Valley First Credit Union is headquartered in Modesto and is the 62nd largest credit union in the state of California. It is also the 432nd largest credit union in the nation. It was established in 1956 and as of December of 2023, it had grown to 160 employees and 78,174 members at 9 locations. Valley First Credit Union's CD rates are 4X the national average, and it has a B+ health rating.
Field of Membership Restrictions
Membership in Valley First Credit Union is open to those who live, work, worship, or attend school in the California counties of Calaveras, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tulare, or Tuolumne. Employees of more than 160 Select Employer Groups also qualify for membership.
See current membership details
Valley First Credit Union
I have both personal and business accounts with Valley First. They have wonderful customer service and are prompt to help you when you go into the branch. It's a little impersonal because even though you're taking to an actual person, it's through a phone and they are on a screen in front of you. I understand they do it for safety reasons, so I don't let that bother me too much.
The checking and savings accounts are easy to manage. Their bill pay services make it easy to use as a business owner and for a personal account.
Even though it's not a big bank, you really can't go wrong with them because they can manage just about any type of account that meets your needs.
Great Credit Union
Moved all my accounts from BofA to Valley First, BofA wasn't happy, but hey...I am very happy with this credit union. Fast service, decent CD rates and local.
Love The Service!
The people at Valley First CU make this a great place to bank. The rates on their products are lower than most others in my area. I do most of my banking online, and I like that there isn't a lot of advertising cluttering it up. I can get in and get my business done without navigating around ads.
Worst Customer Relations Ever!
Recently placed a large deposit in the Stockton branch in hopes of starting a new banking relationship with a smaller more people oriented bank. Big mistake. I applied for a Home a Equity Line of Credit using a clear title worth 130% of the requested line. Apparently an excellent credit rating and a respectable income mean nothing in the process and I was rejected for the line ( certainly their right). The really frustrating part is the banks refusal to explain or put anything in writing as to how they came to their conclusion. You're left without any recourse or remedy to make things work. After multiple requests for details in writing, including a letter to their President which went unanswered , (sent registered and it took them a week to pick up and sign for the letter!) I finally wrote them off, closed my account and moved on.
They might be ok if you're happy with a .0005 return on your money (example: $10,000 = $5.00 annual return paid in monthly installments of 42 cents! ).
In 40 years of working with banks, they were the worst!
My advice is to keep looking, you can do better!
Bad Service
Valley First has a terrible record of keeping their ATM operating in good service. Their ATM is breaking down at least once a week where the machine malfunctions as to not allow deposits, withdraws, or even inquiries. Sometimes the ATM is down for a whole week.
To make things even more difficult and matters worse the tellers at the branch DO NOT take cash deposits. Yes, you read that right. The tellers inside the credit union branch DO NOT take cash or coins even if or when the ATM is down for a week. It is against policy for the tellers to take cash.
Has anyone ever heard of a credit union refusing to take cash or coins inside the branch? What on Earth are the tellers there for if they do not take cash?
Auto Loan From Valley First Credit Union
Valley First has not released our bank records in relation to our auto loan. They have referred us to the lawyer to get these records as well a copy of the contract but have not received either after several requests. During the length of the loan we had some lapses in insurance, for which VFCU charged us an additional charge. They still charged us that same additional charge even on the months when we did show them proof of insurance. Several VFCU employees at those time assured that all those additional charges would come off the back end of the loan. After 7 years on a 5-year loan they said that we still owed them over $4000. We pulled whatever money we had left in our account and they charged us again for money they said we still owed them, our account became overdrawn and we were reported to chexsystems and cannot open any accounts anywhere at this time (even at our current bank).
No matter who we have spoken to we cannot get anyone to give us copies of our account information or the contract. If there was a way to rate them zero stars we would.
Data as of Q4 2023
Learn why bank health mattersHealth Grade Components
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| NCUA # | 68402 |
| Year Chartered | 1956 |
| Employees | 160 |
| Primary Regulator | |
| Profit Margin | |
|---|---|
| Return on Assets - YTD | 0.92% |
| Return on Equity - YTD | 11.24% |
| Annual Interest Income | $42.1MM |
| Assets and Liabilities | ||
|---|---|---|
| Assets | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $1.02B$964.2MM |
| Loans | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $740.5MM$733.1MM |
| Deposits | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $801.5MM$794.9MM |
| Equity Capital | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $83.8MM$76MM |
| Loan Loss Allowance | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $8.5MM$3.7MM |
| Unbacked Noncurrent Loans | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $5MM$4.3MM |
| Real Estate Owned | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $0$0 |