Albina Community Bank

This branch has the worst customer service I’ve experienced almost anywhere in portland, and believe me there’s a lot of sub-​par service in portland (I work in the service industry and am particularly aware of how people are handling their customer service… this is a blessing and a curse). Some of their employees are simply indifferent, but others are rude, or openly abrasive and condescending (the skinny old blonde lady who doesn’t work there anymore), or talking shit about other patrons within earshot (yikes), but all of them act put out by having to deal with the money I am bringing in to deposit. It’s like, what? You’re a bank! Isn’t that your job? Shouldn’t you be glad, or at least ok, with someone using your bank to deposit money? It’s crazy, I’ve never experienced anything quite like it, especially at a bank. They sigh, or don’t smile back… I don’t understand, since the employees at the sandy and fremont branches are sweet. I know they blow through employees at this mlk branch and there are always brand new people working, so maybe it’s a bigger issue with how it’s run. Either way, I won’t be returning to this location and I’m considering switching banks since this has all left a very bad taste in my mouth. I don’t think I’d like to support them anymore.

these guys are great. they’re super helpful & when I walk into my branch, they know who I am, what I’ve been up to & ask about my family. that’s community banking! I do my personal & business banking with them

I have been banking w/​Albina since 2009. I usually conduct my biz at this location in NE PDX. The tellers know me pretty well and have been really good when I’ve had little glitches (trying to cash a check or something) and gone out of their way to go research the mail to see if a check had arrived via snail mail one time. I like how they are so friendly and even interested in me (what I’m up to… I’m an activist on lots of issues).
I’ve even written to the bank Pres. once to ask that they reconsider their affiliation w/​a business org. that I personally think does not help communities but targets people and benefits business. The Pres. wrote me back and said they would consider it (though that didn’t change things but then I didn’t keep up on that issue since I moved).
As for setting up my checking acct. and having them take time to send me deposit slips via snail mail and the lack of fees for having my acct. (that is often under 100.00) w/​them I am really pleased by the service I get. I have always banked w/​local community banks and I will never use the giant banksters for my banking needs. I always manage to NOT need an ATM while traveling. Most places can give $ back in transactions and that works for me.
I’m happy and will stay w/​Albina as long as I can or until there is a reason to move elsewhere, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

In short: Horrible experience. Uncaring and unhelpful employees and practices. Thought I was doing a good deed keeping it local. Moving my $ to another bank.

I don’t like to write lengthy reviews, and you probably do not like reading them, but this is an exception.
I own a business and was applying for an equipment loan for expansion. I got approved and then submitted all the info on the vehicle and copy of title etc… Just after I went through the lengthy approval process and got all the docs signed and titles in and everything done they tell me I need to have the vehicle here at their branch in order to fund the loan. Well this specialty vehicle is in Detroit, not Portland. There is nothing like it in Portland. So I suggested they use a collateral inspector, or another local bank in Detroit, or an escrow company to do the inspection, but they wanted it done by them here at the branch and nothing else. Their excuse was that they are a «Local Bank». I guess local means you can’t buy something if the person lives outside of Portland. They suggested that the owner ship it here at his cost so we can inspect it for funding. How absurd is that. I can’t imagine anyone, who has ever had experience with anything in real life, would suggest that a seller ship his/​her merchandise across the country at his expense and prior to getting paid so a bank can say yay or nay. Regardless of the year being 2012, they still insisted that we do things like it was 1979. Not only did they want him to ship it but they wanted him to sign over the title a week prior to even funding AND then after all this and the guy I was buying it from not talking to me anymore because I was trying to scam him out of his vehicle, they came back with more paperwork. so in reality it wasn’t even approved.
It’s get’s even better. This paperwork they needed was sent via email. I filled it out (not sure why I did considering I can’t get a vehicle through them anyhow) and then they called me back several days later and told me the bank needed a years worth of whatever it was instead of 6 months. Well I filled out the form THEY gave me … get it frigging together! Then they warnme that the approval (that really wasn’t an approval) was only good for 2 months. it took 2 months just to get their stupid requirements done, also there are no such vehicles in oregon anyhow so it really didn’t matter.
SERVICE:
The lady I was dealing with was nigh impossible to actually reach. It was usually an entire business day before I could actually speak with her, to ask her a question about what needs to go it which spot on the form etc… She never checked her messages because when I did finally get ahold of her she had no idea what my questions were about.
I am VERY disappointed with the archaic banking practices of this bank, the slow response of it’s employees and the time it took to button the loan up compared to how long the «approval» is good for.

