Sefcu

I got hit with over $ 250 in fees in one day you would think that they would stop after a couple what happened was my federal income taxes was deposited an bills hit at the same time I asked for at least half of the $ back and they said someone would call from corporate still waiting months later seriously thinking about switching banks that is a lot of $ for someone living paycheck to paycheck

My experience with Sefcu has been a stressful one. 1^st incident: I wrote a check to myself to deposit into my Chase account, which I use a spending account, and the check was declined. I called Sefcu to find out why, and the representative claimed it must have been a problem with Chase because my Sefcu account had the funds and there is no record of any check being declined. She then suggested I call Chase because Sefcu has a policy that checks written by the account holder to his/​herself are not accepted and maybe Chase has a similar policy. The only problem with this theory is that I had deposited a couple of checks written to myself in prior weeks without a problem. But I called Chase anyway to try and get to the bottom of this problem, and they told me that the payment was declined due to a hold on my account from Sefcu (what?!). Of course I called Sefcu back and they said there is no hold but could not explain why the check was returned (bottom line, I ended up pay a return check fee with Chase and no one could tell me why). 2^nd incident: An electronic payment to ConEdison was declined. I received a notice in the mail from ConEd notifying me of the online payment was declined and to top it off, I’m no longer allowed to make electronic payments online. Now I have to mail a check or money order (first and only time a payment has ever been declined with ConEd). I called Sefcu and again they told me that they don’t even have a record of a payment attempt and could not explain why the payment was declined. 3^rd and final incident was an online payment to my student loan which was also declined. Anyone with a student loan knows this is a very important payment that you do not want to be late on. I didn’t even bother calling Sefcu this time around, I’m just waiting for my job to update my direct deposit account to Chase and I’m closing my Sefcu account. I never had any problems with the bankcard, it was only when I used my checks or paid using an electronic check. The one good thing is that my direct deposit would clear a day earlier than it used to with Chase. But one day is not worth all this hassle. I’m done with Sefcu.

Extremely poor service. If you are looking for a moetgage, i would look elsewhere. I went into the Malta branch t setup an auto payment on my mortgage. They set me up for payments and since then every month being charged late fees in spite of me having an auto pay on and the reason is because the person who setup autopay set it two days later than due date every month. For no fault of mine I have late fees and they won’t waive it. Very unprofessional.

I do love my credit union.
I love that they aren’t a bank.
I love that I never feel like they are trying to screw me.
I love their low-​fee coin machine.
I love the free Flavia coffee (the kids love the free hot cocoa).
I love that they give kids stickers.
I love the pneumatic tubes at the drive through.
Sometimes the lines can be slow.
And I wish they had foreign currency.
But I am most definitely a fan.

Can a person sanely love a bank? After 20+ years as a member of SEFCU I remain a contented and even happy customer/​member. Great service, competence, cor troys and few if any hidden fees.
Free checking. Free online bill payment.
I love this bank!

On my seventh birthday, I opened up my first bank account. My mother and grandparents took me to the Northstar next to the post office, it was the only bank I knew existed at the time. When Northstar was purchased by Fleet, they became my bank. Fleet became Bank of America and I continued to go with the flow. For my entire life I had never had to think about my bank, it was picked and I just went with it.
This fall, that changed. Money has gotten tight, we have been looking for ways to cut unnecessary spending where ever we can. Month after month I found nonsense fees. Then came the fiasco with debit card fees. It was time for me to finally decide what it was I wanted in a bank.
After a lot of thinking and planning we went with SEFCU. On November 5^th, we opened up the account with a nominal deposit into checking and savings. We walked in and were offered a great cup of coffee until someone was available. We went through what we wanted, what the costs were. I had done my homework and pretty much decided before we walked in but the process was polite and quick.
There’s offices everywhere, one next door to my wife’s office and ½ mile away from my home. The online banking does not feel as secure as Bank of America (password of exactly six characters?) but it is convenient. My wife has taken to it right away, everything is pretty convenient. What I like the most however is how fast transactions are completed. Both of us are able to receive our weekly pay a day earlier as SEFCU processes the transactions immediately instead of waiting for the next business day. When I put in a large deposit, I was alerted in 8 minutes, not hours or days later like Bank of America.
We made the move to save money, and we have not had a surprise fee yet. We completed moving everything over yesterday and I do admit there was a bit of sadness leaving what had been my only banking experience before. But in the end, this was the only one I had ever chosen for myself and didn’t just let circumstances decide for me. And it doesn’t hurt knowing I am supporting my local community in the process.