Altura Credit Union
Reviews and Complaints

We are sorry you a bad experience with Altura Credit Union, but I would like to clear up a couple of errors in your complaint. As a credit union, Altura is a not-for-profit financial cooperative owned by its members. To become a member, there is a one-time membership fee, the $12 you called a sign-up fee. (A portion of that fee goes to a scholarship fund for local high school seniors, BTW.) The decision to discontinue the free checking account was not made by branch staff and they were unaware of the upcoming change at the time you signed up for it. No one had any intention of cheating you out of $12. When you opened an account at Altura, you became an Altura member, which entitles you to access all of our products and services. That is why the membership fee is non-refundable. The fact that Altura refunded your sign up fee, if anything, shows its effort to strive to provide a good customer experience. Altura Credit Union

I have average credit, I applied for a personal loan to consolidate some credit cards that I ran up paying for my daughters education. I never received a response, so I called a representative who told me that I had to put up collateral for the loan. I informed her that their information stated that this was a "signature loan" based on credit history. She informed me based on my credit scores, 692, 680, 675 I was not qualified. I have been a member for over thirty years, purchased 5 vehicles, one motorcycle, one home, one line of credit to build a pool and now I am not being given any benefit in regards to loyalty, why be a member of a credit union if they act like B of A. I will never do business with them again. I wish it was Riverside County Credit Union again, they were friendly, customer oriented and I remember when I had really bad credit they took my auto loan that was 18% to 6 because they believed in my character.

I just deposited $500 and they put it in the wrong account; really. I had my name and account number on the slip, I write very clear too. No excuse. Then while I am in there I was telling a teller how I am having A little girl and she laughs and says are you sure your not having too, how rude is that. Then when I try to tell her supervisor, i admit I was upset so kind of talking a little loud over to phone and she just hangs up on me, doesnt even give me the time of day. I now hate this place and will never come back to them which is sad sence I have been with them sence I was 16 yrs old and am now 25. They have been getting worse over the years; they feel they are on there high horse and dont need to give at least decent customer service.

I would call in and make my loan payments and would later find out they never posted causing thirty day lates. I called the branch and spoke with an endless line of idiots who wouldn't correct the problem. I also had a second mortgage that I rewrote in Nov 2009 due to a short sale on my house. The idiots continued to report the old loan, which was voided by the re-write, as 30/60/90 days late, then a key derogatory on my credit reports. Again, I spoke with an endless line of the most uncaring people I have ever met in my life who told me it's just policy to continue reporting the old loan until they caught up with their paperwork. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, we're just going to ruin your credit because it's policy. It was nothing but a F.U. punishment for them losing money. Has anyone else experienced anything I've mentioned

