Beginnings Credit Union

CFCU has twice made egregious errors, one that cost me money and another that affected my credit rating. I have accounts with other financial institutions and have never had any problem with them. I wonder about the quality of people CFCU hires.

It seems to me that CFCU is discriminating against elderly people or anyone else that doesn’t have access to the internet. I’ve had an account with CFCU for over 25 years and until now I’ve been able to talk to someone about an auto loan. Yesterday I bought a brand new vehicle but financed with a different bank as I can not fill out an online application. You’ve lost a long term patron CFCU.

I'm not in a habit of writing reviews, but CFCU's behavior lately has been so atrocious that I feel obliged. Five times in the last year and a half they have managed to fundamentally screw up written instructions for how to handle CDs at maturities, ranging from transferring the wrong amount out to closing the wrong CD to closing a CD that was intended to be renewed. Their response when I suggested they needed to put a better system in place was "we already fixed this particular transaction and we're sorry it happened."

Their "improved" online banking system no longer makes it possible to organize the accounts in any way, they're just in an arbitrary order (even though the "unimproved" system did this just fine) which means for example that every time I want to see my checking balance I have to use the "Show More Accounts" button because it's off the bottom of the default screen. Their response indicated they have no plans to fix the problem.

CFCU switched to new platform. It is not user friendly and the switch was anything but smooth. Every biller in my bill pay was gone, and all I could get was “I apologize but there was an error”. You would think they would have backed things up in case this happened but nope you’re on your own.

CFCU's slogan is: "An Amazing Banking Experience" or something similar. I've been a member of CFCU for more than twenty years, and my experience with this credit union has been amazing only in terms of how they proactively exploit the members who can afford to be exploited the least. One example: while Capital One, Citibank, and Ally Bank recently COMPLETELY ELIMINATED their account overdraft fees, CFCU's is currently a whopping $38! Bank of America recently reduced overdraft fees from $35. to $10. During the Great Recession I filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy (since my small business income dropped by 85%). After that I took a stable salaried job, applied for a used car loan a year later, and CFCU offered me a $13K loan at 10% APR, while Alternatives Credit Union offered me a $13K loan at 3.9% which I was able to pay off in two years. I will likely be ending my relationship with CFCU shortly...

The Mafia is more honest then these crooks. I had an auto loan - my van was totaled. I had full coverage and GAP insurance - which they forced me to get - but refused any insurance payment saying I had to pay the entire original loan. Their Asset Recovery person I should pay them instead getting my Rx medications. My van had over $20k in adaptive equipment in it - which was not damaged - that they would not let me remove and then sold van at auction for for $1 and sent me a bill for almost $500 for auction costs. The tellers are nice the management sucks! Bank ANYWHERE else. PS. Every real estate in the area hates them too.

Opened an account as a graduate student at Cornell. For six years I received exploitative fees at every turn on my account. My account ultimately developed a negative balance due to fees after I stopped using it, and then received $38 fees each time a transaction was made against it due to old information in an online shop. I now have a large negative balance and can neither close the account or negotiate the fees. This is the worst experience with a bank I've ever had, after accounts both at home and abroad at around 6 or 7 different institutions. I'd be pleased to see this one go down.

It’s not even worth my time to get into it. But don’t try to get any sort of loan from them, that’s for sure. I may not be in the BEST position ever, BUT definitely not in a position to be denied everything and treated like dirt. And lie about checking my credit. Used the same report from almost a year ago, before a lot of hard work on my end. Closing my accounts and going to Summit!!

I won't go to this bank ever again. So happy I paid off my car loan and closed all accounts. They are very disorganized, full of narcissists ( people pretending to know what they are doing). They will run your credit without your permission.

