. This happened before we were able to get the death certificate and have her accounts closed and my name placed on his account instead of hers. I have been calling, emailing and stopping into the branch for 3 weeks while they dragged this out and keep telling me they are trying but it’s always another department or person that’s not in the branch to look you in the face when they tell you “ Sorry we are unable to return your sons $150 because of right to offset”. How heartless to keep a child’s entire paycheck from his job at the grocery store when he’s got enough to deal with losing his mother. I am beyond disgusted and will be closing all accounts with this cold hearted institution since all they care about is money or profit. How can you tell me somebody, somewhere in this organization won’t do the right thing for a 16 year old boy who had to pay his mothers final bill. Disgusting business practice. Do not give this company any business.
I've added onto the 5 year Add-On CD many times since 2019 without a problem. I've had nothing but excellent service from the GTE reps over that time frame...just my personal experience.
What a low class Credit Union. Terrible customer service and supervisors are no better. Caught the one I spoke to in several lies and he fell all over himself trying to correct himself, all before he got "snippy". Talk about unprofessional and incapable of handling the resolution of a problem. Closed my account. SMH.
GTE financial is a horrible institution. I was trying to stop five auto bill payments / stop checks that my deceased husband set up. I was unaware that there would be a fee associated with stopping payments that I never even initiated. Nobody verbally told me about the fee. I called and even went into the branch and no one reversed the fees. They had no empathy or compassion. I have been a customer since 1995 and had 7 accounts with them. A good business model would have been to extend a courtesy and reverse the fees. They have forever lost my business.
Opened an account with them a number of years ago for a CD special rate. The CD expired and rates were significantly lower, so the money went into savings. After about six months, they started charging inactivity fees. It seems if you don't move money at least twice a year, they consider your account inactive. I got those charges waived, but they charged me to take my money out. $6 for a check or $2 for ACH transfer with a limit of $5000 per ACH transfer. No way around it. I closed my accounts and paid the $6 for a check. I won't be back.
they charge me 35.00 have not over writhdraw at all they say had 8.06 do not have 8.06 lie to me wont give my 35.00 back in my account if anyone have the credit union dont open they up i am not happy
I have been a member of GTE Financial for over 20 years. I only stayed with them out of convenience. They have never helped me with any of my financial needs over the years. Now that I decided to close out my account, they have made the process so terrible. I asked them to unlink my checking account from Zelle, but instead they restricted and violated me under Zelle's policies (according to Zelle). I cannot use my telephone number or email address AT ALL because of this. Zelle has confirmed twice it was something GTE did, but GTE is telling me there is nothing they can do. I am so angry. Now I need to get a new phone number just because GTE screwed up and doesn't know how to fix it??? They are completely incompetent!!!
They make it VERY hard to speak to a live person, and they will make you jump through over a dozen question. so many...its annoying!
I am slowly transferring all my account to Sun Coast Credit Union...there you can get a live person QUICKLY!!!
20+ years with GTE, and am having the worst customer experience of MY LIFE. Discovered fraud on my debit card July 4, 2020. Called immediately, but told I could NOT order another card until Monday, July 6. Called 1st thing Monday for card to be expressed 2-3 days. Also, something critical happened on July 5, I contracted a fever, my father is hospitalized with covid, so I tested, 9 days later still no results, very good chance Covid positive. July 13, had not rec'd my new card, I am quarantined, need groceries delivered and med supplies, but no card! Called, was told that the would stop the missing card (refused to tell me what happened to other card) and would rush another. Also told a supv would call me immediately, never did!! Advised me cb Tues 7/14 for track #. CB July 15, no tracking number and they admitted the first card was sent reg mail, I'd likely rec today, but they had turned it off. Had I known the error we'd have let the 1st card run it's course. Told I should rec new card Fri 7/17. Having explained I was likely infectious, had no groceries or med supplies 3, not 1, 3 told me I could get a card by going to a branch. Obviously they didn't even listen. So here I sit, LITERALLY rationing a bag of pretzels, no tylenol to break fever, no thermometer to gauge fever, and no help whatsoever from GTE Financial. They DO NOT CARE. Maybe I should take up that offer and walk into a branch. People should be fired for the way I have been treated. The day I am able I will close my GTE accounts and bank elsewhere, I can not ever do business with them again.
I have had so many problems when my husband died with this bank. They say they’ll take care of something, but u have to follow up more than once! They have been difficult and unknowledgeable!
