Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union

Note: This review is for the Anoka location. Went there mid-​morning on a Monday to change ownership on a checking account. No big deal right? Everyone was nice, but I bounced from teller to ‘account specialist’ to waiting area (twice) over two hours. It was discouraging to watch long lines of customers cycle through. Finally met with personal banker who admitted she didn’t have much experience with the transaction but would get to work on it. While she worked on it, I decided to go over to TCF with the same request– excellent service, done in 30 mins. While at TCF, affinity plus called to say they would not change the account because of an issue from five years ago. They would keep the account open and continue accepting deposits, but they would not change the account. Lost 2.5 hours on my day off. Thanks a lot!

I have banked here since I was fourteen years old and added my husband to my account over ten years ago. Things seemed to have gone well for the first eight years, but soon we were having issues with our debit cards. If they flagged my husbands card, they would ask for my social number instead of his since he was «not on the account». We tried for years to fix this problem, and for years Affinity shrugged their shoulders and blamed other people.
Two days ago my husbands card was turned off while we were out of state. Card member services told him he was not on our joint account and repeatedly hung up on him after calling him a thief. He answered all of the questions correctly, but still they didn’t recognizes him. I drove five hours to that branch who turned on the card in two seconds and smiled while telling me they had no idea why that member couldn’t find him. Today, I found out that it was a lady in that branch who answered our calls and called him a liar despite him being on the account.
I went into Lakeville after my cards had been stolen to get a new card issued. It took about twenty minutes but soon I was on my way. When I got home, I realized that the CVV number on the back of the card wasn’t there. I drove back to the bank and ask them to reprint the card. The lady huffed and puffed telling me they were too busy to do that and told me to drive 45 minutes to the next branch to have it reprinted. I told her I was leaving in a few hours on a trip, and that wasn’t possible. It took a manager to calm the teller down and get me set up with a new card. The whole time I was supposed to feel bad for inconveniencing them when they messed up my cards.
We decided to go get a car loan through them for our new car and had prior experience with them. We filled out the paperwork and was approved. All we needed to do was sign the paper and pick up the check. I called in ahead of time to make sure everything was done, and the first lady was very nice and told me it was good to go. When I arrived, however, the loan officer started to go through the process all again explaining to me that she was thorough. I answered all her questions until she started asking about the ethnicity of my husband and child who were playing in their waiting room. Baffled, I refused to answer, and suddenly she wanted the car company to state in a letter that they were the lean holder and not something generic like «Bank is lean holder». Something that is not necessary for any of the five other cars I have owned in my lifetime. She said that my interest rate would be higher because of the delay. Let us just say that didn’t go over well and I took my loan request to another bank. When I tried to complain at that branch, I was met with resistance. I had to go up and over their heads just to have someone look into it.
**** To sum this up, this bank has changed and can not keep up with the growing demands of it’s customers needs. The ethics at the Lakeville Branch is questionable at best and customer service is of the lowest priority. We are pulling our money out and moving on.

BAIT AND SWITCH!!! BAIT AND SWITCH!!! BAIT AND SWITCH!!!
I just recently moved from Cali to MN and needed a bank to use to finance a vehicle for my means of transportation to and from work. A good friend of mine recommend Affinity because he was a member with them. I went in to get a quote on an auto loan and at that time I was quoted 7% exact for the amount that I was going to borrow. I was content with that rate so I signed up for an account and deposited some funds, with account Rep 1.
A week later after I found a vehicle I was going to purchase I walked back in and the original account rep that helped me was off that day so another rep helped me, Rep 2. Rep 2 tried to find the original quote Rep 1 ran but she informed me that the Rep 1 did not save the quote so Rep 2 have to redo it. After going through all paper again and reviewing my net to debt ratio again Rep 2 said my interest rate would be 7.25%. WTF!!! BAIT AND SWITCH! When I informed her that Rep 1 told me 7% that’s why I signed up Rep 2 said there was nothing she can do since the quote wasn’t saved, pretty much called me a liar. I had Rep 1’s name and everything but she refused to help me any further. Now I was in a pinch since I had no source of transportation to work and no time to go shopping other Credit Unions for rates. This was on Saturday and I needed the car for Monday so I was pretty much forced to take this loan at a higher interest rate. Very upset and Affinity has not even called to follow up on my experience with them. I feel pretty much helpless at this point, if anyone has some pointers for me on how I can take action to reconcile this situation please let me know.
After this auto loan is paid off I will be closing my account and pulling my funds. I cannot bank with liars I rather sign a loan at a higher interest rate with a credit union with better work ethics. Now that I am more established I will not be taking my future auto loan from this bank.
All this happened at the Roseville location off of County Rd. C and Snelling.

