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Hey! It's everybody's favorite bank teller here. 
I've been reading a bunch of stories of bank suckage as of late and I thought I'd share a story of credit union suckage. Hopefully the story makes sense since I did cut an paste the bulk of it from my LiveJournal.
First, a bit of background. I bought my first car (a Volkswagen) at a dealership that offered credit union financing. I got an awesome rate and I got approved for the loan with only a part time job at the time. So I get my car, make my payments, and all is happy.
Three years after buying the car I moved to Virgina. I had the car for about 6 months living down there when I decided to trade it in. I only owed about $2000 on the car, but the car needed at least that much in work, so a newer car was in order. I bought a Saturn since my bf worked for the Saturn dealership and ended up financing my car through an entirely different bank. The sales manager made sure to send a 15 day per diem payment on the old car so that I would be completely paid off on the other car and most likely get a refund. A couple of weeks after I bought my new car I got a refund check from said Saturn dealer because they purposely overpaid on my payoff.
So I thought that was the end of this with the credit union... That was until I got a dormant account notice from them. I didn't realize it, but I ended up overpaying the interest on my Volkswagen and they just threw it into a savings account. I never got any statements from the credit union stating this fact either.
So I call up and low and behold I have $110 in a savings account with them. Hey, I'll take that. They said I should keep the account open in case I want to finance another car with them. Ok, cool. So I just sent them a few bucks to take the account out of dormant state and I'm just letting it fester.
Today I decided that it might be prudent to open a CD at the credit union to save for taxes. That was until I couldn't open a checking account with them. I wanted to have a checking account so I could easily transfer the money from the CD account to my accounts at other banks and not have to travel to a branch. According to the credit union I have an account abuse flag on my account with them. Uh, bwhua? I've never had a checking account through them so how could I be flagged as an account abuser? I did have a savings account with them and the account went dormant, but that doesn't typically flag you for account abuse. I have accounts with two other local banks where I live and I have never gone negative at either bank, nor have I ever had an unpaid charge off. I do have a $0 balance at a third bank, but that's just because I closed my account off there and $0 balances don't affect account abuse statuses. I think I would know this since I work for a bank myself. I also know that credit unions tend to go through different reporting agencies than banks do. Keep in mind I've never had a checking account with any credit unions ever and I've never gone negative in the one account I do have there.
So, like any normal thinking person I called the 24 hour customer service line. Supposedly you can handle anything on this line that you would do at the branch, only it's a 24 hour service. As it turns out this customer service line is nothing more than a glorified 24 hour account balance line. The lady on the phone was not helpful. She just told me to visit a branch during the week to sort it out. Uh, there's just one problem... I LIVE 2 HOURS FROM THE NEAREST BRANCH!!!!! I even explained this to her and she just scoffed and told me to visit a branch. I like having an account at the credit union since their loan and deposit rates are usually really good, but this is absolutely ridiculous. So I e-mailed the customer service that is at the branches and told them to cancel my application because I'm going to take my business elsewhere. Why do they tell you to call the 24 hour customer service line for problems, application questions, and loans, when you can't seem to get anything more than an account balance on that line?
I'm going to close my savings account out there next week and join the credit union that's in the next town over from where I live now. They seem to be a heck of a whole lot more convenient to get to and deal with than the credit union I'm with now. Not to mention they have a branch open until 6pm on Fridays that also happens to be right on the way home from work. I think I can handle that.
I come from the old school and I don't believe in keeping all of your accounts at one bank. I have 2 accounts where I work, 2 accounts where my dad banks, and I would also like to have an account at a credit union for car loans and big deposits.
I've been reading a bunch of stories of bank suckage as of late and I thought I'd share a story of credit union suckage. Hopefully the story makes sense since I did cut an paste the bulk of it from my LiveJournal.First, a bit of background. I bought my first car (a Volkswagen) at a dealership that offered credit union financing. I got an awesome rate and I got approved for the loan with only a part time job at the time. So I get my car, make my payments, and all is happy.
Three years after buying the car I moved to Virgina. I had the car for about 6 months living down there when I decided to trade it in. I only owed about $2000 on the car, but the car needed at least that much in work, so a newer car was in order. I bought a Saturn since my bf worked for the Saturn dealership and ended up financing my car through an entirely different bank. The sales manager made sure to send a 15 day per diem payment on the old car so that I would be completely paid off on the other car and most likely get a refund. A couple of weeks after I bought my new car I got a refund check from said Saturn dealer because they purposely overpaid on my payoff.
So I thought that was the end of this with the credit union... That was until I got a dormant account notice from them. I didn't realize it, but I ended up overpaying the interest on my Volkswagen and they just threw it into a savings account. I never got any statements from the credit union stating this fact either.
So I call up and low and behold I have $110 in a savings account with them. Hey, I'll take that. They said I should keep the account open in case I want to finance another car with them. Ok, cool. So I just sent them a few bucks to take the account out of dormant state and I'm just letting it fester.
Today I decided that it might be prudent to open a CD at the credit union to save for taxes. That was until I couldn't open a checking account with them. I wanted to have a checking account so I could easily transfer the money from the CD account to my accounts at other banks and not have to travel to a branch. According to the credit union I have an account abuse flag on my account with them. Uh, bwhua? I've never had a checking account through them so how could I be flagged as an account abuser? I did have a savings account with them and the account went dormant, but that doesn't typically flag you for account abuse. I have accounts with two other local banks where I live and I have never gone negative at either bank, nor have I ever had an unpaid charge off. I do have a $0 balance at a third bank, but that's just because I closed my account off there and $0 balances don't affect account abuse statuses. I think I would know this since I work for a bank myself. I also know that credit unions tend to go through different reporting agencies than banks do. Keep in mind I've never had a checking account with any credit unions ever and I've never gone negative in the one account I do have there.
So, like any normal thinking person I called the 24 hour customer service line. Supposedly you can handle anything on this line that you would do at the branch, only it's a 24 hour service. As it turns out this customer service line is nothing more than a glorified 24 hour account balance line. The lady on the phone was not helpful. She just told me to visit a branch during the week to sort it out. Uh, there's just one problem... I LIVE 2 HOURS FROM THE NEAREST BRANCH!!!!! I even explained this to her and she just scoffed and told me to visit a branch. I like having an account at the credit union since their loan and deposit rates are usually really good, but this is absolutely ridiculous. So I e-mailed the customer service that is at the branches and told them to cancel my application because I'm going to take my business elsewhere. Why do they tell you to call the 24 hour customer service line for problems, application questions, and loans, when you can't seem to get anything more than an account balance on that line?
I'm going to close my savings account out there next week and join the credit union that's in the next town over from where I live now. They seem to be a heck of a whole lot more convenient to get to and deal with than the credit union I'm with now. Not to mention they have a branch open until 6pm on Fridays that also happens to be right on the way home from work. I think I can handle that.
I come from the old school and I don't believe in keeping all of your accounts at one bank. I have 2 accounts where I work, 2 accounts where my dad banks, and I would also like to have an account at a credit union for car loans and big deposits.
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