First Tech Federal Credit Union

Most Recent Comments

• January 2024 by Karen D.
  Professional, quick service, friendly, knowledgeable staff. Location on El Camino in Palo Alto has ample parking. Highly recommend!
• November 2023 by Arshak N.
  unbelievable... I applied for credit card, they asked for check stubs twice, I had to ask my HR to call them for proof of employment, 2 years of tax returns, ID card picture, SS card picture, utility bill. They are so stupid.
• November 2023 by Alexis M.
  My name is Alexis M. and I opened an account with this bank. I added an external account of mine to make transfers. After adding the amount I wanted to transfer to my new account, I woke up this morning to find out my account was disabled by the fraud department. After calling to inquire about the situation and confirm that it was me adding my external bank, I was told that there was no way to contact the fraud department. This is ridiculous, I didn't know that adding my external bank and making a transfer to my new account would raise a flag! Why give us those options then treat us like criminals for using the options you give us! I'm transferring my hard earned money from one account to another, there was no reason for my account to be disabled. Why not call me first and confirm that it was me adding an account before locking me out and treating me this way! Please enable my account because this is ridiculous and totally unnecessary. I regret opening this account.
• September 2023 by Sandeep G.
  I never knew getting my own money would be such a hassle. I feel nothing less than SCAMMED. Bank of America had sent a cheque to First tech fed credit union on my behalf which has been encashed 10 days ago but still nothing has been posted into my account. Have been dealing with customer care but they just don't know. Last hope is NCUA!!
• July 2023 by Miss. Q.
  Since first tech disallowed me to ship my car abroad, I had to sell my car with 11K difference to a dealership. The first tech has been delaying the transaction ( as per my discussion with the dealership ), and they refuse to help me extend my last car loan payment, so I was forced to make an additional car loan payment even I had already paid off the car loan through the dealership. It took more than 20 days ( thanks to my offline follow-ups and social posts ) that First Tech closed the deal, however I only had $60+ refund. First tech has intentionally delayed the transaction and overcharged me on the interest. They also didn't update me about the gap insurance refund. I reserve my legal rights for further disputes.
• May 2023 by Kari Shallow
  After 8 years, the cord is cut. I've paid off my auto loan here, and I had a bank account, as well as a credit card. Customer service was always good, but I've learned the hard way that it's a front.After falling into the disabled category, I had no income for 4 months, and FTFCU seemed to be reasonable and compassionate. I had made an agreement to send money once I got my first check from a part-time job, and FTFCU took it upon themselves to keep my entire check and close every account.I called the assets team, and the woman was condescending, shaming, rude, and had a harsh and yelling tone with me. I pleaded with her about past conversations and how I've been in communication, yet she continued with her bully-like attitude and continued to blame me.I told her repeatedly that I'm disabled, I asked for some sort of common ground, but no. The call ended with more crude comments from the rep. She should be embarrassed of herself, and so should FTFCU. 8 years down the drain, all because I became disabled and needed a little time. Shame on this credit union.First Tech Federal Credit Union shows zero compassion for the disabled. In fact, the call has exacerbated my symptoms pretty bad! SHAME!
• April 2023 by Kari
  After 8 years, the cord is cut. I've paid off my auto loan here, and I had a bank account, as well as a credit card. Customer service was always good, but I've learned the hard way that it's a front.After falling into the disabled category, I had no income for 4 months, and FTFCU seemed to be reasonable and compassionate. I had made an agreement to send money once I got my first check from a part-time job, and FTFCU took it upon themselves to keep my entire check and close every account.I called the assets team, and the woman was condescending, shaming, rude, and had a harsh and yelling tone with me. I pleaded with her about past conversations and how I've been in communication, yet she continued with her bully-like attitude and continued to blame me.I told her repeatedly that I'm disabled, I asked for some sort of common ground, but no. The call ended with more crude comments from the rep. She should be embarrassed of herself, and so should FTFCU. 8 years down the drain, all because I became disabled and needed a little time. Shame on this credit union.First Tech Federal Credit Union shows zero compassion for the disabled. In fact, the call has exacerbated my symptoms pretty bad! SHAME!
