| 5 star: | (6) | |
| 4 star: | (0) | |
| 3 star: | (5) | |
| 2 star: | (3) | |
| 1 star: | (20) |
To fund a CD, they only allow transfers IN of $2,000.
Plus share account isn't $5 but instead $50.
Just added a 3-year fixed cd to my lfcu portfolio, earning 4.52 APY. By far, the highest rate in the country. Setting it up took less than 1 min. Simply selected the term, indicated funding from the share savings account, and the new account appeared on my dashboard.
I have been dealing with online banks for many years with the large institutions which aren't giving attractive long term rates right now. I figured I would give this institution a try as they had attractive long term rates.
As with any bank your important personal data and unlocking/unfreezing your credit with the three major agencies is the standard practice. However the challenge questions are on the absolute ridiculous side. Being asked what year and month you sold a particular vehicle you owned. I couldn't even get this information from DMV or the local Police department. There was a different challenge question each time that was that I was unable to answer. Three times was enough for me. It should also be noted that it's one of the worst as far as wait times on the phone.
I have been trying to get in touch with customer service for the 5th business day now! I have been left on hold, I have left my number for call back both to no avail!
I'm unable to reach a representative! I hope they can fix their problem soon! Very frustrating!
I would give negative stars if I could.
Beware of off the chart penalties for early withdrawal on Lafayette Federal Credit Union CDs which are hidden when the CD accounts are open. They can be up to almost a 2 year penalty for a 5 year CD. I looked up the available balance on my 5 year CD I opened last year and it was the full balance yet Lafayette Federal Credit Union has given no indication it will honor it. They also had the option to waive the early withdrawal penalty for emergencies which they do not do. The NCUA and other regulators are investigating my complaint.
I had all kinds of issues opening the account and never got it resolved when I emailed LFCU leadership. I had a family emergency which meant I needed to cash in the CD early. Top my surprise, they had a 600-day penalty for early withdrawal on my CD. I don't recall seeing this when I opened the CD. You will not see this in the certificates section of the LFCU website lfcu.org/personal/certif…. Hidden on the LFCU website is all the penalties for early withdrawal. lfcu.org/files/Fixed-Rat…
There are plenty of banks out there with similar or higher rates with far lower penalties for early withdrawal. You can even get similar rates on US Treasury Notes with no state tax and no penalty for early withdrawal.
LFCU says it is Member-Owned, Not-for-Profit -You're a member AND an owner at Lafayette Federal. We treat our members as unique individuals with specific needs and financial goals. We are member-owned, not-for-profit, and community-minded. This couldn't be further from the truth based on my experience. The penalty for early withdrawal section shown above which I don't recall seeing when I opened the CD says LFCU MAY impose a penalty for early withdrawal. They want to impose a huge penalty and this is after escalating to LFCU leadership.
My husband and I had CDs mature and had the money put in our share savings accts. We went to a coop shared branch near us to get checks. Lafayette would not let the shared branch access our account even though the cashier at the shared branch could see the accts. I called Lafayette twice and was told there was nothing blocking the accts at their end (obviously there was). There was no one I could talk to at Lafayette who could deal with this problem. The person I talked with told me to go to another shared branch. We are closing the accts and telling L. to mail checks. Wasted an entire morning on this
I am a retired senior and was recently looking for a 4 year CD. I admit I was a little hesitant after reading some reviews but I gave it a shot anyway. I couldn't be more pleased. Even though I had to do an extra step or two to open the CD since I was from out of state, I found the customer service team to be knowledgeable, helpful and friendly. I highly recommend them based on my experience.
I should have done more research before I applied for membership. I paid the $10 HOLFC membership fee then gave them my credit card to load $50 into a share savings account. What I didn't realize was my $50 is now being held hostage for 6 months unless I pay a fee of $25 for closing the account early. That account also only pays .10 percent interest so pushing 250k into it to fund a Jumbo CD that I can't even set up yet is scary. I also found out that they only pay interest on Jumbo CDs quarterly. I was wanting the CDs to create a monthly cash flow during my retirement so this is useless. Their fee schedule is rediculous. My bad for not researching this bank further. Their website is also not geared towards savers and is all about hooking customers with debt.
