Mountain America Credit Union is a Utah-based, federally chartered credit union that serves hundreds of thousands of members through numerous branches located in the American West. The credit union provides a range of financial services and products, from deposit accounts and investment products to consumer and small business loans.
On its personal banking side, MACU offers checking, savings, money market, term deposit, and IRA accounts, as well as youth products. Its free checking account offer comes with free online banking, bill pay, and a MACU Visa debit card. The credit union’s saving account provides easy access to funds, a daily compounded interest rate, and quick fund transfer capabilities. Money market accounts have a minimum balance requirement and offer the earnings of a CD with the flexibility of a savings account. Term deposits functions as CDs and are available in term lengths ranging from 6 months to 5 years. MACU has a section of their website devoted to youth products and games. One account designed for teenagers offers quarterly member drawings for nice prizes.
Mountain America Credit Union online banking provides easy account integration into Quicken or other financial management software so members can budget and plan out their finances. The web-based banking platform also allows members to transfer funds, view copies of cleared checks, deposit checks from home, and pay bills. MACU’s mobile banking apps allow the same functions and provide a convenient and quick for members to manage their accounts on the run.
MACU was originally formed in 1934 as the Salt Lake Telephone Employees Credit Union in order to serve employees of the Utah-based telephone company. 50 years later, in 1984, the credit union merged with Postal Workers Credit Union and changed its name to Mountain America Credit Union to better reflect its growing membership geography. The credit union is headquartered in West Jordan, Utah.
Membership in Mountain America Credit Union is open to anyone through membership in the American Consumer Council. Membership is also open to residents of Salt Lake County, Duchesne County, and select areas of Wasatch and Uintah Counties in Utah.
See current membership details
Currently (4-23) Depo Accounts lists the various MACU add-on CDs as having the feature of "unlimited deposits". Based upon the current MACU web page and discussions with several reps, there is a 100K cap on the MACU Growth Add-On CDs. Furthermore, it is a cummulative cap, meaning that the total amount deposited in all CDs, of varying maturity times, cannot exceed 100K. Still, these are very good offerings. The reps have always been very knowledgeable and helpful and the service outstanding. However, there is a cumulative cap on all add-on CDs, not "unlimited deposits" as stated on the DA website. Just thought I'd point this out.
Update (2/6/23): Thanks steve_okc and chill08 for the encouragement! Received letter in the mail today indicating unable to verify eligibility as the cause. Re-applied selecting Join American Consumer Council and application was successful. Also, needed to select Open Savings Account instead of the Become a Member option to avoid the checking account getting added.
Without any local add-on CDs available I decided to apply to MACU. I joined the American Consumer Council to be eligible. All of the application selections on the MACU website indicate that I would be applying for both a basic savings account and a checking account (with $7/month charge), but I assumed I could quickly close the checking account afterward. I unlocked the 3 credit bureau accounts and submitted all of the personal information. The final screen simply displayed "Thank you. Unfortunately, we are unable to open an account for you." I've never been declined by a CU.
I have had my banking relationship and all accounts with MACU for over 10 years. When my son turned 16, I financed a used car for him. He would make his payments each month to me, and I would then make the payment on the loan. Once he turned 18, I had him get his own loan with me as a co-signer, so he could begin building his credit. Fast forward to December 2023 where my son is now married, has an 18-month-old girl, another on the way and both he and his wife are working full time. On December 14th, 2023, he traded his car in for something that was more reliable and economical.
On Wednesday January 3rd, Credit Karma emailed me saying I should review one of my accounts. Being in a similar industry, I understand the importance of a good credit score and I’ve been able to keep mine around 775. It reported a 30-day late payment on my son’s old car loan. Because of this, my credit score dropped nearly 80 points!! I look further and see its reporting a total of $11 was late. $11!!!! Neither of us received any type of phone call or email stating there was a missing payment. Not to mention, the car was paid off in December. Thinking this was an error, I reached out to the MACU service center. The person that assisted me was friendly and helpful. As she reviewed the past few months payments my son made, and she said he hadn’t been paying the full amount due. It was then that I remembered something he recently told me about his payments. After he refinanced the loan into his own name, his monthly payments dropped from what he had been paying me the previous two years. But he continued to pay the same amount each month until her recently realized he was way ahead on his payments. He still made monthly payments, but he paid less since he was so far ahead. I told the representative this and asked her to look at the entire payment history and she would see he was paying more each month for the past two years. She confirmed this and could then see what happened. She submitted it to be reviewed. For 3 weeks I hadn’t heard back, so I called the service center. About 25 minutes, I was told an email is being sent to me which will tell me their decision. After hanging up, I check the email and see that it was dated 1/5/2023 (2 days after my initial call). The email appears to be a generic response that basically states they reviewed the account and believe it is reporting correctly and that they are legally obligated to report as such. I don’t believe anyone looked at the full history of the account and what happened.
My son and I then went to discuss it with the Branch Manager in Saratoga Springs. After sharing the details, he said he would submit the request and would do what he could. On Monday morning I received a call from someone else at the branch who stated the branch manager had a personal matter come up. He proceeded to share basically the same information that was on the original generic email. There was nothing personable about it, nothing mentioned about the higher payments made for over two years, that the car is paid off or that we are talking about $11 that will be on both our credit reports for 7 years.
On the surface, I see what they see and can understand why someone would report it as they did. But I also know the whole story, I’ve seen the big picture, I know the history of the loan/customer, I can see their intentions and everything that happened. I don’t believe that anyone involved at MACU has truly taken the time to look at the big picture, review the entire loan history, or what's right for their customers.
MACU is a bank run by former bankers from Hells Cargo. They are more interested in adding services than in giving service. They are snobby, indifferent, competitive and fake. They are not very skilled or knowledgeable. They pretend to be a credit union but have no commitment to cooperation. It's a hard sell. Got merged into this vultures culture. Left quickly. Not worth the slogan. Never met a bigger bunch of snobs and slobs on the planet. Avoid this one like a West Jordan plague.
Overall | |
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NCUA # | 24692 |
Year Chartered | 1936 |
Employees | 2884 |
Primary Regulator |
Profit Margin | |
---|---|
Return on Assets - YTD | 1.08% |
Return on Equity - YTD | 11.72% |
Annual Interest Income | $991.2MM |
Assets and Liabilities | ||
---|---|---|
Assets | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $18.4B$15.84B |
Loans | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $15.33B$13.81B |
Deposits | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $16.05B$13.8B |
Equity Capital | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $1.68B$1.5B |
Loan Loss Allowance | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $170.9MM$95MM |
Unbacked Noncurrent Loans | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $175.5MM$91.6MM |
Real Estate Owned | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $0$0 |
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