SDCCU Solana Beach Branch in Solana Beach, California

SDCCU is big bank banking. Opposite of what their radio ads say. My 22 year old employed daughter could not get $ 2500 credit card increased to $5000 with my guarantee as I had a $50000 credit limit and they don't go any higher. I make over $X00k/year. All they had to do was reduce my credit limit to $47,500 or less ( I don't need it that high). Instead they denied the increase. It doesn't matter that you have a 20+ year history with millions in deposits over the years. They don't care. The robots are in charge. I can rarely use my SDCCU platinum Visa for travel. Like driving to Vegas or LA, which really should not require filing travel plans. Even with travel plans they reject charges if you are out of town "to protect me". Not really. It is to protect SDCCU. AmEx has no such problem. Try to call SDCCU after you have waited in the bank for 45 min for loan approval and spoken to someone with a name? No direct line to call. You have to go through the robots for minutes before you get a human that will direct you to the human in the branch. Try to order checks online? I live in RSF and you must use a PO box for mail delivery. The address in the online check ordering is always wrong and it is not editable. You must call in or go in to the branch to order checks with the correct address. I ordered my last checks from Costco. Far easier. Free checking is good. Low interest rates on credit cards us good. The rest is big bank banking.

I closed my business checking account at SDCCU for several reasons, not the least of which is the incompetence of their employees and their complete disregard for safeguarding your personal financial information. On my latest visit to this branch, I walked up to the teller window where ALLA D. was unprofessionally chewing gum with her mouth open. I asked for my account statement and couldn't remember my account number, yet she gave me the info without requesting ID or any other information to verify that it was indeed my account. What if I had asked for someone else's account info? Evidently, if you know someone with an account at SDCCU, you can simply walk up to a teller, ask for their bank statement, and have it handed to you. In addition, you literally can't trust SDCCU to deposit your money into the correct account. I have a car loan with them, and make timely payments on the loan each month through my usual bank's bill pay service. I received a threatening letter generated only 3 days after the payment due date, stating that my loan payment was late, a late charge was applied, and my late payment would be reported to the credit bureaus, it could go to collections, etc. Here's the thing- my payment wasn't late at all. An SDCCU employee deposited my payment into the WRONG ACCOUNT! This was entirely their mistake, yet when I questioned whether I can trust SDCCU with my money if they can't deposit my funds correctly, the branch manager's response was not an apology, but rather "it looks like your payments from the last few months were deposited to the correct account". Did she want a pat on the back for putting my money in the right place SOMETIMES? SDCCU employees badly need customer service and technical training. I couldn't be more disappointed with the interactions I've had with them.

I don't come in here often but when I have to ...the staff are pretty friendly.Today it was Tara's turn to be nice.

My husband and I went into this branch to open accounts. We had tried to open accounts online as that option is given on their website, but ended up having to go do it "in-person". Before going in, I had called customer service to verify what I would need so that we could be totally prepared, and not have to go in more than once. The CSR I spoke with was completely uniformed and we did not have the required items. Luckily, we were able to pull the necessary documents up on our smartphones, but still, their own CSR's should know better. Then, we proceeded to exist in banking purgatory for 2.5 hours!!!! I have absolutely no idea why it took this long to open basic checking accounts. No idea. By the end I was hungry, thirsty, cranky, and my brain hurt from having to enter my information over and over and over. At the end, the woman who "assisted" us informed us she had done a hard credit pull, and proceeded to try and sell us credit - after already putting in plugs for home and auto loans. She NEVER told us before she did a hard credit pull that she would do so, which is COMPLETELY unacceptable. The explanation is either that she was (a) unethical, and lied by omission to try and up-sell us SDCCU credit products, or that she was (b) incompetent and didn't think to tell us she was going to do a hard (not soft), credit pull. Neither of these explanations flatters SDCCU. We've opened several accounts over the years, and other banks either do not do hard credit pulls, or they have been explicitly clear about what they were doing. SDCCU was not. I am very, very, very displeased about this. Did I mention I am not happy? A "hard" credit pull will ding your credit score, so if I am going to do something like that, I want to be fully informed. The woman "assisting" us again demonstrated her lack of knowledge when she was talking to me about what she saw on the credit reports she pulled for my husband and myself, and telling me about how we have joint credit because we are married. While we are married, my husband and I actually have NO joint credit, and I had also just recently checked our free annual credit report. One of the most common myths about credit is that your credit report changes when you get married. Unless you have joint credit, getting married does not magically change your credit report. This clearly demonstrated this SDCCU employee's lack of knowledge. And she was a loan officer! I will most certainly NOT be going to SDCCU for future banking needs or credit products, nor will my family use our accounts, and I am writing this review so that others will be aware of their underhanded, unethical business practices. Also, having had accounts at other banks and credit unions, I must say that SDCCU's online banking interface is what I would describe as ugly. It is not "pretty", and lacks anything but basic functionality. After hearing so much about how amazing SDCCU was, I expected much better. I am running away as fast as I can.