Impossible to access your $ without paying a fee. $2 ACH transfer fee. $3 shared branch fee. $6 mailed check fee.
GTE Financial (GTEfinancial.org and GTEfinancial.com) offers an amateur website portal, for members to manage their checking, saving and loan accounts. As of 2019-November, three significant and counter-intuitive issues persist for many months.
(1) The member's landing page lists a summary of their owned accounts. While the portal provides the option to REORDER (vertical sequencing) of one's accounts, the feature does not work in Chrome, FireFox or IE browsers. Instead, either an error is thrown and/or the accounts do NOT remain in the order selected.
(2) After a period of time elapses, DESPITE that the member IS actively paying bills and/or navigating various pages, the portal presents a nagging prompt, asking if the user is still working or shall be logged out if no response. Regardless of answering YES (to confirm still working), the portal logs-off the user.
(3) One cannot download their loan statements from the same section of the portal where checking/saving statements are found.
Counter-intuitive and counter-productive at best.
They do not deserve to be called a credit union or a financial institution of any type. Besides the fact that without prior notice and, perhaps even illegally, they changed their CD account disclosure, they have serious trouble handling your personal information and your deposits. GTE got my initial deposit but didn't credit it to my account for almost 2 weeks. They said they had made a mistake and put it in a special reserve they have. It wasn't until I called every single day and was about to take legal action that they finally put MY money in MY account. I have evidence if anyone needs it to make a case.
I went to a lot of trouble to go to one of their branches in order to open a 5-year CD with an add-on feature at 3% plus. This was part of my long-term retirement income plan. It was not easy to do, the customer service was lacking and disorganized. But I finally managed it. Now, today I get an email saying that they are changing their terms and only allowing $6,000 per year to be added to the CDs. I needed to add a couple hundred thousand over the next five years and it was supposed to be at the higher 3 + percent. I don't understand how banks are allowed to do this. It has totally destroyed my retirement income plan.
After a 20+ year membership, I am taking steps to permanent sever all ties with GTE & have already moved the bulk of my funds from my accounts there.. Horrible customer service w/ deposit & account errors made almost on a regular basis, and their loan procedures are a complete joke. I would strongly advise against trusting them with any of your money or accounts- my experience has been pretty awful in the past few years.
I had no trouble at all joining GTE online, and opening 2 CD's. They are a bit swamped, so it does take a couple days, but they were very responsive, polite, competent and customer service oriented. Contact was good, they even did a follow up call to make sure everything went as I wanted it to. No problems here, I'd recommend them to anyone. I've dealt with a lot of CU's over the years, and this one really is better than most.
I started the application at 10am, they called me at 2pm and it was opened by 4pm. They did a hard Equifax pull. They just wanted a driver licence and a bill. The lady that called sent me an email with a extension that got me right through to her when I had trouble sending the driver licence and a bill. She quickly talk me through it. This was the easiest online account I have ever opened.
Once upon a time I would have sang praises about the level of service and class GTEFCU had. NOT TODAY!
To my own fault in some respect I let my account with GTEFCU go forgotten due to a move across country and no further auto loan in play after paying my vehicle off. Needless to say however, I did have good contact information in place with the company which was current and had never changed. I also had the proper account settings in place where I was supposed to have and be receiving enotices about my account balances and activity. Today while doing some file clean up I stumbled upon my old account and upon logging in, found that GTEFCU had stopped emailing me in 2017 for no apparent reason and then bled my account dry of over $500 in inactivity fees. I called customer service who politely claimed they have no explanation as to why communication (both paper & electronic) had ceased and were sorry it happened but could do nothing about it or reinstate my lost money despite the fee being something they initiated long after the account had been initially set up nearly 12 years ago and account were free to open and no penalty existed then.
I applied for a membership and a jumbo CD online on July, 2019, and I received an email confirmation of my application afterward and I was told that an advocate would contact me within a day. As of today ten days later, I have not received any call or email regarding my account. I called GTE today again, and after 30 minutes on hold I spoke with a CSR and then she put me on hold and after 30 minutes on hold I was disconnected. I called back and after another 30 minutes on hold I spoke with another CSR and I left a message for the person who is supposed to handle my application. I'll update this information upon receiving a response.
