Patelco Credit Union

I have been a member for 35 years. I have had multiple accounts– mortgage, car loans, checking and saving accounts. The staff is great, especially Nuria (supervisor). They accomodate my many requests and we work well together. I can get cash without fees at many locations and can make deposits at other credit unions. I highly recommend this credit union.

I have only been a Patelco customer for a few months but so far it has been a great experience. The customer service has been phenomenal. I recently refinanced my auto loan with Patelco and not only was it painless, it didn’t take much time and I saved a TON of money. The supervisor at the RWC branch is the best. She has been so helpful. I know I’m one of those annoying customers who has way too many questions and is always asking for things, but she’s always as sweet as can be. I am very happy that I moved my banking to Patelco.

Manager here needs to go. she is an outright bitch, and acts like you are beneath her. When my next autopay hits I am drawing out my funds and going to San Mateo credit union. I have had it with her «No» to everything I ask for. My husband and I are moving on to another bank. My father and mother have separate accounta… going to have them move as well.

I would suggest going to the San Mateo branch. Everytime I come here it takes forever and this last time they wanted to put a hold on my check. I went to the San Mateo branch and they cashed it. San Mateo has great customer service and they go out of there way to make sure the customer is satisfied.

Patelco should not be allowed to call itself a bank.
I am a member with another credit union and came here to get cash on Saturday.
1. Their ATM outside doesn’t work. It got stuck on the language selection menu.
2. Their entrance was locked during business hours. Everyone entering has to press a bell before they would open the door. (This is in addition to security glass at the tellers!)
3. I asked for specific bill denominations. They told me they couldn’t guarantee anything, because «the machine» decides which bills to give me. They were able to find quarters for me, but they did not have any dollar bills. The teller rudely pulled out just one $ 1 bill from the cash register to demonstrate. Only one in the whole bank! Unbelievable.
If a bank can’t even make change correctly, do you trust them to handle your savings, your loans, or your mortgage?

I don’t understand why so many negative reviews I am member of this branch from 2009 very helpful staff good rates great service

I actually have a checking, savings, and money market account through Vons Credit Union. I’ve had my checking account with VCU since I was 15 years old, and I refuse to give it up. VCU is actually based in El Monte (So Cal), and since I live in Redwood City, it’s not like I can jump up and go to the credit union when I have to.
Patelco is unique because it offers share branching. Even if your actual credit union is not nearby, Patelco can stand in as a proxy. You can go in to the branch and do everything you would do at your regular credit union.
I’ve never had any issues with the associates as they have always been courteous and prompt with my transactions. The longest I’ve ever been in the branch has been 5 minutes, and that includes wait time!

Staff was helpful, professional, and friendly. Quick and painless banking to make a new account. Set up a few checking account in about 30 minutes.

Where to begin… oh yes… let’s start with the unprofessional branch manager Robert F. Gonzalez. I would like to pay for his MUCH NEEDED training on customer service basics. I came in to finalize a car loan and ran off instead. The friendly teller directed me to have a seat in his desk and he would be right with me. I waited a few minutes and he came in and sat down. Um… RUDE… it is called acknowledge the client, hand shake perhaps probably a good idea to introduce yourself. All I got from him was hi. Really, hi? MacDonald’s does a better job in their welcoming skills. Eye contact? NO. It seemed to me that every time I asked a question he was reading a script from the computer. He looked up to me once. My mom joined us shortly and didn’t even look at her. UNBELIEVABLE! HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE! The tellers there are awesome and do not see why after so many Unilocal reviews he still has not improved or been replaced! This man seriously needs to be trained on basics skills and needs to learn how to back up the representatives over the phone. He had the nerve to say that they were not even loan specialist and do not know what they are doing. Really? Who does that pal… you all are in the same boat! Get it together! I see why this branch is so slow.
I do not recommend this place at all!

I just refinance my car & I also have new credit card from patelco under switch to safe program I safe around $ 3000 thanks for friendly service I sure recommend my family & friends to patelco

Wouldn’t give me an auto loan even though I have perfect credit. Approved for the loan (only wanted the loan to increase credit history portfolio) then came to find out b/​c the car was «too old» the APR would be 5%+ and they wouldn’t finance it b/​c 100k+ miles. Now I’ve taken a hit on my credit b/​c I even applied for the loan. Would’ve been nice if they told me any of that crap up front.