Wanting to avoid the $250,000 NCUA insurance cap, I tried to instruct Lafayette to pay out PENALTY free my compounded and re-invested CD dividends. They charge a penalty on such withdrawals and only allow you to schedule FUTURE dividends to be paid into your Share Savings account. I’ve never seen this at other banks and credit unions. Not only are Lafayette’s EWPs egregious but this makes them even worse.
Make sure to keep in mind if you decide to reinvest your dividends that future dividends don’t push you over the $250k NCUA limit.
Online accounts are a waste of time! They rarely answer the phone. Secure messaging is just plain stupid!
They purposefully postdate purchased CD, even when funding is from internal liquid savings. This action is orchestrated to Defraud and may be consequential under RICO Act. And, expect 45+ minutes hold time to reach member services, who will tell someone will call you in 1-2 days, in moot.
I have been a member for almost two years. Their CD rates are very good across the board. Some credit unions and banks only one of or two CD terms that are decent rates but not Lafayette. Most of my contact with customer service has been via secure email. They are on the east coast and I am on the west coast. Doing secure email is easier for me. The reply is in about 24 hours which is not bad. I have called a couple of times and have had no problems. I use them for only savings accounts at this point in time. Overall I am very satisfied with Lafayette.
So YES, you do have to jump through some hoops to join the credit union, etc, BUT it is worth it. The rates are excellent and the customer service was just fine. It was easy to link up to another bank and transfer the money. As overall online banks go, this is pretty good. Just be patient with the registration process and follow the directions precisely.
When you call customer service, they will ask you to wait around 3 minutes for each question you have and then asked you to leave phone number and wait for call back in one day.
What kind of service is this always need to wait for one more day do banking matters.
I do not have one day to wait. I want to resolve right away.
Please try and call them and make yourself crazy. Stay away from the human robot customer care calling center.
Review UPDATE:
I originally only gave one star for bad customer service, but after contacting LFCU a couple more times, the agents were very helpful and sent me tax information within 24 hours of requesting it, via secure email. I now feel better about this credit union. I would recommend calling them during regular business hours to get the more efficient customer service. I'm giving 3 stars for customer service now, and would have given more, but the hold time for a rep was extra long.
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previous review:
Called customer service to ask when I would be receiving the 2022 1099-INT for my accounts and he kept repeating that you have to earn over $10 in a year to get sent the form. Duh, I know this and I wouldn't be calling unless I knew I should receive the tax form. He said he could have one mailed or emailed to me, so I opted for the email and he kept asking me to repeat the email because he couldn't understand what I was saying. I said, "can't you see this on your computer?" and he said no, which is weird. I assumed he could access my information online and would only need to verify I am who I say I am, but apparently this person had NO CLUE whatsoever about anything. I have 2 CDs at this credit union and once they mature I WILL NOT open any more accounts. I DO NOT recommend this credit union!
Thought the other reviews were just being dramatic.
Had to find out for myself. Talked to 3 CS Reps.
and neither of them could answer simple basic questions they were just bodies picking up the phones. Left my info with someone who was suppose to call me back 3 days ago and nothing. Maybe they are overwhelmed with calls.
Really poor customer service and overall experience (they do not even send you an email confirmation when you apply to open an account and they expect you to figure out how to check on the status of an application - really disgusting and rude customer service). You can skip it and put your money elsewhere. Looking at the other reviews, which most of them are unfavorable, I think this CU should be reported for further investigation of its practices.
We can't remember getting service from any other institution as good as we received from Lafayette Federal Credit Union. Everyone was extremely polite-responsive and went out of their way to help. CD Rates are the best in the country. All the people we dealt with like Ms. Rachael, Ms. Canisha, Mr. Kristian, Mr. Christian, and Mr. Rico made it extremely easy to understand what needs to be done to accomplish what you would like to do, we really appreciated it! -Phuong Pham
I have a FICO score well above 800, no debt other than a home mortgage, and I have cash to deposit yet Lafayette refused membership to open an account there.
1. fill out application 3 weeks ago.
2. it says complete but member number is blank.
3. need member number to sign on website
4. call them, was told 1-2 business days to get in email.
5. last week. call them. she said two days
6. the same day. get email, ask for driver license.
we send it back right away.
7. call them today, ask me lots questions , finally find the driver license. demand more...
