SECU Credit Union

SECU MD has great rates: typical for a CU. I’ve known people with less than stellar credit who were able to get a very nice rate on their car loans through SECU when other lenders flat out denied them.
On the flip side, this place *WILL* nickle and dime you to death. In particular, watch out for their network ATM fees. Despite what their website says, SECU keeps charging me a «foreign transaction fee» for using Allpoint or Co-​Op branded ATMs. Yes, you read that right: «foreign transaction fee»… at other Allpoint or Co-​Op branded ATMs… in the States. The heck??? So not only do they pimp slap you with a fee for using ATMs that they CLEARLY state are free to use on their website, but they go all R. Kelly on you while you’re down and add insult to injury by labeling the fee something that makes no sense. I had two of these fees charged, and the CSRs wouldn’t budge in removing them. Even more irritating is that they reply with canned responses and don’t answer my questions. It was like talking to a robot. A really badly programmed robot. In my opinion, these people have all the mannerisms and empathy of a Garmin. They would fail the Turing test. Badly.
Their website also says using ATMs at certain 7 – 11’s are fee-​free, yet guess what? Yup, I got charged a fee from SECU for using one once. Pure insanity.
I think I’ve literally had ONE interaction with a SECU employee that I’d consider «good». It was when I was taking out a loan. I wish I could remember the loan officer’s name because she was fantastic. The dozens of other times I’ve had to deal with employees from this cesspool of client dissatisfaction have left me incredibly underwhelmed at best and nearly pushed me to the brink of wanting to blow my own brains out at worst. Seriously, where does SECU get these CSRs and tellers? Is this where sh***y Walmart cashiers graduate to when they’ve proven that they’re slightly less sh***y than their coworkers? Just about everyone I’ve dealt with at SECU is unfriendly, dispassionate, or just seemingly incompetent. 90% of the time, they just make you feel like you’re bothering them with your business… AND WHAT IS UP WITH THE INSANELY LONG HOLD TIMES WHEN YOU CALL… LIKE, ANY TIME??? I’ve read Bank of America is about to lay off a ton of employees again. Maybe think of scooping a few of them up, SECU?
Anyway, having said all of that, like I said before, SECU MD’s rates are really hard to beat, especially if you have less than stellar credit. Actually if you have less than stellar credit, they may be your only option for a loan or credit card. Otherwise, your best bet may be to go somewhere else. Just read the other reviews. SECU MD does not seem to have their act together at all. Not a big deal when everything is hunky-​dory, but the minute there’s some kind of issue with an account, you may be forced to check your sanity and time at the door.

I’ve been a member with this credit union for about 6 years. You’d think that would count for something, but clearly not with this place. Even Bank of America has more integrity.
As soon as 2016 hit, they decided to change my checking account type wth *zero warning* whatsoever. Since I don’t use the account too often, I didn’t notice them robbing me of $ 7 every month. They stole $ 35 from me before I noticed.
When I asked if I could be refunded that money, citing our long term partnership and that I hadn’t caused any issues that whole time, I got a formulaic message about how to avoid the fee the next time. Gee, thanks. Really helpful. The rest of my attempt at conversation with customer service was a useless waste of time. SECU really needs to train their CS agents better because whoever I dealt with was completely inept.
Their interest rates have also significantly gone down over the years. You can find a plethora of banks and credit unions with better rates that don’t make you jump through hoops to avoid a fee.
It also took 15 minutes to cancel my account. That’s a little ridiculous if you ask me. I’ve cancelled other accounts online in less than 5 minutes. And they didn’t try at all to keep me… looks like even *they* know they suck.
Good riddance.

