Lafayette Federal Credit Union

I would give negative stars if I could. I opened a 5-year CD with Lafayette Federal Credit Union last year. I had all kinds of issues opening the account and finally got it resolved when I emailed LFCU leadership. I had a family emergency which meant I needed to cash in the CD early. Top my surprise, they had a 600-day penalty for early withdrawal on my CD. I don't recall seeing this when I opened the CD. You will not see this in the certificates section of the LFCU website https://www.lfcu.org/personal/certificates/. Hidden on the LFCU website is all the penalties for early withdrawal. https://www.lfcu.org/files/Fixed-Rate-Jumbo-Certificate-Addendum_2022.10.11.pdf
There are plenty of banks out there with similar or higher rates with far lower penalties for early withdrawal. You can even get similar rates on US Treasury Notes with no state tax and no penalty for early withdrawal.
LFCU says it is Member-Owned, Not-for-Profit -You're a member AND an owner at Lafayette Federal. We treat our members as unique individuals with specific needs and financial goals. We are member-owned, not-for-profit, and community-minded. This couldn't be further from the truth based on my experience. The penalty for early withdrawal section shown above which I don't recall seeing when I opened the CD says LFCU MAY impose a penalty for early withdrawal. They want to impose a huge penalty and this is after escalating to LFCU leadership.

LFCU is very disorganized and makes a lot of mistakes. I would think twice before opening up an account with LFCU.
The worse bank
I'll stay away from them
Can't get an access into my account

I would like to share my positive experience with LFCU and to thank all the staff especially Abbey Abraham and Alfredo Buruca.

I have been a member of Lafayette Federal Credit Union for over 20 years. I am planning to undertake a new career, which requires me to reduce my monthly expenditures to a bare minimum while I build up revenue. When I asked to reduce the monthly payments on my one remaining loan, with a balance of just $2,000, LFCU refused. No consideration of my being in good standing for 20 years. Did not matter that I had paid off my mortgage and all previous loans. That was really galling to me. They don't treat members like people, just as
numbers. Rules matter, people don't. The last straw. I plan to withdraw all my funds and transfer them to another CU or bank. I don't know what happened. LFCU used to take care of members. Not any more. Sigh.

Can't understand the other reviews being so low. I do now mostly only use the on-line seervices of LFCU. But from time to time I have to call in and get some help with specific problem. For example, recently my wife died and they were very sincere, prompt and professional in helping me update the account to reflect only my name and the Living Trust.

I have been with LFCU since the early '80s. They have helped me here and overseas.

The branch staff in Columbia Heights, in general, have been great, so has the help on the phone lately. I haven't had as many tech problems as some of the worst reviews here. You rarely have to wait in line at the CoHi branch office.

But the overall leadership is a little questionable. They do not disclose the compensation of their executives and board of directors, as major banks are required to do, so it's not totally clear how much of the benefits of being part of a credit union are being passed onto the membership, versus the leadership.

The worst. Their website is riddled with problems that make it difficult to access your accounts at times. Customer support is horrible. The reps don't know what they're doing. It takes days for someone to get back to you if you have a serious problem. I'm moving my accounts to a different credit union.

These are extremely nice people at a shockingly disorganized financial institution.

- Their website is not user-friendly. It may have been designed in 1998.

- Their Mastercard website is worse.

- If the customer service number is the number listed at the bottom of the page, they need to know how to answer your questions. I had a question about ordering foreign currency, with the help line listed at the bottom, and was told that that service was operated by an outside firm and that Lafayette would be unable to answer my questions.

- If I send a message that says I am in a foreign country and my ATM card has been eaten by a machine and I need a response, and you call my OFFICE in Washington, that is not helpful. It took a week for someone to write back. By then I had already called multiple times and gotten my question answered.

- If you advertise a card has having no foreign transaction fees, don't charge a foreign transaction fee.

- If you advertise a card as charging no interest for the first 12 months, don't charge interest before then.

- If it takes more than a week for a check to clear (from a known account: my employer), you might get an inquisitive phone call from me.

I like this Credit Union since it is very convenient to get to from my job. The people working here are always friendly and helpful. Because this is a credit union, their hours are not like a regular bank. They also charge some fees that the commercial banks don't charge because they are small. Other than that, I think that this branch is solid.

It is very sad that they give auto loans only to Citizens/GC holders. I'm legal to stay in US for many number of years but still they don't give the loan.