Baxter Credit Union

I’ve been a member for over 30 years!!! I am a forever customer! Great, friendly service always!

I received a call from this location today… by someone by the name of Iris. Long story short she was very unprofessional and thought it was comfortable for her to hang up the phone on me even though I was very professional with her throughout the call. She became emotional on the call, unprofessional, and when I asked for her manager she «predicted» (because she thinks shes god or a psychic) that her manager would disagree with me before speaking to me and hearing my side of the issue being worked on. Dictator Credit Union? DCU?

Absolutely horrible place for a «pre approval» for a home loan. They say they can give you the world and then when it comes to putting an offer in on a house they said, «oh ya your not eligible for that house. Figure out a way to make more money». The mortgage broker Sandy was also very unprofessional and extremely rude. Not helpful what so ever and doesn’t return any phone calls or emails. HORRIBLE place. Will never use them again and will make sure friends, family and coworkers know.

My husband gets the BCU visa gift cards as a thank you from his vendors at work. These gift cards are basically useless because the transaction always gets declined. And yes, I have them run it properly and still doesn’t work. So I finally had to just buy a gift card from amazon just to use this thing and then come to find out they were taking money off the card for monthly fees when I only had it for 5 months. What a crock! Next time I told my husband we are using this the day he gets it and buying amazon gift cards right away just to spend the money on something.

This is on BCU customer service phone line; everytime I call I get the best service possible. So I cut up my credit card realizing I’ll need it for the holidays so I requested a replacement but needed it as soon as possible. It’s usually a $ 20 charge for rush shipping but after I told her my story, she offered me rush shipping at no charge. On another ocassion, for the first time, I went over my account a couple of transcripts but they were literally a couple of dollars on a couple of transactions… my account went from –5.25 to –80.25 as each overdraft charge was $ 25 fee; I called them and they gave me as a courtesy they reversed all charges. Chase or BOA would never do anything like this so it’s nice to know that there is still some hope in this world that some banks aren’t out to steal your money and really value you being a member. Thank you Baxter Credit Union!

BCU used to be an excellent partner, but have fallen totally off a cliff. On the deposit side, their technology is extremely dated and their internal processes lack from a customer point of view.
BCU’s loan processing and mortgage professionals fail to communicate, return calls and seemly could care less when they take months longer than promised to close a loan. I am still not closed with my loan which should have closed in September. They don’t care whether you have a closing date nor care what economic penalties that the customer incurs due to their failure. They recently just came to me with questions on documents that I submitted to them in July and have further delayed any potential closing. My loan processor does not seem to have a handle on what is going on and rarely ever return calls. He goes dark for days and then I get an email saying he is working on things but nothing really substantive about next steps, timelines, etc. I am forced to sit here while the days and weeks go by. If BCU doesn’t want to originate loans, that is fine, but don’t harm BCU members by leading them down a path and failing to live up to promises and commitments.
Over the years I have purchased 16 properties using a wide variety of lenders (including BCU) and this was by far the worst experience I have had. I am so disappointed in everyone associated with this process which is unfortunate because I used to feel good about working with BCU and supporting that organization.
I definitely cannot recommend.

Been a member for over 10 years. Reconsidering my membership after they have been screwing me around by charging me for forced insurance on my auto loan. I supplied them with all the information they needed in regards to proof of insurance but will not reimburse me because the lien holder listed is not BCU. They’re just picking my pocket right out of my checking even though they know I have insurance. I have been back and forth with my insurance company, BCU loan department and BCU customer service daily — only to get different answers every day from BCU. So frustrated it’s not even funny, I created a Unilocal account today just because of this. My auto insurance agent said she has NEVER heard of a bank NEEDING the lien holder to be changed in order for reimbursement, POI is POI, whether BCU is the lien holder or not. Thank you BCU for the headache.

