I will say that many credit unions have more of a family-oriented atmosphere than the big name financial institutions such as Bank of America, Chase, and Wells Fargo. And "SAFE Credit Union" is no exception. Based in Folsom (where their headquarters are) and serving the greater Sacramento area as well as Yuba, Sutter, El Dorado counties and parts of the Bay Area, this has been my go-to place dating back to the late-2000's. The location I am focusing on is directly on Madison Ave. and adjacent to San Juan Ave. in Citrus Heights. This location does have a drive-thru ATM machine as well as a single walk-up ATM machine outside. They do provide ample parking from two separate entrances. Once inside, the interior of this credit union is quite open and spacious. There are several areas where you can sit and wait as well as a respectable amount of cubicles where many of the bankers provide questions on loans (personal, student, home equity, vehicle) as well as mortgages, money market, and IRA's. The area where the tellers work is also spacious while the line moves rather quickly. Some of the major advantages that this credit union offers is free checking, no ATM fees at non-SAFE credit unions, low interest credit cards, and overdraft protection. I've taken out several loans where the monthly payments have not been too expensive which is a huge plus. Their mobile app is also very handy where you can transfer money with ease while navigating through all your accounts. All in all, "SAFE Credit Union" is an above average place to serve all your banking needs. My rating, four stars. read more

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I went in just wanting to 2 twenty's and 3 fives into tens and singles. What could be simpler? Well, I did not have my wallet with me, so the wouldn't do it!!!! They said they have to have my card. To make change!!!!! I was disgusted. I went down the block to another bank where I did not even have an account and they did without question !!! read more

Bad customer service and bad company policies. Will never bank with them again. Either too small of a bank or just incompetent in the modern banking world. read more

When calling member service the wait time is atrocious! On hold for over 30 minutes without speaking to anyone. My card was locked, I was unable to get gas. Sitting at the gas station on hold almost 40 minutes just to have my card unlocked. read more

GO THE EXTRA DISTANCE AND AVOID THIS LOCATION. I made the mistake coming here and quickly remembered why I go elsewhere. Be prepared to WAIT... a long time in time. read more

I am so disappointed to even be writing this review. I've been with Safe Credit Union since around 2007-2008. At first it was really great. I had refinanced a vehicle with them and it was paid off due to my vehicle getting totaled by an irresponsible driver. When trying to apply for another car loan I was denied due to not being self employed for 2 years prior, though I never had a late payment with them for over 4-5 years. I then tried again to refinance a vehicle another year later and was told my TransUnion score wasn't good enough for them. It was close to 700 at the time so I found another Credit Union who refinanced it for me. One major reason why I'm leaving this review is because I don't like how they hoard your money and not give you complete access to your own money. Sundays is when I tend to do my online purchases and almost all the time when I'm making a purchase that's not a "typical" purchase, they block the transaction and there's no one to talk to to clear up the confusion. You have to wait until the following business day to call in to make sure your purchase can go through. This is making me want to change Credit Unions all together as I don't like regular banking. read more

Safe is a great credit union..This is where I got my first car loan..and being my first I was hesitant to where I should go..,let me tell you I made the best choice..They gave me quick service great APR...AND answered every question I had.. because of the quickness and helpfulness..I then got my next three car loans through them..The kindness and helpfulness is awesome..Out are not just a number ,but a human here.. That's the way they treat you and that's why I am a member... read more

Whatever you do do not use this bank!! I was a loyal customer for over 10 years but every time I wanted to do a transaction in person I had to provide ID and passwords and all kinds of things. Recently someone stole my entire purse. They did not get my account number my social my password or anything like that but they took two very suspicious looking personal checks for almost $10,000 in to the bank in person using my license with just my address and my name on it and withdrew over $2,000 from it. I had my ATM card on me. I didn't really think I needed to worry since I didn't have any of my account numbers or anything in my purse when they stole it. Boy was I wrong. I couldn't even talk to them about this issue without giving them my social security number and my password and my mother's maiden name. All things that I know they did not have. This happened on the 6th. It's now the 15th and I'm not allowed to access my account I'm not allowed to know how much money is in there I'm not allowed to know what has gone through and what hasn't. My online access and my ATM have been revoked all because someone there decided to allow someone to use my account who mind you did not look anything like me!! How are you going to use my ID with no information and cash fake personal checks and take out thousands of dollars? I have given them the police report I have given them my signature and documentation showing it wasn't me and they simply do not care. They will not tell me how much money I have in the bank. I have multiple direct withdrawals set to go through for my mortgage and other things and because my license has not come yet they will not help me at all. Once I get my license I'm supposed to go in and get a new account. Instead I'm just going to clean this one out and go somewhere else. Stay away from here this is not a good bank. I mean would you think they would just give money to someone who did not match the id? And then with hold all of your money to punish you? Yeah they don't care about anybody I wouldn't even be surprised if it was an inside job. They probably knew someone at the bank which is probably why they didn't have to give him any information to access all of my account. I hate this Bank read more