If I could give them Zero Stars I would. This is by far the worst institution I have ever banked with. I joined CFCU because it was the institution that gave me my current car loan. I found it would probably be easier to bank with the same company as my loan provider, it wasn’t. More often than not have, most of my bills are set to autopay. One random Monday I had a bill scheduled to pay I logged in and noticed that both my cable company and wireless provider had changed their pay dates to that day. So I had three payments come out. This created a negative balance. The same day they cleared I put money in the bank to cover the overdraft. Didn’t matter, they still charged me $38 x 3 “Courtesy Fees” when I called and spoke with a representative they talked to me like I was a POS. I asked about the grace period and was told there wasn’t one, I said I know there was enough money to cover 2 of the Bills in there and she told me that the most expensive bill cleared first making the other bills over draft. How convenient for CFCU and how inconvenient for me, a customer. I most recently deposited a sizable check into my account and again was treated like trash. And was told I’d have to wait 6 days for half of it and another 6 for the other half. Not really a big deal as I wasn’t intending to blow it frivolously. Again, I’m the customer and CFCU appears to be looking out for themselves not for me. I will be leaving and taking my business to Tompkins Trust Company.

This Company is a SHAM! If i could i would rate this Company Zero Stars, Their Organizational Status is so bad they they nearly lost a $12,000 Check On an Insurance Cash Buyout They said they never had it until one they they found it in their junk pile somewhere in their area of their location where the check was located. And they Find it 2 Weeks Later When the Payment was Due in Nearly 2 Days. DO NOT EVER GO WITH AN AUTO LOAN WITH THIS COMPANY! THEY ARE HORRIBLE PEOPLE WHO RUIN PEOPLES CREDIT WITH STUPID BS LIES!

1 review

1.0 star rating
5/12/2016

Applied for and got a (ALLEGED) no closing cost mortgage. With a down payment loan, $5000 in sellers concessions (that they wouldn't let me use all of) and a representative telling me (3 times ) they would cut my lawyer a check at closing I figured it would go well. Wrong! Between cfcu, their lawyer, sellers lawyer and even my own, I got screwed out of $4312. A no closing cost loan made what should have been a $65k mortgage into a $68k mortgage, plus the fact that cfcu lied to me and never cut my lawyer a check except out of MY account! I was lied to and cheated out of over 4 grand and as far as I'm concerned, they owe it to me. They don't talk to me anymore since I called them on it, but they love taking my money. They're no better than any crooked bank.

CFCU has the best customer service of any bank I have dealt with in Ithaca! My first experience with CFCU was when I bought my first car a few years ago and needed a small car loan. The staff at CFCU made it possible to get a loan at a time when many other local lenders were not as easy to work with. Working with a bank that contributes jobs to the community I live in was another added benefit. After the easy car loan experience I switched all my banking over to CFCU and found the online banking to be easy to use and convenient. I would recommend CFCU to anyone living in or around the Ithaca area for their top notch attention to detail and customer satisfaction. I will use them in the future for future banking needs.

CFCU is nice because it has very local customers, employees, and locations. Although it lacks the convenience of more corporation oriented national banking institutions, less advanced and fewer ATMs, the local business warmth and friendliness makes CFCU much more trustworthy to me. I would rather sacrifice certain conveniences than get ripped off by another national banking institution, like Citibank or Bank of America.

I switched to Cornell Federal Credit Union (CFCU) after being at a local bank from, literally, the day I was born. I had had a savings account at my old bank from day one, opened by my parents. As banks have changed drastically over the past few decades, so did my life. I bought a condo on my own; I sold the condo and bought a home on my own, I bought a new car, I needed more financial accounts for my children. My old bank was constantly sending me updates about fees, and it seemed that the fact that I had been a customer there forever didn't matter a bit. Nor did it matter that I had an excellent credit history. I then switched to CFCU, and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The people at CFCU are consistently helpful and personable. If I go in with a goal, they tell me how they'll assist me in accomplishing it. Nothing I bring to them is too small or too big to handle. I am fee-free, their online banking is a joy to use, and I have never had it malfunction. A few times when I noticed suspicious activity on one of my accounts, they immediately resolved the matter. When my son lost his debit card, they immediately replaced it and removed any suspicious charges. I cannot say enough good things about how this bank operates, the people they employ, or the services they offer. I feel so fortunate to have CFCU as my primary bank, and I am not nostalgic for my old one at all!