My experiences with Alternatives Federal Credit Union have largely been very positive…read more Shortly after filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy ten years ago, I applied to several banks and credit unions for an auto loan, and Alternatives by far provided me with the best loan terms (3.9% interest, while everyone else offered me loans at 10%). So of course I went with Alternatives 3.9% loan and was able to pay it off in two years and two months. Their loan officer was very helpful and understanding regarding my financial situation. I also took their ten week Moneywise financial literacy course which was excellent and very helpful regarding developing a much better understanding of budgeting, investing, debt, credit card selection and management, etc. With their help, I went from being $53,000 in debt to almost $300,000. in savings and investments over the past ten years. Hence (like most things in life), Alternatives Federal Credit Union is largely what you make of it!...

WORST Bank in Ithaca!!!!! Their outside ATM is often Not…read moreWorking. They frequently have only 1 drive through window open, and if you go inside you'll be waiting even longer. Their staff has an attitude, they act like you are bothering them if you want service!!! I CLOSED both of my accounts there because they said they won't take my coin rolls for deposit!!!!!! Go to ANY OTHER BANK, you'll be better off!

Customer service has gone down hill, new employees every month, they do not recognize or know their…read morelocal clients. Absolutely would tell you go some place else

We use this bank and have never had a problem. They offer great service and are always helpful.read more

This bank was not very nice to use. I would constantly get fees added on that would overdraft my…read moreaccount and it would be my problem. Since changing banks I have not had this problem.

Place is a joke . Take your money some place else . Had a account for two weeks and had fraudulent…read morecharges that drained my account dry . Then had to go to the branch manager and basically beg for my money back that they lost to begin with . Not trust worthy at all . Go to Tompkins county trust . Allot better than this joke of a bank .

We'd been shopping for a mortgage loan for weeks and were actively engaged with four different…read morelenders. The best offer came from a lead bank out of Tompkins County, but they could not (or would not) lock in a rate claiming they first needed an inspection and lawyer's approval before even locking down the rate. We'd financed multiple loans in the past never experiencing this and realtors were telling us this was very unusual. The lender then went on vacation leaving us hanging and despite two left messages with the supervisor we could not get a call back - from anyone. We tried Community Bank as a hail-Mary last minute attempt. Despite the agent planning to leave that afternoon for vacation she was able to lock us in at the same exact rate and fees WITHIN TWO HOURS. No muss - no fuss. They opened up our checking accounts and accommodated us in a number of other ways. THAT'S how you welcome people back to the area and provide excellent customer service. Very grateful for everyone that helped us.

Probably the most passive-aggressive business model I have ever encountered...manipulative to a…read morefault, dishonest and unprofessional. It's painfully obvious they believe they are doing you a favor by doing business with them.

If I could click no stars I would. I was a customer of M&T for a very short period of time due to…read moretheir awful customer service. I tried to deposit a check my daycare lady that was from the County, I have done this numerous times before switching to this bank with no problems. Instead of just holding the check like normal banks do, they decided to block my entire account, meaning I had no access to view my account, nor use my own money that was in the account. Then I went to the Ithaca branch office where I was told I had to call the fraud department. So I called the fraud department, and nobody there could help me, they directed me to visit the branch. So I called the branch on a Thursday morning asked them if I would get a call back today, he said if not, then for sure tomorrow. Friday came and went without a sound, I called the fraud department again the lady I spoke with was incredibly rude and unhelpful. Then on Monday I called the bank back and explained, the lady told me a manager would call me back by the end of the day. 3pm came around I had not received a call, so I called the bank back and the manager answered and gave some excuse as to why she has not returned my calls. After some conversation and explaining my frustration and her just like every other employee there, unhelpful. So I told her I will be closing my account I want my funds that are in there. So she told me I could come in tomorrow and receive my funds and close my account. So I went in the next day to get my money. She then said I was unable to close my account due to it still be under investigation. Meanwhile, I had given the check back to my daycare lady explained what the bank did, so she took the check to her bank it was deposited and she wrote me a check. So clearly, nothing wrong with the check. Today, nearly 4 weeks later, I receive a call from Tom Rooney from the fraud investigation department, he left a voicemail with his name and number (302-934-4516) and asked me to call him back. I did, and he asked me to explain the check, and immediately once I started they guy was rude, was not even giving me a chance to explain, was yelling, and bluntly rude, while calling me inappropriate names. Then yelled at me he was closing my account and hung up. All for depositing a check. I did not encounter one nice, helpful person through this entire experience. I was already closing my account due to them putting a hold on my own money and account, which allowed my paycheck to not be deposited. I have had Capital One Bank account for 15 years, the only reason I opened an M&T account was so that I had a local bank, WHAT A MISTAKE. I would highly highly highly advise against using this bank at all, not only was the branch itself rude and unhelpful there customer service number was even worse.