Update: My experience with GTE has shown me that this would be the only credit union that is capable of any thing and every thing abnormal and can not be trusted. I opened a jumbo add on CD with them after a month long ordeal but I'm not ready to transfer any additional funds to GTE and more likely I won't, since I have already found a much better credit union with better rates and services in this website. In my opinion they have a terrible customer service and a very incompetent and dishonest management team.
Update: Every one who had opened the add-on CD just found out how dishonest the management of this credit union is today on October 1st, 2019. I suspected and warned every one here that, GTE credit Union could not be trusted and they surely proved that to every one by changing the terms of the add-on CD after many of us here invested a lot of our money in this credit union. Shame on them and I hope from now on no one here would ever deposit a cent in this credit union.
Update: October 3, 2019.
By now every one has received the same reversal email that GTE has decided to honor the terms in the agreement they made with it's members regarding the add-on CDS. After this I don't think I could ever trust GTE and may not add any additional funds to my jumbo CD. Let this be a listen to other financial institutions that they can't get away with trampolining the customer's right. Let us send our thanks to Ken and many members of this community that made GTE to reverse course.
I opened 4 cds with GTE over the last several months - since April. They were all ADD ON cds - I can add whateversum of money i care to add and keep getting the same rates as when i opened them. The rates were between 3.20 and 3.25. i went there in person and they were very easy to deal with. At one time a rate changed and they honored the rate from the week before. They also let me open business CDs at the same rate as my personal. It is very hard for me to find Credit Unions that offer business CDs. I would recommend GTE financial to anyone. I now have 3.20 to 3.25 rates locked in for the next 5 years.
Happy to get the promo CD with add on for 5 years, but was surprised when I immediately received notification of a hard Equifax pull. I am giving you money GTE, not asking for any from you.
As someone who just opened a trust savings account and Jumbo $100k add-on CD at GTE Financial, I only have good things to say. While they needed to email me trust forms that required 2 notarials, I had no problem wiring in funds from Fido and emailing back their forms. They honored the higher rate, even though the rate dropped as I was completing opening my CD account. Yes, they did a hard pull credit report and needed the normal personal documentation, but used the trust certification form in lieu of my needing to supply actual trust docs. Kudos to Julie, who helped me through their process in a few days. And IMO they could use a more robust web site, so keep that in mind.
------------------------------------------------
I'm still a happy customer in May 2021. I learned recently that my wife needs to be a member as well to get full insurance coverage thru NCUA since the CD is in the name of our trust and we're over the single limit. Mr. Luis Miguel Marin Burbon, Member Relationship Officer kindly and quickly helped me thru the process. Be sure to have both trustees become a member to get full coverage.
I applied for a simple savings account over two weeks ago. They asked me for more documentation than my mortgage company did. They advertise fast and simple they are everything but that. I’ve provided my drivers license, social security card, complete bank statement, picture of my debit card and a copy of my utility bill. Absolute worst customer service ever. They put me on hold then disconnect the line. I call back the girl gets huffy is very rude and it never fails the line gets disconnected. I have wasted hours on the phone trying to figure out what is so hard about opening a savings account. Not to mention the unauthorized credit pull they did three days after I applied. I’ve tried chatting with a live agent but only to be told they didn’t receive all my documents. Lies, lies and more lies. I’m done with them. I will be calling first thing in the morning to cancel my application. Then contacting the credit bureau about the illegal hard pull they did. I have excellent credit and a very nice income and have never bounced a check or paid a payment late ever. My credit utilization is a zero. There is absolutely no reason to be treated like this. So glad I figured this out before I deposited a great deal of money into this institution. Do not waste your time applying for anything with this horrible institution. I would not give them a one star ?? rating but that’s not an option on here.
I spent over a month submitting more documentation than I ever did for any other credit union in order to get the 5 year 3.10% CD with unlimited add on amounts. They even asked me to supply my personal bank statement with all my credits and debits. I reluctantly did this. But they said the statement, which I downloaded from the bank's website, even though it had all account numbers, official headings was not good enough, They wanted to see the logo, which the statement did not include and was not available for download. ... In addition to this, I had to contact them because they dropped following up with me for about two weeks after a number of steps where I submitted the documentation they asked for, .... Finally, I just cancelled my application
Maybe if I was going to deposit a $1000 with them, I would not be concerned. But there is no way I would trust them with $100,000 or $200,000. Maybe their offer is too good to be true. In my case it was.
Was advised today that to get my funds back from a maturing CD I had to open a acct. to use the shared branch system for a $3.00 fee or pay $6.00 to get a check mailed to me. Bank is a rip-off so be wary before investing.
