San Diego Metropolitan Credit Union

I have banked with SDMCU for over 35 years. However, I have been «nickeled and dimed» for too long. They charge me $ 0.25 for every debit card transaction. They charge me for making a deposit of coins that are already rolled. I bank at 3 other financial institutions, which do not charge me these fees so and I am in the process of closing my SDMCU accounts.
I have found that the El Cajon branch is the only location that is customer focused. This used to be a great place to do business with but they are not living up their past standards.

Unprofessional, insecure, sleazy, and incompetent.
Worked with SDMCU on a solar loan that — despite great credit, high income, and low debt — they were unable to complete. Of course that will annoy someone. But beyond that, the entire process was a mess:
1) They failed to disclose that they would be putting a UCC-​1 lien on the home when we initially discussed the terms and conditions. It’s OK that they do require this lien, but it can create significant issues with refinancing a home and it should have been mentioned front-​and-​center. Other financial institutions I spoke with subsequently were completely up-​front about this and similar items; SDMCU tried to hide it until we were well into the application process.
2) As a standard practice, they exchange Personally Identifiable Information (PII) — account numbers, social security numbers, etc. — via email, which is something that no legitimate financial institution should ever, ever do. Even if their email system is secure (*cough* see next item *cough*), it is irresponsible of them to assume their customer’s email is. Institutions that do this simply don’t care about the safety of their customer’s accounts.
3) They don’t even bother to encrypt email in transit. This is pretty standard, and usually costs less than $ 100 per year to set up. Apparently not a priority at SDMCU.
4) They don’t know how to read a tax return. Seriously. Granted, my tax returns are complicated. But even without going into ugly details there was more than plenty of income showing. Even after asking my CPA and tax attorney and several other CPAs and tax attorneys I know (please don’t judge me by my friends ;-)) — we’re talking over two centuries of combined high-​end experience — their explanations make no sense. Our best guess is that they’re slacking on their drug testing program.
5) Oh, after all of that — don’t expect good follow-​up or customer service or anything like that. They’re basically an application mill looking for simple W2 income. Business owners or self-​employed people need not bother applying — they’ll just lie to you to get your application in the door, throw it against the wall, and see if it sticks.

While preparing to install solar panel on my house we were referred to SDMCU by the Solar company. We completed an application on Line and waited and waited for their response.
We spoke to Teresa who told us that she will call back in 24 hours. After several days without Yes or NO answer– we called back several times — each time no answer and call forwarded to
message center.
No courtesy to return call after several messages were left. Wasted one whole week in this
endeavour.
We went to SDCCU and had our solar loan in a few days.
Will NOT recommend SDMCU to a friend or family
Rubeena B.

My Name is Tereza and I had the pleasure of working with Alana on refinancing my Auto Loan this week. Let me begin by stating I am a second level supervisor in a customer service office. Alana is an employee that I would love to have on my team. She was focused on my needs and made sure I understood the process along the way. She made sure to be available when I had questions and followed through with everything she said. I appreciate her dedication to my loan process making me feel like I was her only customer. She is an asset to your company. Employees like Alana Graham do not come around that easy. Please thank her for me in any way possible.
Kindest Regards,

I have been banking with SDMCU for over 25 years, recently I worked with Jeannette and as always she was fantastic to work with. She always goes above and beyond for us and very few business these days will give you this level of customer service. I am so impressed with the service we always receive at every branch we walk into. I have heard so many horror stories from others about the poor service they have received from their banking institutions. Over the years we have had many offers to bank elsewhere, many banks try offering incentives to join, we would never leave SDMCU!

I banked with SDMCU for more than 40 years. We even had our home mortgage with them for 10 – 15 years. In recently years their service has deteriorated and I have moved to another local CU. I refinanced the mortgage, stopped using their debit card, moved money out of two checking accounts and three savings accounts, un-​subscribed to their e-​mails, and never a word from the CU. It appears they don’t even monitor or care about losing long term customers. I have to wonder what customers they are interested in serving?

