Open Letter to Prospera Credit Union
Dear Prospera (formerly known as Fraser Valley Credit Union),
I hate you.
At 5 years old, my parents took my brother, sister and I into your little credit union and opened an account for each of us. Throughout the years you gave me my first ATM card and I’ve piled savings and pay cheques into your vaults.
When I was 19, you gave me the run around for a couple weeks, treating me like a stranger when I asked for a loan to buy my first car. You made me get a co-signer and locked in their assets. When I was in my early 20s I paid off the entire $21,000 and you treated me like a stranger yet again. When I was 24 I wanted to get a new car, and you were no help.
Your telephone help desk operators were always rude, you made me jump through 20 hoops just to prove myself worthy of your business, and you continue to surcharge me $5.95/month on an account I haven’t used since 2004. Better yet, you will not “allow” me to close said account. I especially like how you used to hold every one of my ATM transactions/deposits and put 10 day holds on all my cheques. That was always really helpful.
For an institution that I have dealt with for over 20 years, you sure have a funny way of showing any kind of appreciation or at least giving me the common courtesy of pleasant and helpful customer service.
I opened an account with another institution (a different credit union) in 2005 and I rarely look back. Well, except on days like today when I notice you haven’t made certain payments for me (that were setup years ago) and you continue to process fees for non-active accounts (you know, the ones you won’t let me close). You sure do know how to make me feel special, you’re always thinking of me, and my money.
This weekend I’m traveling back to my home branch to finally close that account you won’t let me close. I wish to never EVER deal with your institution ever again. I hear horror stories about Royal Bank and BMO but man, I have everyone beat with the stories I could tell about your “friendly” and “local” credit union.
I’d like to close by reiterating something that just sums this up so nicely, I hate you.
Sincerely,
Rebecca
Entries on this website use the 
I agree whole heartedly. After being a customer of theirs since the age of 7 (same time you signed up). Have always been treated as just ‘another number’ . Any so-called big bank I may have had minor issues with, nothing compares to Prospera.
For example, after being a member for nearly 20 years and wanting to get a mortgage, they offer us an excessively high interest rate and very little money. We went elsewhere and easily found better service.
They went ahead and closed my account after over 20 years because I was overdrawn by 57$. I’m sorry , but $57 ??They couldn’t at least call me before sending me a rude letter advising me that they had done this. Especially since my pay cheques had been automatically deposited into that account for years, it was not like in the next week the friggin $57 wasn’t going to be there.
I’m glad they closed my account for me. Saved me from ever having to deal with their ‘service’ again.
I went through the same mortgage thing two weeks ago with the bank I’d been using for 24 years, Jenny. But Prospera sounds a thousand times worse!
Ive been a prospera member since 1990. Ive never had an issue with them and my mortage is handled by them as well. Strange.
They do treat my Grandma like gold, maybe they just hate Jen and me for some reason. Jerks.
That’s because she has a lot more money then us. If you have your mortgage with them I garauntee you could have a lower rate.
looks like jenny has been hitting the bottle. check out that spelling!
Mort-Y, its a joke. I dont mean it!
Bradley: I appreciate a good sense of humour. I actually cracked a smile. (but only momentarily)
Update: They charged me another $5.95 to CLOSE my checking account. They wanted to know information they *should* have but since the branch recently moved into a new building they “couldn’t find the paperwork, it’s all still in boxes,” of COURSE it is! I expected no less from the branch.
My wife dealt there when we met, as that is where her father dealt. She quickly learned to prefer my credit union, and so we closed her account and made mine joint.
Now that her father can no longer mange the affairs, her mother has taken over. Since she was new to such things, she brought home a fee brochure and asked me if things seemed right. I advised her to shut down their accounts there, as this was the credit union I knew of that had higher fees on a senior account than I pay for my regular account elsewhere (and in fact, doesn’t every other institution have no fee seniors’ accounts?)
I’d have to agree on the crappy Prospera Service. I was with them for about 26 years, never carried a debt, always had savings and term deposits with them. When it was time to buy a house and put 25% down, Prospera gave me the worst rate on the market and wouldn’t budge, even though I told them I was unhappy and would close all my accounts with them.