I cannot begin to tell you all the ways this bank gouges money out of its members. I cannot begin to tell you all the services they used to provide for their members and now, not at all. They will not, not at all give you a counter check so you can write a check on your own account. They do not have ten dollar bills in the "see the picture of the teller " window, nor do they have $50.00 bills. If you can't get this from your bank what do you do? Go to the grocery store and ask them for a $50.00 bill (which I wanted as a present for my grandchild)?!
Absolutely no notary services AT ALL!
They charge their members for money orders you can get free at Amscot! WT*!
" Please take heed, take the warning, do not bank with GTE FCU
This was a decent little credit union 10 years ago, but over the last two years they have cut customer services, removed tellers from branches, hiked fees for every service they provide, and added new fees for every type of account. They are now changing their fee structure again so you never know from month to month what new fee you are going to be levied.
You would be better off doing business with any other bank or credit union in the state at this point. GTE has lost their customer focus and no longer cares about it's members. I am sure some exec is going to get a big bonuses from all the new fee revenue. Close your account and run before they steal even more from you.
I just closed my membership with GTE as they charged my savings account with multiple monthly inactive fees. I was never notified about my status which is the reason for me closing the account. Not a institution that I would recommend and by seeing other comments here I am not to only person that feels like this. Stay away.
I am incredulous to the cavalier way this bank now treats its members. When I first joined in the late '90's they were a great bank, a regular thoughtful credit union. Then slowly and deliberately more and more penalties and fees and sneaky bill pay modalities were implemented.
For example, they pay some bills withdrawing the money immediately from your account on the day you ask the recipient to be paid (thereby keeping your balance in the account correct) and another bill pay you request is mailed and not deducted from your checking account.
Now I have some monthly checking fee I've never had before.
Now they charge their members for getting a check for their checking account.
Now they charge for auto-deposit if you want to receive it when they do instead of waiting while it sits pending for your account.
The list goes on.
I'm looking for a new bank but I have so many auto deposits and withdrawals set up, it's going to be a nightmare to move banks.
There are many credit unions that are better for many reasons (even returning a call would be a start) but I am posting because if you are a person on the go and need to have on the go support and apps than this is NOT your credit union. Deposits just disappear and they do not support the 2go app for deposits. If you try and make a deposit with the app it will not get deposited so there is no reliability. For support they will tell you to wait, just wait another day, after waiting a week, just wait another day, but make sure you do not deposit the check at an actual site. So there you go, beware of this credit union.
I have been a member of GTE Financial since 2014. I set up direct deposit with them through my new job in 2014, and have been pleased by their service and convenience. They do not have many locations, but one is a 30 second walk from my office and has a 24 hour ATM. In addition it is staffed by students who have great customer skills and greet me every time. There was one issue where I had difficulty depositing larger sums of cash ($300-500), due to rent money from a tenant, but it was resolved in less than a day. As a credit union, I have access to my checking account through multiple ATMS in 7-11 convenience stores which I use often. I cannot deposit checks (or cash) through those non-GTE financial ATMs, but they do have a deposit-on-the-go APP, so I can take a picture of the check to deposit and it goes right in. Their savings requirement is only $5- which is also nice.I really only use them for checking purposes and never had any major problems so far!
The security systems in place are poorly used. Your card will be shut down when traveling even if you call them before hand or file a report online stating your future travel. The fees associated with the card use are bad as well. There is no withdraw fee reimburse program. But the have no account fee and they are very close to for now i just keep on using them. The mobile app works fine and is usually very easy to use. It may be the only thing the Credit Union has going for it. My savings account is easy to transfer money to when i need to and they explanation of recent purchases is always very easy to understand so I can easily remember what purchases and bills i have recently paid.
Stay away from GTE. I have been a member since 1990 when my savings account was first opened and only within the past year I have had issues with them. The most recent issue and what has made me decide to close my accounts with them is their incompetent fraud department. In the past they have suspended my account for small gas purchases made on the same day in different cities. I would have to call in and verify it's my charge and they would re-activate my card. Well, I had a fraudulent charge of an airline ticket in foreign country and GTE even charge me a foreign transaction fee totaling almost $900. This did not raise a red flag on their end! This is the first airline ticket that was EVER purchased with my account and it's in a foreign country. It is also the largest charge made in 2017. Once again, it did not raise a flag to their fraud department. I did not see the charge show up on my transaction history in their online banking system or I would have reported it then. I discovered the charge on my year end summary. I immediately called GTE to report it and since the charge was more then 60 days ago there is nothing they can do about it. Needless to say I immediately paid off my car loan with them over the phone and I am in the process of moving my savings and checking accounts to another bank. I am also going to refinance my rental home that I have with GTE to another bank. I have been a long time customer with excellent credit and they could care less. For that, they will not make any more money on me. I will be sure to tell my family and friends about this as well.
