Amplify Credit Union

Disclaimer: This review is based off of my experience as a small business and my complaints are with all locations.
I opened my account at this location a few years ago, initially to help my small business in 2013. I have had mixed emotions about Amplify from the beginning. They have always put unnecessary holds on my deposits is one HUGE issue. The other HUGE issue is that all branch locations, including this one, always interchange tellers/​managers, which makes it hard to develop lasting relationships with your local branch. We have had intermittent good relationships but they never lasted.
BEWARE!!! Here is the biggest warning I can give!!! They have relationship with a less than honorable merchant service processor, NORTH AMERICAN BANCARD TEXAS, AKA KEN GIVENS. In 2014 we ran over $ 20k on an single American Express transaction and it was a nightmare getting the funds to go through. During that time I couldn’t even get Ken Givens to answer or return my calls. I swiped the card on 12÷8÷14 and it ended up taking almost 4 weeks to fund. Being a small business, this was detrimental. I tried calling Ken to see if he could help with this clerical error on their part but he left me hanging. I was able to get a hold of Maria Passarella, Ken’s employee, and she continually told me that she was working on it and we would see the funds soon. After a couple weeks and with Christmas quickly approaching I got a little more anxious. Maria ended up giving me the merchant services number to contact directly (probably tired of my calls by this point) & when I contact them they say that there is paperwork that hasn’t been submitted by their sales partner (Ken Givens? Maria Passarella). I got them the paperwork they needed and then it took almost another week to get funds. After not being to make payroll Christmas week, I informed Maria that we didn’t want to use their services any longer since we had never had trouble with Intuit GoPayment. She apologized profusely, was even seemingly sincere about screwing up 7 families holiday seasons. Here is the kicker… they never closed my account. They’ve been collecting commission for 13 months past me telling Maria that I want to discontinue services with them. She has never followed up or reached out to me even though we haven’t processed a single credit card in 14 months. They have debited my bank account a total of $ 972.32 over 12 months without a single credit card process. They never once tried to do what is honest in this situation.
Short & long… If you are a small business, BANK ELSEWHERE!!!

This review is for Amplify as a whole as I have dealt with many individuals during my time as a customer. We did a Homeowner express loan and Rudy and Amy P were very friendly and helpful.
Afterward, I needed to transfer funds and the process ended up being a disaster. So why give them 5 stars still? Because not only did a manager at the Contact Center call me back the next day unprompted to apologize for the confusion, she had already listened to the call and was very aware of the situation and why I had been so frustrated. I got a call, an apology and confirmation that this was isolated and not characteristic of the company as a whole. A company that takes the time to call back an angry client, make it right, and then take steps so that it doesn’t happen again is definitely doing something right.

We have been members of Amplify ever since my wife and I moved to Austin in July of 2012. In each and every interaction, we’ve received the highest degree of personalized customer service.
Whether it is being warmly greeted by the tellers, even when there is a line, or the banking support for the transactions — everything has been done to make it as easy and pleasant as possible.
I had an issue with a mistake that we made in our accounts and transferring funds. Our branch is the Parmer office. Tristen and Patrick dug right in, helped us find the problem and then helped us straighten it right out. Easy peasy.
Dennis Tardan

I came to this location out of convenience– My home and job are less than a mile away from here. It’s their training branch though and so it seems less fleshed out than their other locations. I came here to open a business account and was quickly able to get all of my banking set up with Paul. Since then, he’s recognized me every time I come in and asks me how my store is doing. I haven’t bothered going to the other branch since they can do everything I need here. I’m now on a first name basis with Scott, Patrick, and Andrew… It’s always a great experience going to the bank and being able to chat with folks and have them remember who you are. Feels very community oriented and not so corporate.

Enough is enough… we switched to Amplify after being at RBFCU because of better locations as well as a promotion that Amplify was having for new members. It hasn’t been a wise decision at all. For one thing, what bank makes you wait 90 days before you deposit checks via your mobile phone and their app? No other bank that I know of makes you be a member for 90 days before you can use that function. We have a lot of SMALL checks (as in less than $ 100) that we deposit using the app from home that we weren’t able to do with Amplify until we had been there 90 days. I even called and asked multiple managers when we were at day 81 of our 90 days and the answer was «No, no exceptions». Even with that, I can live with them and stayed. But our biggest complaint is the way they have treated my wife in the lobby of the Parmer branch. Almost EVERY time my wife has gone in to make a deposit or pay a bill, it’s turned into the Grand Inquisition. No matter that my wife works across the street and has had direct deposit from that same company since day one, they question any and all live checks that she may have received such as bonuses or reimbursements. Today was the the last straw. She went in with a bonus check (an annual event) and wanted to DEPOSIT it… not cash it, not take out ANY money at all… just put it in our checking account. She received the same scrutiny as usual and was asked if it was a real check and if it was from a real company. She responded with «I get paid twice a month with direct deposit from that company». They went on to explain to my wife that a check is not actually «real money» but an IOU and that her signing the back of it means she’s taking responsibility that it is real! REALLY??? My wife works for a business literally within eye sight of the branch and they remember her… whenever I’ve gone into that branch they’ve commented «oh, your wife works right across the street right?» Yep, that would be her. I know in this day in age, no one wants to hear anything about race playing into anything (although it does) but I’ll just say that I am white and my wife is not. I’ve NEVER had a problem or be questioned about anything there. I’ll leave that at that. We will be closing our accounts immediately and moving back to RBFCU. Maybe for one last round of entertainment, I’ll wait in the car and have my wife go in to pull out our money… if past experiences are any indication then we’ll need a Presidential sign off before they hand her our money. So long Amplify, it WASN’T nice knowing you.