Unitus Community Credit Union

Pros:
The employees at this branch are very friendly. They’re always engaging and open.
Cons:
— Unitus claims clients are offered a free sheet with a checking account and that you can then purchase a box, but when I asked about free checks, I was told I could order them.
— This branch IS busy. But considering it’s on a busy road, that’s not surprising at all.
— The ATM in their drive through has a habit of not working.
— And speaking of not working, their site is shoddy.
There is potential, but honestly I’ve had so much trouble just getting pages to load just to pay my bills. The security system on it isn’t much of a hassle, so that’s nice.
— The employees at the northeastern branches in Portland can be apathetic and condescending.
— My original review was on google and it was deleted. For a credit union that claims to: «takes member service very serious.» and «for letting us know» about my grievances, they seem to be working very hard to keep a positive rating on google up.
Other:
Now, this last reason was a tipping point-​the point that made me consider staying with Unitus just wasn’t worth it. Little things had been stacking up, but this is what really made me stop and pause. However, this issue has a lot of cultural-​bias, so I felt it unfair to put in the cons as an objective reason.
— One of their employees dressed up like a Native American. For THANKGIVING.
Normally I don’t care if people dress up on Halloween because it’s just Halloween and it’s all about being something you’re not.
But to use my culture as a costume on Thanksgiving shows downright ignorant understanding of the suffering inflicted upon my race and how hard Native Americans today struggle to preserve their own culture after whites sought to destroy and repress it.
Unitus told me they had ‘addressed this internally’ but I’m pretty sure all they did was ‘hey no costumes’ rather than explaining the ramifications of this action.

Pretty sufficient service here. Is it funny when you’ve been a member of a bank longer than the teller has been alive?
I made a simple deposit. Nice, clean, roomy credit union with prompt service. Not too busy here. Free hot water and tea.

I have my name attached to 5 different institutions… USAA, Service Credit Union, Wells Fargo, Capital One, and Unitus. My favorite is hands down Unitus. Their online system is superior and explains everything I need to know or is of interest to me, in an efficient manner. They have financed me for a motorcycle loan and a car loan, and I am absolutely pleased with how things have gone thus far. Please keep it up.

Genevieve notarized my paperwork in a jiffy and took care of my banking for me. She was very pleasant and quick. Thanks again

I love Unitus. I love their tellers. I love how simple they make banking.

So disappointed… Not at all the personal relationship I was hoping for with a credit union. Too many mistakes to remember. Never was a victim of fraud until I joined here and within 2 months twice. They gave me the wrong account number and want me to pay for new checks even though they didn’t follow their own policy. Information is inconsistent from one person to the next. Their snapcheck is so dinosaur it rejects more checks than it accepts. The online bill pay isnt timely. I feel like I’m 20 years in the past with their level of technical intelligence.

I found this guys on Unilocal and love them. My car loan was done on time. They gave me better deal then on point credit union. Also they working with me on my RV loan. Recommended. 100% recommended.

I used to work at Unitus. Now that I don’t, and haven’t for a bit, I feel I can write an unbiased review.
The Clackamas/​Happy Valley Branch ROCKS!
Everyone in there is super nice, even those that don’t know me from the days I worked there. We have a car, motorcycle, other loans, deposit accounts, and an HSA account with them.
There are NO FEES! This branch is open on Saturdays, which is a rarity in the credit union world. I can use just about any 7 – 11 atm around town.
The drive thru atm/​teller are nice for those rainy days that I don’t want to (i.e. am too lazy) to get out of the car.
Not only would I, but I have recommended this credit union to everyone. I even, finally! convinced my guy to get rid of his Chase account and he loves that he can take his change jar in and get fun money, with no fee, whenever he fills it.

I don’t actually bank here so my review is only based on Hsing the shared banking services offered from this bank for my credit union I a me member of.
This location is pretty quick and easy to get in and out if plus they are next to some locations I frequent quite often so I am here all of the time. The staff is courteous, ATM seems to be broken down about 20% of the time which is higher than most. A fee if 8.00 for a cashiers check seems high as well but I understand with not having an account here.
I am impressed with my interactions with the staff. I would honestly rate it a 3.5 due to the ATM failures and fees but do not have that option.

They charged $ 4.00 for replacement of a lost or stolen debit card. Hope it was worth it!

Yeah, ok, I get the people who are anti-​Big Bank, the lack of fees and that feel-​good thing about banking locally, but honestly, I’m not that impressed by Unitus. There is ALWAYS a line a mile long whenever I go in, and when there’s not, it still feels like it’s a mile long cause it moves SO. SLOOOOOWWWLY.
The only reason I go in is because I actually bank with Selco, but Unitus is closer to where I live. So two stars for convenience (yay for all the CCUs being connected!) and one star for friendly service.
Minus two stars because I can get friendly service (a teller who recognizes my face and calls me by name whenever I go in) AND efficient/​quick banking services across the street at Bank of America. There’s never a line and I’m in and out in less than five minutes EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. Sorry folks, I haven’t been wooed over by local banking yet.

