California Credit Union

Based on the online experience and the app, I would say no, please no!, and just no! Both the website and the app work very poorly, and even more so when it comes to opening an account online. To make the matters even worse, the representative (Geri?) who’s been «helping» is just a mess! The system is inane, they don’t reply to the messages, they put you on hold for at least 30 minutes just to tell you that they will call you in a while, which generally means 2 hours… All this in a very unapologetic way… It’s really terrible!!!
They have a great offers. I would say, just go to a branch. Do yourself a favor: avoid applying for anything online. And I would say avoid calling them again…
I finally decided to visit a branch and I got my problems solved, all but one, which I needed to do online because I had started it online, and the branch representative couldn’t help me. Well, I had to contact Geri again. She claimed that she fixed the problem but I just realized she ended up canceling the account I had just opened at the branch this morning… You’d assume that I would call them again and have the account reopen… It turns out that Geri left for the day and this can only be taken care of by her. What an exercise in patience…

I’ve been banking with California Credit Union for years, I joined to be supportive of a small bank and to have a personal relationship with my bankers. Despite this, today I had a very unpleasant experience. I came in to deposit two checks from my fiancée, who just moved out of state. After accepting a personal check from her chase bank account paid out to me, the manager refused to accept a 3^rd party check she had endorsed and paid to the order to me. Since when? After I suggested every possible avenue to accept the check on hold, to verify her identity, to accommodate this request in any way — Manager Chang just upped and walked away. Bad Business Practice. Bad Customer Service.

First of all everyone at the CU is pleasant and helpful. I went in for a loan in March and Chang helped me out. He made it easy and was extremely helpful. I refinanced the loan last month and again he handled it quickly and professionally. I’m very happy with the outcome. Everyone at the CU especially Chang goes out of their way to make sure I get the best rates and the most courteous service. I closed my BofA accounts and went with the CU. I like the one on one service, short wait times and the fact that the banking staff gets to know you.

It’s 3:30pm, the day before Thanksgiving (Wed ¹¹⁄₂₅) and the Downey branch had the bright idea of closing early… Knowing they will be closed for the next 2 days… Not updating their website or putting a sign on their door. Numerous customers came and left furious with this lack of intelligence!

My rating is based entirely on their online banking site, with a note about the mobile app. As anybody knows, we go into banking offices less and less, and more is done mobile or online.
the site looks and acts like it was designed 15 years ago. It isn’t a site, so much as a hodgepodge of obviously completely separately designed services, cobbled together.
Rather than a normal message section, they go to an entirely separate website, with a design completely unlike the other part, but not any more modern or functional.
Finding contact information via the site, once logged in, is impossible. You actually have to log out, to get their log-​in page, to find a contact link.
The site tries its very best to keep you from opening, for example, details of more than account at a time (i.e. in separate tabs). Because… well, who knows? Some developers notion of usability (and whoever that is should really find work in another field).
Right at this moment, the site’s «account summary» shows one figure as the current balance. Looking at account history, it shows another. How is it that the summary can’t do the same basic arithmetic as the detail? I generally consider accurate arithmetic a necessary quality of a banking institution.
I’ve had the site make inter-​account transfers in the opposite direction from the one I specified. Twice.
Even their preferences section doesn’t work — under Display, it asks you to set the order you want to show accounts in. No combination of settings makes it happy. Basically, doesn’t work at all. And this just shows that it wasn’t tested EVEN ONCE before being released.
I’ve asked and asked, as a pro developer, to PLEASE let me at least have a way to report their bugs. Nobody in support has a clue how to hook that up, and when I asked how they would report the bugs, was told they weren’t sure. Apparently, developers work in a complete vacuum, protected from the pesky problems of their website in the real world.
To CCU: WE are the users. As a credit union, you are us, and we are you. When you set up systems to «protect» yourself from us, we all lose.
Now, the mobile app. At long last, recently they finally added check deposit, which was good, because many of the ATMs (usually from other institutions) they list on their site as accepting deposits for CCU are either broken, or have been changed to other systems or machines that don’t. Every one in my area that was listed was wrong. My only way to deposit was to visit one of the very few brick-​and-​mortar offices. So this is a huge gain, and has worked fine for me.
But, like the site, the app has problems correctly getting a transfer across. I had a transfer to a checking account instead be applied to a mortgage. That’s right, a mortgage. Later, when I checked the app, that mortgage account didn’t even appear as a transfer-​to target from the source account! In other words, I could NOT have made the transfer using the app.
While all these problems were fixed with phone calls to support, they are symptoms of some very poor software development practices — something I’d think a financial institution would be very interested in avoiding. Be advised.

I joined this credit union, because they are one of the few credit unions that I found, which handle business accounts. Their customer service is pretty bad, in my opinion. They keep you on hold for a long time whenever you call; they don’t reply to complaints addressed to management; they have lost my mailed deposits; and they do not allow you to deposit checks into business accounts on Smart phones. (That service is only for personal accounts.) On top of all that, I keep having problems logging into the phone app. I have to reset my password every few weeks. I am not at all happy with them.
When I went there personally, I got pretty good service. That’s why I’m giving them two stars instead of one.
Logix, on the other hand, is great! Unfortunately, they don’t handle business accounts.

