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Consumer Credit Union Auto Loans Review

Reviews 9
Consumers Credit Union
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Consumers Credit Union
Consumers Credit Union
Average
Reviews 9
Sean Lapointe
Nov. 07, 2023
2 min read
LaPointe
Consumers Credit Union Summary
Consumers Credit Union (CCU) provides loans for purchasing new and used cars and for refinancing existing loans. It also offers a car-buying service in partnership with TrueCar, making it a one-stop solution for both vehicle shopping and financing. CCU offers repayment terms of up to 84 months. Customer support is available on the phone 24/7 and via live chat during regular business hours on weekdays.

Pros

  • Can be used for both new and used cars
  • Provides 24/7 customer service on the phone
  • Offers a car-buying service with special member pricing
  • Available nationwide

Cons

  • Credit union membership required to receive a loan offer
  • Higher rates for older cars

Consumers Credit Union at a glance

8.8
Editorial score

Online experience

Limited learning resources, access to rates, mobile app
8.0

Customer services and support

Award winning
10.0

Loan Types

Offers most loan types
8.0

Repayment Flexibility

Offers flexible repayment plans & the option for special repayment programs
10.0

Eligibility (credit score)

Doesn't cover bad credit
8.0

Consumers Credit Union Consumers Credit Union Visite Site

Suitable For?

Consumer Credit Union is suitable for people who want to get pre-approved before they shop for a car. Pre-approval lets you know the rate you can get, monthly payment estimates, and your maximum loan amount ahead of time. This enables you to set a budget and focus on searching for cars within your price range.

CCU can also be a great option for people who want to shop for a car and secure financing all in one place. The credit union offers an online car-buying service—for both new and used cars—powered by TrueCar. You can use the service to search for your ideal vehicle by zip code and enjoy special member pricing.

Features

Consumer Credit Union offers loans for new and used car purchases as well as refinance loans. There are no mileage or vehicle age restrictions, but older cars come with higher rates.

Although all of CCU’s physical branches are in Illinois, its loans are available nationwide. 

Application Process

Joining Consumer Credit Union

You don’t have to be a member of the credit union to apply for a loan. However, to receive an official offer, you’ll have to join first. The latter is easy to do online via the Consumer Credit Union website and costs only $5.

To apply for a loan or become a CCU member, you must:

  • Be 18 years and above
  • Have a valid government ID
  • Have a valid Social Security Number

Applying for a loan

Applying for a loan at Consumer Credit Union is seamless, thanks to a well-defined six-step process. 

  1. Check your rate by completing a brief application online or over the phone. This includes providing personal information (such as your name, Social Security Number, phone number, and birthdate) and vehicle specifics like type and model year. During this step, the company will conduct a soft credit check, which won’t affect your credit score.
  2. Provide more information, like proof of identity and income, to get a formal loan offer. This time, CCU will carry a hard credit check, which can impact your credit score.
  3. Wait for a CCU representative to get in touch to discuss your loan terms and options.
  4. Now that you have specifics about the loan amount, rate, and expected monthly payments, you can start shopping for a car. Do this either on your own or through CCU’s TrueCar service.
  5. After choosing your vehicle, forward your purchase agreement to CCU via fax or email. Then, sign the official loan documents. You can do this electronically or in person at a local CCU branch.
  6. Pick up the loan check at the branch or instruct CCU to send it directly to the seller or dealership.

Loan Types and Terms

CCU doesn’t reveal its maximum and minimum amounts for purchase or refinancing loans. CCU rates include a 0.25% discount when you set up automatic payments.

Repayment Terms

CCU offers repayment terms of up to 84 months. This is in line with what many other top loan lenders currently offer. 

The company provides a cushion if you experience financial hardship by allowing you to skip loan payments twice a year. Confirm you qualify for this feature by logging in to your online banking account. 

CCU also extends a 10-day grace period before it charges you any late fees.

How Safe Is It?

Consumer Credit Union uses AES 256-bit encryption and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology to secure online interactions between you and the company. Together, these effectively scramble any information you send to CCU, preventing hackers and third parties from accessing and reading it.

The company also employs Enhanced Authentication, a feature that recognizes your device and usage patterns and uses that information to deter suspicious activity. For example, if there’s a questionable login attempt from an unrecognized device, the system will trigger additional identity verifications before allowing access.

A transparent privacy policy is available on CCU’s website. It provides extensive details about the information the company collects from you, plus how it shares and protects it from misuse.

Help and Support

CCU offers 24/7 phone support at 877-275-2228. The company doesn’t guarantee a response time, however. 

Credit union members can also access customer service through live chat within their online banking account from Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm CT.

In addition, residents of Illinois can receive face-to-face assistance at local CCU branches. Those outside the state can visit a Co-op shared branch location. Visit the locations & hours page of CCU’s website to check each branch’s working hours or schedule an in-person support appointment.

Elsewhere on the company’s website is a helpful FAQ section that offers quick answers to common inquiries about CCU’s auto loans.