Boy does the account above sound familiar. We were approx. 45 days late on our car pay as well. We had been in constant contact with ALtura as we were having financial difficulties recently after my hub had been laid off. He had a new job but we were in process of catching bills, etc. up. We stayed in contact with them and documented each and every phone call and person we spoke with (because it had been our experience that Altura claims NOT to have knowledge when it is convenient for them). We made it abundantly clear that we would catch up all of our accounts within 7 days. This phone call was taken by a gal who was "answering the phone" for the regular loan rep as the other was "busy". Within 2 days we received another two phone calls from Altura pressing us to pay TODAY! I explained once again that there was no way to pay IMMEDIATELY and cited the previous phone calls we had made to Altura to let them know our accounts would be paid in full within the week. The NEXT DAY ANOTHER loan rep called (I asked her why she was calling again as I had just spoken to two other reps in the the last two days)...she obviously didn't know that I had made those calls and didn't care. She also pressed for me to pay IMMEDIATELY and then mentioned repossession of our car if we didn't pay that day. I told her that was just not possible but that our loan would be PAID IN FULL in 5 days when our income tax came in. She went off the line to "see what she could do"...I waited on the line until my phone battery went dead. I could not call her back because it was now after 5:00 P.M (although I sent an email to Altura immedately) explaining the situation. The next day there was a knock on the door at 5:00 in the morning, our car was on the back of a tow truck and the guy is taking it away...I explain to him the phone calls we've made, that we JUST spoke with ALTURA the previous consecutive 3 days to let them know our loan would be caught up in few days. I call Altura and it the loan rep that I last spoke with is on an obvious power trip. She has the wrong information basically the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing. I explain to her that they repossessed our car even though our income tax return was due in 4 DAYS and they knew this. Her explanation..."We have to do what is in the best interest of the credit union..." REALLLYYYY? My husband and I go the NEXT DAY to the main branch as our income tax return came in early. They are always EXTREMELY rude with pitiful customer service. These min. wage, apathetic employees that are maybe 20 or 21 are extremely RUDE, patronizing and treat us like criminals. Ask for all kind of paperwork and basically stall until we are unable to pick up our car and it ends up having to sit at the towing place THROUGH THE WEEKEND because of their run-around. We have to pay hundreds of dollars (that we certainly don't have to spare) all because this loan rep (with a major attitude) decided to send out an order to take our car within days of our date to pay the loan payments current. There is not enough space to tell all the details of the poor customer service at ALtura. Suffice to say, the employees of Altura are extremely defensive, there is usually always a disgruntled customer storming out of the branch or loudly expressing their dissatisfaction when you go in person to a branch. (Especially the main branch). Needless to say, we moved our accounts, our kids moved their accounts to another bank as well and we have encouraged many business associated to take their business elsewhere too. BTW...I do think that it's not a coincidence that Altura is closing branches. With such poor customer service and treating it's customers so badly, can they really expect anything less that people leaving in droves?

DO NOT GET LOANS OR BANK WITH ALTURA!~

I agree with Wes! the Customer Service is absolutely HORRIBLE at the main Branch in Riverside. We have been members for over 6 years and like so many others my husband is out of work and this whole time he has been honest and lets the main branch know when to expect the next payment. Obviously living on EDD and my small income the payments will be late, but they always get the payment. This last month EDD got all screwed up with our payments so we were not able to make the payment on time. We were supposed to get our last check 5/27 on 5/30 he spoke with a lady from EDD and she said she would get it processed. Altura Collections dept called my husband the week of 5/30 and THREATENED to come and pick up the truck when it was not even 45 days late! He had told her that we were getting a check on that friday and the payment was being held up b/c of not getting paid by EDD. He then told her that on 6/10 we would be getting tax refunds and would get fully caught up in payments. This is all noted in our notes they have on file. 6/6 there is still no EDD check so husband calls again and the girl never processed check so we were waiting again. On the morning of 6/8 at 2:45 in the morning there was a knock at the door and the repo guys were there to pick up truck! There are 3 vehicles always parked in our driveway and my husbands truck is the last to b driven so there is always a car parked behind his truck. They had the nerve to knock on the door at 2:45 to have us move my sisters car so they can take his truck that he promised would get caught up with payments. The whole house got woken up including my daughters who were crying b/c they were wondering why guys were taking his truck! We were only 49 days late! we promised to make a payment! It only got worse as the story goes on. Bottom line is DO NOT BANK WITH THIS INSTITUTION! Once we get back on our feet we are quickly going to either pay off loan or transfer it so we dont have to deal with this horrible service any longer. We are good people and if we knew we could not afford a vehicle we would voluntarily bring it in. We had to pay $500 to get our truck back and its $500 we dont have and this all would have never happened if they would have listened to us.

