Ventura County Credit Union - Ventura
Reviews and Complaints

This credit union don't care about their customers at all. I've been a member for over 15 years and got a surprise email Saturday that my credit score had dropped 90 points from VCCU saying I didn't pay my credit card which I didn't have a balance on and hadn't received any statement for. I called instantly to find out what was going on and was told there was a fee put on the card and I hadn't paid it. I informed them I had never received a statement or a call saying it was passed due and especially during Covid when so many people are out of work you would think they would at least make a courtesy call before ruining someone's credit! The girl claimed they called three times but no longer leave voicemails. I demanded to speak to a manager and she promised one would call me. Six days later I still hadn't received a call so I called again and spoke to a supervisor. He gave me a completely different story that they had never called because they only send notifications by email now. I asked when I had signed agreeing to that when my junk filter grabs all their emails and he informed me they hadn't called or gotten signatures approving only notifying me by email but that they still would not remove the 30 day ding from my credit. This used to be a good bank but they have gone so far down hill. I switched my primary banking years ago when I saw the decline in VCCU's customer service but I'll be closing my remaining accounts and card after this.

I've been a customer since 1992. An account was opened for me when I was a little kid. I still have this account now in my mid-thirties. VCCU used to be a place that seemed like it really cared about the well-being of its customers but now after what I was just told I no longer believe this to be the case. A few years ago someone fraudulently applied and got approved for a $10,000 credit line with VCCU in my name. They even somehow changed some of the information on my account. Luckily they hadn't used the credit line yet when I discovered it. So I went to the Ventura Branch and let them know what was going on. After a bit of a process, we got it sorted out and they decided to still honor the credit line and let me have it if I wanted it. I was trying to build my credit score so I accepted. Well eventually I fell on hard times like many people do and had to rely on this card and the balance got high and I was accumulating debt in other ways as well. It got pretty hard and I was drowning. I'm not blaming VCCU for the debts I created I take full responsibility for that. My issue is their lack of options and lack of care for those struggling and trying to pay down debts and make things right. About a year ago I was given the option to apply for lower payments which worked out nice because I needed the relief badly. I've had them take $100 automatically out of my account every month since my application got approved. Consistent monthly payments. I was finally seeing progress and I've paid off a lot of debt already by the end of 2020. Recently I was checking my credit report and noticed it said I had a missed payment in October which I disputed because they still took the $100 in October so I thought that was weird and had to be some sort of reporting mistake. I found out later what it really came from. My credit score was finally showing some promise. My VCCU card is now in the $7,000 range as far as the balance which was big progress to me. Then I get a call at the beginning of Feb 2021 letting me know that my lower payment contract expired in October. It was in your contract that it was for only 12 months they said. That was probably true, but it's been a whole year! Who would have remembered that with everything that has happened since the beginning of 2020? I have life, work, not to mention a whole pandemic to deal with. Sorry I didn't remember. But here's the kicker, that's probably pretty common for people to forget. And not once did they contact me by phone, email, or even letter as a reminder. In fact, they waited until four months of it being expired to even contact me. My options were pay off the over $7000 right then and there which let's face it no average joe has that to spare, or apply and hope I can get approved for a renewal on the contract. So I filled out the application that night and sent it in the next day as requested. A few days later and I still hadn't heard anything. So I send a follow-up email asking if it was received and nothing. I checked my junk mail and saw I had an out of office notification from the person I was to send it to telling me that they won't be back until Feb 2nd. That was a whole week so I called and spoke to someone to make sure it wouldn't affect anything and that I was good. They told me I was fine because it did show it was received on the right date. Fast forward to today and I get a call from the person to let me know my application was denied. No reasons were given as to why just that it was. I asked what I can do at this point because I don't have that kind of money. I was told there are no other payment options and that if I don't pay it all off soon they will just write it off. If they write it off my credit will be destroyed. All the hard work I've put into paying off debts and building my credit will be for nothing because a write-off of bad debt will lower the score for a long time. How the hell does VCCU expect people to do this? I've made payment plans with collections companies that were more caring and understanding and had more payment plan options than VCCU. I'm honestly considering leaving the credit union whether or not I can by some miracle make a payment this big. The debt was mine, yes, but the lack of care or willingness to really work with customers and help them in a fair way just really didn't sit right especially after being with them all these years. I wanted to pay down this line of credit and I was doing it, but it just wasn't fast enough for VCCU. They would rather ruin your credit even though you're making payments than actually help you and that's just not okay.

