i opened an account with fairwinds because i have had excellent experiences with credit unions in the past and moved out of the local area of my regular bank (midflorida federal credit union - whom i LOVE LOVE LOVE) and had to get a new account. the account opening process was fairly easy. i didn't like the fact that there was no sign in board for those needing help and no one was at the information desk or anywhere but the one person in the line for actual banking. i waited about 15 minutes to be helped an wandered around looking for someone to help me until the woman came out of the cashier area and told me to have a seat and someone would be with me in a minute. the people who helped me signed up were very nice but there were definitely some irritating things they didn't mention to me in the sign up process or told me afterward which would have altered my perspective on using them as my bank.
first, you cannot make atm deposits for 90 days because they want proof the account is in good standing! so you have to go when they are open or use the night drop which is extremely frustrating and contrary to every other bank i have used in my life. i work at night so i am not always able to make it before they close with the other things i have to do during the day. and using the night drop you get no receipt of your deposit like you would via the atm.
second, i have to remember a member number and then SEPARATE numbers for each account on that member number (savings, checking, loan, etc). you cannot make your login online something easy to remember but have to use your member number. for deposits i have to remember my member number and my account number depending on what/how i am depositing. they actually changed it from only using ONE number to making you know several according to the girl i signed up with after the whole process was done and i was told i had to know a few numbers and i asked why it wasn't like every other bank. this is not the safest thing for most people who have e nough trouble remembering one long account number let alone multiples for one banking institution. i had to write them down in several places to just remember them depending on if i was at home, online or out and about and needed to make a last minute trip to the bank. it was just asking for someone to steal my info but i couldn't remember the numbers that easily.
someone made a typing error and messed up my information on my original checks and i had to wait another 7 business days to receive the corrected ones which meant i was without checks for almost 3 weeks. they did replace them for free thankfully but i still paid $16 for the checks in the first place.
the people are very, very nice. the branches themselves are gorgeous and much more comfortable to be in than other banks. but the systems they have in place are ridiculous compared to what every other bank uses. i have never disliked a bank so much in my life and i pray for the day that midflorida moves into my area or i move back to them. the only reason i stay with them is that i hate regular banks and their random fees more than fairwinds irritating methods. read more