Philadelphia Federal Credit Union

I wouldn't recommend this credit union to anyone. Their customer service is very rude especially their telesales department. They have a very confrontational attitude and disposition on the phone similar to meeting a ghetto ignorant person. Their back account numbers aren't secure enough, that it causes their bank tellers to dip into other people's accounts if they aren't paying attention. They have an auditing system to fix this but it just shows that their bank account numbers aren't that strong they have to monitor and notify management. As well, DO NOT get a PFCU Line of Credit in conjunction with a Signature Personal Loan...WHY you ask? Here is the thing, if you miss one payment from your Signature Loan, they pull that amount missed from your PFCU Line of Credit...so they basically push you into further debt instead of working with you for a payment plan. As well, they offer paid loans which are predatory. And their Teller Net online banking system isn't secure and is very unstable with constant password and login resets. Not to mention going back to loans; if you have a 10 window to make a loan payment, they call you up within the first 3 days with an attitude on a Saturday morning before 8am which is illegal; claiming that your late. To me this doesn't make sense why, when they are the ones that approved a 10 window when the loan was approved and issued to the borrower. I wouldn't advise taking any student loans or car notes from them either and what ever you do, get everything in writing as well as when you are choosing to close out business with them (as I hope you never initiate contact with them in the first place.)



I really advise anyone reading this to do their homework before thinking of putting your hard earned money in PFCU. They claim to be community focused; but in my opinion they take advantage of the poor and low income members of the Philadelphia area and it's surrounding suburbs.



I know being in customer service is hard for any business, but a business need to maintain and exhibit respect, they need to treat their clients with dignity instead of continuing a ghetto and aggressive mentality through there customer service, banking polices and government. They really lack empathy is what I'm trying to say and they can be very passive aggressive in their ways and as a customer you have to be able to read them.



Who knows, maybe things will change for PFCU in 2016 and moving forward. I just hope that they focus on exhibiting a standard of maturity and realize that you get more bees with honey.



I hope this has helped anyone in my situation or who is considering doing business with them. Best of luck on your credit union search!

I've been a member at PFCU for about 5 years, and never really had a complaint. They've made a few mistakes, and their customer service is relatively poor, but I'm not picky. However, I just had a horrendous experience that compelled me to comment, and will probably result in closing my accounts with PFCU.



I recently made a large check deposit into my checking account. As usual, there's a 3-day hold on check deposits, and so the money should have been put into my account a few days later. I wrote my landlord a check for the rent. Six days later, I get a call from my landlord informing me that he couldn't cash the check due to insufficient funds. Now I know that PFCU's servers have been down for a few days (I haven't been able to check my accounts online), so I chock it up to some internal error on the part of the credit union. I apologize profusely and immediately call PFCU, expecting that it shouldn't be a problem to clear up the confusion.



After speaking with three different people who are increasingly rude, they tell me that they're holding my money and refusing to give it to me. They keep grilling me: "What was the check for?" "Do you know the person who wrote it?" "Can you have her call us?" "Can you prove that she has the money in her account?"



Now, NONE of this is relevant to the issue at hand: that PFCU is holding that money and refusing to release it to my account (even though my "balance" registers the full amount as being in my account). So, not that I should have to, but I explain: It's for work, I am a contractor and the check is for labor on a current project. Yes, I know the person who wrote it (they're my employer), and no, I'm not going to ask her to contact you to prove that she has the money she's written the check for. That's embarrassing and ridiculous, I shouldn't have to do that.



Now, they've made it clear to me, at this point, that the money is available and "probably" has cleared, but that they (PFCU) have put a 10-day hold on that money. After much hassle, I finally get them to release $1000 of that money to my account, so that I can at least pay my rent. I make sure to tell them that I have been a solid, mostly more-than-happy member for 5 years, but this experience -- particularly the way they've been talking to me -- is encouraging me to question if I should continue banking with PFCU, the woman doesn't acknowledge my statements at all. "Have a nice day." Click.



I'm sorry, but I expect more. I expect better service from an institution that's supposed to be community-oriented. Essentially, I learned that my own bank was refusing to give out my own money when I needed it, which is probably the single scariest situation I can imagine when dealing with your bank. If I can't access the money I've deposited into my own accounts, then what's the point of having a bank at all?



I could chock all this up to weird bureaucratic policies, but that doesn't excuse the manner in which I was treated. The woman I was speaking to was terse, rude, and condescending. I hated the way I was being questioned as if I was a criminal -- as if the hold was intended for my own good to tease out illegal behavior. By the end of the call, I felt ashamed, belittled, frustrated, and sad.



Until this experience, I would generally have encouraged others to join PFCU. However, in good conscience, I feel as if I have to now warn people of their insane policies and disrespectful approach. My story may be a fluke, but it's not one I'd encourage others to risk.

the teller entered my social security number wrong on the acct. I contacted them by phone an hour after setting the acct up in person to request online access as I was informed to do and they said they couldn't give me any information. I had to drive back to the bank wait in line to have a ghetto woman with a bad personality tell me it's my fault and instead of the teller typing my social security number in I should of typed it myself. (no option to do so at the time) I asked to speak with the manager and requested something in return (free book of checks) for my time that was wasted dealing with their mistake. She told me "we're human just like you" okay, if i make a mistake at work it costs people their lives or health. My malpractice insurance hasn't been sued yet. I don't make mistakes.

Can't get into the account again - system does not recognize the same information I have been using throughout the day. Very rinky dink.

If you like to do your banking in person or by writing checks, PFCU is probably all right. If you like to do ANY of your banking online, then don't open a PFCU account. Their online system crashes constantly, and I had to have my online password reset by the bank three different times because it wouldn't work (I had copied and pasted it, too, so it's not that I was typing it wrong). They are a small, podunk operation and it shows. The only good part of my experience is that I was able to close my account without much trouble.