I’ve had a loan and a checking account at Albina for a few years and it has been a fine experience. The folks at the branch on Sandy & 57^th are very friendly and helpful. I don’ t know if they have online billpay, but
synchronizes my Albina Community Bank account information just fine.

I used to be a big-​time activist. Well, not really, but I used to be so in the know that I could very easily have become a big-​time activist and done my part to change the world. I did my part to change the world in smaller ways, and the world’s still the same. There’s nothing wrong with that; and I learned through years and years of hard work, intense study, and frustration that changing oneself is almost as important as changing the world.
Now, I don’t believe that one necessarily must change oneself in order to change the world. How often do we know what we’re doing when we start out? There’s a fatalism to the American middle-​class «be the change» philosophy. I’m not denigrating Mohandas Gandhi, not all all. When he said «be the change,» he meant it. For life. And he changed his life and his world. But so many activists who put all or most of their twenties into being this change always have their middle-​class upbringing to fall back on, and most of them do, eventually. I know I have. Sort of. Actually, I haven’t. I have the sensibility and the education to, but I refuse to, at least completely. And I have been trying to change myself in myriad ways, even now, even after growing frustrated and burnt out and isolated and out of my twenties.
So here’s the thing: It’s just as important to be consistent as it is to be passionate. In fact, if you’re passionate for a short while but end up unbeing the change you want to see in the world or, put another way, being the complacency you don’t want to see in the world, you’re probably doing more harm than good. And it’s not all about you or how you feel or how many lives you’ve touched. Those things are important; but if you’re thinking about them or, worse, telling other people about them, you need to ask yourself honestly whether you’re more interested in effecting change or just feeling good about yourself.
I can get caught up in the knowing-​as-​doing fallacy. I can learn so much about certain situations that I feel like I’ve actually done something. Knowledge is important, especially when people’s lives and livelihoods are at stake, but it’s not an end-​all, be-​all.
Do you hate the financial industry in this country and how the people who lead it have ruined the economy and actually benefited from ruining it by getting government bailouts and more and higher bonuses for themselves while the other 99.9 percent of us suffer? Do you? If you do, you can put your money where your beliefs are by taking your money out of the megabanks and putting it somewhere else. Credit unions are a wonderful place to start, but so are community banks.
Read this article:
Albina Community Bank is a real community bank, and I’ve had their credit card for two years. It’s bare bones, and that’s fine with me. If you like to complain about Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo, etc., then stop lining their pockets; stop doing business with them.

I opened accounts at Albina to support my local community. While I feel good about my money helping Portland, my banking experience has been completely average. A few of the NE managers are a little unfriendly. The Pearl staff is good, but not great.
Their online banking tools are remedial at best. They also refuse to join
so they’re the only account I can’t track on that site. I’m now looking for a new bank now that is more up to date with online banking, security, and is more professional.
Having said all that, if you don’t mind a simple banking set up, you couldn’t do better by Portland’s community than to keep your money at Albina.

Want your money to make a difference?
Put your funds in a community development bank. Better than credit unions (that can only lend to its own members), Albina Community Bank invests directly in the community, providing credit, capital, and financial services to underserved communities in Portland.
Normal banks tend to invest scarcely in their local communities, usually 5% or so of their net deposits, skirting the edges of the federally enforced mandates. Compare that with Albina, who invests upwards of 90% of its deposits locally.
As for credit cards, Albina offers The Loop Card, where, at no cost to you, Albina donates 1% of all your purchases back to Portland neighborhoods.
From their website: «We’re not here to channel profits to a corporate parent, but to impact lives and open doors for low and middle-​income families and small entrepreneurs.»