Provident Credit Union

I liked this bank at first, but they get 3 stars knocked off:
one star off for bad customer service experience when i went into the branch on a saturday for two simple things and got neither of them accomplished
one star off for not being able to open an ESA online, because they require you to have an IE browser. Who does that?
and one more star off for the time I tried to transfer money to a relative online and it didn’t work, for no apparent reason (it worked fine from my boyfriend’s online bank account.)

A big thanks to Ms Eloisa Gonzales, Branch Manager, for helping us out in our car loan. She’s very helpful and was able to answer all our questions really good. She’s really good in Customer Service and I’m glad to be getting my loan here with her help.

I would like to say thank you to provident company but specially to Eloisa Gonzales (Branch Manger) she has been very helpful and has given us a fantastic service when we needed help. She has a great friendly personality, shes very accommodating and over all she gave us a 5 star service! If I were to go back again I would love to get help from her :).

I would like to thank Provident Credit Union in Alameda for helping me buy my dream car a 2016 Corvette. My loan agent Joanne Lyons made the entire process of applying for the loan a great experience. Her professionalism and product knowledge were truly amazing. I had several questions about the loan process and Joanne answered all my questions 100% to my satisfaction. I have never really thought about a bank much, but I must say she has changed my mind about the difference a knowledgeable loan agent can make. Because of Joanne, I look forward to giving all banking needs to Provident including refinancing my home to a 15 year loan.

Lorna Anderson is an Assistant Manager at the credit union in Alameda. She’s who I go to for any help that I need. Because of her, she’s the reason I’m still banking at Provident.

I recently bought a car financed by Provident Credit Union in Alameda. I found the car on Craigslist on a Saturday, was approved for a loan on the next Monday, and drove the car home on Tuesday! it could not have been easier or faster. Branch manager Eloisa Gonzales helped me through the entire process. She is professional, thorough, and extremely helpful in working through the process. In the days following a few questions arose and she was quick to respond. If you are in the market for a car I highly recommend Alameda’s Provident Credit Union.

If I can give Zero I would. This bank has extremely poor customer service. Save yourself and your money by going someplace else.
This branch has given me warning signs from the day I opened my accounts over a year and a half ago before they merged with Provident. Now, I realize I wasted my time being patient with their extremely poor customer service.
Summary of statements I heard at the bank from their reps:
«We are too busy, come back next week»
«We take lunch breaks here»
«What, I don’t know how to do that»
The last time I walked into the bank and asked for help notarizing my documents (mind you after confirming over the phone in the morning that I can come over and get my documents notarized)… The response when I arrived was «What??, I don’t know how to do that» followed by «We are too busy, come back next week» … This is not an exaggeration. After I asked why come next week, the clerk at the counter pointed at a lady behind her and said she is going on lunch and then proceeded to point to someone else down the hall and said that she is too busy now. When I explained how shocked I am since I spoke with someone in the morning and confirmed that I can come at anytime and someone here can help me, she said that I must have called another branch but we confirmed it was the same branch number. Another one of the more senior clerks overheard us and stopped by and explained that I again must have called the wrong branch and then after I confirmed the number she told me that she recommends that I call ahead next time (HOW FUNNY!!! I DID!) and further explained that they at this branch and I quote: «We take lunch breaks here».
Unbelievable terrible customer service!
I am going to take my lunch break today and move my money somewhere else with better customer service.