I called the 800 number and spoke to the rep Annie.
She explained all the details and went over everything in regards to my potential car loan. She even gave me an approximate quote as to how much my payments would be. She was very informative but I decided to shop around a bit before making my final decision.
After intensive research and dealing with other institutions, I was convinced that California Credit Union was my best option.
Annie was very knowledgeable and I felt so comfortable speaking with her. She was able to answer my many, many questions and was so patient with me. I definitely recommend her for your loans, she is truly astounding and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to work with her.
5 stars to Annie & the Glendale CCU, thanks a bunch!!!

Horrible customer service. I left so many phone messages to one of the representative at Glendale, CA branch for information I needed on my CD account. No response whatsoever.
Disappointing !

I am not happy with this CCU .For a local institution they act like a big money center bank .I recently signed up for direct payment of my mortgage from another local CU and they immediately hit me with a $ 150 late fee. There is no one to call except for the main 800 number so everything needs to be in writing for the mostpart. To add further insult, my mortgage payment was late because my own credit union messed up and didnt transfer funds from my savings to checking, the check bounced and by the time i found out about it it was too late. As a consequence my stellar FICO score was hammered by 80 points. Iv’e been begging them to reconsider but its an exercise in futility, SInce i started this review they reversed the late fee so that’s great.
My credit score on the other hand is really concerning me. I am trying to qualify for tier 1 car financing and this is really hurting me.

CCU is the most unprofessional credit union/​bank I have ever worked with. The only reason I am giving it 2 stars is because the woman that set up my loan in Pasadena was really wonderful. The rest of my experiences with the company have been awful.
Their customer service is abysmal. They take days/​weeks to respond to online requests and those who answer the phone have no idea how banking or their company works.
I tried to pay off my loan over the phone and the guy took all the bank details to do it, but it turns out that you can’t pay off a loan over the phone and they did not contact me about this. I checked in a month later to see what was going on and it took another 10 days to get a response. And the response did not include a full solution.
I ask (beg) them to improve their customer service and bring the company (especially the website) into the 21^st century. Teachers deserve better than what CCU has to offer (I am not a teacher).

AMAZING!!! I have banked with California Credit Union for many years, and have always been happy with their customer service. Today I had the best experience ever applying for and getting a loan.
I think it was about 2 o’clock when I called. I did an application over the phone with a very helpful and professional woman. By 4 o’clock, I received a phone call from a loan representative, Brent Schneider, who gave me the good news that I had qualified for the loan. He said that he could email me the documents and that I could electronically sign them and send them back. We did that — — totally easy process — –and the money was immediately put into my bank account.
I can’t believe how easy this process was. Always before getting a loan involved a trip to fill out the application, waiting a few days, then another trip to sign the documents. Wonderful!!! Thank you, Brent!!!

Response time online is horrible, no one ever responds to your emails. Sadly only way to obtain answers is to go into the branch and have a representative at the branch make the call on your behalf. Calling customer service you tend to get routed around and leave messages with no one ever returning your call.

I have been with the credit union here for about 18 years. I experienced the best financial advice and consultation session ever. I was greeted by a lovely lady named Vartena Panoyan in accounts and she was great from the minute I saw her warm, inviting smile. I sat with her for over an hour during my lunch break as she handled all of my business while she continue to offer great advice! I was so happy to have met her and I hope she will be promoted in some sort because customer service need warm, friendly people like her that also know their stuff! I hope to do business with her again soon!

I had positive experiences in the past so I was truly shocked and saddened with my horrific experience that showed that customer service is non-​existent when it comes to refinancing a mortgage. The online system did not work. Documents were not secured via email; and specifically my experience was with Margaret. She does not respond to customer requests, does not return calls as promised, looses paperwork, does not listen and interrupts or argues with you. She also belittles your requests. Walk away and do not even think about applying for any type of loan with anyone named Margaret. Avoid Margaret at all costs. Very unfortunate that I had to interact with Margaret, because she was the reason I decided not to go with CCU.

I’m glad I choose California Credit Union for my personal loan. I worked with Vartena and she was very knowledgable and made my experience easy. Thank you so much Vartena Panoyan! My experience was far much better than I expected, thank you california credit union and Vartena

I came to this bank because they had some great loan opportunities but ended up going a different way after opening an account. They do look great on paper and although I haven’t explored every aspect of this Credit Union’s services I was impressed with their loan rates.
What turned me off was the costumer service. I called in to ask a question and my representative, Jan, was negative about my request from the start. Mind you, I did go in asking a question about not approving of a service I was provided but she was stand offish the entire conversation. I connected to her after my first call and my call was disconnected.
In general their service is slow, but at times, their telecommunications should be personally reviewed.