Altura Credit Union IS a joke. I opened an account for my teenage daughter (her first account) and was there to help her in the process. The Moreno Vally branch had a Hispanic, bossy lady at one of the desks arguing with the new, Black, male employee that was on the other desk. She was YELLING at him because of some mistake he had made and was being loud and unprofessional, personally attacking him for being "so dumb". When they FINALLY did get to my daughter and I, the guy was a bumbling mess. He seemed pretty clueless and this was just a bare-bones, ATM checking account for my daughter. I asked him to explain to her the differences in the checking account options (student vs. Regular) and he talked in circles using the term ..."and VERSE VISA" Many, many, times...(couldn't even get THAT term right). ALtura is full of unprofessional dolts and they DO charge NSF fees for anything and everything. My other daughter who was new to banking used her ATM card and the transactions went through and then they charged her over $200 in NSF fees. She thought she had signed up for an account that would NOT approve transactions if her account did not have the funds. Took her WHOLE measly paycheck to pay their ridiculous, embezzled fees! We will be leaving Altura as soon as we make arrangements with the car loan we have with them. They are a pathetic joke in banking.

Wes,
You are pissed off at Altura for following standard banking practices. You don't say, but I'm assuming you used a check to deposit your $5, 000 - not cash. Otherwise, you wouldn't have had to wait to access your money. What protection is there for Altura if you deposit a fraudulent check and then withdraw money based on it? Nothing.

That's why you have to wait. Otherwise it would be pretty easy for people to deposit fake checks and then get the money - sticking the bank or credit union with the loss. As for your complaint about unprofessional behavior, I take that with a grain of salt.

Your letter is written like a 5th grader's - full of incomplete sentences and mistakes, plus your outrage, which I'm sure you directed at whomever you spoke to at the credit union. Customer service is one thing, but most companies have a policy that an employee does not have to take abuse from a customer. Besides, didn't your mother ever teach you that you get more bees with honey- a good attitude on your part is likely to get you one in return. Grow up. A happy Altura customer.

Hmmmm I transfer money when I have a positive balance only to check my account 4 hours later to see a courtesy charge of 29.00$. For some reason the bank decided to credit the transaction when I did it and then somehow it disappeared when the debit came through to bring my account negative to charge me the $29.00 dollars and then it mysteriously appeared again. This is the same bank that charged me to send me an ATM that I never received then charged me again when I had to go into the back to order another one because they never sent the one I paid for over the phone. Not to mention the rent check that my landlord shows bounced and never paid their bank, but was shown taken out of my account and Altura till this day will not take ownership for the $1800.00 that my landlord's bank has given me document proving that Altura returned the check insufficient funds.This is not the first time this bank has returned a check and taken the money out of my account.

In the mast year I have also been charged in over $1, 500 in Overdraft fees. Mainly from restaurant purchases. They put a hold on my available balance for the original charges and them put the total amount charged including the tip before releasing the original hold charge. they claim this is the restaurant's fault yet it happens at ALL restaurants. I never have had this problem with another bank so i know it is them. When contacting customer service they are VERY RUDE and UNWILLING to HELP. I hate this bank! PLEASE HELP ANY LAWYER> I HAVE TONS OF PROOF!

I've had it! This is the last time altura will rip off! They held funds from a pending transaction which put me over by 36 CENTS and they charged me $60! They have stolen hundreds of dollars from me! I've put up with this nonsense long enough. Any with a class action lawsuit for altura please let me know, I and several others would be more than happy to jump on. Oh and their customer service representative and managers are a joke. They not only cannot justify their actions they are rude and unhelpful! Any lawyers reading these complaints please help!

After being treated rudely, dinged for fee after fee, account mistakes, argumentative and unprofessional "managers", treated like criminals for being late on loans (even though we were in constant contact with them during a brief financial slump) we have taken our accounts elsewhere. Our grown kids have taken their accounts elsewhere as well. We've not been quiet about how unprofessional Altura Credit Union is with minimum wage, disgruntled employees on power trips in their little domains. Why would anyone stay at this Credit Union when there are really no Pro's to keeping your accounts there? I thought a credit union was supposed to have more of a personal touch and be community oriented. Altura is financial straits and makes big $$$ on bogus fees every time you turn around. They need some in-house cleaning to get rid of the unprofessional, lazy, arrogant employees and revamp their business model and ethics.