From the very first time I worked with this institution I’ve been disappointed. The staff don’t like to work. If you need help you can expect rude and disdainful treatment. I have a loan with them and when a payment was lost I called in to make a payment and they treated me as if I were stupid. They told me over and over that I could make the payment online — a great option if I hadn’t already explained three times that I was on a train on my way to work in L.A.
Don’t have questions if you bank here. They act as if it is NOT THEIR JOB to answer your questions. Asking a question about your loan will bring rude and snappy comments that indicate that you are taking them away from a very important job — which is not serving you. I’m actually surprised that they stay in business. I am a member of another credit union and another bank and I’ve never been treated this way at either.

I’ve been banking with SDMCU for 15 yeqrs… I havent had a problem with them. I’ve had numerous loans with this bank and never had one problem. This is the best bank I have ever banked with. Only complaint I have is that they need more branches… and if not more branches the hours should be a little longer since closing the other branches.

BE VERY CAREFUL… this is one of those shops that bait-​n-​switches the loans and loan amounts. We have a solar loan with them and they added money to the loan… explaining that this was the service fee.
Luther Bellamy, the agent there spent 3 months telling us we were correct, but then did not change the amount.

Absolutely awful customer service. Fortunately, I am with another credit union and only used their service since they are a shared branch.
I went in for a simple deposit where I had recently changed the address for my driver’s license, so I was on an interim license. On my first trip, I showed my original license which they declared invalid due to the hole punch, fair enough, so I return with my new interim license and this other clerk then asks for my original. I mention to her that Deanna (the previous clerk) has seen my original license already from my previous trip and that I had no idea they needed both. Makes no sense, one valid id should be enough.
Deanna (the clerk) never mentioned that I needed the original with the new one, because she didn’t think I would return. I guess they don’t want customers and must love one-​star reviews. If I could, I would give them a minus one-​star.
She then mentions that I should be carrying both licenses at all times. Um, what if my license was lost or if I was a newly licensed driver and only had my interim paper license? They wouldn’t accept it. Just pure incompetence.
Top that with their inflexible office hours and lack of branches, I can’t see how any San Diego resident would even do service with these clowns.

Absolutely terrible out of hours service.
Despite carrying a several thousand dollar balance, the morons have blocked my card. I’ve called their helpline and… they are utterly clueless. They don’t have the slightest idea why the card is blocked.
Worse, much worse, no one on the phone can resolve the issue. The best they can do is forward it to Customer Service who’ll call back within 1 – 2 business days. It is Saturday night and I’m now left without access to money until «Monday or maybe Tuesday.»
I’m not going to be left without access to it any longer than first thing Monday morning as I’ll be in their branch, withdrawing all of my money, closing the account and going to a real bank that can actually provide service for more than regular hours.
I strongly urge anyone reading NOT to use San Diego Metropolitan Credit Union. They may be nice people, they may have good employees in their branches, they may have a lot of individuals that try hard for you. But when the company itself cuts costs to the point those helpful individuals can’t do anything to help customers with some unnecessary aspect that the credit union has screwed over, it’s all for nothing.
Do yourself a favor and use a real financial institution.

I was a member of this credit union for MANY years because my employer encouraged us to join. Service over the years has decreased to the point where it’s deplorable. They make mistakes all the time (never in the customer’s favor), and take a long time to correct a mistake. They have closed offices, so it’s not even convenient unless you live in El Cajon. I’m not driving 30 miles to visit my bank. Alternative? They suggested making deposits at my local 7 – 11 store atm. Nope, don’t think so. I’m outta there.

I recently became a Police Officer with San Diego Police Department I called this credit union because of their affiliations with the City. They were so thorough & so nice that I got all I needed from them within about 35 min. My agent there Marissa was so helpful and very very professional. I would recommend this office to anyone that works for the city or could have an ability to be a member with them.