I opened up an account at APFCU after my nephew (who had no credit history yet) got a smaller car loan. As I looked into a car loan with them, I found out they rely on only ONE credit reporting/​rating agency: TRANS UNION.
Most knowledgeable people will tell you Trans Union will always or usually have the lowest score (especially customers with any blemishes).
Most other banks/​CUs use a combo, Equafax, or Experian. By using Trans Union (who is often upwards of 20 points below the other two, when scoring you), AFPCU takes the low ground to potentially charge you at the highest rate possible, or allows for a greater probability to deny you altogether.

Been banking here since I was old enough to bank. Affinity Plus offers service that cannot be rivaled by any main stream bank, period. I have yet to find better interest rates, better service, or a bank that gives me a loan with a simple email in a matter of minutes.
When I first started banking here you could only get an account if you worked for a certain company or if you had a family member with an account. They ditched that policy so they could grow a bit which concerns me but so far they’re just as wonderful as they were prior to that.
BEST BANK EVER!

Moved to Minneapolis, and had no Bank of America branches. Walked in here, and they were really friendly and got me all set up. No fees for almost anything, certainly better than the big banks for basic banking. Highly recommend.

Like most banks, Wells Fargo recently rolled out a bunch of extra charges. Something like $ 10/​month unless I kept a minimum balance of $ 5,000 in my CHECKING account. Yeah, like I’ve got a spare $ 5K to leave in a non-​interest bearing account… NOT!
I’ve been meaning to get over into a credit union for a while now — Affinity Plus has been recommended by a few friends, so it seemed like a good choice.
Affinity Plus was very helpful during the process, but their bankers were somewhat lacking in the knowledge department. I like the idea that there is no difference between bankers/​tellers/​mortgage people/​etc, because then anyone in the bank can help… but I also like other banks where a degree of specialization exists. That way, people have strong knowledge in different areas so you’re not getting someone who normally only does teller work getting your new mortgage underway. Ya know what I mean?
After my banking representative got on the phone with someone at another branch to get her questions answered, I was all set up with my shiny new checking account. This process took about an hour, as it was very stop and go with all of her questions — with her constantly apologizing and saying, «I’m helping out from another branch today, so I’m not sure how things go over at his branch.» Seemed a little fishy to me, since everyone is supposed to have a similar set of skills and knowledge.
I have had some issues with the Bill Pay feature — the first time, the check was cashed by someone OTHER than who it was supposed to be paid to, and my recurring monthly payments didn’t properly set up. The second time, I cancelled the check, but they sent it out anyhow, and it has again been cashed by someone other than the payee. What gives?! The first issue has been resolved, and I am still working on the second instance. As a result, I’m wary of their Bill Pay services.
There are only a few branches of Affinity Plus around town, but you can use any US Bank ATM if you need it. I very rarely carry cash, so the ATM network isn’t terribly important to me.
All in all, Affinity Plus has some good ideas in place — no distinguishing between levels of bankers, and they believe in you as a person instead of a number. For instance — I had been with Wells Fargo for 10 years, and they wouldn’t approve me for a loan for ANYTHING. I’ve got a great job, impeccable credit history and score, and should have been approved for anything I needed. Walked in the door at Affinity, and was approved on the spot for several different varieties of loans. I don’t need them at present moment, but it’s nice to know that with Affinity, the option exists.
If things perk up and suddenly get mind-​blowingly awesome, I’ll bump this up to a 4 star establishment. Affinity Plus is certainly better than Wells Fargo, but they have yet to fully earn my trust, or my desire to have any savings/​investment type stuff housed in their vaults.

I got tired of TCF Bank’s bullshit and ambush fees so I decided to hop here and i’m glad I did. They have a lot of things that most banks don’t even offer and they are very upfront about any fees they charge (and actually give you a set number of waived fees every so often) and true overdraft protection (checking account linked to savings account in case you overdraw). The staff is also friendly. I would recommend it. It took me about 20 minutes to set up an account.