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If you have a savings account with Westmark and move out of state, just go through the hassle of closing the account and moving everything. Because, it will end up being less hassle than trying to withdraw funds later.
If you call them and speak to one teller, give him/her all the correct info to verify your identity, they'll send you a cashier's check... no problem!! But, when you call at a later date, talk to a different teller, give them all the safe information, she'll say, "oh dear. I have to talk to my manager." Then return saying, "it's not our policy. You have to send a letter to request a withdrawal."
When you mention that you've been able to withdraw via a phone call before, the teller will get huffy and demand to know which teller you worked with before. (I am not going to tattle and get someone fired for offering decent customer service!)
I know who the manager of our branch is. She is the same woman, who years ago, refused to let me open an individual savings account because I am married (happily) and I wasn't putting my husband on the account. He was fully aware I was opening an individual account and wanted me to do it. She still refused. (It's fun when a bank decides to legislate a marriage, isn't it?)
Funny story... I went back a couple months later, spoke to someone else, and got an individual account opened, no hassles! This is an insititution that picks and chooses which policies they follow.
I think our branch (Rexburg) could have been a decent banking institution, if it weren't for the manager. The interactions I had with (most of) the tellers, was satisfactory. She is confused, and makes up policies on the fly, depending on what mood she's in for the day.
We have used them for our savings accounts for almost 20 years. We've had various loans through them. You'd think we'd get some courtesy and consideration from them.
If/when we move back to Idaho, we'll find a different credit union to join.
Or, maybe we'll stick with the institution we have in our new state! They seem happy to have us as customers, and bend over backwards with customer service. A trait Westmark has lost.
I think the people who currently run this institution have forgotten what/who made WESTMARK what it is today. They have forgotten how to see and treat people as individuals. When I bought my new car, a simple little inexpensive Nissan Versa Note, all they saw was an excellent credit score and my decent income as a registered nurse working at a well known Home Health and Hospice company. It took all of about five minutes to approve my loan at an awesome 3% interest, needless to say, I was quite pleased at this point and looking forward to the possibility of doing all of my banking with them in the future. However, my excitement was soon replaced with frustration when it came time to make my first payment. I received a letter stating my payment amount and the due date but no payment coupon book or even a single coupon attached to the letter. When I called to inquire about this I was told I could make a payment over the phone or in person at the Twin Falls branch. Of course by phone it would cost me an additional $8 fee and since I didn't have a checking account with them there would also be a fee to make the payment in person unless I payed in cash. They would not auto debit my account with another bank and they do not use payment coupon books, so my only option to make my payment every month was to go to my bank, pull out the cash, and bring it in to the Twin Falls branch 20+ miles from my home, and pay in person, or pay an extra fee. After a few months of this I finally gave in to their constant pushing and opened a checking account with them. Before I had the chance to make the necessary changes with my employer to have a portion of my check deposited into my WESTMARK account however, my mom's health took a turn for the worse. I was working two jobs at the time and would get off work at 6:30 am after working between 4&6 12 hr night shifts, drive two hours to get to Boise, and spend my one or two days off in the hospital with her, then drive back home for a quick shower and head back to work for another 4-6 nights of 12hr shifts. I barely had time to say hello to my husband let alone to find time, during business hours, to go make my car payment. I sucked it up a few times and just paid the ridiculous fee to make my payment over the phone. After my mom passed away I did let things get behind a bit, for instance my payment was due on the 26th of the month and I sometimes would not get in to make the payment until a week or two before e next month was due. I never got a late fee though and the teller said that as long as I made the payment before the next one was due I would be fine. I ended up taking a break from nursing and working with a temp agency doing different general labor jobs for a LOT less money, but enjoying EVERY bit of it. In May of this year I had a very difficult time coming up with my payment and ended up about $70 short of my $291 payment, June was due on the 26th and I was sent out of state for 3 weeks at the first of July to train for a position at my new job, when I came home there was a letter stating that my car was going to be repossessed if I didn't reply within ten days. When I called to let them know that I had the $70 for May, and the payment for June, and July's payment as well, (this was on July 17th, 9 days before July s even due, they said it was too late and the car was already called for repossession and they would NOT accept any payments. WOW! May's payment was only $70 short and that $70 was not even two