Worst ever. I am one that after every transaction I go online or app and check my account balance to see if my transaction had gone through and shows in my history or if it’s pending. I live paycheck to paycheck and sometimes I go to the ATM to do a one time overdraft so that I don’t get multiple fees… They will show your transaction in the history and then once you go negative they will remove the transaction and reprocess so that you get an overdraft fee for each transaction. Currently I have 3 transaction that where in my history before the ATM withdrawal but disappeared and got re ran after my overdraft withdrawal… What infuriates me more is I have a 3200 check that I deposited that they have out a hold on. So I have money but they just like to take forever and charge you for nonsense.

Baxter Credit Union is the absolute worse!!! Do NOT put your money here, whatever you do! I’ve had incident after incident of nothing but unpleasant experiences and stress. The most recent incident occurred do to courtesy pay. I opt’d in via phone (after an extremely rude conversation, might I add) and was told «alright! You’re all set up now!». I had a payment that needed to go through and was hoping for coverage on this account. Several days later I get a notice that the transaction failed. I called BCU and found out that I was not eligible for courtesy pay (which makes no sense as I receive direct deposits biweekly and have a few other savings accounts that are also in great standing). Which brings me to this question: why on earth would you opt me in if I was ineligible? Not only that but after expressing my confusion a representative named Janice just blatantly told me «look I’m not about to argue with you. I’ll have someone call you back». I was and still am simply outraged. I requested to speak with a supervisor and she couldn’t even tell me what went wrong. BCU does NOT care about the members. The people who work there are unprofessional, rude, completely nonchalant about one of the most important subjects in life, and make mistakes that I always seem to have to fix. Why do I have to wake up at 7:30 in the morning and be on the phone for 40 minutes just to hear that something was done incorrectly on their behalf? I’ve done this so many times that it’s become routine. Being with BCU has been one of the most stressful things I’ve had to deal with. This should NOT be stressful. I am done!
**UPDATE**
I am STILL going through so much stress with this credit union since my last review. I am pregnant and work 10 – 14 hours a day. There is no reason why I should be going though the things I’m going through! So turns out whoever told me that Jenice (the lady who told me that I was ineligible for courtesy pay) gave me false information– I am suddenly eligible and guess how I found out??! Several debit card transactions went through the account and I was assessed fees for all of them AFTER I WAS TOLD THAT I COULDN’T RECEIVE COURTESY PAY! This is crazy! I wasn’t watching the account as I assumed that those transactions would just decline and id give the merchants a new card to complete the transactions when they called. This is absolutely crazy. I’m far too pregnant and too stressed to be dealing with this. Why so many conflicting stories? And why do I have to make a trip to the branch to clean up this mess? This is the worse experience that I’ve ever had with a financial institution in my life. I though credit unions would be more personable and easy to deal with but I thought wrong. If you are in need of a credit union that is there for you, can do their job correctly, and is a great overall credit union please go elsewhere. Corporate America Family Credit Union has done an excellent job of displaying a great amount of professionalism, understanding, and they do their job with a smile and they do it WELL! I’ve had CAFCU as a secondary savings account for quite some time and can tell you firsthand that they are truly a better organization. BCU was primary but as soon as I switch my direct deposits next paycheck I’m done. Of course they don’t care too much about you unless you’re a member that has hundreds of thousands in the account so I’m sure me leaving is not a concern but hopefully I can save someone else the pain that I’ve had to deal with.

This Credit Union is amazing. Their online banking website is amazing, you can pay people or institutions, set up reminders, automatic payments and manage all your accounts. You get free credit score that updates every month. Their credit terms are the most competitive I’ve ever seen. You can deposit into your account using their app, check the closest ATM and your balance. Their staff is very friendly and I don’t need to visit a branch because I pretty much can do everything online. This bank is way better than for profit institutions and they care about their customers. Great job!

To their credit, their rates were competitive but the administrative fees were a bit high. I was most impressed with the initial thoroughness with gathering the appropriate information for my account vs. other banks. Unfortunately, this only applied on the front end. my sense is that they had too much business for the final person to follow through with me and secure the account. Over a week of phone tag with this representative — I give up. It shouldn’t be this hard to open an account. I’ve gone to a different credit union.

BCU has high interest rates, high fees and poor customer service. I’d rather shove my money in a mattress.