I did, Coast Capital is much better. Better rates, better service, and more friendly.
I am sorry to say that I used to be in banking. As banks grew larger and larger in the 90′s, the drive to be competitive with superior customer service went away. Banks earn money through fees and interest…they don’t care if you don’t want to pay those fees…they will get them. It’s awful. I left banking in 1995 and never looked back.
That said, I use a very forward thinking credit union, which does most of their business online. But, if you need to talk with someone, you can always get someone on the horn and they are more than happy to help. But…alas…its in the USA, so no help to you right now.
I hope you gave them the URL for this posting when you closed your account. Bank people will never find this without it being stuck right under their noses. They need to hear it…and they need to see the comments.
[...] I must admit though, I’m not completely transparent on my blog, I don’t go into details if I’ve had a bad day (except maybe when it has to do with a certain Credit Union) but that’s just me. That could say something about me, I could read into it, but… meh, I don’t really want to. Keren praises the Internet as a great place for self-expression, but he also suggests that blogs often have the opposite effect by creating feelings of loneliness for those who aren’t lucky enough to reach “celebrity” status. [...]
I have dealt with Edelweiss from 1970, later to become Prospera. It was the first to give me a loan as a single parent and I can not give them enough cudos. They were there to watch my child grow up, marry and have their own family. Thanks to those who had faith in me to help and trust me and I am still with them.
Banking by internet is often a problem,seems their computers are down half the time..Very annoying.Another credit union I use does not have the same problems.
As a former employee of Prospera (as of Monday, actually) I am not at all surprised to see the comments here. I found it to be extremely poor service to put holds on accounts that had been open for years, with no problems. Very 1980. My husband and I have dealt with many banks and credit unions over the years, only staying with the ones who either don’t hold, or will removed holds after a few months of established, good activity.
There seems to be a culture of paranoia at Prospera … assuming everyone is going to bounce cheques and run. There always will be the ones who do that, typically well under 1%, but to lump everyone into that category is closed-minded.
They are desperate for members, to the point of threatening new employees with no paycheque if they don’t open an account. It was written into my acceptance letter when I was offered the job. This soured me right out of the gate.
There are many Prospera customers who receive excellent service … the ones with money. The others are referred to as “bottom dwellers”. Those exact words were used by senior management in a staff meeting to address … wait for it … ‘good to great’ customer service.
They have many great people working for them, and for their sake, I hope Prospera figures it out sooner than later.
Good information. I was thinking of changing from a bank and credit union to another – possibly Prospera. After reading these comments I am no longer even considering them.
Looking at this Blog makes me laugh as a “Long time employee of the Credit Union†and current Employee of Prospera Credit Union I know first hand that information provided by a so called Ex- staff member is extremely incorrect. Staff members are not required to hold account at Prospera Credit Union, although it is encouraged. You have the choice to have your payroll direct deposited to a Prospera account or a Cheque will be issued to you. So to the Ex- Staff member you need to get your facts straight.
Credit Unions and Banks are Businesses, like all businesses they need to generate income to cover the cost of doing business. If this doesn’t make scenes to you, I would have to question your intelligence or lack there of.
I am proud to be a part of an organization the values its employees and the community it operates within and find this Blog to be very offensive. Before making a negative comment about a Solid community based business you should make sure your facts are correct and you explain why you were declined for a loan or were charged a Fee, because I am sure the answer is one that you would not want to make public.
The term “Slander†comes to mind when reviewing this blog… If you don’t know what that means you should look it up before you post such negative information.
Dear Credit Union Staff Member,
Since 2007 (when this was published) the tone and writing on my site has changed dramatically however I never have, and never will, revisit and edit old posts as they are what built my site into what it is today. The post was written from personal experiences and thus I was free to share my opinions at the time.
Thank you for your concern, and I can see you are a dedicated employee, however your comment just solidifies my intentions of never dealing with said Credit Union again in the future.