Does anyone know where I can find any information on a class action law suit me and my family can join? My husband and I have an account with Altura along with my father’s 2 accounts my brother’s 1 and my mother’s 4. Last month Altura charged my mother $1290.00 in NSF charges and she only spent a total of $572.00 the entire month; also she has not had even one NSF fee all year. I call Altura and demanded them to refund the fees because most of the transactions were for $.99 to $2.99 per transaction. What they did was process the debits and then later in the same day processed her SS check. They are refusing to refund all the charges and after yelling at the manager for like 2 hours she finally said they would review the account and they might refund some of the NSF fees, but I will not find out till Monday. Needless to say, we are all closing are Altura accounts and finding another credit union to bank with.

btw we are with BBVA compass now, formerly guaranty bank, and they have been very fair. like a traditional bank. we have been pleased with their business practices since we left the horrifying altura experience. perhaps you guys should try them :)

i have to say this guy is right. i am the kind of total neurotic person who immediately logs everything, budgets ahead of time for everything, and checks my account online every few days to check off what's gone through and what hasn't, and make sure my info and the banks are the same. i've NEVER had an overdraft problem anywhere else. i put up with Altura charging me NSF fees when i did NOT overdraft, which would in turn cause me to overdraft, for a couple YEARS before i left. initially, they would admit their mistake and refund the fees, so i stayed. after months of this they got extremely hostile and were adamant about talking in circles around me and even yelling at me when i was being civil. i would literally bring in my printed out statement from online, showing an available balance of $100, for example, a transaction for $30 or so, which would leave $70 available in the acct, and an overdraft fee for $30, as well as an overdraft fee after every proceeding transaction until i WAS overdrafted. and they STILL were [censored]es about it. i even reported them to the Better Business Bureau (which EVERYONE) who's had this experience should do!) and they refused to budge, insisting the fees were appropriate, and the BBB wasn't interested in seeing all the proof i had to the otherwise. they literally ripped me off for close to a thousand dollars in 6 months time. i've spoken to a class action lawyer about possibly contacting Altura's other customers and bringing justice for this scam, and they are interested and say this company is definitely breaking the law, but we will see what happens.

I agree with Xavier1126, It's true I just got an NSF fee from Altura Credit Union. I walked into the branch to try to resolve it and I got the worse customer service from the bank reps.

They had this snooby attitude and said that it was not bank error and could not remove the NSF fee. I explained to them that the debit had not posted yet because I checked online, it had a 3 day wait period, but they still charged the NSF fee.

I think Altura needs to do something about this because it is bad publicity for business. I contacted member services and haven't heard back at all.

We want our money back!

SEIU member.

I will talk to my Union to get help.

I agree with you Xavier1126, theres no reason to accept this kindoff mess from any US banks, but they all seem to act like this.

They are getting away with it for years clearly and i'm suprised people seem to accept this, it's really a ripoff, they are only around couse we choose to bank with them.

Why can't they create a account for me that is protected for overdraft fees ? a real debit account, you make the purchase with your card, calls into the bank for aproval, and then allows/deny transaction depending on your funds.

Also the speed of the banks here is silly, why does it take so long before money is deposit on your account when you make a deposit for god sake even in there own office, there is really no technical reason why this couldnt be done.

I really hope the publics view on this will change, that they don't allow there banks to f*** them over, pay a fees that are higher then the money you own them for a few days, thats beyond all reason.

I would advice you a shoebox or invest a save, that way you do have good realtime oversight of your money and you avoid those fees.

America has the strongest econemy for decades but the most terrible slow old fashion banking i've ever seen anywhere.

Its too bad that someone here at Altura may not have properly explained to you how you get a non-sufficient funds (NSF) fee. If you'd go to the Altura website and go onto live chat, someone will be more than happy to explain how you can avoid getting an NSF fee.

Thank you for making us aware of your concern.