Wescom Credit Union

I have been a Wescom member since 1979 when it was TECU. That’s 37 years worth of satisfaction.
Some of these members have legitimate gripes, but some of them who complain should only look to themselves for the way things are handled. If you have a bill that’s due, say on the 10^th of the month, and you go into Bill Pay on the 10^th of the month and the creditor doesnt get their money for 5 days, how is that Wescom’s fault? That’s like a bill due on the 10^th and you stick it in the mail on the 10^th. It’s gonna take some time to reach it’s destination. What do you do? Blame the post office? If someone owed you money and says they «mailed it on the 10^th» your only comeback is to say, «until I receive it, it’s not paid». This is basic Judge Judy stuff. So if you request a payment on a certain date, it’s gonna take some time. But don’t blame the credit union.
I live within a mile of a branch but I rarely go in, and I rarely call. I use their website for nearly all my needs. I don’t have a problem with it, I have never had an issue with the branch, and I wouldn’t do business with anyone other than Wescom. There’s a reason I’ve been there for 37 years, along with many MANY other members.
People have to take responsibility for their actions and bitching and moaning about something that YOU have control over isn’t fair to the company with whom you do business. And if you are SO unhappy with Wescom, why have you been with them for 10 years? 14 years… etc. No one is twisting your arm to remain.
I have worked many years in customer service. I often wonder what the review would be like if we were given the chance to review our customers. From having been a service rep for the phone company for many years, I can tell you it wouldn’t be pretty.

I’ve been a member for maybe 10 years now. I absolutely love Wescom, as far as the customer service, they’ve been very helpful. I have not had any issues with them. I noticed people are quick to leave a bad review when something goes wrong but hardly ever leave a review when they are happy with the service, which is why I am leaving a comment now :)
The staff at this location have always been very polite and helpful. Hope they keep it up.

Elizabeth W. — I welcome any communication or contact from Wescom. I have not heard from anyone yet, but look forward to someone reaching out!
Best regards,
Susan

Negatives:
Although I’ve been a member since 2000, they put a 2 – 7 day hold on a $ 1150 check. Kind of insulting considering that I’ve been a member for 15 years. I think the last overdraw I had was in 2001, when a check written to me bounced and I overdrew. A couple weeks later I deposited about $ 200 in cash, THEY PUT A HOLD ON CASH! What? Their excuse was that I made the deposit in San Francisco, so they put hold on my deposit because it was out the area.
Another negative is if you have a Wescom Credit card and want to make a payment from your Wescom checking account it takes two days to clear. I belong to a CU in SF, where I live, and although my SFFIRE CU has a much smaller client base, their system is better and clears credit card payments instantly.
If you have a Wescom credit card account with an existing balance, and you decide to use one of their balance transfer offers, you can’t target your payment to the balance with the higher interest rate. They apply your payment to the lower interest rate balance.
Positives:
Despite the unfriendly customer policies, the customer service people I speak with are usually kind and apologetic for what they know are shortfalls in Wescom’s policies. Their online chat function is decent and their new ebranch is an improvement over the original.

We have been customers with Wescom for nearly 7 years and had little problems. Mind you, I am pretty much an online/​mobile customer only. I rarely go into the branch or have to call in, but if you need anything more than banking… watch out!
My husband and I were denied multiple auto loans here and then approved with excellent rates elsewhere… even though Wescom was our primary institution. We let it slide, but were annoyed. When we were finally approved for an auto loan at Wescom we decided to purchase private party and had to come into the branch with the seller. We were there for nearly 3 hours!!! That’s how long it took Wescom to process the loan… ridiculous.
When my husband and I decided to buy our house we were approved through Wescom, but after talking with their mortgage department it was obvious that they were too mismanaged to handle the quick escrow we needed. It was too hard to get called back and emails were ignored… poor service. We went elsewhere.
The last straw was a few weeks ago when my husband and I applied for an auto loan… after two days of waiting, we were approved!!! Guess what, they found out I was on maternity leave and revoked their approval until I returned to work. Yes, they actually said that I was now denied because I was on maternity leave. Despite my credit score and history of paying on time or the fact that I would be back to work within a month or two. I even spoke to upper management and they still REVOKED THEIR APPROVAL because of my «disability.»
I called over to another financial institution and applied for the auto loan. They approved us in less than 15 minutes! Not only that, but when they heard that we were leaving Wescom they offered to give us a credit card with the same limit as Wescom and refinance the auto loan I had over there. Once that was done, they refinanced my other cars too! Talk about easy.
Needless to say, I have moved everything out of Wescom and I am not looking back!