As a small business owner, working with the staff at M&T on Triphammer has been a joy. Kellanne…read moreO'Mara is proactive, efficient, and friendly. The fees for business accounts are lower than the completion, and the service is unparalleled. If you are a small business, give Kellyanne a call to see what she can do for your business.

Y'all, it's really bad service: no joke. It's snooty. They don't greet people. It's cold and…read morebitter. They give mixed messages. It's just horrible customer service. No returned phone messages from supervisors after two left messages. Tried many times and many locations. Closed accounts (and they charged me $20 to close) and we went to Community Bank and had a much friendlier and professional experience.

I am only selecting one star for my review because zero stars is not an option. I've been a…read morecustomer of this bank for JUST shy of 30 years, including for mortgage loans, business loans, business transactions, etc. And I continue to be regularly surprised by their ever-growing lack of sensitivity, and lack of understanding that "service" is the more important part of "Customer Service"! Their "official policies" are designed to put the onus on their customers' shoulders for all of the banks' shortcomings and/or problems. Imagine your Debit card just stops working one day ( worn out). So you ask, and wait for, a replacement (duplicate) card. And then, when trying to use the new, duplicate card, you hear those familiar words "I'm sorry, sir, your card was not accepted" so you use a second credit card for the purchase, and THEN you are told 2 days later, that the charge DID go through, so you've paid for the purchase TWICE! But rather than admit ANY responsibility for the duplicate payment, the bank runs through an army of "customer service reps", and over THREE HOURS OF YOUR TIME, very politely explaining why NONE of this is any part of their fault, AND that it is "Bank Policy" for the customer to negotiate with the vendor to recover any money lost. So, practically speaking, at that point you are spending hours and hours getting notarized copies of the duplicate Debit and Credit Card charges and paying your attorney ($150?) to send a letter to the vendor asking, please, please, please refund the duplicate $15 charge. And both bank and vendor are asking you if the duplicate charge wasn't for a duplicate order. But EVEN IF you are obsessive enough to save every receipt for every sandwich and cup of coffee, the receipts are going to list the exact same items bought, right? AND, if the vendor doesn't agree to reimburse you, it is then "Bank Policy" for the customer to file a Fraud claim with the bank, which results in the Debit Card being cancelled and replaced ( ie with new account number), and so EVERY automatic monthly charge that the customer had put in place gets refused, until the customer re-creates all that work! The abuse of your time just never stops! It's hard to imagine a lesser level customer "SERVICE"!

I'd give it a zero stars but it is not an option. I have had my account with CFCU bank for 10…read moreyears. Over the last few years I have had numerous issues with the bank making mistakes. Recently needed to make some changes to my account - customer service was nonexistent. Waiting hours online - representatives do not know what they are doing, providing incorrect info continually, supposedly fixing mistakes but never do, - callbacks never come. Finally had to leave. Do not use this bank.

I've used CFCU for over 30 years. Paid two mortgages with them and a few car loans. They've made A…read moreLOT of money with my money. I paid a higher interest fee over national banks because I wanted to keep the money local, and get decent service. And it WAS. But it ISN'T anymore. They've gone from "OK" to lousy. Here's why: 1) they attached hidden fees to my car loan that amounted to $15 a month/per payment (not including interest), 2) paying bills online was easy. Now that they've changed the online pay to an app (CFCU+), it's very difficult. The app isn't intuitive, nor easy, and includes zero pop-ups of what an icon means. Searching for a biller is now a scroll fest, because the search bar will let you find the biller -if you spell it fully, correctly, as entered. Once you find it, you can't select it. So now, you have to scroll to select it anyway, 3) want to send a message to them online for good service? Well that option is temporarily disabled. Temporarily means for weeks. Give them a call?, prepare for a LONG wait. Customer service was their middle name, now it's their middle finger. If you are searching for a good local bank/CU, look further. That's what I'm doing now. In frustration.

I'm not in a habit of writing reviews, but CFCU's behavior lately has been so atrocious that I feel…read moreobliged. Five times in the last year and a half they have managed to fundamentally screw up written instructions for how to handle CDs at maturities, ranging from transferring the wrong amount out to closing the wrong CD to closing a CD that was intended to be renewed. Their response when I suggested they needed to put a better system in place was "we already fixed this particular transaction and we're sorry it happened." Their "improved" online banking system no longer makes it possible to organize the accounts in any way, they're just in an arbitrary order (even though the "unimproved" system did this just fine) which means for example that every time I want to see my checking balance I have to use the "Show More Accounts" button because it's off the bottom of the default screen. Their response indicated they have no plans to fix the problem. They replaced a perfectly functional ATM with a "VTM" which then rejected multiple cards, and they told me the only fix was to reissue the cards. The last two times I visited it, it indicated that it "could not dispense cash" which kind of defeats the original purpose of an ATM.

Friendly staff, good services. Their online system is not great, but acceptable. This is the…read morefirst place to try for mortgages or any other banking services. Their only flaw has been lack of presence downtown, but they are opening a branch there in 2018.