I’m not entirely sure how you can go wrong with this bank! The interest rate (APY) for the the powerplus checking account is greater than most banks’ interest rate. You do have to have 15 transactions a month, but that includes transactions on your BCU Credit Card. Also, the rainy day savings account gives even more interest. Plus, their customer service is really great. Just get a Total Access Checking Account to avoid the ATM fees. Now, the cash back credit card with BCU offers 2% cash back while the visa signature credit card is their most rewarding card. Also, there’s shared branches pretty much everywhere. BCU even has an iOS and android application where you can deposit your check with your phone.

I banked for many years with LaSalle and saw them through the Bank of America change. It was always horrid — BCU is NOTHING like them! I have previously done banking with another credit union and at least 6 other banks in my life, not to mention financial institutions that handle my 401k, my mortgage, some credit cards, etc.
I did have one experience where they misunderstood what I was asking but it was rectified in the long-​term and no major harm was done.
If you live or work in Lake County, Illinois you can be a member — if outside of that area yes it is restricted to certain companies like many/​most credit unions.
One reason I give them five stars is because I’d been a customer for probably 6 – 9 months when Wells Fargo made an unauthorized deduction from my checking account. After going back and forth with who knows how many people and supervisors at Wells Fargo and not getting anywhere, I called BCU. They sent back the charge as unauthorized and all I had to do was sign a piece of paper, show my ID and my money was back in my account within an hour or so… They treat me like I’m an angel!!!
I have not seen any problems with excessive fees, etc. I have friends out of state who say their credit unions are horrible and compared to what I have here at BCU — I am very lucky… I plan on staying :-)

BCU offers great customer service, which is one of the primary reasons why I joined this credit union. While I do business with major banks as well, most CU’s offer a low-​interest credit card, car loans and so forth. While I had no immediate need for such services when I signed up a few years ago, they’ve managed my Visa card quite well to this point.
Whenever I’ve called customer service, each of the ladies on the other end have picked up promptly and been excellent at researching my account related questions. I’ve never sampled their other products, but based upon my stellar experience with their credit card, I’d give them the nod.

You keep me on hold forever, take 2 days to return callls, have a website that is always down. Not to mention the secrets you keep with the hidden terms and fees. Why BCU? The friendly voicemail while I’m on hold tells me as a member that I’m an owner of the credit union… hurray for me. On the plus side, I have a nice rate on my mortgage and street cred with my Credit Union status… not everyone can join, you need to be special by working for a company that belongs to it or a famliy member. Sweet.

The people are very nice but can’t do anything. The bank tricks you into opening an account and then has all of these hidden terms so they do not have to pay you interest.

Their powerchecking account gives you 2.0% interest and there are no fees. The biggest issue you might have is using an ATM where the ATM operator will charge you a fee. BCU will not charge in their in-​network ATMs. Their rainy day savings account will get you 3.0% interest. Pretty damn good. Their online banking website is easy to use and has a lot of features. As mentioned by an earlier review, all customer service is local and there is generally not a long wait at their branches. Great service, great rates, and convenience. Best banking institution I’ve ever used.

I have never been to any business in any industry that comes close to the service that the folks at BCU maintain — at all their locations!!!
This company should be a case study for all industries!

I’ve been a member of BCU my entire life, thanks to my parents affiliation. I cannot say enough about the excellent customer service and personal attention I have experienced. I’ve gone through so many issues over the years: had my debit card number stolen and my bank account drained TWICE, lost countless debit Visa cards, moved out of the country and maintained the use of my bank but forgot to tell them, and begged for overdraft fee reversal on multiple occasions. I’ve also had two car loans with amazing low rates, better than any non-​credit union ever offered. Since the bank is headquartered in Illinois, all of my interaction is over the phone. I always talk to a human being who speaks English clearly, who works with me to figure out any issues I have with a pleasant and helpful demeanor.
Credit unions allow free ATM withdrawls between other banks, so getting cash is never an issue.
I love this bank, and will be a member for as long as that option is available.