United States Senate Federal Credit Union
United States Senate Federal Credit Union is headquartered in Alexandria and is the 11th largest credit union in the state of Virginia. It is also the 307th largest credit union in the nation. It was established in 1935 and as of December of 2024, it had grown to 150 employees and 61,745 members at 4 locations. United States Senate Federal Credit Union has a B+ health rating.
Field of Membership Restrictions
Membership in United States Senate Federal Credit Union is open to a Member of The U.S. Capitol Historical Society, Member of The American Consumer Council. You can become a member if you work or retired from over 100 Select Employee Groups. Membership is also open to immediate family member of a current USSFCU Member.
See current membership details
8 Days In, Successfully Funding Cds
A week ago their 3-5 year Share Certificates APYs were the best on DepositAccounts.com, today the Library of Congress FCU beats them.
I was curious to see if a Credit Union affiliated with the US Senate would be any different than others. The application process was almost all online and had many steps due to high security, including a phone interview to screen out money launderers. They bought me a membership in American Consumers Council to qualify me, which I expect will eventually result in more junk mail. It cost $1 fee + $5 to open a Savings account. After verifying my outside checking account, the App or Web system allows up to $5,000 per day online transfers. Once the account was approved for check deposits, the daily limit for checks is $10,000, so I could max out at $15,000 per day to fund the savings account. (There is a monthly limit of $40,000.) To actually start the Share Certificates required a phone call, but once the rep. called me back the process was instantaneous. So far I was able to start 2 CDs, and tomorrow or Monday I should be able to call in to start a 3rd, so between USSFCU and Raisin I will soon have my first pre-retirement 5-year CD "ladder" with accounts earning between 4.81-5.51%.
Thank you, USSFCU. -Eric in New Mexico
Great Rates Good Customer Service
I recently joined USSFCU and I appreciated all prior posters comments about USSFCU. I found the comments very helpful.
My research on the CU cemented my desire to join. I actually opened a new relationship and a 47 mo 5.28% yield cd. The process and outcome was very easy and as expected given all the comments I read here about USSFCU. Honestly the web application was relatively painless (attachments were easy to do) and quite successful. I was very happy with the customer service and all my interactions. Very quick turnaround with secure message replies. I found everyone to be quite professional.
Learning from prior comments, I used a db card ACH funding to avoid cash advance fees at my funding institution, as someone on this website pointed out. I used a nearly immediate free fee waived VACC membership and once my shared savings was opened I used another local coop shared branch deposit into shared savings to fund CD and it was opened same day as shared branch deposit. Granted I had to call the customer service team to open the CD over the phone but it was very smooth. Done instantly. For those worried about rate lock. I withdrew my funds with bank checks at my local institutions, drove to shared branch to make deposit and same day called USSFCU to open CD. I had prior research which local shared branch COOP locations would handle my deposit sum without restrictions. PS I believe USSFCU Rates once posted online in AM are good for the day. and Any holds on bank checks to USSFCU were transferred to CD. Since funds were going to be there for a while in Certificate it was perfectly fine for me.
All went well. Their customer service over the phone and via application secured messaging was good too. Very responsive. Wait times are not unreasonable for CU of their size. My experience with several calls were they were answered within less than 3 minute wait time. Max 10 - 15 minutes hold. I had an appreciation for the potential call volume they handle and didn't mind.
End to end entire process took 4 business days from initial application to CD funding. And because of all the great watch out comments here some of which I noted above, I successfully navigated any potential misunderstandings and the path to membership and funding
For me it was well worth it for the term rate combination.
Application Denied Hijinks
USSFCU just denied our joint application for membership on 5/26/2023. The say they will be mailing a rejection letter explaining why! We were trying to open a joint share account in able to obtain a Jumbo Share Certificate @ 5.28 APY for 2 years.
Again, puzzling, we have no debt, own our home outright, FICO Score of 814, and High seven figure Net Worth.
I'm making an assumption, that its the Chexsystem they are using to deny membership. My ChexSystem score is 673 out of 800 and there isn't any negative information listed. The only thing listed is the numerous (9) Credit Union accounts listed where we had to open up share accounts in order to obtain jumbo CD's with the Credit Union. I had no problem opening up accounts with 7 of the Credit Unions listed. However, USSFCU and another one denied membership.
It seems that USSFCU doesn't realize there are a lot of CD shopper's out there that are forced to open up multiple accounts in sometime short time frames in order to obtain good CD rates and meet NCUA insurance limits.
I understand that the opening of many accounts at once may be a red flag, but a real financial institution should be aware that not all applicants can be fitted into one size.
Or could it be that USSFCU is just looking for customers that will use their products so they can make fees/interest off them?
Anyway if you fall into my scenario, stay away from USSFCU so you don't waste your time.
.Addendum: As of June 8, 2023, no correspondence received from USSFCU listing reason(s) why application rejected. Talk about :Star Chamber proceedings! Denied Membership but never provided the reasons why by your accuser?
Not Worth It!
After I went thru all the hassles to establish a membership, I am struggling to open a Share certificate. Looks like you need to work thru the customer support to get the certificate open as there is no option in app/online. The issue is it takes 2 days for someone to respond to your chat. No luck with phone support as I gave up twice after 30 mins of hold. Call back option is useless as nobody returned my calls yet. I guess i'll park my money with some other institution than USSFCU. Just wasted $6.
Data as of Q4 2024
Learn why bank health mattersHealth Grade Components
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| NCUA # | 624 |
| Year Chartered | 1935 |
| Employees | 150 |
| Primary Regulator | |
| Profit Margin | |
|---|---|
| Return on Assets - YTD | -0.42% |
| Return on Equity - YTD | -5.98% |
| Annual Interest Income | $87.3MM |
| Assets and Liabilities | ||
|---|---|---|
| Assets | Q4 2024vs Q4 2023 | $1.53B$1.46B |
| Loans | Q4 2024vs Q4 2023 | $1.14B$1.16B |
| Deposits | Q4 2024vs Q4 2023 | $1.41B$1.34B |
| Equity Capital | Q4 2024vs Q4 2023 | $106.8MM$113.1MM |
| Loan Loss Allowance | Q4 2024vs Q4 2023 | $11MM$11.1MM |
| Unbacked Noncurrent Loans | Q4 2024vs Q4 2023 | $7.7MM$8.5MM |
| Real Estate Owned | Q4 2024vs Q4 2023 | $0$0 |