Hello Carole F., You are a prime example and byproduct of S.A.F.E. Credit Union's inadequate customer service, because if their customer service was as good as it used to be. S.A.F.E. Credit Union would not pay for a "business employee" such as yourself to try and discredit long term members with over 800 credit scores that will be retiring in nine years with their house paid off, full pension and benefits at the prime age of 55. So, again S.A.F.E. Credit Union's loan rates suck for all, even long term members with excellent credit ratings. :-) S.A.F.E. Credit Union recent upgrade merged all my accounts to a joint account and gave access to those without permission to transfer and use money in my other accounts they were not signers on. read more

After seeing all of the negative reviews, I'm left confused. I've been a member of Safe Credit Union since I was a kid and my mom signed me up for an account. Out of the few I've been to, this location is easily the best. It's because of how friendly the staff is. They're all so sweet and have always done their best to help me when I've had questions or problems. If you want great service, this is definitely the branch to come to. read more

No access to my money for 4 going on 5 days for some stupid "system update" we have bills to pay and lives we need money for this is ridiculous read more

Instead of doing the usual round of finger-pointing about who to blame for our current state of the economy and getting angry at the Wall Street bankers who pocket their millions in bonuses and just being plain ol' sick and tired of fees for this and that, put your money where your mouth is. We switched from Citibank to a credit union. And then switched from Sacramento Credit Union to Safe. So glad we did. For starters, I was not happy with the policies at Sac Credit Union - we had an issue with a huge bill being paid on autopay and then not having enough funds. To make a long story short, we had racked up $200 in fees in one day. Safe does not do this. Based on this fact alone, I was happy to make the switch. Opening an account was a cinch! I love their Internet banking service too with their pie chart showing where your funds are being spent and their free bill pay service. However if you do NOT use bill pay, you get docked $3. And for that, I'm docking off a star. With this branch, you park in the back and use the doors facing the back - not the ones facing Madison. I made this mistake once and you have to push some button and have someone buzz you in. I guess it makes it just a tad bit harder if you plan on robbing the place off a busy street! As far as the phone service and counter service goes, it has been top notch. Great tellers, they call up periodically to make sure you are happy with your service and if you have any questions. There is even a SAFE app on my Android! read more

I recently got an auto loan with Safe, and I have to say this is the most incompetent bank I've ever dealt with. First they mail the "welcome" packet to the wrong mailing address, and now I've been waiting 48 hours to verify my external bank account so I can make my first payment which is due in 2 days. Mind you I've had to call them 4 times in a month just to get them to do their job. Absolute incompetence. I'll be refinancing with another bank soon, thank good I don't have an actual account with them. read more

If I could give it a zero I would. I went today to do a transaction and was told they were taking appointments only. I received no notification of this and there is NOtHING on the app. The man at the door LIED to my face and said they'd been doing it for months. I went on two weeks ago without an appointment and my husband went in yesterday. I understand the reason for making appointments, but LYING to my face was unprofessional and disrespectful. If this is how they treat members, I'm going somewhere else and I suggest you do to. read more

I like this location! I haven't found a bank that doesn't get busy, but a majority of the time they have as many people at the windows as possible to help customers. I've had way more trouble waiting upwards of half an hour at either of the Sunrise Bank of America locations because they have 2 people working their 6 windows & BOA wont accept electronic transfers from Credit Unions which is why I have to set foot in that heck hole at all. I've had such a pleasant experience with each person thats helped me here at Safe CU. IMO it definitely trumps the other banks I've had to deal with. read more