The credit union keeps asking for insurance proof all the time and then charges for their insurance from another company. I got one notice to update my insurance, did it quickly, and talked to a person who said it was taken care of. More than a month later, I got a notice saying they bought insurance and I had to pay for it along with my loan. I tried to complain to the bank because they've done this to me a few times, but they said there's no way to complain, didn't give me any papers, and wouldn't let me talk to a boss or tell me how to reach them.

Ventura County Credit Union in Ventura has charged off the remaining balance for my repossessed car. The balance was then sold to Fidelity Creditor SCV in May . Both companies report the amount owed to Experian and TransUnion on a monthly basis. Surprisingly, the balance keeps increasing on both accounts every month. I have submitted disputes and validation requests to both companies as well as Experian and TransUnion. However, they all confirm that the information is accurate. It's perplexing how I can owe two companies for one bill, and they are legally allowed to report this to the credit bureaus. The balance on this account has now increased to $7700, several hundred more than the original charge off. I have no idea who to pay since both companies claim I owe them based on my credit report. Moreover, both companies refuse to comply with the validation process. Interestingly, one of these accounts shows a balance of zero. If Ventura is collecting the debt through the collection agency, they should not be reporting it as a collection account. It needs to be deleted, and the inquiry should be removed.

I'm new to this bank and they want me to pay around 300 dollars because apparently my account was in the negative. However, the mobile app never indicated that I was in the negative, it just showed my balance in parentheses. I called the bank and they explained that parentheses mean it's negative. No one informed me about this when I joined the bank, so I thought those 300 dollars were mine to use. But when I tried to use them, I ended up in the negative and now they want me to pay it back, even though I don't have the money. They provided misleading information on the app and it feels like they're trying to scam me. I want to close my account and not repay the money they're asking for, which I never had in the first place. It was their mistake that made me think I had the money. Please help me out. I tried calling them to resolve this issue, but they were not helpful at all. Thank you.

In around April , I had a problem with a credit card payment being late, and it got reported to the collection agencies. This continued until September when they said they received a full payment (which is not true) and it made the situation worse (they made it seem like it happened recently). On January 31, I disputed this with Ventura County Credit Union (VCCU) and the collection agency they assigned to it (I don't even know if the collection agency owns the debt or if they're just collecting payment). Financial Recovery Services said I owed them over $15,000 for the same debt that VCCU was saying was $8,500. I haven't received any statements from VCCU since around 2016, even though I didn't say I didn't want paper statements. VCCU changed my credit report to say I owe over $15,000, which was a sudden increase from the $8,593 that VCCU claimed. This amount also didn't match what Financial Recovery claimed. I went online and found statements that said I owe $8,593 but have a past due balance of over $14,000 (which was also not the same as what the credit bureaus were told). Throughout 2020, I wasn't charged any finance charges or late fees, but my balance kept growing each month without any explanation. I think this was sneaky because it took away my right to dispute a finance charge, and it's against my credit rights to report this delinquent balance to the credit agencies without even telling me about it. Also, the Statute of Limitations ended around April , but my balance keeps increasing every month on both the statements from VCCU and the updates from Financial Recovery Services. Why am I getting charged extra fees for a debt that is no longer legally enforceable? I called to resolve this and was told a week ago that I would get a callback on the same day, but nobody has responded.