To be honest, I don't use GTE for car loans or mortgages (though my mother does). I do, however, use them for basic everyday banking and have done so since high school. They're great for basic credit and debit needs, and I will look into them for other rates in the future.
I have had an account with this bank for most of my life. I have almost every type of account with them. Their fees are mostly standard. You can avoid almost all the fees if you use them as your primary bank. It is mainly because you need to have direct deposit set up. That waives a majority of the fees. I do not like their website. It is tough for me to figure out how to navigate it. The people are always nice at the local branches. However recently they have done something that freaks me out. They have gotten rid of all of the tellers. They now only have one teller and a tech guy. They instead now have a huge row of monitors. They now have all their tellers at an off site location and you walk up to the screen and this person in a different part of the city is your teller. You can actually get your cash given to you out of a slot below the screen. It is so strange.
Been a member for almost 10 years. Recently been charged a fee for almost anything they can! Charged $35 for being short $2 on a credit card payment. (credit card is from there bank also) charged $35 dollars because i didn't have funds available for a $5 purchase. Since I deposited a check and it didn't go in right away which it had always unless over 500 or a business check. When I called each time I was told it's a valid charge! Then, this is the most shocking one of all. Some how because I manually made a payment from my savings to my credit card to make a payment ( card with gte) they started manually taking it from that act each month without my permission. Because I had no money in my saving I got charged $35 each time. When I realized what was happening, I called member care (not so caring to their members) I waited 35 minutes on hold. The representative told me that when you manually make a payment more then once it starts to automatically withdrawl from that acct for payment each month. I didn't think that was right so I waited another 30 minutes on hold to talk to a surpervisor who said sorry we can't do anything or reverse any fees. They are valid. It makes me sick that they are making so much money off of these fees and for no leginage reason beside for their own profit. Now of all those fees weren't enough. Little did I know if your account is negative more than 5 days they charge you another fee for a negative balance!!! They never stop. I am so unhappy and just plain sickened with this bank. Don't bank with gte! You will regret it, like me!
9/30/19 DEPOSIT ACCOUNTS.COM WILL NOT UPDATE MY POSTING DATE TO TODAY 9/30/19.
I learned today from a posting today that GTE was rescinding our ability to “add-on” to our existing “add-on” share certificates.
At first, I couldn’t believe it, but I checked it out for myself and called GTE this morning.
I was assured that the author of that post was mistaken, and that I could add unlimited funds to my 3 add-on CD’s.
However, later in the day, I read that other “members” of GTE were saying they been told they also could NOT add unlimited funds to their add-on CD’s.
As a result, I called GTE for a second time today and was told by a “supervisor” that the fine print of the original account agreement gave GTE the power to rescind any terms of EXISTING accounts!
I made financial plans based on my agreement with GTE. THEY BROKE THAT AGREEMENT AND SHOULD BE HELD LIABLE!
I am sick and tired of banks getting away with FRAUD, as does GTE!!!
Just realized today that the CD special ends friday. Got money moved around, and made a deposit via the shared branch. Then I got hit with a $3 fee for using the shared branch.
Free checking, as long as you buy checks.
Going to have to spend some time to discover other fees that may show up. I agree with ENDUSER, great rates but lots of gotchas. Watch out. I do not recommend them unless you are gong to have huge CDs to make up for the fees.
HSA - fees. IRA - fees. Want basic checks - $$. External transfer - $$
AND watch out for 6 months on dormancy.
I think there is a charge for coming, and going.
