5 star: | (3) | |
4 star: | (1) | |
3 star: | (2) | |
2 star: | (2) | |
1 star: | (7) |
USSFCU has an application process as nauseating as trying to get into Fort Knox. They ask for numerous pieces of identification...v-e-r-y slowly. Then they sit on it. And one day (nearly 2 weeks after application) they called me out of the blue asking obscure i.d. questions as if copied from a credit bureau log-in. Really?! I wouldn't deposit a bag of quarters with them. If you must apply have something liquid to quench your thirst and amusing channel on TV cause it's gonna be a long, long wait. Sheesh.
Update since last review: As promised, I am completing my review of this institution, now that I've finished opening two CDs with them. Because of how USSFCU works, large funding had to be initiated on my banks side. Everything else went like butter with them. And, the rates lowered a few days before I was able to make the transfers happen and they honored the higher previous rate...I did not expect that to be honest! Going above and beyond. Also there phone app is nicely done.
First post: Of course it's hard to open a bank account online today! It does not matter what your credit score is or how great a person you are (the better your score is the more it needs to be protected....idiot). Of course there are penalties when you withdraw money from a CD early.... if you don't want the fees, open a savings account. Customer service is a relative question when dealing with a bank...or anything nowadays.
Could people give us reviews that matter. i.e. Did the bank handle your money properly, did they follow the rules of banking, did they do what they promised, and yes, how was their customer service. Was there any surprises (please don't answer this question if you are stupid and don't know it takes time to open an account online in 2024, and there are fees associated with early withdrawal....you're just wasting our time reading your drivel (idiot). Perhaps your mommy will care, tell her.
As for this bank...it took me a week of business days to open a new savings account (required to open any other USSFCU account). They require that I send funds to savings account in order to then open and transfer those funds to the CD I want. And they require that I deposit funds from a mobile app. These are all different from other banks (or CUs) that I've used....however, all banks operate differently and these are not concerning. Now....as I'm new to this institution, I will certainly update this review if I see any (non-idiotic) concerns in the future.
Pros:
It's a Credit Union
Some of the Best CD rates in the country (as of this writing)!!
Cons / Old School Manual Process:
Banking App is poor - does not meet my expectations; Other Banking Apps are far superior.
Call Member Services for many things (Member Services experiences have been very positive.)
Online Application - kinda
You open an account online and then have to be interviewed by a Customer Service Rep to answer additional questions before your account is approved.
Open a CD - NOT available online
You have to call Member Services. They did turnaround and open the CD within 1 business day. Other financial institutions have the capability to open a CD online instantly.
Beneficiaries - Cannot setup online
You have to call Member Services. You cannot even VIEW who you have setup as a beneficiary online. A banking application should be able to at least display who you have set up as a beneficiary at a bare minimum.
CD Penalty
If CD > 3yrs, the early withdrawl penality is ONE YEAR of interest.
Worst customer service in trying to open an account online. They ask you to call them back to answer few questions over phone and when you call they say they don;t have those questions and a specific department will call me back and then I don't get any call from them and the cycle continues.
Wasted more than a week and tried calling them multiple times and when i gave this feedback then they said they are very busy because of high volume of account opening applications.
Either have ability to handle those cases and don't give excuse because your process is broken where you ask someone to call you so that you can ask questions and then you tell them that you will call back. Stay away from this bank.
Here we have a new low. I had to return a check for replacement that closed out a matured CD and I am waiting and waiting for them to replace the check. It has been weeks. My other transactions with their customer service have been equally slow. And for some reason there has been no access online to my CD information from the beginning (for three years) so that is very last century. I guess these folks are about as efficient as their namesake would suggest. Never again!
Somewhat confusing application process to get through to become a member but I provided all the very personal details they requested. In the application they ask what products you are interested in and I wrote that I was interested in their $200k 60 month CD. Four business days later I got a request from them to unfreeze one of my credit bureau accounts!!! I am not going to take a hit on my credit score to give them $200k for a CD. I have an 820 credit score so my score is not the problem. I never would have found out they were going to do this had I not already had all of them frozen. I currently have various savings type accounts in 16 financial institutions and this is the first one to ask me to unfreeze a credit bureau account just to become a member. It's not normal unless you are going to try and borrow money from them. Do yourself a favor and avoid this bank.
I applied to open a joint savings account online and paid the lifetime membership & funded the savings account with a debit card. These are 2 different transactions posted on my debit card account. I was approved the next day (paperwork DocuSigned and received message saying we're now a members), I enrolled in their online banking system and deposited checks to my savings account via a shared branch. Everything was all set up to open a CD I thought. The next day I called USSFCU about opening a CD and they told me they could not do it until the 2 debit card transactions clear(CU membership fees $2.00, $10.00 minimum joint savings) ! I was told that this could take up to 2 days to clear. Even though my debit transactions show "pending" they would not make an exception to guarantee the CD rate so that I can open the CD when the debit transactions clear!!
USSFCU should NOT have informed new members that their application is approved until all the credit/debit card transactions have cleared! For those interested in opening a CD account there may be a delay due to this technical issue!
I have opened online CDs with other financial institutions(using credit to fund a savings account/membership fees) and have never had this happen to me before! Anyone ever run into this situation?
It's Friday today so now I may have to wait until Monday and the CD rate may change at any time! I believe they should make an exception in my case but they refuse to!
USSFCU is currently allowing members with certificates to break and renew them without penalty at the current rates. This week I broke a regular and an IRA CD and renewed them both for another five-year term at the prevailing rates. Both of my CDs still had about a year to go on them until maturity.
I think it's worth a call to see if your CDs are eligible. I had no eligibility issues myself (both CDs were maturing within a year).
If you are a USSFCU member with a CD and received an email from USSFCU recently announcing this program and thought it was a scam, I can tell that you that it isn't.
FYI.
Read BEFORE Applying! -
Membership Restrictions:
Membership in United States Senate Federal Credit Union is open to anyone through a contribution to:
the US Capitol Historical Society (USCHS).
COST: $ 65 MINIMUM . . .just to be able to deposit YOUR money in their credit union - go figure!??
Membership is also open to employees of :
The United States Senate
The United States Supreme Court
The Government Accountability Office
Democratic National Committee, and over 75 area Select Employer Groups.
WARNING: If you use an Apple computer (MacBook Pro, for instance) you WILL encounter problems uploading 2 ID - DRIVER'S LICENSE + UTILITY BILL or Passport or other Bank Statement. I had miserable experience and emailing one doc as pdf resulted in them saying "START A NEW APPLICATION".
Who needs this bureaucratic b.s.?
Timothy L. Anderson, the President, apparently isn't aware how screwed-up their application process is.
I tried multiple times uploading pdf files without success. Customer Service person said "I've spent all week trying to help people with this same problem".
Can I speak to your CTO-Chief Technology Officer or someone in that department?, I asked.
Her answer? "Just Google the solution", she said.
What should I Google, I asked.
"I don't know", she said.
The CSRs are clueless and the don't answer secure messages.