Look- Im not the one to normally write reviews like this. In fact I think this may be my first one. But when I tell you the ladies at this SAFE that always handle my transactions deserve just the absolute best, I whole heartedly mean it. Katesha and Stephanie are two of the kindest, most helpful, friendly and inviting people I have met- and that's saying something considering I see them for 10mins a day, 1-2 times a week with business services ! These two wonderful gals make going to the bank so easy and stress free and dare I say it...enjoyable! Thank you and huge shoutout to Katesha and Stephanie, keep doing what you're doing girls!! They deserve to be treated like the gems they are! read more

This credit union is awesome. Super helpful and friendly. Big shoutout to my dude Aaron for being so helpful and pleasant to be around. Appreciate you man! read more

Absolutely could NOT care less about your time. Went twice to open a business account. Went through the whole process to be denied because I didn't have a website. What??? why didn't you ask that the first time???? Ridiculous read more

If you have anything going on needing financial advice or involving loans, Make sure you talk to Aaron Taylor. Very knowledgeable, knows what he's talking about and goes out the way to make sure what you need done gets handled and he's very courteous. Other banks need to take notes! read more

Beware: Dangerous business practices, rigid policies, profits over customers company culture SAFE CU has had me as a customer for years. I got a car loan through SAFE that I paid off early (the car was a lemon and the dealer really pushed SAFE CU for financing - coincidence?), and I had the Platinum Credit Card (which they called me and asked me to sign up for because I had been such a good customer) that I had used for a while and then completely paid off. I left this card alone after that, on a mission to pay off other cards. Well recently I found out that I had a fraudulent charge on my card after that and it had been accumulating interest and late fee for a couple months. I got ONE voicemail from SAFE collections to call them back and ZERO postal mail and ZERO email, (mind you the voicemail just says call us back - sounds like spam - nothing about any delinquency or issues with my account) I check my credit report and I have AN UNAUTHORIZED CREDIT HARD INQUIRY FROM SAFE and marked delinquent 60+ days. Okay, I understand that credit unions need to report delinquencies - would be nice if they tried to get a hold of a good customer first TO CONFIRM THIS WASN'T ACTUALLY FRAUD, considering I've been a 6 year customer with no issues, but okay what I do not understand is the UNAUTHORIZED HARD INQUIRY. My credit is shot - spend years building it up, and this just DROPPED MY CREDIT SCORE 150+ POINTS - and now the POS car I financed through SAFE is rolling on borrowed time and who will finance me now? I call them back and I speak to a very rude woman Chris who tells me that my card is being closed and I should have checked the statements. She's speaking to me like I am the biggest idiot in the planet. I go round and round with SAFE CU for weeks trying to dispute the charge (too late, past 90 days), and to dispute the hits to my credit - the Hard Inquiry being something I am not even sure is legal I EVEN PROVIDE PROOF FROM THE IRS THAT SAYS SOMEONE HAS TRIED TO USE MY IDENTITY. I even say to the woman Vikki, who bless her heart I think is at least trying to maintain some decent level of customer service, I even say to her, "Hey - I will pay the charge, I get that VISA or whoever won't let you go back, can you just please help me dispute this major CREDIT HIT since this is going to cause a huge burden to my family." She says yes, we can work this out, and then tells me how to dispute with Transunion and SAFE to get the Credit Marks rescinded. So I write the formal letters and submit documentation showing proof my identity was stolen and reiterating my stellar history with this bank - nope SAFE throws it away; declines the dispute inquiry by Transunion before even processing my dispute with them (confirmed by another SAFE associate I spoke to). Vikki calls me the other day to just confirm they are not planning to pull the UNAUTHORIZED HARD INQUIRY and delinquency. She says some pillar of freaking humanity named YVETTE proclaimed in a meeting something to the tune of 'well we can't help all the good customers, or we'd have to do this for everyone.' Thanks a lot Yvette, really profound. YVETTE - I wish you life experience necessary to make calls like this, because right now you are lacking CHRIS - you need to retire VIKKI - I would have given this place 1 star, I added a star because you at least maintained some customer service, while trying to keep your bosses/company happy. read more