Workers– blah
Customer service– sucks so badd it’s not even funny
I came in with an issue there was no manager to help no bankers and the teller just put me on the phone with customer service which was no help
I had to track down a manager and got in contact with Denise Butler, a new manager in Campbell and instead of telling me about what couldn’t be done looked at the issue and took care of what I needed… I will never in life encourage anyone to bank here go around the corner to San Mateo Credit Union always a great help there or maybe the Campbell branch…

I got my car loan at this Patelco branch and they really couldn’t have done a much better job. My loan was more complicated than the average auto loan, because I purchased my car from a private seller, and to further complicate it the seller no longer lives in the bay area had and granted a friend power of attorney to sell the car for him. The associate who processed the loan is named Rocio and she really did a great job navigating the unusual nature of the transaction and getting everything taken care of. We went in the branch on a Saturday and at first it looked like there was no one sitting at the desks that might be able to help with a loan, but Rocio was happy to come out from behind the teller window to help us. As I mentioned, the loan was complicated and there was a lot of extra paperwork for the change of ownership because the seller was going through a third party with power of attorney, and at first Rocio was unsure if she could process it without the actual seller present and thought that we may have to wait until the following Monday when the DMV opened. However she didn’t give up, she went to back and made some phone calls and got all the information she needed and then came back and got the loan done, got the check cut for the seller and I was able to drive the car away from the credit union without having to wait until Monday and without having to go to the DMV. She also found me numerous discounts which brought my interest on the loan down to 2.29%. To put that in perspective, I looked at the same car at Peninsula Infiniti and the dirtbags at the dealership told me that 4.7% interest was the best I could hope to get; more than twice what I was able to get through Patelco after the discounts that Rocio found me. She also just handled the whole thing professionally and courteously with a smile and made what should have been a grueling process actually pretty pleasant.
I have to say am really surprised by all the one-​star reviews here. This may be because that people only tend to write reviews after they’ve had a bad experience and that people who have had really good service just assume that it is always that way so they don’t think of writing a review. I don’t know, but I can tell you that my experience was great. And I don’t do my regular banking at Patelco so I can’t speak to peoples’ complaints about their checking processes, etc., but I can tell you that if you’re considering an auto loan you’d be crazy not to consider going through Patelco. Not only are their terms more favorable than other lending institutions but they are very helpful in finding you the right loan and processing all the complicated paperwork, at least they were in my experience.

Read the past unfavorable reviews and am stunned.
Have these people ever gone to Wells Fargo or Citigroup ?
Maybe it would help to be a bit more courteous.
This branch, managed by Robert Gonzales, is very customer friendly. And then you have the Patelco Stud (Doug Neveu) who tops anyone who might ever have worked at a financial institution. Ok, (one negative) … I wish they had Italian Roast Coffee in their self help machine.
Love the people there !
To the person who complained while taking money out of his account (M.C.): Come on in and get a lesson on how to use the automatic teller !

Sign me up with that other reviewer who said if negative stars were possible, this branch would deserve that rating. And the one who said circus monkeys would do a better job? — I’d say that’s a dis to circus monkeys, who are highly trained and do what’s expected of them in a timely and effective manner. This branch is a joke. Closing my account tomorrow — AFTER yet another check is taking an inordinate amount of time to clear. Honestly, these people hold a bank-​to-​bank mail check for TEN business days? WTF? And, though I was told my local check would take two business days to clear, since I deposited that particular check on a Saturday (not a business day), my funds won’t be available until Thursday. Yes, they don’t start the clock on Monday, even though they had the check on Saturday, they start counting on Tuesday. Asinine. Oh, and Robert should be fired immediately. He couldn’t even tell me the difference between the two different forms of checking accounts they offer in a way in which I could understand, then got up and left to «meet» with a colleague across the office half-​way through opening my accounts. Someone else finished the paperwork. Really? — That should have been my cue to take my money and go elsewhere. Oh, well. It’s actually pretty good comedy if you look at it the right way. Makes the folks in «The Office» look like scions of the business world …

Came in to find out how much was in my account since there was a branch right there. This was the first time I had been here, and the last.
The place had 3 tellers working, or at least sitting around. One was helping another customers while the closer one was ignoring me. The third one helped me but I felt I was ordering food at McDonald’s behind security glass rather than being at a bank.

If there was a minus 1 star for this branch, I would choose that. Service is so bad here that I am closing my account with Patelco today.

I am with the reviewer who said circus monkeys could do a better job.
I go to withdraw money from my account in the form of a cashier’s check. What do they do? They call the person who last deposited money into my account to be sure he actually did it! WHAT? Money IS CLEARED — electronically transferred into my account — and you’re calling the depositor? WTF? For what reason?! While the teller is explaining this to me, she is e-​mailing the manger who is sitting 500 feet away. He’s so incredibly lame he can’t even stand up and come over to me to enforce this RIDICULOUS rule himself! Who is running this circus? If you don’t have to bank here, don’t. You’ll save yourself a whole lot of frustration and seriously bureaucratic red tape. Make your life easier and stay away.

Horrible Horrible customer service!!! Robert the branch manager could care less about the customers. They charge outrages fees and have no perks!!!