I have banked with River City since I started my full time career with The City of Edmonton 8 years ago. I was 23 then and in some trouble financially -- paying for the mistakes of my wild child 19 year old self and my first credit card. With a new, steady, well paying job I tried to get a loan to consolidate my debt and was turned down by my new bank-- understandable-- I was still paying for my mistakes. I managed to shark a loan from a family member instead and bartered some settlements on the debt I had accumulated in my dumbness. Eventually I got myself another credit card with a tiny limit and started building myself back up. Fast forward 8 years of which I have been a home owner for the last 2 and my salary has increased by nearly 20k. After banking there for a year or 2, in what felt like a bad trip to the dentist, I convinced River City to extend me a $500 SECURED over draft. $500 And change of MY money is sitting in an account that I can't touch. We are doing some major renos on our first home and I'm definetly carrying some debt right now. That said, when I bought a house in 2015 I got a smokin' deal and paid $40 0000 less than City Appraisal. I know that's not quite equity, but 6 years at the same employer, with middle class income deposited every 2 weeks like clock work should count for something aswell. Shortly after we bought i approached my bank for some revolving credit in order to help ease the burden of buying the fixer upper (and scratch a sudden inset of IKEA itch) "Oh, HELL NO!" they laughed in my face (or may as well have) "but you look like you need another monthly payment so we can offer you a tiny personal loan if you pay a $50 application. " Not easily discouraged and with the wisdom of several new life experiences in my corner I simply approached another bank. I walked into an ATB having never left a single cent of my money there and left that same day with a $5000 line of credit and a pretty bad taste in my mouth for River City. We've been slowly dilly dallying away at our renos, raising a teen who doesnt wear pants unless they're stamped lulu, and somehow, I have written this much without mentioning my small army of animals, or the fact (not to toot my own horn) that I devote most of the rest of my waking hours volunteering for an animal rescue. Point being I'm super busy, eat out more than I should and (If you've been following along) am crappy with money to begin with. I live payday to payday like the rest of the shlubs and am managing some debt with it. Recently a special occasion came up the week the bank account was on empty and had some front end work to do on my jeep. I figured "hey, I've got that $500 just sitting there-- I still don't have an a1 credit score but if a random bank trusts me with $5000 the place I've been depositing my paychecks for nearly a decade shouldn't mind releasing the $500 I gave them 6 years ago" Wrong. Oh, they'll release it-- but I can no longer keep my overdraft. You wanna know the kicker though? I lost my bank card in April. I'm pretty sure one of the foster dogs ate it. I live a hectic life and I'm a fly by the seat of my pants kinda girl. $5 to replace it. As if memorizing that new card number isn't punishment enough. Well, 2 days ago I lost it again. I don't know how-I had it one second and not the next. It just vanished. Atleast not into the belly of a delinquent dog this time. Now the only thing that's stopped me from changing banks in the past is the absolute headache of changing all the direct deposits and auto withdrawals- clearly this banks been dicking me for awhile. I pop in today to get a new card and they tell me it's $25 to replace it the second time. TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS! For a freakin card. Like I'm 31years old-- agreed I have plenty of lessons to learn still-- but I do not need my bank to try and teach them to me. Like who the/why the/what the/how the @#*$! ? Seriously! I've left out a dozen other River City Credit Union inconveniences & I don't know why you'd bank there in the first place when there's only like 3 actual ATMs you can use without getting charged. There's the bad. The good is that their business hours aren't so bad-- if I close my eyes and pretend it's 1976. That isn't really that hard to do when they only started offering e-transfers about a year ago. If you need assistance with your banking or a transaction there is no wait que to call and you get to talk to a real life person pretty much immediatly-- just make sure it's within those dated banking hours because there is no 24 hr toll free hotline to use. Oh, and they finally have an app on the play store- I can't tell if it's legit or some sort of phishing malware- I'm too afraid to download it- but if you know anything about software or coding it's probably good for a chuckle. Summary? Don't bank here unless your a masochist. read more