University Federal Credit Union

The fraud dept. at this bank is horrible. Please do not use UFCU because they will always put holds on your card and will not allow you to remove the hold because you have to call during business hours. Good luck going out and having your money ready to use they will hold it and not let you use it. I called 4 – 5 times and they said the hold for fraud was removed but then when I called back to verify why my card was not working they told me I have to call another number and during business hours. Very unprofessional and very bad when you need your bank to be available but they are closed! Never going back!

Reviewing banks is weird, because you’re partly evaluating face-​to-​face service performed at a particular location by humans, and in part assessing a network of online and corporate services shared by everyone. Since I rarely bank at any UFCU location (but opened my account at the campus store), this review is mostly for the company overall.
That said, giant bonuses for banking with UFCU: early deposit of my U. of Texas paychecks; ATMs all over campus and the central city; über-​low-​interest credit card they gave me; an additional location near my apartment in Hyde Park, allowing me to get cash quickly near home. Well, that is if the ATMs are working that day, which is only about a 60% proposition, it seems.
And despite some of the horror stories, I’ve always had good experiences in the campus location itself. I’ve had them notarize several work documents for me (for free) so that I could them in for work-​from-​home gigs. They got everything right and were quick and friendly both times. Nicely done.
There are several major drawbacks, though, to UFCU, or more like one major drawback expressed several different ways: their security policies are terrible – completely, irresponsibly lax. When I opened my savings and checking accounts, for example, while they were walking me through the setup screen and using pulldown menus to locate my stuff, I could actually see other people’s account numbers on screen. While I’m neither a mnemonicist (probably not a word, by the way) nor scam artist, this practice would be a fine opening for those who are.
Ditto with the web page: who in dog’ s great creation thinks it’s a good idea for customers to use their account numbers as their login ID? That’s insane, particularly if you’re ever forced to bank from a public location, and as a crazed bonus, the numbers aren’t blacked out as you type them. You can’t just have customers invent a personal user ID and password like everybody else?
So, here’s the deal: I’ve never had anything go wrong as a result of these policies, so my experience with UFCU has been substantially positive. And customers everywhere are protected in the event of an account breach. But that would still be a giiiiaaaaannt hassle, and would likely knock three stars off this score. So fix that, UFCU.

Excellent customer service, friendly staff, and the lowest interest rate of my life on a car loan. I probably would have given them five stars if their mortgage guy had ever called me back…

Alright, so it’s been a couple of years since my review and I think things have improved. Granted, I do 99% of my transactions online now so I’m rarely, if ever, in the actual bank itself, but it’s still located near my workplace and every now and again I do have to stop in and I’ve noticed it has been better.
Thank goodness for online and mobile banking. I’m able to deposit checks from my phone and transfer money to my other credit union accounts online. What a time-​saver those things alone have been for me.
Last year, I was looking into refinancing one or both of our auto loans (one was already financed with UFCU and the other with another local credit union). Everyone I spoke to in the lending department was very nice, but I have a minimum of 40 emails back and forth with Kristi Rice where she answered a billion questions about the auto refinance process and other non-​auto-​related financial questions that I had. I was never once treated like a pest with all of my questions, nor was I treated like a pocketbook.

It is VERY DIFFICULT to get them by phone. The VRU system is a nightmare.

Terrible online banking, terrible mobile banking, and limited locations. Login info never works making it impossible to do any banking without going into the store front.

Amateurs. UFCU is the worst bank I’ve ever dealt with, granted they did open an account for me as a new freshmen with 0 credit — I am thankful for that. However, over the years, they’ve done things to my account to actually hurt my credit more. Like close it without telling me why, and then when I ask them what happened, they couldn’t ‘find the paperwork or reason why’…wth?
Strike two: deailng with them while I was abroad in Spain. I had my ufcu debit card in one of my old wallets that was pickpocketed. Of course, the pickpocketer tried to max out that debit card which, I hadn’t used in years. I get notifications from ufcu which I haven’t used in years and contacting them and dealing with the entire ordeal internationally was horrendous. Thank god I had a back up BOA account which was a million times easier to deal with internationally. Anyway, after emailing them several times, sending them messages through the online ufcu messaging system, all I got was ignored. I double cancelled the already cancelled debit card but somehow the thief was STILL able to withdraw money past the day I called them for weeks and weeks. This went on for months to the point where I had a $ 500 balance in overdraft fees, even though I cancelled and let them know of the situation from the start.
As soon as I got back to the states, I demanded they close my account and resolve the matter. The $ 500 got credited, which should have never happened anyway, but they STILL haven’t closed my account. This happened in June 2010. Today it is October 2011. I don’t know what the HELL is wrong with this bank.

Don’t expect your money to be very secure here!
I have been in several times to make large withdrawals (over $ 1000) and the tellers NEVER check my ID. Not once. And when confronted about the egregious lack of security, they always agree that they should verify who I am. By that precedent, if I lost my checkbook or account summary, anyone could walk into this branch and withdraw a large sum of my money without needing identification. I’m closing my accounts as soon as I find another bank or credit union.

Mr Doctor: Hello fine sir. I have just finished mixing my labor with some natural resources. They have given me something called a «check». They said you could help me.
Teller: Yes, we can take that.
Mr Doctor: You don’t say! But what will you do with it?
Teller: We give you these green slips of paper in return. They can be exchanged for things.
Mr Doctor: Things?! What sorts of things?!
Teller: Books, takeout Chinese, a plasma tv, whatever.
Mr Doctor: What about a lovely vacation to the coal mines of Siberia?
Teller: Yes, that too.
Mr Doctor: Why would someone who is not a complete idiot part with say, a healthy male llama, in exchange for mere paper slips?
Teller: That’s the way it works. That’s our system.
Mr Doctor: But why does this system work?
Teller: It works because we believe it works.
Mr Doctor: But why do we believe it works?
Teller: Because we know that everyone else believes that it works.
Mr Doctor: That makes sense.
Teller: Trust me, we’re glad you think so. Have fun in Siberia.
Mr Doctor: I’ll send you a postcard!