Sandia Area Federal Credit Union

Staff friendly, knowledgeable and efficient .
Jun 7th, 2023

DON"T USE THESE PEOPLE. Zero stars wasn't available. These folks are hopelessly incompetent. I have a car loan with Sandia Area (until I can move it). Closing on my loan was a horrible experience. The first closing employee never called me back and never answered my questions. The second closing employee tried to cancel my closing while I was in the lobby. I had to do all the legwork to make it happen. Trying to pay them is an even bigger hassle. There is NO AUTOPAY OPTION if you want to pay from an external account. The system pretends there is an option but it doesn't save it. I spent two hours working to get outside autopay set up. I sent them everything they asked for. They never told me they didn't accept it..... Truly terrible. And unpleasant to boot.
Jun 5th, 2023

I often go to Kirtland Office to make my payments and I just want to say the staff is always so friendly and helpful! Also created a checking account after learning about the neat features from the tellers.
Apr 21st, 2023

Iris was amazing, excellent communication and easy transaction. We dont live in Albuquerque but this did not cause any problems for us. I will definitely be considering SAFCU for future banking and loan needs.
Oct 17th, 2022

I have been with Sandia Area Federal Credit Union for many years. There was an issue with a transfer that was not completing with my account which I admit is totally my fault because I did not change my direct deposit amount in order to pay the loan and I had not looked on the system to ensure that the automatic payment was completed. However, when I realized the loan was not paid, I also realized that no one called me in order to let me know. I had called Sandia Area FCU several times for other reasons and no one had notified me that my account was delinquent, nor did I receive an email or text about the issue. The delinqency did not show on the phone app but only when you sign in on the computer (which I rarely do). Furthermore, when I realized the delinquency, Sandia Area froze my account because of the delinquency. I realized the delinquency on a Sunday January 1, 2023 while I was out of town and because the credit union froze my account, I was then unable to transfer the money into the loan account in order to bring the account up to date. Because it brings me anxiety to have a delinquent account, I then had to use the system which allows you to make a payment from a external account to the loan (even though the payment was still being made from my Sandia account). I needed to make a transfer in to make only one payment, however, since my account was frozen, I could not transfer the money so I had to make to payments (with a convenience fee of 10 dollars each, equaling $20). The payment was supposed to reflex on the day I made it which would have been January 2, 2023. The payment was not reflected in that account and still has not as of 2:36 pm on January 3, 2023. Due to the payment still not being reflected in my loan account, my account services are still frozen and I cannot transfer money at all even if the transfer would prevent an account from over drawing which would cause a fee. I can only transfer money during normal business hours because I have to call in order to get it done. Sandia's reason for freezing my online banking is because the account loan was delinquent and in doing so, the system gave me minimal means to correct the situation which prolongs the payment of the account unless your are within normal business hours. Again, the original reason for the loan not getting paid was a mistake on my part. However, prolonging the loan not getting paid is an issue in Sandia's system, and if they would have just emailed me or texted me that the loan was delinquent, it would have been rectified immediately. Lastly, I have also had issues with Sandia's fraud alert system. The system has frozen my card more than once without notification leaving me at stores and on weekends with no means to pay and without an email or text verification regarding if the charge is actually fraud. This is very irritating on a Sunday when you need groceries and your card in not working and you have no one to call until Monday. Sandia then cloaks this information by saying, "The security of our customers accounts are very important." If this was true, then their system would send regular text messages or emails for suspected fraud and the time my card was actually experiencing fraud for charges over $200.00 the card is not frozen on my account. However, for a charge of a little over $13.00 my card is frozen on a weekend. Sandia Area Federal Credit Union needs to do better.
Feb 16th, 2023