Our Refi took 3 months to close; we had to hound them for information every step of the way; we had all our ducks in a row; when they said something was missing/​pending, I got it to them immediately. Our original mortgage through 1^st mariner had a 30 day close to sweeten the deal with the seller. Had we gone with SECU we would have lost out on our house! 1^st mariner was so much on top of everything compared to SECU. It did piss me off that they sold our loan to citi a few months later.
Despite SECU’s lack of customer service, I was hooked as soon as I saw the repayment schedule. It was a sweetheart deal. Our rate lock expired because it took so long but they held it for us as a courtesy; we would have been stupid not to do the deal.
Our closing was today. The title agent met us at our closest branch (DHMH) and was very professional, knowledgeable and friendly. I was actually surprised because we had to hound them to get our closing disclosure; we didn’t get it until 2 days before we closed. BTW: the SECU at DHMH has excellent service people even though it is bustling and busy. We went there to initially drop off our documentation and to close. They greet you and make sure you are helped. It is a very small branch and the office space is tight.
If you want a loan from secu, my advice is to just submit the online application first. That starts the ball rolling and then they know you are serious. Filling out just the basics gets you a phonecall that never comes and delays everything by another week; it’s already going to take a long time.
All’s well that ends well.

Generally SECU offers sub-​par customer service and its banking services can be challenging to maintain. They make mistakes and never apologize. As a former banking customer with Wells Fargo, I switched hoping a credit union would be a better choice. There have been numerous times where they simply give out conflicting or inaccurate information, both at their branches and by phone.
On the plus side, they do take fast action when a debit or bank account has been compromised and have done so with my account. Its just the customer service that needs to be improved.
A side note:
Its truly amazing to not even be offered an apology, just a basic apology, when dealing with problems. As someone that has worked in customer service, a basic apology can go so far when dealing with the public. I cannot imagine why their reps do not this. It just sends out a loud message that they seem to not value their customers, whether its true or not.

I found the other reviews to be surprising. Our experience was excellent from start to finish. I called Kim Smith, Mortgage Loan Officer, on 6÷17÷2015 and received all the necessary information for applying for a mortgage. Thereafter almost everything was processed by email until settlement on 8÷10÷14. We had the mortgage money by 8÷14÷2015 and settled on our vacation home on 8÷27÷2015. Everyone we dealt with at SECU, especially Kim and Devan Bartell, Real Estate Loan Processor, was very professional and knowledgeable, quick to respond, and patient in answering our many questions. I can’t believe we were the exception — feel certain others have received this great service as well, but just haven’t written reviews.

DO NOT USE SECU FOR A MORTGAGE!!! Our potential buyers went through SECU to secure a mortgage to purchase our home. For a month, we were told all was well and on track to close on time. The Monday before closing we even received a «full commitment letter» from them meaning all was good and through underwriting. THE NIGHT BEFORE CLOSING, around 5 pm I got a call from my agent that somehow our buyers were not qualified to purchase our home. Our entire house was packed in a truck in our driveway! Apparently the buyer was self employed and didn’t file his taxes properly which made it appear that he only made around $ 11k the year before. How on earth does a loan officer not notice that immediately!!! They ask for 3 years of prior tax returns with your application!!!
This in turn caused our next home purchase to fall through, and those sellers new home purchase to fall through and so on for 4 houses deep. This company costs us (as well as the other families) soooo much grief and thousands of dollars from then having to rent our next home until we could sell our home again so our children could start the school year at their new school.
This is completely unacceptable. No one seems to be held accountable with lenders as a similar situation happened again with our next buyer even with multiple agents babysitting the process. SECU would never respond to phone calls or emails through the entire process and then only seem to tell you what you want to hear just to make you leave them alone. AVOID THIS COMPANY LIKE THE PLAGUE!!! Kim Smith was their load originator who obviously screwed up royally. Praying we have a leg to stand on when we obtain a lawyer over the whole horrendous situation.

Horrible customer service. They have told me 4 times that someone will call me back and no one has called. It has been over two months.

SECU is amazing and their customer service is exceptional! I have been a member since 2002 and I have no complaints whatsoever. Anytime I’ve had a question or needed clarification employees have gone out of their way to help me. I have been to several branches (fullerton, timonium, towson, baltimore city, glen burnie) and have received the SAME GREAT SERVICE at every one! I read these other reviews and I am in shock. If you can’t manage your finances don’t expect SECU to babysit you. They give you ALL the tools you need to succeed. And I have had accounts at M&T and Suntrust before. SECU is by far the best credit union and choice for banking.

Service keeps getting worse. If I place a stop payment with almost a month’s notice, why is my account still debited from the same company?! I know why! The daggone SECU rep failed to state that my amount has to be the same every month! What did I get, a sarcastic rep who apologized for her co-​worker not telling me. How does that help me and my bills that I have to pay. I am out of $ 180. I guess I just should have flushed it down the toilet! When you are loyal to your Credit Union (been with SECU since 2005), you would like to think the loyalty is returned. Sadly it isn’t. I HATE SECU!

