Provident Credit Union

What a disappointment this credit union was. I am closing out both accounts after they lost all my paperwork for buying out a car lease. They also hold your checks for 10 business days — so if you don’t want to be treated like a criminal go to another credit union. After frustrations with big banks I was hoping credit unions would be a different experience. Not so.

Greg is awesome and incredibly helpful! He even helped me get approved for my first credit card! Glad I switched from a big bank.

Want to thank Greg and their team for helping me on requesting a car loan. Despite the process taking all day, they stuck with me the whole time and I was able to get my car later that afternoon. Thanks guys!

I originally opened my checking account with Provident due to their EXCELLENT interest rate on their checking account (2%+). I was very happy with the Palo Alto branch as they got my account up and running within 15 minutes. Dividends are always paid on time and no funny charges as far as I can tell. From that side of things, I would give this CU a 5 star.
Yet my rating of 1 star is more for their loan department as my experience with them was absolutely terrible. I applied for a mortgage in early June, I never got a decision regarding my application. Luckily the house isn’t closing for a few months and I was able to find alternatives. Still, to not return any phone calls or bother with any answer is unacceptable. If you don’t want to offer me a mortgage, just let me know one way or another. To ignore a customer for nearly a month is not acceptable.

I was in the market for a car loan, and Provident was #2 on my list of lowest bank APR rates. I chose Provident over the slightly-​lower rate (because they have been so reliable in the past), and they were actually able to lower my rate even lower than the rate online, since I have good credit. So it was a good choice =)
I called their loan number, explained I needed an auto loan, was put on the phone with an auto loan guy named Matt. He was friendly and the entire conversation was like I was talking to a friend. Lots of laughing! He asked me questions about my income, work history, etc. After about 15 min on the phone with him, I got approved over the phone. I didn’t know how any of this works, so he happily explained the process to me: what he needed me to send him, what I needed to bring to the dealership, and what he needed back from the dealership. The process was so simple that I didn’t even bother to take notes. We got off the phone and he emailed the confirmation letter within the hour. I sent back my documents (ID, proof of income), printed out the letter, brought it to the dealership, and boom. Done. Car acquired.
Minus one star, for 2 reasons: 1) I was not told that my APR would raise by 2% if I didn’t set up auto-​pay. I was planning on doing auto-​pay anyway, but it is something that should have been mentioned before receiving the confirmation letter. 2) I originally wanted to apply online, but I couldn’t get into my account because my information couldn’t be verified. This is things like my birthday and SSN, which I know I’m not getting wrong. I think I need to go in to get them to reset the account or something. Anyway, has nothing to do with getting a loan (you can apply online without logging in).
Overall, if you need a loan, this is a great place to start. It was so fast and easy… done start-​to-​finish in 1 work day! I highly recommend Provident.

Good service!
Giovanna was really helpful with my mortgage application.
The tellers are helpful as well. I have moved away from BoA to their super rewards checking which has a better interest rates than almost all commercial banks.E.g: They don’t charge for checks!
There are a bunch of other folks I would like to call out: Kerwin, Lan Figueroa… Really good service. I haven’t had any issues in the past 2 yrs @ this center and @ the San Mateo branch…

Yes, their rates are low. I have been a member for over 14 years. I have yet to experience any knowledgeable people at any branch. They have managed to mess up every automatic bill pay set up. Example: I have my bank send payment on first of month to allow ample time to process the check by the payment due date of the 20^th. They then charged me late fees as they consider that to be late payment for the proceeding month. I have been battling this with them for 3 days now and have had enough. I will pay higher rate to have better service! Oh, and it took them 3 months to process my simple car loan and I have the highest credit rating. They kept screwing up the paperwork. They do not hire competent people. I read other peoples reviews and seriously wonder if they are talking about the same institution.
In addition, they also charge account inactivity fees if you do not add money to your account every two months. They will charge you late fees and service fees that you will not find with most other banks or credit unions.

First, you get the best interest rate on a completely liquid (savings) account you can find absolutely anywhere, on up to $ 25k, with 10 debit/​credit transactions per month (have more than $ 25k to keep? no problem — open more accounts with their own debit cards), plus ATM fees refunds.
Second, you get really, really friendly and knowledgeable people at this branch who just seem so much more personable, you almost feel they’re glad and proud they’re working at a local credit union instead of a bank.
Third but not least, you should support CUs like this for good karma, period :-)

I was a member here for six years, when one day they decided to stop accepting checks from my biggest client because there was a DBA (doing-​business-​as) next to my name. I pointed out that they’d been happily accepting these checks every month for over a year, but they still refused to take it. «Go to the ATM outside and deposit it, maybe that will work» was the branch manager’s advice. The MANAGER. Um, no thanks, I’m not doing your busy work for you. I closed my account on the spot and moved to Stanford FCU down the street, where I’m very happy.

i opened my membership in 2002 and got a really good rate on a car loan. i’ve since paid my car loan, but have always kept $ 25 in my account to keep membership in case i needed to refinance my house. in any event, once they started charging a $ 5 inactivity fee, i was like:
SAYOUNARA, DUDE!
i love B of A anyway…

Have they closed this branch location? I checked their website and it doesn’t list this in their directory of branch locations.
However, it looks like they have opened a new branch on El Camino in Palo Alto.

I opened an account with the Redwood City branch, lured by the 5% interest rate. From the time I opened the account to when I got my «welcome letter» was 11 days. The online access is difficult to navigate. I have been using online banking since 1990 with several different banks, so how hard should it be? The MoneyHQ feature wasn;t always available, even during business hours when they couldn’t have been updating their system. Very disappointing. I’ve literally spent hours trying to make this work, but I’ve given up and will be closing my account. Bummed

As a member of a different credit union, I am entitled to use Provident, as they are part of a credit union network. I successfully transferred a large chunk of money from my liquid assets account into my checking, and then asked to withdraw $ 100. The teller told me my account said I had zero (she knew it didn’t just have zero, since she was able to see that I had money in the liquid asset account of the same account number), that another person from my credit union had the same problem earlier, and that it was a computer issue. She tried to refresh her screen, hoping it would show the transaction.
She called my credit union, waited on hold for a couple of minutes, then told me she had too many people in line and that she couldn’t help me. Once outside, I called my credit union, verified that my transaction of money did go into checking, and that I certainly didn’t just have zero. She indicated that members shouldn’t have this issue and be denied service like that, as Provident apparently needs to update their software. She was going to report them to some entity, as their service was unacceptable. She indicated that the only other time my credit union had a problem with another credit union not servicing one of my credit union’s members was when (once again) Provident had an earlier problem with its outdated software with joint accounts and accepting a check from one of the holders of the account.
Someone else had to wait quite a while for quarters, btw. There were only two checkers, a third male employee didn’t step in to help out here. When I first went in to inspect this credit union, the male employee was very slow to give out information about the credit union when queried about its history and services, and ended up just giving me a membership application.
If people go to Provident, I suggest people go to the branch in Redwood City, as I’ve visited this location and found the tellers to be very pleasant and friendly.

As an out of area credit union member, I’m always on the lookout for credit union service centers with outstanding service. Provident is one of them with short/​non-​existent lines, friendly fast service, and great people