Allan Kirby
May 18, 20204 min
Updated: Jun 27, 2020
“ A review of an incredible local credit union that has been loyally servicing Gainesville Florida area and its members since 1954”
By: Allan R Kirby
Credit Unions are often considered geographically small, irrelevant and just do not have the depth and breadth of services that big banks have to succeed in today's technology driven world. Mysmallbank.com believes differently.
In fact Mysmallbank.com believes Credit Unions provide a superior customer service experience; with attractive products and services and provide its members competitive savings and mortgage rates. Additionally Credit Unions provide critical support to small businesses owners and the agricultural community which is often left behind by the big banks. For example, by leverage local deposits from its members, a local Credit Unions can provide loans back to local businesses and customers from the same community. A win for the entire community.
Mysmallbank.com feels compelled to find the best credit unions and community banks in order to write a small review. These reviews are to help you learn more about community banks, possibly one that's in your area that you might be interested in. In this review we are choosing the following local Credit Union:
Name: Florida Credit Union
Location: Florida
Headquartered: P.O. Box 5549, Gainesville, FL.
Branches: 11.
Year Established: 1954.
Routing Number: 322484265
History:
As explained on their website, Florida Credit Union (FCU) was established in 1954 as a state-chartered credit union for teachers, FCU was originally named the Alachua County Teachers’ Credit Union, and was owned and operated by teachers working in the Alachua County School System. After the first annual meeting in 1955, FCU began to add more school systems, community colleges, and other educational groups in the area, which helped grow and improve the credit union’s offerings.
Over 60 years later, FCU is now a leading credit union in North and Central Florida that serves 45 counties. Additionally Florida Credit Union has over $1.09 billion in assets and more than 101,000 member. (wikipedia)
“Gainesville is home to Florida's largest and oldest university and was named Top 100 Best Places to Live in 2019: Livability.com".
Finally we found that Florida Credit Union is federally insured credit union through NCUA (Note 1).
Reviews:
Mysmallbank.com did take the time to read reviews on Florida Credit Union knowing that reviews only provide a partial picture of the Credit Union. What we mean by this is that reviews do not always reflect the true banking experience you will receive at one of their branches. Overall the reviews we found online were ok however it would be great for the credit union to respond to questions and concerns found on some of the online review boards. We however found no serious issues with Florida Credit Union and believe they do provide a great banking experience.
Secondly we checked and found that the employees like working for Florida Credit Union. This is very important because working in a toxic work environment will reflect in the banking experience members will receive from the employees. Given the size of the credit union and years in service, we only found one negative review from the reviews on career boards. This clearly shows staff love working at this credit union.
What stood out with this credit union was their support for teachers and students. Teachers need all the help they can get and Florida Credit Union does exactly that, through one of the credit unions programs. As noted on their website "FCU representatives visit nearly 100 schools across the region annually during “FCU’s Back-to-School Teacher Appreciation” period. They provide breakfast or lunch and goody bags to faculty and staff, present a monetary donation to each school, and answer questions about the credit union." Additionally Florida Credit Union supports three scholarship opportunities each year. They are the Dr. John C. Rawls Scholarship Fund; the Servin-Ellis Scholarship Fund; and the Buchholz Academy of Finance Scholarship. Awards are based on student scholastic records, future potential, character, and financial need." This clearly shows FCU gives back to the community they serve and have kept to their roots by supporting teachers.
Given the customer and employee reviews along with their social responsibility and giving back to the community; through FCU representatives visiting nearly 100 schools; We are giving Florida Credit Union a designation of Excellent choice, Credit Union. (Note 2). So if you're looking for a great community based credit union and you live or plan to live in the areas Florida Credit Union serves, this could be a great financial institution for you.
The following provides additional information on Florida Credit Union's services, branches as well as fees.
Services Offered:
Full Service Credit Union: Yes
Banking: Checking/Savings.
Investing: Yes.
Credit Union Loans: Mortgage, Auto, Home Equity, Personal and Educational.
Credit Card: Visa.
Small Business: Banking and Loan Services offered.
Safe Deposit boxes: Yes
Routing Number: 263178410
Credit Union Online
Online and Mobile Banking: Yes
Florida CU Branch Locations:
Deland
Lake City
Gainesville
Ocala
Silver Springs Advantage Center
Starke
(Check location for hours of service).
Fee Schedule:
Yes: Click Here
Learn more:
Contact:
Toll-Free: 1-(800) 284-1144
Mailing Address
Notes:
1. The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) is one of two agencies that provide deposit insurance to depositors in U.S. depository institutions. NCUA's standard maximum share insurance amount at $250,000.00
2. Periodically Mysmallbank.com will name a credit union as a top choice (Top credit union) based on a number of criteria such as customer and employee reviews, complaints, satisfaction, growth, locations, brand and social responsibility. We only select the best credit unions, so they must meet minimum standards of excellences (Excellent Choice) in order to be reviewed by Mysmallbank.com
In Review is a segment of the MySmallBank.com blog written by Allan R Kirby, who writes and produces Personal Finance articles and videos along with My Success Magazine.
Disclosure: mysmallbank.com nor the author received any compensation from the mentioned credit union for this article. The article is our opinion only and is written to help readers learn more about local credit unions. Every credit union we review is notified via email at the time of publication.