I have been with GTE for about 4 years and i also have been with Wells Fargo. Recently I went into the bank to get a check canceled 4 months ago which I thought was processed but the men that I dealt with apparently didn't do his job properly. four months later that same check which I thought was a lost check and even if it wasn't lost, was cancelled on june 2nd of 2017 was cashed into my bank on October 19th. I am a college student and I am very busy with school and work and I spent basically 4 hours in the bank and they made it seem like it was my fault that this happened to me. this is the worst customer service I've gotten and the manager of the bank was supposed to call me and I never received a call to be followed up with. so I would definitely go back to that bank and if they do not resolve this I will pull my stuff and they need to fix it. I just want a resolution because $387 is a lot of money and they need to be customer service oriented and also fix the charges that was put on my account.
I gave 2 stars because the agents on the phone were nice. Their product is competitive. but overall customer service is not good. And yes, I had to call 3 times and still can't get my problem resolved. I had fraud alert on 3 bureaus, so my online application didn't go through. However, I did not receive any notification for 5 days, I had to call them to find out.
downside:
1. the holding on the phone to get hold of anyone was long for me every time.
2. can't get answers for my questions until after agents contact the new account dept, but I can't directly talk to someone in the new account dept. Even the agent was put on-hold for 15-20 min when trying to get hold of new account dept.
3. process is not flexible, can't email the form, can't fax the form, had to go through mail, which takes a long time.
If I can't get hold of customer service, or even I do, they can't answer my question, it's probably better not to do business with them.
I just applied at GTE attracted by the great rates. After reading the disclosures and fee schedule I realized that there are a few gotchas that will severely impact ones earnings if you're not paying attention. If your age is from 22 to 64 years old you are a target for these fees. I give them 5 stars for great rates, but 1 star for the ridiculous fees.
Gotchas to be on the lookout for:
1. Must have at least $500 in combined balance to avoid $6.00 monthly fee.
2. $25 fee if account is closed within 180 days.
3. $10.00 monthly fee for accounts considered Inactive/Dormant if over 6 month of inactivity.
These Fees can be avoided if you:
• The primary account owner is under age 22 or age 65 and over.
• You maintain a minimum relationship of $500 in combined deposit and loan balances.
• Your account has been opened for less than 90 days.
• You have a Free Checking Account
• You have a College Checking Account
• You have an Early Checking Account
• You have an HSA Checking Account
Note: The process to finish the application took so long that the special expired. I asked them to cancel my application. The great specials are gone. They expired on 27 Oct 2017
I just had one of the BEST Customer Service experiences EVER while opening a new account at GTE Financial. Not only was their website a joy to navigate (unlike most others I've dealt with), the phone support I needed (having recently frozen my credit reports at all major bureau's) was superb. Service Rep walked me (by phone) through every convoluted step required to temporarily unlock my credit freezes. I haven't had such a positive experience at a financial institution in years! And their current CD rates are the icing on the cake!
I applied online for a loan 10 days ago. I received an email that said someone would contact me shortly. I have tried to contact someone at GTE several times over the past 8 days. Usually I am in a queue for 15-25 minutes before a human answers. Twice I have talked to a real human and they have told me that the department I need to speak with for a lot (land) loan is a different department. They put me on hold again and no one has ever answered their forwarded call. I don't know what "conact you shortly" means to them, but obviously it is longer than 10 days and no matter what you do, the process fails. I wouldn't even waste my time writing this, but maybe this will deter some of the readers from going down the same road I have experienced. I don't know how any company like this can possibly succeed in today's competitive world. In summary, I am glad that I have learned how poorly they operate at this stage vs getting deeply involved with them first.
I switched to GTE from another local credit union primarily because of the ease of internet banking and availability and ease of drive-through service. My friend recommended GTE to me and I am so glad. Of course, she was happy, because she a $25 referral fee. This referral fee is on-going and unlimited, as far as I know. I also like the new debit card because it uses the chip technology which is safer than the swipe band. I also was able to get a break on what I pay for checks because I qualified with a savings account, checking account, and a 3yr cd,-so I was able to get checks at a 40% savings. GTE also offers other ways members can earn extra cash; e.g when you log-in you can press the "Smart Button" to enter a giveaway anywhere from $0.80 to $80--wish I could report that I have won, but not yet! The interest rate on my cd is pretty competitive; the interest rates on the savings and checking accounts not so much, but you can earn a bit more interest when you qualify for "member advantage". There are also other ways to earn extra cash by using a smartphone to save each time you swipe; And even earn some pennies when you run or jog. All in all a really friendly and consumer smart credit union. Oh, and that other credit union I switched from: at GTE I have never had a problem with the drive-through or outside ATM,-always a smooth and safe experience.
