Star One Credit Union

My visit here was wonderful. I came to open an account and thats all i did. It was fast and easy. The only thing is the touch pad was a pain. Eventually i signed in.

I applied for a home loan 2 weeks ago. Communication has been terrible. The officers do not pick up their phones, ever. I have to send emails daily. I’ve been waiting since Monday for a simple issue to be fixed and have to call or email daily, to be told we are getting nowhere. I’ve had to escalate to managers several times to get answers.
Star One severely lacks customer service. Very disappointing. After this experience, I would not recommend Star One for any type of home loan.

I had a good experience at this branch. My husband and I already have accounts with Star One, but wanted to get a joint account. We arrived right as the bank opened; no lines. We were able to speak with Monica right away. Getting our joint account set up was painless. A lot of people in reviews before me are complaining about the home loans, but I can’t speak to that. So far, no problems with this branch. I did have a huge issue with initially opening accounts as their online system is not intuitive and they badly need a user experience consultant.

So Star One did follow through and fix some of the issues, and hold to their word of doing the HELOC they originally said they would. It seems that the Unilocal review I left spurred them into a tiny bit of customer service, and yet, there were still issues within a day or two of the sudden increase in communication…
Communication was still a disaster, with us having to call/​e-​mail to set up signing 4 times over the course of two weeks. They also asked for our insurance information multiple times. One time they asked at signing, saying they did not have the information, and then half way through the packet, it was typed into the document. Again, hard to trust a company that does such a poor job at the basics.
Overall, I am really not a fan of Star One, and personally would choose to work with another company. My husband feels that while «they are useless» (his words) it is too much hassle to deal with another bank to transfer over our two mortgages and combine the HELOC. After the supreme multi-​month hassle of dealing with Star One, I don’t blame him, so I am content to stay with them for now. If there are other issues, I just don’t know if I can bring myself to continue to work with them, however.
I would definitely not recommend Star One for any type of home loan.

If I could give zero stars I would. I have been a member for over 20 years and their service has declined severely over the years. I have decided it must be a terrible place to work because the employees are incredibly unhappy, crappy, and rude. Alondra is consistently the most condescending person I have ever had to deal with. After complaining about her behavior and the fact that she hung up on me, I was told I would have to be transferred to her again because she was the only person available or I could call back. I chose to be transferred to her again because I needed access to MY money in MY account. I was mistreated again by someone who clearly hates her job and the company she works for. She is angry and unhelpful. I spent too much time on the phone with them today and my issue is not resolved. I have remained with them so long because changing banks/​credit unions is inconvenient but it’s quickly becoming inconvenient to stay. I hope they work to correct the problems, provide better training for employees, offer more support to their employees, and learn to respond to employees that clearly don’t want to work with customers.
Their services are also becoming outdated. Their online and distance banking services are no longer competitive. You can only use their reoccurring electronic payment features if you are paying a bill from an account with Star One but not with other banks or credit unions. They just got chipped credit cards this year. The new cards were sent out a month late after the old card had expired so I didn’t have a credit card. And then the chip didn’t work.
When they say something will take 1 – 2 business days that is code for a week or so.
If your card is lost or stolen you will be without a card for (easily) 10 days and you will be treated like a criminal. If your card is stolen while on vacation, beware. They will offer to send it to you so that you can make it home. They will even ask for and verify your hotel address. When you get home from vacation, your card will be sitting in a rain soaked envelope on your front porch.
When you send in a deposit by mail it gets credited to your savings account even if you send it with the deposit slip they provided. You will then be told they aren’t sure why that keeps happening because the scan of your deposit slip is in the system. Every time it happens I have to get them to remove the late fees which makes statements a disaster.
I am really disappointed with their declining service. I have a checking, saving, and credit card account with them and in the past have had other loans. Their service was terrific 20 years ago, good 15 years ago, mediocre 10 years ago, and now it’s just terrible and rude.

What happened to this bank. Similar to a review below, I too have been a customer for a long time. The steady decline in service has been very very apparent — and I have slowly become a number to them versus a customer. Robotic like service, unreturned calls, huge delays in services… and it has become beyond hard to access my own money. R.I.P. Star One !

One star only because I have to give them something. I have been a member of Star One CU for 15 years. I have seen a steady decline in service culminating on June 20, 2015. I called in on the 800 customer service line trying to report my debit card lost/​stolen. I can’t mention names but the customer service representative was awful. I had to keep repeating my information 3 – 4 times before he got out right. Then the topper was he said it would take 7 – 10 business days to get my new card! What kind of service is that Star One??? Star One must have so much money on deposit that they do not care about their customers. I have been loyal to Star One CU for years but now it is time to switch my account to SAFE CU.