Unhelpful! Inconsiderate staff! Condescending attitude. I can't wait to pay my car loan off EARLY so they make less money off of me and sever all ties. Update in response to Monica- I don't use live chat options. I have no desire to be treated badly once more. Your branch associate made it very clear that she would not help. You guys have a corporate attitude, had I wanted to deal with that mentality, I would have given my business and hard earned money to a bank instead of a locally and "community" based C.U. read more

Incredibly Rude bank teller for no reason. My ID was a month expired and she proceeded to ask me "what did you think you were going to be able to do with this?...Did you think you were just going to come in here with an expired ID and make transactions? Do you think I'm an idiot?" In hindsight, I wish I was more confrontational but I just walked out of there apologetically. read more

I wrote a yelp review today about how the bank manager mistreated and continually harassed my wife. The Bank closed my account within hours and yelp deleted my first review. I Still am waiting for upper management to call me or email about the manager actions and unproffessionalism. read more

External transfers are unavailable for over a week now and no one at SAFE is getting it fixed. I'm wondering if they have the tools in place to know what features are broken and not working. read more

A while back, I decided it was time to dump my big bank in favor of something local. I tried Golden One first and was ultimately disappointed by their service. A little research revealed that SAFE was a reputable credit union, and lo, such has proven to be the case. First off, I loved how easy it was to open and fund a new account online. It's a nice time saver. The online application process isn't as smooth as it could be: They present a strange set of automated questions, presumably in the interest of getting you to confirm your identity. One of the questions was, "Which of the following hospitals is closest to you?", followed by four choices. I wasn't familiar with any of the hospitals on the list, so I decided to use Google to figure it out (which an identity thief could have done just as easily). A friend of mine, meanwhile, took a stab and guessed. She got it wrong and with that, she was unable to complete her application. Soon after completing my enrollment online, I got a call from a real human to talk about my new account. When I ultimately went to visit the branch, I was mostly impressed. The branch itself is actually sorta cozy and inviting, for a bank, and the people are very friendly, professional, and helpful. (There was one exception, but I'll presume that was an anomaly.) One of the beauties of a credit union like SAFE is, you can use most other credit unions' ATMs without incurring any fees. read more

Everyone at this location was very nice and friendly ! I was very impressed with their fast service , positive attitudes, and overall customer service . Go safe credit union! read more

I honestly do not know how this happened but I am very upset about this. I went to deposit cash into a joint account that I have with my husband, I gave her my ID and my card for the account. She even doubled check with account checking or savings. She said my name and had me pull my mask down to confirm my identity to my ID. Later (luckily) I checked the account before I attempted to make a large purchase and see there is no deposit! I then check to see if it had gone to my personal account and not there either. I then panic a bit as it's showing no pending deposits. I then check the receipt and noticed the account number is not one that I know. I then ask my husband and he realized it is his personal account. The the teller some how deposited the money in my husband personal checking account. I am not authorized on his personal account at all. I will be going in tomorrow first thing to the branch to sort this out. Having money deposited into a different account than requested it be deposited into and one that I am not even authorized on is something I'm pretty concerned about. read more

Helpful and friendly staff.

SAFE has been our bank of choice for over 36 years and despite its tremendous growth, it still provides the same personal attention as we had when we first walked in the branch (and all branches!). SAFE is up to date on all services and technology and your hard earned money is really SAFE. read more

I just had the best customer service experience today. I met the most knowledgeable empathetic professiomal. She helped me with fixing my bank my account and much more. She went above and beyond to help me... I wish all of my experiences with most companies were more like this. Thank you Joselyn Garcia! read more

Just got off the phone with Emilia the supervisor of the after hours call center & she has horrible customer service, I had huge concerns with the situation of my car loan and how I had fallen behind because I had lost my job and I was just getting back on my feet have been speaking to a specialist at their company about the situation, did everything asked of me by the specialist and didn't hear back from her so I assumed, my mistake, that the specialist Stacie had actually handled what was needed after I had gotten her the documents asked for. I get woken up at 3:30am by a effing tow truck driver taking my car and all the lady in the call center can do is tell me to calm down and that I'm not being professional even though know one got on the phone an actually asked what they could do to help, I'm on hold for 10 minutes a lady comes back with info I didn't need or ask for. Come to find out they can send someone out at this time to take my car and put my family in an even worse situation but they don't have anyone there at this time to help people with this horrible situation. I would never recommend them. their refinancing fees are ridiculous, their customer service is horrible, they only care about money and not what they can do for people or how they affect our life's. I have never called into their call center and felt like I actually received good customer service and I supervise a call center. As a bank in whole their one of the worst, I'm in the middle of switch my car loan to another company. read more