I have had a great experience with my credit union. During the Christmas season, I noticed some suspicious activity and I immediately called my bank. The call center canceled the card and transferred me to the fraud department to have the matter investigated. They then sent me to the nearest branch to get a new card. This was awesome because most banks mail a new card within 14 days. Great Credit Union, and anyone can become a member!
GTE financial are far worse in fees than the bigger banks. They prey on members not reading fine prints and making lucrative well-offs with your money. Everything is the members fault. They will accept no responsibility for taking your money.....Please beware...
I have to tell you I am very upset. I do my banking on Saturday as that is my day off.
Being that is a busy banking day I would become upset when I came into the bank and there was
just two tellers working on such a busy day.
Today I go into GTE to find now that there are no more tellers or drive thur and I am now
speaking to a machine! Who ever thought of this did not do any research.(you should of done some market research with focus groups!) If YOU would of been standing in the lobby along with me you could of heard all the people complaining about the virtual
teller machines! Who thought of this!!!???
First of all, the long wait between customers is just ridiculous! (some people in line left) One gentleman standing
next to me said that on Friday he waited in line OVER 45min. He also said that he mailed in a check to be deposited only to find that it was NOT deposited in a timely manner because it had to be sent to the main office. I personally stood in line today for over 30 min. There was a African American woman trying to help people at the machines as needed. She told everyone that you are speaking to a
person, and some of us said no...we are talking to machine. She said no if you want you can see them "pick their nose if you like!" That was so unprofessional! At a time when people are irritated to begin with, that was uncalled for! Also in between customers you have to wait till someone hits start then wait almost 5min or longer till a person comes on the screen. Now that is a glitch if I ever saw one!!! Did you even check these machines out???
Second, your older customers have a hard enough time using the ATM and you want the to use this!
I know my Mother could not use this and would not be comfortable banking this way! So you may be losing a lot of your senior citizens because of this!
Third, I don't like speaking and typing on a screen where other people can see and hear what I'm doing. As I type my account number you can see it pop up on the screen and the disappear. I didn't like that at all! In this day and age when there is all kids of hacking this type of banking NEEDS to be rethought!!!
Fourth, People that were waiting in line with me, no one had anything good to say about it. Matter of fact, the joke
was GTE is like the commercial on TV about TD Bank. (What were you guys thinking!!!) Wait till TD Bank hears about this!!! GTE will be the butt of their jokes on TV!!!
Fifth, You are going to lose customers. I know I will leave! You are a bank now that is NOT friendly and
VERY impersonable and very poor service! At a time when you want to appear friendly, GTE missed the mark! You may think you are on the cutting edge, of banking to come. If this is banking to come.....I'll keep my money else where! Unfriendly and poor service, I thought Bank of America was bad that is why I came to GTE, well I'm going back to Bank of America!
Former Customer,
I read the other reviews...no bank can just take your unemployment check. Must be a wage garnishing situation, and blaming them for his own problems?
Anyway, I have been a member for 12 years and never once had a problem. Their rates are fairly competitive and the customer service is fairly responsive. I will continue to bank here for many years to come.
I love GTE Credit Union, they are really competitive with the services they offer and they aren't trying to nickel and dime each customer. They look at customers like members, not customers that they should try to sell me things. I really like that, they keep my money safe and also provide me access to it and offer me things like I need Home mortgages and credit cards with competitive rates.