I’ve been a member of Star One for over 20 years when it was chartered to serve the families of employees at Lockheed Missile. Today is a sad end of an era when I feel compelled to terminate my membership due to poor customer service. It started when I applied for an auto loan and got pending approval from their automated system. I emailed to talk to their loan specialist to discuss next steps and loan terms. The next few days were unexpected and odd. The Star One rep Maria claimed she attempted a call but couldn’t leave a voicemail, and insisted on email communications. I checked with my cell carrier who asserted there were no technical glitches. Over the next five days she didn’t bother to follow up my questions over email. The upshot of the delays made me miss several dealer incentive discounts that had ended by the time she deigned to respond. After escalating up to her manager Ivonne, she tried her best to put me in touch with Star One’s auto concierge. That ended up to be a worthless experience since they could not negotiate any better than the deal I had obtained earlier. The manager offered up many excuses for the poor communications, none of which make sense. The only conclusion I can come to is that Star One has changed significantly for the worse over the years, and now no longer value their customers. It’s time to move on and sign up with a competitor that tries harder.

I want to thank the mortgage team for setting me up. The small nature of a credit union helped avoid all the bureaucracy that you have to go through at a big bank. I am definitely going to try to get as many products as I can with them in the future. Thanks everyone

We’ve been members of Star One for 25 years and have to sum up our experience as mediocre and lately, very questionable! We’re wondering if it’s the healthy competition from other credit unions in the area, yes?
Today, while requesting to cash a check so I could deposit funds in another account, I was asked where else I was depositing, and was it a specific credit union where I am a member? I was not happy! Not only was it a very inappropriate question, but the fact that they knew the other CU where I was a member was disturbing! I said, I’m not sure, why? The response was a shrug, and a, «oh, no reason»…really!
At Star One, we’ve had a car loan (paid off), checking and savings, and a line of credit which is down to a few dollars a month. We no longer have an automatic deposit which may be why we’re being treated so badly (although some folks, especially at the Sunnyvale branch are super nice!), but there are definitely some with very snooty attitudes; including the communication that we will never get another loan there because we do not have excellent credit and we’re lucky to be locked into our current rate? So much for helping the middle class! And what a negative message! No thanks for being a member for 25 years and giving us your money to work with all that time?
We are members of another credit union that has been super! And our adult children are now members there. It’s too bad Star One has been so disparaging; we would have been happy to recommend the next generation to them instead of to others.

I have been a member for 31 years, starting while I worked at Lockheed. I refinanced my home in 15 min. On their short on-​line app. I rarely go into a branch and prefer to use a debit card at the supermarket to get cash. I like the phone teller and the 24 hr. Real person call center. I rarely use my credit card. Another gives air miles and I have a higher limit. I rarely write checks anymore. I like that you can transfer funds to other places like broker accounts. I occasionally use affiliated sister banks like Wells Fargo to get ATM cash for no fee. Although I have a BOA credit card, I will Never use them as my bank!

I’ve had a pretty good experience with Star One up until recently, which has compelled me to write this review. My wife and I are seeking to purchase a new home and we thought we’d check with Star One about home loans. I was informed that I needed to fill out the online form, which is not intuitive. In short I did not qualify for a loan (even though we have already qualified at two competing lending banks/​agencies). I called their branch in Sunnyvale to see if I could meet with someone face-​to-​face and discuss our options to work something out because I really wanted to give them my business, not some mega bank. However, I was informed I could not meet with a lender face-​to-​face to discuss my options because they don’t have anyone in the branch offices to meet with customers; they only have someone that can help you over the phone. I’m not sure about you, but getting a home loan is a MAJOR step in one’s life, especially for a new home buyers. Am I wrong to desire the comfort of meeting with someone face-​to-​face, to have them sit there and go over the fine print and work through this delicate process to ensure we are able to get the best deal? In short, if you are looking for great customer service, go somewhere else… even the mega banks. Huge FAIL Star One.

I applied to Star One for a checking and savings account via their on-​line application method. They took my SSN, my credit card number (to make deposits in each account) and assigned an account number to me for each account. Later, I received an email from a person there that said I was not eligible.
They had no right to collect my personal data and credit card information before determining if I was eligible and I think this is an unethical practice. What are they using this information for?

