Poll: Best Credit Union in Town?

I notice someone else post this earlier, but does anyone have experience with small business banking at credit unions? Thanks!

I'm looking for same info. Provident looks great for personal checking, but not as great for business checking.

I was a Pacific Service customer and it was hit and miss. They have chat support, but won't answer anything sensitive (like BofA would, for example), so it's pretty useless. Their phone people are a tad better. Branches are consolidated in the WC/Pleasant Hill area, with one in Livermore. The only plus I remember, really, is using their coinstar machine without any fees.

For anyone else in the East Bay, I hear Sandia Labs (or is it LLNL) Credit Union is good.

I've used Redwood Credit Union (California st) for years. They seem to be a bit incompetent at times (they always forget at least one form you have to sign whenever you do a transaction) but in that bumbling uncle kind-of-way, more amateurish than incompetent. I tolerate that and they tolerate my borderline fraudulent attitude to money.

Plus, they give you their phone extensions so if you have a problem you can just dial straight through.

I think I'm going to start an account with Provident next month, to get an interest rate that's way higher than my ING savings account.  However, you have to jump through a bunch of hurdles every month to get that higher rate instead of 0%:  most annoying for me, you have to make 10 debit card purchases (not counting ATM activity) per month.  I haven't figured out what I'll want to buy that frequently.

I've had an account with the SF Fire Credit Union for a year now, and love it for the most part. My only complaints are the difficulty depositing checks (given a warning on their site that 3rd-party ATMs may be unreliable for check deposits), and that I've encountered several cheap-looking ATMs in the city that won't read my card.

My customer service experience with them has been fantastic (they have a web chat feature that works really well when you don't want to risk getting stuck waiting on the phone), and the ATM fee reimbursement is awesome.  Plus, having the card and the checks with their logo makes it look like you are a fire fighter.

One caveat about the ATM fee reimbursement... it is *not* instantaneous.  On one occasion, I had like $23 in that account, and thought I'd better check the balance before withdrawing.  Naturally, the ATM in question charged a fee just for checking my balance, which made it drop below $20, which meant that I couldn't then withdraw anything (until the reimbursement 2-3 days later, of course).  So now when I transfer money from my savings account, I try to put in like $6-7 extra above my forecast ATM needs.

I don't think any banks do instant ATM fee reimbursement, unfortunately.  There's always a lag period, which makes it a little annoying for us Mint users.

one other thing to remember - the fund that insures Credit unions (analogous to FDIC, etc) has never really been tapped, because credit unions do not work for wall street or for "shareholders" - they work for their members so they don't engage in risky financial shenanigans. also, if you get a car loan or something, you will generally pay less in interest than at some mega big mega sh*tty bank. 

At this point I would not engage in any serious transactions with B of A, Chase, etc unless forced to. They are dishonest people running dishonest institutions.

Do CUs refund international ATM fees? One of the reason I've stayed with Citibank is because I can use ATMs with partner institutions in Europe with no charge. On long trips those fees would add up.

I'm not shopping around yet, but my next stop will be a CU. The last two times I've fled to community banks, they've been bought out and I've ended up with Citibank anyway.

I haven't tested it abroad myself, but the Fire Credit Union claims to reimburse ATM fees "anywhere in the world."

A cool thing about the Credit Union Network is that they will not only allow ATMs for one CU to be used by another, but deposits as well. 

You can go to any ATM or any Credit Union to drop off checks. 

One concern I have about this is a strong but vague warning on the Fire Credit Union's site about depositing checks at partner ATMs.  I suspect they're just covering their own liability in case of a very rare malfunction, but it makes it sound like random 3rd party ATMs are perhaps not to be trusted with check deposits.

Also, credit unions tend not to charge transaction fees on international purchases.

This is very timely!! I decided to leave evil BofA last week, and am shopping around. I'm also considering smaller banks, such as Circle and First Republic (IF they don't have that $5 debit card fee).

First Republic are amazing service-wise, and refund atm fees - but the monthly fee on their checking account is pretty hefty if you don't have a healthy balance.  They may waive it if you ask though (I didn't pay it for years).

I'm also a Golden1 customer (after they took over US First CU) and they've been fine.

I'm interested in who does good business accounts as I suspect I'm going to be wanting to ditch Wells Fargo very soon...

Love Patelco Credit Union. Exemplary customer service.

I like Patelco, have used them for years, and recommend them.  But... they do charge international transaction fees, don't refund ATM fees, do have really truly awful phone support (in-branch isn't so bad at all).  Plus they recently screwed my dad out of some (trivial) amount of money when he inquired about their refi rates.

I don't know if all Co-Op network members (most credit unions) are like this, but with Patelco I can use the 7-11 ATMs w/o fee (withdrawal and deposit).  Patelco typically has decent interest rates.  Free cashier's checks and overnight EFTs are pluses.  Clunky check scanning web app is a minus.  And, yes, you can get a replacement ATM card printed up in the main branch (probably others as well).

All 7-11's are part of the co-op network nationwide, so if you are a member of a CU that's part of it... there ya go!

There is a 'CU Swirl' app for Android and iPhone to help you find service centers and co-op network ATM's

I've had great luck with Patelco too, though I really wish there was a bay area CU that would offer one of those chip-and-pin cards, it'd make travelling a whole lot easier...

ah crap, I definitely need one of those. Good to know -- thank you!

Trouble is few American banks are really offering EMV cards yet --- the most enthusiastic seem to be obscure credit unions, and premier banking services for the insanely rich.

Do any local credit unions have free online banking with bill pay, iPhone check deposits, and ATM fee reimbursement?

I'm looking for one that does all three, and haven't found any so far.

Provident says they will soon enable e-check deposits. Not sure how "soon" is, and they have the other two options as well.

http://www.providentcu.org/ind...

SF Fire currently has the first and last items, and will have the check deposit app in November: http://www.sffirecu.org/2011/9...

Best bank ever!

NICE!

That may settle it for me.  Wish they had a branch in the Mission, but if I don't have to walk in to deposit checks it doesn't matter so much.

They participate in the shared branch service center program, which means you can go into almost any credit union and use it like it was your own. They also have deposit-taking ATMs all over the place! 

I cannot sing the praises of SF Fire enough. I came to them from Bank of America and the experience has been night and day!

Even without the app, go to the co-op network site and look for nearby ATMs.  You'd potentially be pleasantly surprised at how many deposit taking ATMs are nearby (perhaps not in the Mission tho).

Not local, but USAA does. 

In general credit unions are all (mostly) best friends, allowing people to use ATM cards from one credit union in another credit union's machine.  Love 'em love 'em love 'em.

SF Fire is definitely the best I've seen.  They refund ATM fees other banks charge me and allow me to do free electronic money transfers (can send money to any US account if I have a routing/account number).
They also have business accounts (which isn't as common with CUs), and wave the business account fee for non-profits.

Oh, and when a friend had their card stolen, she called them 5min afterwards.  They immediately blocked the card, cancelled a pending transaction, and then told her that she could come down to the main branch and pickup a new debit card in 15min.  Yes, they literally printed a new VISA debit card on the spot, and within 30min of getting pick-pocketed, was walking around with the replacement card.

Provident does everything listed above* and still pays the 2.26% on the balance in your CHECKING account up to $10k I think. They're not well represented in SF with only two branches, but because of the co-op network, you'd never notice. I use the SF Fire branch on California and Presidio for all of my banking.  

Not sure about business accounts.