Full disclosure: I work at Unitus.
That said, I need to be able to do banking remotely, need it to be easy to use, and need to get no fees (mine cannot get returned w/​o explaining how I screwed up to my VP despite the fact most people think it’s MORE likely for an employee to get their money back).
If I stopped working here tomorrow; if I got fired in a blaze of insults in front of all my co-​workers (which would never happen but please bear with my wild hypothetical) I would still bank with Unitus. Here’s why…
1) Everything is free and there are no requirements. Really. It’s not «my accounts are free as long as…». They are just free.
2) The mobile app does everything. Finds ATMs, lets me pay bills, transfer money… you name it. Another one called Sprig let’s me deposit checks by taking a picture.
3) I can open as many savings accounts as I want and name them whatever I want.
4) I can transfer money to any other account at any other institution for free online.
5) I can see my credit score for the last 6 months for free online.
6) There are 0 sales pitches in the online banking system. My mortgage is at BofA and I’m constantly clicking on pop ads and other baloney that surrounds their online banking system. Not at Unitus. I’m just getting my banking done.
7) Cash is easy to get and free because I can go to any 7 eleven. Love that.
8) Service is great in the branches. And there is free, freshly brewed coffee.
9) When I call, the automated phone system asks one question (loan or deposit?) then gets me to an English speaking person who lives in Portland, OR.
Things that aren’t great and may bug some people but don’t bug me:
1) There are only 8 branded branches. There are 7000 shared branches, but it’s not exactly the same because you can’t do a lot of things.
2) Branch hours are only until 6pm and they’re not open on Sundays.
I have had bank accounts at at least 10 other institutions and none of them compared. Unitus is the best deal in town.

The folks here are very friendly and I appreciate them treating me like a human being – as opposed to the experience I get when going to commercial banks.
They’re one of the few places in town that still do «shared branching» services with other community credit unions on the weekend, a service I’ve made use of a couple times now.
Good experience.

I was so prepared to love Unitus when I joined a month ago. I was getting away from Washington Mutual — excuse me, Chase — which was terrible in every regard. Good riddance, evil corporate banks!
I was seduced by the rates and lack of fees at Unitus, and I still love those aspects, but the customer service is abysmal. Every time I’ve been in there’s been only one teller working and those tellers aren’t in any sort of hurry. Slow, slow, slow. I’ve asked about the slow service and once was told that the other teller was on lunch … perhaps the best time to take lunch is not when all of your customers are also on their lunch breaks and trying to get their banking done in a expeditious manner? Perhaps have someone else available to step in and fill the void? I went to the drive through recently thinking it may be faster. One person was ahead of me in the other lane and yet I waited a full ten minutes before the teller got to me. When I tried to cash a check, she told me they don’t cash checks there (!!), they would have to deposit the money in my account and withdraw it. WTF? This process took almost 8 minutes — no wonder things are at a snail’s pace.
If Unitus wants to compete for customers against the big banks, they need to step up and get their act together. Switching banks again doesn’t appeal to me, but sadly I’m shopping banks again.

I decided one day to walk to the store a mile from home, discovered in the check out line that I was wallet-​less, and, on a whim, walked into Unitus. Not only did they have my picture on file, but could give me cash without my walking all the way home again. I’ll never go Big Bank again.

I’ve had accounts here for the last 6 years, and I will never bank anywhere but a credit union. I think people are silly for not.
Every single aspect of my account is free– no monthly fee, no minimum balance (expect $ 5 in savings), pretty good amount of free checks (I think about 10 at a time, but who uses them much anymore?), plus the nifty new paperless deposit ATM outside. It scans your checks and counts your cash for you.
The only thing I don’t like is that I get charged $ 1 for using an out of network ATM. So that $ 2.50 fee is now $ 3.50 :(
They have a completely free Rewards program for checking accounts. 1point per 3 dollars spent on debit or 1/​$ 1 with their credit card.
I average about a gift card a year, but I’m also a collage student. I know my mom stocks up on points and gets at least 10 at Christmas time.
Pretty good for being free to sign up in my opinion.

We have had an account for years but today is the first time I have gone into the bank. I was very pleased with the friendliness of everyone as well as the personal attention from the staff! I will be banking with Unitus for years!!!

Big ups to Unitus for so many reasons, but I’ll start with the simplest of the bunch:
They are NOT Chase/​WAMU
Once WAMU (my bank for upwards of 12 years) screwed themselves into a financial wasteland with bad bets on even worse mortgage paper, Chase jumped into the fray. At the time of this occurrence I had 3 WAMU accounts and 1 credit card and 2 Chase credit cards. The WAMU CC became a Chase CC and my bank accounts experienced a similar transformation.
Flash forward to today — I have NO Chase/​WAMU accounts and 3 paid-​off, soon-​to-​be-​canceled Chase credit cards.
Oh yeah… I now have 2 Unitus accounts and I couldn’t be happier. Excellent service, interest-​bearing checking and a great credit card program, of which I will avail myself once I cancel the toxic Chase cards currently in my possession — baby steps, right? Must maintain fiscal responsibility, after all… lol. They also have the little things down pat. Friendly tellers and bank personnel, a shred-​box for customers to drop off their sensitive material without having to trust the recycler and a coin machine (for your coin stash at home) at no extra charge!
Here’s the truly messed-​up thing: I was willing to give Chase a chance, but their ham-​fisted handling of the shift from WAMU (not to mention their completely non-​existent customer «service») made the choice to move a very easy one to decide upon (I’ll spare you the details).
So, THANK YOU Chase/WAMU…without your idiocy, I would NEVER have discovered Unitus!

Credit unions rule, and this is no exception. Friendly service, insured deposits, regular bank hours, extremely low fees for things like NSF checks and overdrafts, no atm fees, no account fees, etc. Great stuff. Not much to review, but I am always glad to know that the people who run my credit union are not as moronically retarded as the ones who run WaMu, BofA, and all those giant banks. You know, the ones who lost all that money betting on bad mortgages? Yeah. Well, extra stars for Unitus not being like that.

I got a friendly «hello» from a greater/​receptionist person sitting near the door when I entered. To my dismay I couldn’t use the drive up window because I am not a account holder. I am from another credit union that is part of the co-​op. I was able to deposit my husband payroll check but it is still on hold! (5 day check hold!!!) I am part of the co-​op darn it. Turns out that my check has to be sent to my branch and ok’d before our money becomes available. It would have been nice if my friendly teller would have explained this! FYI: get a local bank account before you move!