I’m a Platinum Signature Member, and have been for over 41 years (since it was the Telephone Employees Credit Union). Yesterday, August 19, 2015, I contacted Wescom, via chat support and spoke to Pam, who says she’s a supervisor. I had received a letter from the City Treasurer letting me know that I was in default of paying my property taxes (since April 10, 2015 on time). Pam called me on the phone to discuss details as it was going to be a long conversation on the chat. Pam even drafted some type of letter, which she faxed to the City Treasurer. This letter went unseen. Pam said that going forward I should NOT use Bill Payer, instead mail my own check to get an official USPS postmark!
According to Mimi at the City Treasurer they don’t waive penalties, especially without postmarks!
When it comes to using Bill Payer to pay something with a time sensitive deadline don’t use Bill Payer unless you give them a hefty leeway of time to make the payment. I had been told when I called previous to setting up this payment that the day it’s set to pay the check is cut after 8pm on that day, and that they mail it out on the next day… the problem here is that they use a company located in CHICAGO to mail these checks! This third party company, such as Pitney Bulls, bulk mails and doesn’t apply a postmark on their envelopes, meaning that there will definitely be a huge delay before the check physically arrives… without a postmark. This will take forever to reach it’s destination.
So, when the City Treasurer in San Diego received my payment from Wescom in April, it was received 4 days later on April 14. When there is no postmark, the city will stamp the day they received it, which could be in the penalty stages.
After waiting with 18 people ahead of me on the phone to talk to the City Treasurer’s office about this, I was told by Mimi at the City Treasurer’s office that they supposedly sent me a letter in May or June sometime to notify me of the penalty. WHAT letter? This was a letter that was NEVER sent to me!
Today, (Aug 20), Mimi called me back to admit that they sent that letter to the address where the check was sent from, which was Wescom, along with the default details and requiring the additional penalty which was a monthly 10% of the sum of the base tax amount of $ 2031.78, which I had paid them, plus a $ 10 service fee.
This default statement stated that I had until Aug 31 to pay the $ 307.11 before next month’s penalty was added on. My husband blew up at me when he heard what happened. OMG, I thought he was going into cardiac arrest — heart disease runs in his family, his father died at 50 yrs.
I thought I’d reach out to Pam who was assisting me yesterday on this. After contacting Wescom’s chat support at 3:30 pm today, I spoke to Luz, here’s the conversation:
Luz: I’m sorry, I have not heard from you for a few moments. Are you still with me?
you: HI CAN YOU HAVE PAM CALL ME
Luz: Hello, I am sorry Pam is not available. How may I assist you?
you: WHERE IS SHE
Luz: She is assisting other members at the moment.
Luz: Is there something I can assist you with today?
you: NO
Luz: Okay I am sorry about that.
Luz: Thank you for choosing Wescom. Good-​bye.
Thank you for chatting with us. If you would like to chat again, please click on the Chat Live with a Service Rep button on eBranch.
I was shocked at this agent (Luz) who couldn’t give Pam the message to return my call. She never even offered! When I called asking for the Branch Mgr in Riverside, the assistant manager asked what she could help me with. I informed her, and asked again for the Branch manager, Cindy. I was told Cindy was at lunch. She took my phone number and said Cindy would be coming back in 20 min and she would have her call me back.
I decided not to wait for Cindy’s call and to call the main call center in Pasadena. I spoke to another person and asked them for the BP manager. I spoke to Erica who was brought up to date with the situation. Although I was initially skeptical that Erica would be able to assist me she said that Wescom would take care of the penalty today and give me a call back when it was resolved.
4:34 pm I got a call from Erica who has diligently been helping me on this. She said that the City’s online payment was not available at the moment, so she will be FedEx’ing the payment overnight, which will probably be received at the City Treasurer’s office on Monday. Erica said that she will call me when she sees that they cashed the check next week. Although I had to stress out and make so many calls/​contacts on this, I’m grateful that Wescom has Erica there to assist customers. Thank you Erica, you deserve 6 stars but I’m giving Luz, etc. the low rating for dragging it out and stressing my husband and I out over this when it could have been resolved yesterday, if Pam could have done the right thing.