8. cancel the application to avoid bank fraud
I have opened up at least 50 CDs in my life with many different banks and credit unions and this one has been the worst. One of many problems is that there are lots of fees that are not disclosed just to get your money. Credit unions are usually considered more customer friendly more concerned about their customers Etc but not this one
My application was declined for the very first time I applied with any banks or credit unions, taken I have very good credentials and excellent credit score. I tried to inquire what was the reason but the customer service representative would not give me the answer. Finally after I insisted, I was told that a copy of my drivers license was not of good quality. I checked the file of documents submitted that I saved and found the quality of the photo fine. I would recommend not to waist time with this credit union.
Edited on 10/27/2022
I called the credit union and was asked to provide a copy of additional photo ID. I provided it. No reply for a while. I called again and there was no evidence that my copy of photo ID had been received. I sent it again to the person I spoke with. After I submitted the copy of my photo ID, I was emailed a form and the account was opened the next day. It appears that if the application is declined, it would help to stay persistent. I recommend following up at least weekly.
I was attracted to the LFCU because of its high 5-year CD rate. It was easy to get Home Ownership (HOFLC) membership by paying the $10 fee. The LFCU membership application is not a good experience. The status was still pending a week after submitting all requirement documents. Calling LFCU customer services is difficult. Most of time, I could not reach anyone. After reading other reviews, I had concerns about LFCU practices. I canceled my application, which was approved immediately. I will just chalk up my HOFLC fee as a loss.
I RECIVED MY LOAN ON MAY 5TH SET UP AUTO PAY ON MAY 23RD started calling them on May30 to make sure the monies would be deducted from my account payment was due on June4th today is June 6th and the money has still not been deducted from the account been speaking to agents since the 30th before the june4th Payment was due the agents keep telling me a loan officer will call me within 24 hrs this has been going on since June 30th all i wanted to do is make sure my payment was received till this day the payment has not been deducted from my account there for i look at my account and the payment doubled due to late payment i screen shot the ach payment that was taken out on May 23rd verifying my account it was for 11 cents my credit is excellent not trying to ruin it due to late payments ACH was set up well in advance if the money was deducted on time on June4th it should not be a late payment im writing this review to cover my side of the story and my screen shot of the May 23rd transactions i have saved in my files.
Customer service reps are totally untrained and not prepared to answer any questions. The wait time is always over 10 minutes just to be told after answering 7-1o security questions that they will have some body call you back in 24-48 hours in which they NEVER call back. Tried to pay loan off early and they held the check for over two weeks to post payment.
DO NOT USE THIS CREDIT UNION !!!!
Lafayette has had a lot of issues with customer accounts in my years of experience with LFCU. Inconvenient, disorganized, and difficult to find information when I need it. I've had to deal with so many issues and errors from the branches over the years.
On-line account services have not worked, for over a week, since Thursday, February 24, 2022 when Lafayette Federal Credit Union closed the old on-line system to install a new one.
The new system was supposed to be functioning on Tuesday, March 1, but the new system is not functioning because it does not allow access. When you try to sign into your account, the system says that you must used the verification code that they send you in an email. However, the system never provides the verification code to access the system.
I have called account services, which is almost impossible to access, and I have sent emails to support services. In both cases, they have not responded with help.
I have been with Lafayette since 1985, but I am now for the first time likely to change credit unions just to achieve basic services.
If you are looking for a credit union that can provide basic services, I would strongly encourage you to seek better services somewhere else, like Navy Federal Credit Union.
I would highly recommend going ANYWHERE else for your financial service needs. This organization is the least customer friendly CU I've ever encountered. They continuously posted payments for different loans to just one loan. You are never able to reach someone on the phone to correct the issues for hours. And when you try to pay off the loans to be rid of them they don't have a same day payoff option without using a wire transfer for additional fees so they can make additional daily interest charges. Do yourself a favor and just consider any other financial institution.
Min deposit is $1000 for the %1 bonus rate.
For eligibility to become a Business Performance account holder, the business must meet at least one of the following criteria: (1) Open a Lafayette Federal Business Credit Card or Line of Credit (2) Use one or more Lafayette Federal Business Service products (Remote Deposit Capture, ACH SmartPay, Paychex Payroll, or FirstData Merchant Services)
https://www.lfcu.org/business/business-banking.aspx
I called to check out the knowledge and the service of Lafayette. I was disappointed to find the off standard business hours support was really lacking. After calling twice, I could not even get an answer to the most basic of banking questions.
As is the case, more often than not, high interest rates usually mean the opposite in support.