Schools First Federal Credit Union

Thank you to Ava Mahdavi for making the process of opening an account so smooth and easy. If the service is anything like our first day there I’m sure we will be happy members for life. :)

Thank You Thank You Thank You!
I’ve been a member for 14+ years and I always encountered wonderful service. I’ve been meaning to write a Unilocal review… so now is the time!
A few months back I was looking at my financial situation and realized that I needed to move things around to prepare for my future. So, I looked into refinancing some loans and reorganizing my funds. Cristian gave me wonderful insight to how I can financially accomplish some of my goals. He sat down with me to show me some numbers and within a month after all the documentation was processed, I am now ¾ done with paying off loans and 85 points higher on my FICO score. Jenn helped me refinance my car loan from a private bank. She did everything for me, all I had to do was bring in some documentations and she handled all the calls, all the checks, all the dmv processing and the stamps! Really, this is a one-​stop financial institution and they all do it with a SMILE. It’s not an inconvenience for them to do their job with professionalism, courtesy and a genuine smile. I absolutely love this credit union — they are here to serve their members — not CEOs or majority shareholders. Credit unions depend on their members — we love them, they love us! Thanks Jenn and Cristian and all the rest!

Far and away the best financial institution I have ever dealt with. Checking, savings, trust accounts, auto loans, investment services have all been handled with courtesy and efficiency. Their credit cards have great rates and excellent fraud monitoring. Their on-​line banking is well-​implemented. CD rates aren’t great anywhere right now, but theirs are competitive. I’ve been using them since 1998, and was delighted to give up the non-​service I was getting at the giant monster mega-​bank and move all my banking to SFFCU.

I recently did an auto loan through Schools First FCU and the woman who helped me was great. She answered all of my questions, showed me a variety of options, and helped me to understand parts of the loan process that I was unsure of. I love that I had the option to not make a payment for 90 days, and I can take in my «down payment» within 90 days of purchasing my vehicle, which allows me to sell my old car AFTER purchasing my new one. I also like that as a school employee I can opt to not make a payment for two summer months; this will help me a lot. The interest rate is very low and I am very happy with the service I have been provided.
I use the eDeposit app to deposit checks now, since the main branch in Long Beach is not very near to my home. I do have another credit union nearby that allows me to use their ATMs for free, but using my phone is even easier.
I also like that I can easily transfer money between my account and other Schools First FCU members (family, friends, etc.)

i set up a checking account with Schools First FCU because i want to try and entrust my money in a federal credit union for a change. (i was with wamu since i was 17, and never had any problems until they became chase and started sneaking all sorts of fees i don’t have to tolerate, so i shut it down) i also have an ING Direct checking and savings account because their interest is high and they’ve never given me any problems either — the only downside is there’s no local branch and i cannot deposit money unless i send it as a check in the mail.
to remedy this, i shopped for some banks and decided on joining Schools First. i had already wanted this account as long as this condition was met:
— i get to have reliable and dedicated access to depositing and transferring funds to a linked financial institution. i was very clear on this.
they still spent half an hour trying to push me this account, without letting me know some significant details until the very end.
they continued to push an account i already wanted [telling me i am a shareholder and i have a say, blah blah blah, as if i weren’t just a nameless walking dollar sign], not communicating with me until 30 minutes later that there was a 15 dollar fee involved in the membership even if i were eligible for an account as well as a 5 $ share being required in the required savings account. sadly, i’m not patient enough to go through with this with some other FCU or bank all over again, so, exasperated, i agreed to cough up the $ 20 [reluctantly! why wasn’t this communicated earlier?].
i feel like an idiot. it has been 2 weeks since i opened the account. for the first week, the online banking wasn’t accessible so i couldn’t use any of the cash i had deposited until a week after, although they told me it’d only be 4 days. it took 1.5 weeks for the debit card to get to me. after my online banking became available to me, i was notified i am not allowed to transfer any funds from this account until 90 days have passed.
i feel like i’m already losing money. i made a poor choice. i was lied to, essentially… it wasn’t made known to me that what i necessitated, although available, had a wait of 3 months.
they’ve been sneaky from the beginning. i contacted the teller-​phone service, and they told me the «online banking system has been down all day», apparently. unbelievable, right?
this service is inept and the teller who helped me open my account although very sweet, wasn’t straight with me! i’m not getting my $ 20 worth for these guys to hold on to my money… it stresses me out, and i want to tell you not to entrust a significant component of your your livelihood with them unless you’re blessed with the mind to not have a cow when you can’t do what you want with your earnings.