I love my hard earned cash and rather than keeping in a corporate bank that charges you for even looking at it, I keep it safe with a nonprofit credit union. In addition, credit unions are not-​for-​profit organizations that exist to serve their members rather than to maximize corporate profits. Since they are member-​owned institutions, credit unions focus on providing a safe place to save and borrow at reasonable rates. Unlike banks, credit unions return surplus income to their members in the form of dividends. Love those monthly dividends!
StarOne credit union has been serving me for over a decade and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The service is always professional and friendly with smiles awaiting me. I like coming here for many reasons: location, cleanliness and the extensive service they provide. This location will even fabricate a replacement debit card for you while you wait. Also, money-​orders or cashiers-​checks are free to members if they are over $ 200. They also have a coin machine to change over your coins into some green currency, free of charge for members of course, where most places charge around 8% for the service.
One would think that credit unions don’t offer high technology services, but StarOne has an amazing iPhone app to service your accounts, including check deposits using your phone camera. Definitely a fan of StarOne!

I really enjoy the fact that they have a CoinStar machine. I save my change and about once a year I will cash it in. The CoinStar machine makes it so that I don’t have to roll any of the change. They don’t charge you a percentage of what you dump into the machine, like the ones at a grocery store would. As long as you are a member and the money goes into your account, you don’t get charged the stupid fee.

This is by far the worst bank/​credit union I have ever dealt with in my life. They have the infrastructure of the mid 20^th century bank — very outdated.
–It took me almost a month to open the account (!). I needed to do countless paperwork and send it by mail (that should have been a warning sign but I succumbed to sunk costs and also foolishly thought I would avoid monthly charges)
–Not only do they charge $ 3 any moment my checking account is below $ 300, but they also charge monthly $ 4 for bill pay, which even banks do not do!
–In order to close the account you need to send them a letter in writing (who does that in this day and age?!?)
— It takes forever to do bank to bank transfers and they do fail
–They have very few locations and only in the South Bay
In fairness, their customer service is quite responsive (albeit rude sometimes), which is a plus in comparison with bigger banks.
If you are considering opening an account in a credit union, please use Meriwest. It seems decent, has more locations and is not so badly run.

I definitely feel the need to update my review.
I have always loved this credit union, but my one complaint in my previous review was that if my job were to pay me via direct deposit on the weekend, it wouldn’t show until the next business day.
However, Lynn from StarOne not only reached out to me via Unilocal,but also left me a voicemail to let me know that their protocol will now be changed and they will be processing credits to accounts over the weekends in the extremely near future.
If that’s not out of this world customer service AND proving they care and listen to their member’s feedback, then I don’t know what is. I am very proud to say I am a member of StarOne and will be contacting them to use other services they provide.

First I have to state that a good friend use to work here at Star One — but is now retired. That said, we came to Star One as our friend was working there and told us about the competitive rates. We’ve financed our house and several vehicles through Star One, and in only a single case, the auto dealer secured a lower rate for us through a different bank.
As others have noted, the one downside to dealing with a small/​local Credit Union is that their hold times to get someone on the phone can be long, however, once you get through, they are very good.
The reason I am writing a review now is that I just discovered that Star One is now issuing their Visa cards with chip and pin (EMV). For anyone traveling internationally, you know the inconvenience of not having a Chip and Pin credit card when using automated kiosks (e.g. gas stations, train tickets, etc.).
I’ve been researching Chip and Pin (not Chip and Signature) credit cards, and Star One is only the 2^nd issuing credit union in the US to do offer this. You do need to call their customer service to request, normally their Visa’s do not come with the chip.
If you are fortunate enough to live or work in their service area (basically Santa Clara county), sign up for an account — you will benefit from the most competitive loan rates, no-​fee ATM, and Visa with chip and pin.

I joined Star One primarily for their loan rates, and don’t use them as a primary banking resource. So far (8 months later) all has been good, except for what others have noted about their phone response time, which is, at times, severely lacking. If you’re setting up a loan or mortgage with time or deal constraints, that is a real nerve-​wracker, but once you get past that, managing the loan/​account is pretty smooth with phone, online, and teller options.
With all of the brouhaha over the big banks, there’s really no excuse to continue suffering abuse at their hands when you can be a member/​shareholder and keep the profits nearer to/​in your community.
Overall, I’d say my final ranking is 5-​star in-​person service, 5-​star rates and finance options/​flexibility, 5-​stars for being local and a CU, but 2 – 3 stars for phone service/​support.

Great credit union with a nice online presence. Their online check deposit tool is nice but doesn’t work well for corporate checks because they are too big.
Getting personal help at the credit union you are made to wait for the sake of waiting so that really sucks but the tellers are quick.
The new ATM machines are awesome and I like the change counter inside.
Overall a good credit union with pretty good RE rates but they need to work on the wait time for something other then teller help.