I only got an account with this credit union. because they’re one of the few credit unions that I found that offer business accounts. In general, I have had a lot of success using credit unions in the past. They are very far behind the times. They still don’t have electronic deposit capabilities (at least not for businesses); they’ve lost my mailed in deposits; they didn’t immediately credit my account when it was used fraudulently, although I must say I was pleasantly surprised that they contacted me right away when they noticed that my account was being used fraudulently. When my deposits were lost, I sent a letter to the manager. I never got a response. I am very disappointed in their service and do not recommend them.

Their customer service is non-​existent!!! They do not respond to customer requests, messages or questions online, they do not return calls to customers as promised, their online banking doesn’t work (the money will be deducted from your account but the check will not be mailed out), the lines are long in the branch because everyone is just sitting around. RUN. DO NOT WALK! Pay the monthly fee at any other bank because here you get EXACTLY what you pay for!
***UPDATE**** «Gloria, the common denominator for most of your Unilocal reviews is that your reps do not contact or respond to customer messages or requests.
I will not call you guys or message you again. I am tired of calling your branches and waiting on hold and never getting anything resolved. I am also sick of sending messages via the online system and NOT ONE OF THE MESSAGES have ever been acknowledge or responded to.
Why don’t you… go through all the messages that have been sent to customer service and respond to all of them FINALLY! WHEN DOES RESOLVING IMPORTANT ISSUES DEALING WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS SENSITIVE FINANCIAL INFORMATION BECOME A PRIORITY FOR YOU?! Contact me! CUSTOMER SERVICE REQUIRES THAT YOU BE PROACTIVE.»

This a long one, folks. Here we go:
My debit card expired in March 2014 and I never received a new card. I had relocated in late 2013, but I updated my address online immediately after moving. Since I never received a new card, I went into the North Hollywood branch in early April. The woman had me fill out a new address form, even though I had already changed my address online months before. (I had even checked before heading in that my new address was added, and it was). She had no explanation for why they still had my old address and said that a card was never even sent out. Ok, fine. I filled out the new address form and the woman requested a new card for me. Now this is over and I’ll get my new debit card in 5 – 7 business days, right? Ha!
Two weeks later, no debit card. I call the 800 # and the representative tells me that they sent the card and pin to my old address, and that they have no evidence of a new address. I explain the situation and she says the only thing she can do is cancel the card and send me a new one… again. No apology or acknowledgement of how inconvenient it had been to have no access to my money. I verified with her multiple times that she now had my new address and the old one was definitely deleted. She confirmed. Again, she said it would take 5 – 7 business days to receive my card.
I let eight business days pass and still no card. On a Saturday afternoon, I called the 800 # again. The woman I spoke with, I really wish I had remembered her name, acted like the whole thing was my fault. Very rude, no apology, and actually raised her voice at one point. She told me that they did have my new address and that the card was sent to me. I asked, «Ok, so where’s my card? Her nonchalant reply, «I don’t know. Maybe it was stolen.»
I requested to speak to a manager. The manager confirmed with me that THEY STILL HAD MY OLD ADDRESS AND NEVER GOT THE NEW ONE. The card and pin were again sent to my old address. So, not only are they completely incompetent and can’t change a friggin’ address correctly, the woman I had just spoken to straight up lied to me.
I explained this to the manager and he was the first person to actually say he was sorry for the mess. He said he changed the address, promised that the old one was deleted, and said that I would have my new card within 5 – 7 business days.
Seriously? I told him that after all of this, he needed to overnight the card. He said he could do that but it would still take one or two business days to process. He also said they would send my pin separately. Fine.
Miraculously, I received my card when he said I would. However, I have yet to receive my pin. I just spoke to another representative a few minutes ago who said I will receive my pin in, you got it, 5 – 7 business days. Again, no explanation as to why I never received it. Honestly, I just laughed. She must have thought I was crazy.
ALSO, my husband noticed that a couple days after I received my card, they CHARGED US A $ 25 RUSH FEE. So he called and they eventually reversed the fee, but he said the rep he spoke to was not very nice about it.
Suffice it to say, we are on the lookout for another credit union.

I come to this bank only for work purposes. Here are the main points:
PROS:
+ friendly tellers. Once I came 5 minutes prior to closing time to deposit cash+coins for one of our clients. The teller was friendly and not impatient that I came so late; he had to even count the coins and when I was 5 cents off from what the amount should’ve been, he just threw in 5 cents for me.
+ charter school friendly. Many banks don’t necessarily support charter schools since they’re kind of a newer thing.
+ validated parking
CONS:
— superrrrrr slow service. Tellers take forever to just deposit a check for you.
— if you make a large deposit often times they’ll try to put a hold on the amount so you can’t even access it until 1 – 2 weeks later.
Overall I wouldn’t make this my personal bank as it’s not conveniently located everywhere nor is it fast enough for personal banking purposes.