I’m a Platinum Signature Member, and have been for over 35 years (since it was the Telephone Employees Credit Union), and have had almost all good things to say about my experiences at Wescom. The only negative I would say was the Financial Guy I spoke with in Riverside when I retired in 2007. I left AT&T with a nice buyout, and the guy said (in a kind of arrogant tone I might add!) «There’s no way you can retire at age 49 and not work Mr. XXXX». I didn’t like his attitude, so I took my almost $ 700,000 and went to a trusted source through my Union. Happy to report that I’m still happily retired with a nice income every month and (most importantly) most of my initial money intact and Wescom doesn’t have my retirement funds. All thanks to one arrogant person.
Oh, and the cookie cutter (or copy & paste) responses given here seem cold and insincere. Maybe if you change a few of the words around they wont seem as robotic Elizabeth W.)

I’ve banked with Wescom for 10 years and generally pleased with their banking services as a Platinum member. This review only represents my experience with Wescom Mortgage.
In December, I decided to refi my residence underwritten by Wescom. After my meeting with the same Wescom mortgage broker that disappointed me two years prior, I decided to go with a reliable mortgage broker who I used in the past. In late December, Wescom sent me a random letter to survey their services. As you can imagine, this same 1 out of 5 appeared and they called me to reconsider. I appreciated the follow-​up and decided to give them a chance to underwrite my new loan.
My recent experience with the mortgage department was the worst banking experience ever — seriously, the worst! The process took 5 months to complete, loads of errors and excuses, no follow-​ups on status of documents, no one talking to one another in the bank to work through the issues or prevent them and constant finger pointing when you called, «Nothing I can do». A one sentence review for management, «Document management and relationship management systems are in the stone age and the customer service feels like a trip to CA DMV.»
Neal A. (review below), you and I experienced the same situation. You fortunately closed your loan in half the time of my loan. So, yes other members like me are not happy. I almost walk away from this loan and bank after 90 days after they needed to run my credit again because the keep alive on scores in the mortgage process expires every 90 days. Wescom kindly gave me two hard inquires on my credit report because they couldn’t process their loans fast enough and we all know a number of these hurt your score.
If you decide to get a loan from Wescom ask them how many people and departments will be managing your loan process and how many different people you’ll have to talk to or send emails to. If you have an HOA ask them who acquires paperwork and who pays for it. Once you get answers to these questions, ask your broker what is their responsibility to ensure a seamless customer experience of working with only one person, what they do to keep your interactions minimal throughout the process such as status reports and what power they have to improve a situation if other dependencies in Wescom are not doing their part to deliver you a satisfactory customer experience.

To obtain a mortgage refi from our lender (not Wescom), I had to forgo making loan and credit card payments in order to qualify for the refi. This process took several months, and due to income from a new job, shortly after obtaining the mortgage refi I was able begin making payments to the other lenders.
During the time of not making payments to lenders, I learned the ropes of taking phone calls from collection departments. Some were simply matter of fact and professional, others had a more hardball script. By an order of magnitude, Wescom was the nastiest and most rude of the bunch, straight out of the gate with the first late payment. Good riddance to Wescom!
Wescom seemed pretty good until the moment I didn’t comply with paying on time, and from that moment their underlying nature was revealed. It was shocking.
In contrast, Schools First FCU, while they’ve grown too large to be much of a personal banking experience anymore, have always treated me with respect and behaved decently, even in hard times.
I cannot unrecommend Wescom enough!

My husband and I have been with Wescom for about 14+years. I have my car loan and other accounts there and am content w/​there service. My husband loves going in because they have great customer service and the employees know him by name. The only con is that the branches are few and far from our house.

REVISION: These guys eventually resolved our transfer issue before our house closed, so GREAT! However, it did take management getting involved, but again, the issue was resolved.
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Original post: Stay clear. Waaaay clear. These guys are NO different than Mainstream Banks and possibly worse.
BTW: We are considered «Premium Members». Ha!
We moved from LA to TN. Needed our funds transferred in a timely way for buying a house.
Good LUCK! No wire transfer could be done. No ACH could be done. Just USPS as a check? Seriously?
These guys seriously suck and if you can’t be physically available (even as a «Premium Member»), you are chump.