• April 2023 by Janet Pineda
  Absolutely not what a credit union should be. I've never expected the kind of experience or treatment I received there as I did yesterday. I have been coming in on behalf of my elderly parents, which the manager is aware of, to submit their mortgage payments. In the past, I would accompany my mother, and when it became more difficult for her to leave home, I would do it for her. All of the employees there knew that, but I guess today they hired someone new and while I appreciate that there is a "policy" I don't think this was handled with care. I was absolutely embarrassed and made to feel small.I'll just say they are not customer centric and the manager handled this situation poorly, and her employee, Hadia, handled this without any kind of sensitivity. She made a show of ripping the receipt and condescendingly explaining why. Had she just made the adjustment prior to handing the receipt over, it wouldn't have been an issue. But no, she ripped it, crumpled it, and made me feel like I was violating someone's privacy. Really? Because I had the statement with me. What difference does it even make? On top of that, she went to explain the issue to her manager without bothering to close the door which meant the whole branch could hear her. I could hear her from where I was. I guess privacy is applied a bit loosely here. Her manager was no better and offered solutions that in no way are helpful to my parents or myself.I absolutely wish my parents didn't have to conduct business here and I highly recommend that anyone else looking for a new bank to go elsewhere. I've been a customer at big banks and with another credit union, and the difference here is appalling.My mother went in today in order to obtain a full receipt this time and they didn’t care that they humiliated me. Do they not understand that Hadia handled the situation poorly? They said they were protecting my mom’s privacy. This didn’t go over so well with my mom. Why send me in with her personal check? Why trust me with her statement? Why humiliate me instead of handling the situation with more discretion? What exactly did you think I would do with the balance? It’s a mortgage. Afraid I’ll offer an extra payment? The lack of common sense, sensitivity, tact, and customer service makes it a place I dread visiting. They certainly don’t care about you or your time. The manager heard what was going on and hid in her office only to peek her head out occasionally. Way to help out!This place is a credit union in name only. They are nothing like the credit union I’m actually a member of that delivers amazing customer service every single time I’m there. You won’t get that here. I urge you to shop around for other credit unions that have consistently good reviews.This isn't banking made easy, that's for sure. And if you are a senior, try a different bank. They sure make it difficult for you to handle something so simple.
• April 2023 by Janet P.
  Absolutely not what a credit union should be. I've never expected the kind of experience or treatment I received there as I did today. I have been coming in on behalf of my elderly parents, which the manager is aware of, to submit their payments. In the past, I would accompany my mother, and when it became more difficult for her to leave home, I would do it for her. All of the employees there knew that, but I guess today they hired someone new and while I appreciate that there is a "policy" I don't think this was handled with care. I was absolutely embarrassed and made to feel small. I'll just say they are not customer centric and the manager handled this situation poorly, and her employee, Hadia, handled this without any kind of sensitivity. She made a show of ripping the receipt and condescendingly explaining why. Had she just made the adjustment prior to handing the receipt over, it wouldn't have been an issue. But no, she ripped it, crumpled it, and made me feel like I was violating someone's privacy. Really? Because I had the statement with me. What difference does it even make? On top of that, she went to explain the issue to her manager without bothering to close the door which meant the whole branch could hear her. I could hear her from where I was. I guess privacy is applied a bit loosely here. Her manager was no better and offered solutions that in no way are helpful to my parents or myself. I absolutely wish my parents didn't have to conduct business here and I highly recommend that anyone else looking for a new bank to go elsewhere. I've been a customer at big banks and with another credit union, and the difference here is appalling. This isn't banking made easy, that's for sure. And if you are a senior, try a different bank. They sure make it difficult for you to handle something so simple.
• March 2023 by cristian455 medina
  So far I’ve had great experience with First Tech, great customer service and extremely helpful!
• August 2022 by Jack F.
  FIRSTTECHFED Credit Union - A Sad State of Affairs - AVOID AT ALL COSTSShortly after starting work at Hewlett Packard in 1975 I joined the HP Credit Union. Some years later it became Addison Avenue Credit Union and sometime after that it degenerated into FirstTechFed Credit Union. As a septaugenarian, I'm "Old School" and expect good customer service, especially from a financial institution. On multiple occasions over the past seven years, FirstTechFed demonstrated incompetence in handling routine financial services to the point they are now UNACCEPTABLE.FirstTechFed's decline began with transitioning to a "new" online banking and bill pay system in 2016 that was frought with problems. The "new" site did not follow modern html5 practices thus it is not responsive to browser window width resulting in unreadable overlapping elements being displayed. All the previous payee information was lost so everything had to be re-entered. Complaints using their "secure messaging" got the following reply on 26 August 2016 at 2:21 PM, "The transition to the new online banking platform and new Bill Pay has not been a smooth one."Almost four years later on 23 Jan 2020 at 11:07 AM I send a complaint that the "new" system can't do simple arithmetic and provide the total amount of scheduled bill payments on the dashboard summary page. I got the following reply 23 Jan 2021 at 3:14 PM, "This is currently a bug in the system that our IT team is aware of." It took ten months to teach the "new" system how to correctly add up bill payments. On 22 Oct 2020 at 3:19 PM I received the following, "I am very happy to report that the count for scheduled bill payments on your Dashboard is now showing accurate."On 28 Feb 2022 I access my account using online banking and get totally confused. Bills were shown as successfully paind but the account balance was wrong and bill payment transactions did not show in the account. I have no idea what is the true balance of the account or what bills were actually paid. I called customer service and the service agent was unable to access my account as her terminal kept freezing due to "system issues". It turned out that FirstTechFed backend system updates are asyncrhonous thus allowing the possibility of obsolete, partial or recent information or a mixture of all three to be displayed by online banking.Now the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back". On Monday 22 Aug 2022 I am using online banking to update credentials and verify information. I find three debit cards and one credit card being active for my account. I only have one debit card and one credit card so I "lock" the two unknown debit cards and call customer service. The agent removes the unknown cards which were linked to an old no longer used account which was then closed and funds transferred to my current account. I was assured that my active debit card and credit card were working.Later that day I attempt to get cash from a nearby ATM (the same ATM I've used for years) and it fails with "This card is restricted." I call customer service again and the agent "checks things out" and one again assures me the cards are working. Wednesday evening I attempt to get cash from the same ATM and again it fails. I call customer service only to find they are only available during working hours.Livid, I call customer service on Thursday morning. The agent "checks" while I wait on hold then says the problem is that I tried too many times to use that ATM so I have to use a different one or go to a FirstTechFed branch. Say what??? I only tried to use the ATM once on Monday and once on Wednesday and that's "too many times". It's too much of a co-incidence that the debit card started failing right after I had the unknown debit cards removed. No matter, the obvious fix is to reset the software - a trivial thing to do. Nope - that's beyond the comprehension and capabilit
• June 2022 by Heleine G.
