Columbia Credit Union

Columbia Credit Union claims to be local but they send much of the work (read:jobs) to other places like New Jersey and South Carolina.
We looked for a local-​oriented credit union that would add value to our Southwest Washington area. While this credit union may have some employees and events that are engaged locally they still choose to contract with out-​of-​state entities to do the day-​to-​day work of being a credit union.
When we asked why we got a letter from NJ about some part of a new mortgage we opened with them — Columbia Credit union stated that the regulatory compliance aspects of mortgage lending are complex and they sought the service of the NJ contractor to «make sure» all was done right with mortgages.
There are two things *wrong* with that attitude. The first is that almost all banking is complex and Columbia abdicates any attempt to be good at complexity. And second, their action of moving that part of their operations to another state insults the ability and integrity of our local workforce. Do they truly believe that no one in Washington State can do the job that Columbia sent to NJ? Why export jobs?
We are sorely disappointed with the service we have gotten from this credit union in another area of their ‘service’ offered. They advertise mobile banking products and we were happy to have the convenience of those mobile apps but the app suddenly stopped working. After repeated efforts to ensure that we had changed nothing about operating systems or app versions that would cause their app to stop working we called for help. After repeated transfers to customer reps and an excruciating hold time — we went to the local branch: WHILE we were on hold. We managed to get in line and get seated with a live cust/​rep at the branch only to be given conflicting answers AT THE SAME TIME. (I am not kidding!)
Now — for whatever reason we cannot use the mobile app at all. It *was* convenient when it worked but apparently now we cannot use it all. meh.
So we are looking for a LOCAL credit union that honors Washington by employing local people. With luck we will find one that does not say one thing and do another.
With luck…
BE SURE to read the ‘not recommended’ reviews below as well. They still offer insight into this esablishment