Sunstate Federal Credit Union in Gainesville, FL

I used to like Sunstate, but that was before I realized that a lot of their really nice services, such as mobile deposit and shared branch banking aren't available for business accounts. So if you are running a business and find yourself outside Alachua County for a week or so and need to make a deposit, you're SOL. To top it off, their online banking interface is borderline junk. Don't waste your time banking here. It might look good on the surface, but you'll be disappointed once the facade fades.

We temporarily moved to Gainesville from Tampa. My husband is project manager for a sub-contractor for a new hospital.We belong to a credit union in Tampa. His payroll check is direct deposit, but his monthly pre diem check isn't. We needed a place here to deposit it to our account in Tampa. Found online that Sunstate Federal C.U. is listed as being a C.U. in G'ville that is in the same network as ours. Called the 405 SE 2 Pl Gainesville location on 8/25/15 to make sure the info from the website was correct & asked how to deposit the check. A rep said my husband should bring the check & I.D. to a teller inside & deposit it. Sent a text to my husband to share with everyone getting per diem checks that Sunstate would deposit them. Checks came on 8/31/15 . Husband went to a teller at Sunstate that day. LIE NO. 1: Told by Sunstate on 8/25/15 that teller would deposit check. On 8/31/15, the teller told my husband that he'd have to deposit through the ATM because tellers don't do those deposits. Husband goes to ATM & starts to deposit the $2,800.00 check.The screen says the check has been scanned. The screen asks if he's sure he wants to deposit & he pushes yes. A paper came out saying the check had been denied & the machine tried to give him the check back, but it was stuck. Husband goes inside & tells what happened. LIE NO. 2: Teller told my husband that the woman who handles the ATM would get his check for him. ATM woman gets check & walks past my husband to go talk to someone in the back. ATM woman comes back & my husband immediately asks her for the check. LIE NO. 3: ATM woman says check HAD processed through the ATM even though my husband had the denial slip in his hand & the ATM had tried to give him the check back. LIE NO. 4: ATM woman says that we need to have our credit union contact them to say that they'll release the check. My husband asks how to proceed on this & is told HE must call our credit union while at Sunstate & give Sunstate permission to talk to a representative at our credit union to okay the release of the check! Both of us & our C.U. rep were shocked this was their policy because if someone is a con they could call any number & have someone act like they were the credit union! This is the 1st big clue that we're not dealing with intelligent, professional people at Sunstate. Went to Sunstate to meet my husband after lunch. We were approached my a woman named Heather Bennett. Bennett is the manager at the location. My husband gets our C.U. rep on the phone & gives permission to discuss the check with Bennett. LIE NO. 5: Bennett says Sunstate will fax a copy of the check to our C.U. & then our C.U. will okay the release of the check over the phone. She says it will take about an hour. Our C.U. rep calls my husband about an hour later to say that Bennett now says the reason the check didn't go through was that Sunstate's ATM doesn't take Mastercard. Our rep says that now Sunstate will overnight the signed $2800 check to our credit union in Tampa Bay & our rep will deposit it for us! UPS tries to deliver the check to our C.U. before the branch opens the next day. UPS leaves note saying they will try to re-deliver later in the day. By 4PM on 8/1/15 the check has not arrived at our C.U. & our rep says she will leave a message for someone to deposit the check if it comes after she leaves at 5PM. I'd had enough & called Bennett who didn't want to talk to me. It ended up a screaming match with Bennett placing all the blame on our credit union while she whined that it had cost her $60 to overnight the check! Sometime after 4PM a bill we pay automatically tried to go through and there weren't enough funds so our account was put on hold. I was on the phone with another of our C.U. reps discussing the fact that our account was on hold when the per diem check finally arrived at about 5:47 PM (13 minutes before our branch closed.) That rep immediately deposited the check and fixed the mess caused by Sunstate. They are liars & unprofessional. Will do everything I can to make sure people know about them.

Wasted my time. Offered me a credit card, 5 calls later come to an agreement on the credit limit and everything. Get a letter in the mail getting denied AFTER we had worked it all out for the second time!...

Poor customer service. No follow up.

I am writing a review because no on is ever motivated to write a review unless they have something negative to say. There is so many bad reviews, but I have had nothing but a good experience with them. Friends, and people I have met who have them, also have nothing but positive things to say about them. Just remember no one ever goes out of their way to post a review of their good experience, they are only motivated to review something when they have something bad to say, so in this instance I would take these reviews with a grain of salt.. You cannot please everyone, eventually someone will have something bad to say, and reading these reviews online, you are only getting a handful of one side of the experiences and not everyone's.. because I am certain there are more good experiences and happy customers than unhappy, with bad experiences! So far they are everything I would want, and would expect from a bank. They accepted me even though I do not have the best credit, but they are eager, and willing to help me work on that, and gave me multiple options to help me start repairing my credit almost immediately. Their nickel-back program is awesome, and all accounts automatically get $0.05 deposited every time you use your card and choose "credit" instead of debit. Since they are a credit union they get special discounts when you use credit, and they pass this along to you! I never have cash, and only use my card when I spend, so automatically choosing credit instead of debit, I have made a decent amount of money this way. I have made so much money back doing this, I am surprised they keep letting me do it! lol They credit you the $0.05 pretty much the same day, so you do not have to wait, and it really adds up! Their direct deposit is super quick, and deposits show up about 24 hours faster than everyone else, so you can expect to get your paycheck a day or two earlier than everyone else. The people who work in my branch are amazing and helpful, and I truly cannot think of one negative thing to say about my experience with SunState Federal Credit Union.. Thank you SunState, and thank you for taking the time to read my rant! lol