I was surprised that my new account suddenly had hundreds of dollars of $ 28 «courtesy fees». I had gone on vacation with healthy balances but an extremely long hold of a check had managed to create a string of ‘overdraft’ fees.
I didn’t want to fight that, technically ‘my error’ for not reviewing the actual length of time to clear a regular deposit. But, I wanted to see if I could set up a payment plan to take care of the amount assessed.
I asked and the manager Eloise Gonzales was very helpful and called ‘collections’ to see what they could do. They said they would set up a 5 month payment plan. Great!
A few business days later, I found out that they had taken money from another of my accounts to pay the ‘courtesy fee’ bill and used it to pay the entire 5 month structured payment plan that (I thought) had been set up.
I visited the branch and the manager Eloise was shocked that the structured payment plan was not in place and that the bank had taken funds from my checking to pay the full amount «That’s not what we set up last week!» she said.
Turns out, nothing was set up. It never was.
I talked to the same guy (on the phone) that set it up, a week later and he said «I lied to you, so that you would put money in the account so that it would pay it in full».
I said ‘what?’ and he repeated that he lied to me (and to Eloise) to «trick» me into putting more money in, there was never a payment plan.
I went to Eloise with this information and she couldn’t ‘change’ anything, the bank wouldn’t make me whole to where we were when «Pete» lied, nor would they remove more ‘courtesy fees’. Basically, the banks ‘collection’ department is able to lie, blatantly and with the support of the management.
In multiple conversations with all parties it is clear that they all know that a ‘deal’ was made falsely and with false pretense and with the intent to misrepresent and ‘trick’ me into giving them funds that they were not entitled to, to pay internal bank fees generated by holding checks longer than needed.
I was struck by how unconcerned they were with false financial information being given to a member by their staff. Also, it seems that «hold times» on checks is a way for banks to attempt to generate ‘courtesy fee’ transfers by extending the ‘usual’ check clearing time in a way that increases the probability of an overdraft coverage fee.

Provident contacted me today about my review. We discussed my experience and while nothing was resolved on the phone I will give them credit for at least reaching out.
They do have a new ATM machine, the third since I have been a customer, so maybe 3 times will be a charm and this one will keep working. It’s not a card dip machine but otherwise seems to get the job done.
There are no phone numbers that you can call to talk to someone in the branch you usually use unless you get someone there to give you their direct phone number. The general contact phone number goes to a call center somewhere and you get pot luck as to who your call gets routed to. I don’t even know if they are Provident employees or some contract call center somewhere. Sometimes I get to talk to someone who is very helpful, sometimes I get someone who can’t help much and does not really seem to know what is going on. Both signs that it might be a mid level contract call center.
Strangely enough, while I am rough on them in a few areas, overall I like Provident. The accounts are cheap or free and the ATM access is fairly good. As long as things are going well they are fine, they only fall down when there is a problem and then it’s hard to get fixed. You are in general getting more than you are paying for as long as you don’t get tripped up by fines and fees. I would like to see them get better but as it is it’s meh, I have had better but I have paid more for it.

Why would anyone bank here? They don’t use a shared atm system and there aren’t many locations which means scrambling to come to the boonies to do business or taking atm fees and hoping they’ll refund you. Plus the teller was surly when I seemed surprised at this.
Patelco, USECU, BECU (for WA state folks), and nearly every other credit union I’ve worked with shares atm locations! This really boggles my mind.

Recently switched to Provident Credit Union from Bank of Marin after their acquisition of Bank of Alameda. Wow, what a breath of fresh air! I’m always greeted when I come in and I’ve had really personable experiences with the tellers. They’ve done a lot to ensure that my new business account goes smoothly, too. I appreciate that their systems are incredibly modern, so the transactions go really fast and the tellers spend more time chatting as opposed to being hyper-​focused on lining up pieces of paper perfectly in dot-​matrix printers. It’s the 21^st century banking experience.

I received very bad service from a teller at this branch location for Provident Credit Union a few days ago. I have enjoyed doing business the past few years with this Financial Company, my wife is a member. But I will not tolerate bad service from some idiot teller that is not doing his job correctly. I can very easily take my Financial Business elsewhere where I am more appreciated. I have been successfully doing Financial Business with Bank Of America for several years now and I have never had any problems with them. Stay focused, take the hits, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning gets done!

I’ve been a member here since it took over alameda credit union. The reason I joined a credit union was for the personable service. Provident is contacted by us thru a 800 number, in which you speak to a different person each time. Other than that everything seems the same

Always fast and friendly service… been here for years even before it was Provident. Plenty of parking as well.