  Trash. Do not trust this bank with your money! As a college student I was set back $12k for my future because they were too lazy to do their job. DO NOT PUT YOUR MONEY HERE!
• March 2022 by Patrick Scollay
  I wrote a check for a certain amount. First Tech took 20 dollars over the amount of the check written. This is totally unacceptable.
• April 2021 by Moe R.
  Terrible customer experience. Their people seem eager enough but their systems and policies are a mess. I spent a MONTH trying to add a checking account to my membership of 30 years (yes, to just OPEN an account), half a dozen messages back and forth, and finally went to StarOne and had the account I needed in 48 hours. The story: 1. I wanted to use Zelle and I already had an account at First Tech, so I tried to initiate a Zelle payment. Could not figure out how. Reached out to their support and was on hold for a very long time, asked for a call back. After a few days of trying, I talked to someone who said, oh, you can only send via Zelle from a Checking account! (How would I know? That's explained on the website -- nowhere!) So, she offered to set one up. OK. Answered various questions and that's that. 2. A few days later: No account. I sent a message. Answer: "I see that the application was closed. I am creating a case to inquire as to the reason for the closer. Please allow me 1-3 business days." Closed?!?! No notification, and I don't know what "closed" means. And seriously, 3-5 days?!?!. Ok, I will wait. 3. Nine days later, nothing. I sent another message. Answer: "I apologize for the wait, I see Natalie's case is still in pending, once we do have an update we will contact you back. You should have received an email or mail as an adverse action letter." (I had not received anything.) Another week. 4. A couple days later, I asked for an update. Still no resolution but the agent said, "While the case is still pending, I did some research of my own. It seems that your credit may be frozen/locked..." Wait, what?! Why do they need to check my credit to open a checking account??? I've had a FirstTech account for decades! And why did they not tell me they were tapping the credit reporting agencies? And why did it take a MONTH to tell me this? And they asked me to unfreeze all three credit agancies rather than just tell me which they are inquiring. 5. I asked them these questions but meanwhile, went to StarOne, opened a new account. In 48 hours. Without the need to check the credit agencies, without talking to half a dozen agents, without any of this stupidness. 6. I finally heard from someone who confirmed they need me to unfreeze my Experian record and restart the application. Nope.
• April 2021 by Elaine Y.
  I LOVE the people who work here but I do NOT like the institution! They continually make decisions that negatively impact the customers. Like when my daughter had multiple fraudulent charges on her debit card. You'd think that when she no longer had funds they'd stop! NO... they kept letting more fraudulent charges of small amounts happen and charged her a $25 fee for EACH one along with finance charges. I believe she had about 10 little charges - like $5 here and there which came to $250 in fees. Other institutions get that if you don't have anymore funds to STOP and DO NOT LET anymore charges through. Especially when there are multiple little charges on that account!! It took FOREVER to get this resolved and reversed! AND we were told it was OUR FAULT because we didn't specify that if there aren't enough funds to STOP charging? Really? I had to state something that's common sense that assumed a reputable institution would just DO?? THEN they recently changed their online software where you can't just schedule a certain payment amount on your loan. I like to over pay each month to reduce my loan faster. NO... now I have to submit the minimum payment; wait till the transfer goes through which btw is from my savings to my loan but still takes days, then go back online and supposedly can now put in the increased amount I want. WHAT THE FUDGE? Who came up with that ridiculous algorithm? It's like they purposely want to make it hard for their customers and only focus on making more $$ in the most underhanded and as sneakily as possible. I do NOT TRUST THEM! How about on one transaction let the customer put in the minimum payment and then an additional line for "incremental payment"?? COMMON SENSE! They do not care if your credit card gets compromised - in fact - they financially benefit from it and do NOT try to help you resolve it unless YOU KEEP AFTER THEM! They just sent notices that their interest rates on the cards are going up, which makes them about the same if not more than a big bank credit card. Am encouraging my kids to cancel their accounts and go to a regular bank at this point - or maybe a more reputable credit union. I for one am now shopping around to move my account outta here.... DO NOT open ANYTHING here. BEWARE!! They are slow to respond, finding ways to get your $$ by other means. There are definitely other more reputable credit unions out there.... It's so sad - I've been with them when they were Addison for over 35 years. I noticed them going downhill for a while but the people who work there are wonderful. But there's only so much a consumer should or could take.