months late, June's payment was not technically late until July's payment was due, which was still more than a week away, and I had money in hand to make the $70 portion from May, as well as June and July payments BEFORE July was even due and they would not accept any of it. When I spoke with the manager she asked me what happened since I had made all my payments so well until then, she even sounded like she cared, so I explained what was happening in my personal life, against my better judgement, and all she had to say was, "Well I'm sorry to hear that but there is nothing I can do about it, you will have to try to get refinanced through someone else within ten days of the day we take your car." Well then why the heck did she even have me tell her my personal information!!!! If she knew NOTHING was going to allow me to keep the car and make my payments then she had no right to ask me for personal information and let me cry while telling it, literally I cried because those few months were very emotional for me, and then to respond very coldly while telling me they were going to take my car anyway!!! When I called her back a few minutes later to tell her that I found someone to refinance, but only if my payments were current, and ask if I could just make the rest of May's payment and make the June payment so my payments would be current, she said that they would NOT accept ANY payment and that I needed to keep looking because there were some places that would refinance but it would likely just cost me a substantially higher interest rate. When they finally took the car, three weeks later, I called the main branch and spoke with the manager there to see if I could reinstate my loan and she told me "It is our policy that we don't do loan reinstatements because we feel that if we are here now then we will just be here again"... Are you kidding me!?! Can you not see in my credit report that I have NEVER been in this situation before?!?!?! Now I have just received a letter stating that they sold my car for 9+ thousand and with fees and the remainder of what I still owed I now owe 7+ thousand... And they had the nerve to ask that I call immediately to MAKE PAYMENT ARRANGEMENTS!!! They refused to allow me to make ANY payment in an effort to keep my car, they refused to reinstate my loan because they felt I would just end up here again, and now they expect me to call and politely set up payment arrangements to pay for a car that I NO LONGER HAVE!!!! I now have a payment for the car I had to get to replace the one they took and now they expect me to make payments on that too!!! Of course I'm going to pay because legally I have no choice, and I will likely have to pay a fee to pay by phone because I'll be darned if I'm going to step foot into that bank to pay in person, but you can't get blood from a turnip, I can only do what I can do and that will have to be enough. All of this could have been avoided if WESTMARK was just a little more understanding and treated people as individuals rather than a standard!!!!! I will NEVER do business with them again and I will ALWAYS be sure to warn other people against doing business with them.
I was in Nampa, Idaho near the Idaho Center picking up a piece of furniture from Craigslist. I needed to break a $100 bill and there was a WestMark right on the corner. On a sad note, I stopped in to WestMark Credit Union near the home I was going to and asked to break a $100 bill. They would NOT do it because I was not a member. (?) Wow! You have to be a member to get change? Not like I was trying to cash a check... no problem at the Chevron though! Guess I won't be joining WestMark anytime soon (or later either... they won't be around for long)! :(
Absolutely dislike this bank. We've had the biggest headache of our lives dealing with them. We financed a car through them and even the dealership was tired of them. They asked for papers that we provided just for them do deny them and want even more proof for no reason. They refused to accept a government issued paper stating my husband got his VA monthly payments. Absolutely ridiculous, not only after that 8 days prior to our first payment they finally send us the paperwork. I call to see how we pay and they don't do auto withdrawal?! Who doesn't do that?? The lady says oh we're too small to do that. You're the 3rd largest credit union in Idaho and you don't do that?! We are definitely refinancing our car as soon as possible to get away from this bank.
I was scammed twice by hackers. They scammed me last year and this year. With luck I did not get ripped off, but they were able to get into my computer and compromise my bank account. First time this happened, the Nampa credit union I used was VERY helpful and everything was changed with new account numbers. This time, when I talked with the branch manager she was furious with me and said that I was not competent enough to have a checking account and closed me down. So I had to scurry around and open a new account with another bank and change all of my direct deposits. I have never talked to such a hateful person. The venom actually came through the phone. Too bad I'm not Donald Trump. I would have said: "Your Fired."
We had a company compromise our account twice which caused problems because then my bills bounced. I didn't know about this until I received a call from the bank saying they were closing my account down. Too many fees. I called and tried to explain that we were customers for a very long time and that this has never happened before, but the lady said she talked to the other managers in area and decided that this was for the best, and would not help us out.