If this is how they treat "members"....
I recently had the…read moreopportunity to purchase a property from my sister. The property is located in an area where I used to own a get-away, and my heart is still drawn to the location. The property is roughly four acres with two homes. My sister was offering the property to me for well-below market value. In fact, the parcel appraised for $180,000+/- and my sister was asking me for $80,000. It pays to have a great sister!
I thought it would be to my advantage to pay half in cash, even though I had enough cash to pay in full, and mortgage $40,000. Should be easy. My credit score was about 840 at the start of this process in June, 2025. I am semi-retired on Social Security, but continue to work part time, bringing in an additional paycheck, just to keep busy. I easily had enough funds to purchase outright. I have only one debt, a son's student loan that has always been paid on time. I previously had done business with Members 1st Federal Credit Union, they held a car note for me, that was paid in-full and on-time. Home run, right?
Oh, no. It was a nightmare to deal with Glenn from Members 1st Federal Credit Union.
Since I was purchasing from my sister, who had already bought a new place nearby, she allowed me to take possession before settlement. Nice. For some reason, Glenn at Members 1st had me change my mailing address with the USPS from where I live in Eastern PA, to this property three hours away. If that weren't odd enough, he also had me change the address on my driver's license (a CDL) to this address. Before I owned it! Crazy. But there's more. Members 1st took it upon themselves to add themselves as first lienholder on my Homeowner's Insurance - I didn't own the property. Is this legal?
Since my sister was generous enough to allow me to spend some time at the property before settlement, I took it upon myself to transfer the electric bill into my name. I thought it was the least I could do, what with her allowing me to spend some time in the home before I owned it. Since it won't be my full-time residence, the electric company set me up to receive bills every three months. Members 1st started hounding me for an electric bill in August. I showed them proof that the account was in my name, and that I wouldn't receive a bill until October. Glenn was insistent that I send him a bill that didn't exist.
Along the way, which lasted about three months!, Members 1st had me pay for an Appraisal ($650), a foundation inspection ($150), when they then requested an additional foundation inspection in September, I finally called it quits and contacted another mortgage institution. Through the Bank of Romney, I made settlement within a month. And yes, I had to pay an additional $650 for a second property appraisal that came in at about the same as the first. What a waste of time and money to deal with Members 1st!
At the end of three+ month run-around, I must say that Members 1st Federal Credit Union was not customer-focused. I was a sure thing, great income/debt ratio, superior credit score, borrowing less than 25% of the value of the property, and instead of making this an easy process, I feel that Glenn was never going to do business with me and spent almost three months giving me a run-around. My advice, get your mortgage elsewhere.