I’ve been trying to refinance my mortgage with them for months. They do not return phone calls or e-​mails regularly, are rude, and did not reassign my mortgage when my processor left the company. I spent two weeks trying to get someone to tell me what was going on with my file, only to find out that the processor wasn’t even working for them any more.
But the rate is good. If the refinance ever closes, that is.
Update: The refinance finally closed. Pros: My rate is excellent. Cons: It took six months from the initial application to making my first mortgage payment and I had to spend a lot of time following up with them, getting them to move my file along.

Do not join this bank. Be careful!
This big bank will charge you SIGNIFICANT fees – one called an «uncollected funds» fee, and I was charged eight (8) of them on one day, PLUS an insufficient funds fee because the uncollected funds fees made my account negative.
These are different from «insufficient funds» fees, but they still cost $ 30.00 EACH. They’re very easy to incur … if you deposit a check, you know that only a certain amount is «available». We all know this if we’ve ever had a bank account before. Well, if you go anywhere out of town and use any of their Allpoint/​Cardtronics ATMs, DO NOT rely on the «AVAILABLE BALANCE» written on the receipt – it is wrong and instead shows your «current balance».
Friday – deposited check; Sunday – withdrew from Allpoint/​Cardtronics ATM and got «AVAIL: $X00» dollars believing it to be true that the check had cleared; Monday (morning) – checked account balance on
site and a few hundred in «Available balance»; Monday (night) – EIGHT (8) UNCOLLECTED FUNDS FEES ($ 30.00 EACH); Tuesday (afternoon) – one (1) insufficient funds fee ($ 30.00).
And when you call the College Park branch, they don’t answer the phone. When I called the main SECU branch, customer service: (1) asked me for a copy of the receipt which I gladly provided; (2) offered to waive a few of the fees but not all of them after most of my day stressing out and worrying, because it’s my fault that I didn’t know that unless it says «available balance» on SECU’s site and ONLY on SECU’s site, you are getting a «current balance» from the Allpoint/​Cardtronics ATMs.
DO NOT TRUST SECU, go with Well’s Fargo – they actually TELL you about what «uncollected funds» charges are (several times) and give you the option when you open the account to opt out – and they make it CLEAR!
I can understand insufficient funds fees, but: (1) charging fees for payments that just happen to clear RIGHT at 11:59 PM the night before the deadline when they are REQUIRED to honor the deposit; (2) ALLOWING ATMs in their network to provide an «available balance» amount knowing that there is a difference between «available» balance and «current» balance that customers in-​the-​know rely on; (3) blaming customers for not knowing that «available balance» means one thing from an Allpoint/​Cardtronics ATM, and another from their ATMs; (4) charging eight (8) uncollected fees funds in one transaction on one night.
Consider yourself warned, these people are not good.

Omg the get second prize as having the worst customer service. MCT still takes the prize as the worst but really! I was on hold for nearly one hour just to get a live operator! I go in there lobby and the place is tacky! Outdated!!! They have you sign in a book, which is a joke bc I signed in, sat down. Not one person greeted me. While the desk people sat at their desk and wasted air. This one rep who sat at her desk, who reminded me of Dixie Carter saw me so many times, gave me a cheese smile and pretended to do some work just so she wouldnt have to come from her throne to help me. So finally, I see one human get up from her desk and I asked if I was ever going to be seen bc I dont have all day. So, I was going to get CDs and do other financial moves, I decided to close all my accounts. You dont keep people waiting period. Or if that have to wait at least acknowledge them. None of that happened. So when I was ushered to the teller, the teller wants to play 20 questions with me. I said NOYB, just close all my accounts and tell me where to sign. I only signed up for the low rates on loans but since thats paid off. And after the lackluster service I got. I was like, I deserve better. Navy FCU is so much better. And they have more branches and CLASS… U lost SECU.

I have had nothing but problems with SECU — especially their customer service.
Today I have been on hold for two hours. TWO HOURS. I even took a picture of the phone to prove it.