This is a short version of what happened to us on July 2nd & 3rd 2013. GTE has a corrupted on line banking site and they deny there is any problem with the system. Yet not only does it continue to take you to the final login page which is the password page, but the employee who we sat down and reported it to Dione Mateas Devroux had issues herself when trying to log in at her desk to show us how to do so "correctly" LOL what a joke this place is. Take your money and banking needs elsewhere that will actually be safe for your finances and any concerns brought to Senior staff will actually be heard out and acted on. Not denied that there is an issue then put it off on their "member" as though you have caused there system to work inadequatly. Again LOL what a sorry excuse for a credit union.Our version of events is as follows:
Complaint Description:
Reported suspected fraud on July2 2013 on our accts.. Following day GTE refused us access to our accts.One of which had just received myS.S.A. deposit We opened 11 various accounts in May 2013. Shortly after we started to have suspicious activity in our C.U. accounts,emails, via txt messages and by VM. Things like you are "approved" for a CC, car and payday loans etc. In 3 weeks we received well over 160 plus contacts from to many companies to list. We also had numerous problems with their on line banking, things like being able to log in to "our Accts" even after incorrectly answering security log in questions. When we went to the CU to tell them of our issues and our concern for my coming monthly deposit from SSA Dione M Deavoue misled us that the best way to address this was to lock down our accounts until the morning after my deposit hit to safeguard it from being accessed and the following morning we could come in and close said accts. reset passwords and user logins then reopen the accts under new acct numbers. The morning after the deposit upon arriving at the CU we met with her again were immediately put on the phone in her office with fraud dept. for GTE and were accused of the fraud we reported to be our own fault and told that our funds would NOT be available until the investigation of our claims was completed. When we told this woman she had misled us she denied ever making any such statements to us. This deposit pays my monthly rent due each 3rd,electric and other utilities since I am disabled this deposit is my monthly income. Have now no rent,no funds to pay my bills and am incurring numerous fees and now face possible eviction from our home of the last 3 years. When we told them this was unacceptable and how I live monthly off that deposit Ms Metaes Devroue yelled at us threatened to call the police and told us to leave the CU. Which we did then from outside the door of the CU we contacted the police,member services as well as the branch Manager Rob Perry. After approx 60 minutes Mr Perry came out and told us they had rejected the SSA deposit our accts were being closed and any funds in them with a letter explaining their decision would be mailed to our address. Then we were lied to by The manger of the fraud dept via my cell him telling me the same thing Mr Perry had said as well that my SSA deposit had never actually been deposited.Lie, already verified with SSA deposit was in my account from since the early A.M. Upon going home discussing it between us we decided to call member services again and upon inquiring of the status of the accounts were told they were active, then that the deposit was in but that they would mail a check out in that amount. Disabled,humiliated mistreated and no money, my money to support my monthly living obligations as well as incurring extra fees,cost and facing potential eviction. Unprofessional,rude, unnecessary, and just about criminal. Now we believe most likely driven by ignorant bigoted dislike for our partnership and sexual orientation. Planning on following up by filing with any and all Agencies with oversight of this excuse for a financial institution.
This credit union provides the worst service ever (or not). My son applied for a loan - was told it should be ok so we left. Never got a call back. Left three voicemails over a week's time, and no reply. Finally got someone in Loan Department and explained what happened. He apologized and said that even with more money down, my son could not get a loan (which is all we wanted to find out). I asked to speak to the Loan Officer's supervisor about not getting a return call from my three voicemails (along with nearly a dozen calls I made that went to voice mail). He assured me that he would get back to me that day but never did.
What does it take to get someone to keep their word? Or place a return phone call? If this is the way you get treated before becoming a customer, what happens after they've earned your business.
Credit Union has offered a free (obligation free) entry to win an electric vehicle. However, while trying to enter my name and other info into the free, no obligation entry, After much effort, It became very clear that in order to get the entry accepted, one would have to agree to allow the holders of the contest to contac me and ask any number of "credt questions" and/or I would have to be willing to apply for credit for either a home or a vehicle before I would be entred into said contest for the free commodity (Electric Vehicle) that was free of any obligation.....
Is this not a rather "sneaky" way of acquirig telephone number and address info as well as your permisision to allow an advertiser to contact you as they circumvent the "do not call" restrictions???.
I have been a long time member of GTE FCU, since 1970, and over the years have had a variety of products with them. I recently went in to open a 5 year CD for the then posted rate of 2.52%APY. I was advised by the representative that in order to qualify for that rate, I would need to open a checking account, have a direct deposit, maintain (my already active) savings account, have either a credit card or loan with them and a couple of other requirements which I don't recall. He stated they are trying to encourage members to have ALL of their banking done through GTE. He then asked if I did the majority of my banking somewhere else & I replied that I did. He then asked what I consider to be a rude and inappropriat question of a bank customer, "Where do you bank now", to which I answered "Somewhere else". The only question I consider more rude is when a bank employee asks "why" a customer is withdrawing money from their own account. I did not open any CD, and am seriously thinking of terminating all banking with GTE. Clearly a 40+ year customer is no longer important to GTE FCU unless the customer will commit to bringing ALL of their banking business to GTE. Seems there was a fable when we were children about not putting all of our eggs in one basket. What's up with that, GTE FCU?
They will pull money out of your account even if your on unemployment, They are in bad shape and desperate
Watch out for these robbers, they will take your unemployment check money deposited into your checking accounts.