As a Virginia Tech employee with direct deposit, if you want your check put into two separate accounts, one of them has to be through Tech Federal Credit Union (now known as Freedom First Credit Union. Much of the information in this review is from the credit union’s website which is listed below.
LocationsFreedom First Credit Union is probably the most popular bank in this area. With most of the jobs in southwest Virginia being at Virginia Tech, most all of the students and employees have bank accounts at FFCU. They have a lot of convenient locations around the Blacksburg and Christiansburg
.Blacksburg Locations:
1204 South Main Street (Open M-F 9-5 lobby, M-F 7-7 & Sat 9-1 drive thru)
Virginia Tech-Squires Student Center (Open M-F 9-5 & Sat 9-1)
Christiansburg:417 N Franklin Street (Open M-F 9-5 lobby, M-F 7-7 & Sat 9-1 drive thru)
Other Locations:
203 Virginia Ave-Vinton (Open M-F 9-5 lobby, M-F 8-5 & Sat 9-1 drive thru)
2125 Colonial Ave-Roanoke (Open M-F 9-6)
1640 Roanoke Blvd-Salem (Open M-F lobby, M-F 7-7 & Sat 9-1 drive thru)
15 Clay St-Salem (Open M-F 9-5)
Lewis Gale Hospital-Salem (Open M-F 9:30-1 & 1:30-4)
Checking
There are three types of checking provided by FFCU: Optimum ($1,000 minimum average balance), Freedom (no minimum balance), and Tech Express (which only allows you to write 12 checks per month). I have the Freedom Checking Account and I absolutely love it. I was not aware when I got it that I had overdraft so anything I wrote a check for that was over what I had in my checking account would be taken out of my savings account. The way I found out was, I took a trip to the beach, and before I went I put a $300 check into my checking account. The teller ended up putting the $300 in my savings account instead so when my check card started to get rejected everywhere, I was getting a little mad. I felt a little better when I found that the money had not just “disappeared” it was just in my savings account and that I was not charged for spending more money than what I had in my checking account.
FFCU’s check cards are Visas so they are accepted pretty much anywhere Visa credit cards are. I strictly use my check card as credit instead of debit even though FFCU does not charge a service fee for using your card as debit, I just never felt like memorizing the PIN number. When depositing money into your checking account, you do not have to submit a deposit slip which is a major bonus because I switch money over all of the time to do online shopping.
Savings
The interest rates at FFCU are some of the best in the area. You must have at least a $5.00 membership deposit in your savings account to start out with (they will tell you that you cannot see or spend this $5, but I have been able to see it since I first put it in). Once you have $200 in your savings account, you will start earning interest. You can check the balance of your savings account (or any other accounts) by going to the physical location, telephone teller (AIME), or going to their website. You will receive a statement in the mail every month listing the balance of all of your accounts and all of the transactions made on all of your accounts in the past month.
Loans and Credit Cards
I do not have a loan or a credit card through this bank. They have suggested to me that I get a credit card, but I didn’t want to have a cosigner and I don’t have any credit. I asked them that, since I am a member of the bank and I have a very large balance in both of my accounts, if I would still have to get a cosigner, they said I would so I did not get a credit card through them. When searching for a loan on my car, I asked FFCU first (so it would be more convenient to make car payments), but I was told the interest rate was going to be some totally off the wall absurd amount. After I went elsewhere to get a loan (with half of the interest rate that FFCU offered me), FFCU told me that now that I had already gotten the loan that they could probably give me a better interest rate, but I had to say “You snooze, you lose” on this one. This is not a bank that I feel comfortable owing money to.
So how’s the service?
When I first joined the bank the President of that branch (Main Street, Blacksburg) signed me up and I have to say that he makes a wonderful President for that bank. He is definitely the most knowledgeable person I have ever talked to in that bank. He helped me find the checking and savings accounts that were right for me. As far as the tellers go, I must say that at least 90% of the tellers in the Blacksburg and Christiansburg branches are idiots. Like I mentioned before with the $300 being put into savings when it was supposed to be put into checking and no one in the bank could figure out what happened to my $300, they printed out statements for me and I had to go through and find it myself. I still cannot figure out why every time I go into the Main Street, Blacksburg location that every teller station (there are about 6) is full, but none of them can help me when I am the only person in there. Last week I went through the first five windows (no one had up a “Next Window Please” sign) and finally the woman at the very last window helped me out.
All in all, if you can deal with incompetent tellers, you should join this credit union. It is open to all members of the surrounding community, you do not have to be a Virginia Tech employee or student. They have many convenient locations and great interest rates.
For more info check out the FFCU homepage: http://www.freedomfirstcu.com/ASP/home.asp
Recommended:
Yes