I have banked here for nine years. I even have my auto and homeowners insurance through Wescom. Denise Clark is amazing by the way.
The only business they do not have is my investment business, as Fidelity is cheaper and offers a better platform then e-​vision online trading. They have all the consumer products and services the big banks offer only cheaper and with better service. If you need an auto loan, credit card, line of credit, or personal loan, they do a great job of working to help you out. This truly is a great place to bank. (30,000 plus ATMs via CO-​OP, snap deposit.)
I would have given them 5 stars, but this is due to my poor experience with my mortgage loan. My Loan Originator was extremely arrogant, his superiors would not call me back. I had to go the Vice President of Real Estate Lending, only to continue to be treated like everything is fine with their service. How is it my fault that your turn times are 60 plus days? I could have had this loan done within 30 – 45 days elsewhere and that is with current refinance volume. How is it my fault that nobody in real estate lending can communicate clearly? Nobody wants to take accountability, rather lets blame the member. My Loan Originator dropped of the face of the earth. He dodged my calls and emails for a month. What is very disappointing is you can’t even get an apology for the experience. As a member I’m extremely disappointed. I hope other members are not going through this experience.

Fast and friendly service. Patricia Rosario emailed me back for a funding for an auto loan and I came in to pick up the check.

It makes me feel better to read all the negative reviews out there. Without a doubt, the only worse bank is B of A. If you need a credit union, we can now join almost any credit union. Choose one near where you live. And always check hours and phone service before you join. Wescom gets a zero for phone service. The screwups are beyond belief! I even had a mortgage payment applied to a house I don’t own! Yikes! CF

This is a good bank. Therein lies the problem, it feels like a bank, not a credit union. The fees are the same as a bank, you have to pay to have an account unless you fit certain criteria, just like a bank and I have yet to receive any benefit that makes it feel different from my last bank.
That said, the staff are lovely and the location is great as are the branch hours. I have never had any issue with them. I will continue banking here and maybe someday they will pleasantly surprise me with some benefit of being their customer.

My family all switched over to a Credit Union years ago and have been trying to convince me to make the switch too, which I finally did.
I walked into Wescom at 5:30pm which I don’t like to do when it’s close to closing time, but I did. I was treated so well that it made me feel like I’d had known these people for 5 years.
It’s an open building with beautiful big windows letting in the natural light.
Tracy sat me down at her desk and started opening up an account for me. She reviewed all information that I needed to know and helped me figure out ways to wave all fees within the first 3 months. She was such a delight as well as everyone else around!
They treat everyone like a real human being vs a regular bank where all they see is an account number and a face. It’s kind of like «It’s a Wonderful Life». Mr Potter is the bank and George Bailey is the Credit Union.

My credit card company recently made a huge mistake sending me the wrong kind of checks for a balance transfer and then rejecting my check after I deposited to my bank account. ALL the staff on the phone and in person from Schools First (Thank You Walnut Branch!) treated me with patience, kindness and encouragement until it was resolved (1 week later). They even gave me the advice that led to the resolution and waived fees! I love this bank and it’s awesome staff and very state of the art services (phone depositing, real time balance, account transfers, bill pay)!!! Who needs for-​profit banks?! This credit union is the definition of helpful, professional financial service! Thank You Schools First, You Rock!

The worst experience ever! Changed jobs so my pay day changed. Would not work with me. Charged late fees, phone calls the day after payment was due. Increased my loan to close to 10,000 dollars. Wescom is definitely for profit!

Free Parking… outside ATM.
and every CU can use the ATM for deposits and withdrawls without a charge

I have been a member of Wescom for over 8 years now. I go to the Sherman Oaks branch and they are always kind and courteous and most tellers know me by name. I qualified for signature membership without changing anything or doing anything more than I already was, (using Ebranch, have direct deposit, opting out of paper statements, having a check card, etc.).
I did have a fraudular charge on my account, and it was immediately handled. When I told them I was leaving town and needed my card in 24 hours, not 4 – 7 business days, they got it to me. Any issue I have ever had was always resolved quickly.
This year I even took advantage of the free personalized «letter from santa» :) My preschool students loved it!!!
They took away Sunday hours and shortened the Saturday ones, otherwise they would get the 5 stars!