Just found out that Safe Credit Union @safecu allowed someone to withdraw over $3,000.00 from one of our accounts that we only use once in a while. We just spent the last hour on the phone talking to manager after manager, and even went into a branch to do the same. Apparently, if you don't catch this within 2 months, you are out of luck and there is nothing they can do. They told us to file a police report and basically pound sand. My advice is to either meticulously review your account statements even if you don't use that bank very often or find another bank. Safe Credit Union basically stole over $3,000.00 from us. They gave us a copy of the withdrawal statement that has a signature that isn't even close to ours. They show that they checked drivers license as ID, so either they are incompetent or their employees are stealing. Happened on the Citrus Heights branch on Madison Avenue. We have never even banked here, we bank in Antelope. read more

I have been a member of SAFE credit union since way back in 1980 when it was a Federal Credit Union. I have always found them to be great with customer service and benefits, like interest earning checking accounts. Their Capitol Club also has extra benefits, like a free safe deposit box and free checks. I have worked personally with Dana Lanzaro for close to 20 years. She has managed my investments and has provided great advice and service! I highly recommend SAFE and Dana. read more

Oh my G#d! This is the most difficult credit union I have ever dealt with. Useless policies to make it as uncomfortable as possible for the clients, stiff, unyielding employees and an incredibly dingey appearance create a very unfriendly atmosphere. I will be choosing another credit union and I suggest you do the same. read more

Terrible service. I did a vehicle loan with them when I sold my car to one of their customers. When I was in the process of finishing everything they made me jump through a lot of unnecessary hoops. They were deceitful and not straightforward about how I would receive my payout. I was told cash but then they said they would only do cashier's check in my dad's name even though the title said "OR". There are better credit unions and banks that don't treat you like this. read more

Ok. The service here is pretty good. And they have a credit card that probably has one of the lowest interest rates... But I am giving this a 2 star rating for the Safe on Madison Ave. because the ATM machine access is the most important feature to me. They are literally out of commission at least 50% of the time I've tried to use them. Both the drive through and the walk up atm. Unacceptable, really. read more

Tony is awesome I came in he greeted me with a smile and great customer service.No matter how many times i change things I was doing he's very knowledgeable and kept kept his professionalism the whole time. Great work !!! read more

I have been using the credit union for a long time. For the most part I do like it. There are some times when it can be very annoying. I don't like having to pay for an overdraft when I have two checking accounts and the one checking account has a lot of money in it and I'm overdrawn by a few dollars on the other account and I get charged an overdraft fee. Can't you just transfer money between the two accounts? I guess not. At least not without charging a fee. My other pet peeve is using the ATM for depositing checks into my account. Sometimes the ATM will recognize the amount on the check and sometimes it will not. when it does not sometimes it allows me to put in what the amount is. When that happens it's all good. When I don't get that option it just give me back the check and says no. I just tried to deposit a check that is clearly typewritten and the amount is clearly shown but the machine cannot read it. It will not allow me to put in the amount and accept the deposit. Kind of a pain in the ass that I have to walk into the credit union during business hours to deposit the damn check. If it was consistent about what to do with the check it could not read I could understand but like I said sometimes it will let me key in the amount that it does not know and other times it doesn't give me that option. Why? I don't get it. Having said all that I still say I would much rather deal with a credit union that than dealing with a bank. I guess while I'm on a roll here my other pet peeve is they will easily allow me to refinance my primary residence but they will not allow me to refinance my rental properties. I have to use another mortgage lender for that. I would like to give you 2 and a half stars. Since I cannot I will round "up" the number to 3. Lucky you, Safe Credit Union! read more

I don't really know how they are as a bank, but I really like that they have a drive through ATM, and I love that it is the modern type that do not require an envelope for deposit, and will print your check on the back of the receipt. :) read more

The place to go for a Bank Transfer. Online Assistance was 5* with a callback the following day. I am impressed and delighted.