How Consumer Credit Union Compares

 

Consumer Credit Union
Lending Tree 
Car Gurus
APR5.94% -9.19%Minimum 1.01%; maximum variesVaries
Minimum credit score
Not specifiedNoneNone
Loan amounts
Not specified$5,000-$300,000Varies
Loan term
Up to 84 months12-84 months36-72 months
Best for
Getting pre-approved before car shopping, shopping for cars, and securing vehicle financing in one placeComparing car loan options from different lendersGetting  pre-prequalified before car shopping

Summary

Consumer Credit Union is a solid option for people looking to purchase or refinance a car. Its rates and terms compete favorably with those of other top lenders in the market, and support is available 24/7 via phone.

The lender’s pre-approval process lets you know the amount you can afford to buy ahead of time so you can budget appropriately. Additionally, CCU’s integration with the car-buying service TrueCar means you can shop for a car and secure financing in a single place.

Physical Address

Consumers Credit Union

1075 Tri-State Parkway, #850

Gurnee, IL 60031

Consumers Credit Union Consumers Credit Union Visit Site

Methodology

The information used to create this review was gathered from the company’s website. 

LaPointe
Written by
Sean Lapointe
Sean LaPointe is a freelance personal finance writer with a passion for helping readers make informed financial decisions. With over 8 years of personal finance writing experience, Sean has written for a wide variety of top publications, including The Motley Fool, Angi, Top10.com, and BestMoney. Sean’s commitment to providing readers with the most up-to-date information means he’s always researching the latest financial products.
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Trustpilot reviews
See what some customers are saying about Consumers Credit Union
Consumers Credit Union
Average
Reviews 9
on
Bad
100%
consumer-image
eric
16 days ago
another bank ripoff
My fault for being poor I guess, but they charged me $30 for going over my balance by $1.50 . It says right there ' free checking" but it's a lie, it's not free. Deceptive and blatantly false advertising. So they are lairs. Why would you trust liars with your money?
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john phillips
8 months ago
Terrible customer service
They have attractive rates but you pay for it with their poor customer service and terrible app. I closed my account and they hit my credit report so now I can't open other lines of credit or investment accounts. I can't even open a CD because they put a negative report on the "ChexSystems" reporting system that I had no idea about and they refuse to remove it. Horrible. Avoid.
M
marcus
10 months ago
Company is too big for quality customer service.
Company takes out automatic payment after I already made a payment. That’s stupid! I requested a refund of the extra payment on 1/17/23 and the rep said it would take 1 day. It’s now 1/22/23 and still no refund. I was told on 1/20/23 that I would get refund that day, still no refund. At this point I’m tired of contacting them. I believe the Company is too big for quality customer service. I wish someone would have personally made sure I got my refund especially after multiple phone calls and chats.
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eric
9 months ago
Non-existant customer service
Want a bank far away with little to no contact or customer service? Then this bank is right up your alley :) Each time I try to contact someone about anything you have to go through the front line of tier one chat support and they are of little to no help 80% of the time so far. They could not even give me an email of ANYONE at the bank to find a human to talk to that knows something. I asked about a setting on the site a few weeks ago and the response from chat was " I don't know ". About a simple setting on the site, not rocket science. Terrible customer service.Edit: Again now in march, customer service did not even know what was on their own site . ridiculous. DO NOT TRUST.
D
daniel benson
a year ago
Don’t switch to this credit union!
I just switched to this credit union 8 days ago and have regretted it since. Horrible customer service and a very negative experience. I’m switching back to my old bank. Don’t put yourself through the hassle I did. There are plenty of banks and credit unions out there offering competitive rates.
K
kh
a year ago
CCU has been a nightmare
CCU has been a nightmare. They have blocked my checking account and debit card for no reason whatsoever SEVERAL times, leaving me unable to access my own money. I waited for 3 hours (three hours!!!!) at a Co-Op branch to withdraw my own money because they had an "error" in the system and the branch would not allow me to make the withdrawal. Customer service is terrible, they will lie to you to get you off the phone. When I tried the chat option in the app, the representative told me he couldn't login to his own system and told me to wait for a phone call. 0/10 on all fronts. There are better banks out there that actually know what they're doing, and CCU is NOT it.
M
mhowe
2 years ago
I have to give one star to review (but…
I have to give one star to review (but wouldn't). I obtained 2 loans via CCU. One for a boat and trailer (a fairly expensive venture) and the other for a Chrysler Pacifica after a lease buyout. I have had nothing but issues, multiple calls over the last 2 years for a variety of issues. I sold the boat/trailer earlier this year and with pay-off they could not produce the titles for the new owner's bank. We spent months trying to resolve it with his bank finally sorting it out and re-ordering the titles (his bank was the one whom ended up assisting-NOT CCU). After selling the boat we moved to ND and registered our Pacifica but could not receive plates as CCU would not respond to the ND DOT verification. We waited and waited and nothing, had to get a second temporary plate and I called CCU a few times to ask for their assistance. Finally, I decided to just pay the vehicle off and stop doing any banking with CCU. It has been 4 weeks since pay off and I receive a letter that they do not have the title in their possession (although they clearly put themselves as lien holders on it previously). The letter removed their claim to the vehicle. ND DOT does not consider this as the correct form for registration and will only accept a physical title. I am now without a vehicle in 1 week because CCU has lost another title (3 now in total). I call in and ask for help and they say they will call me back but never do. I have no idea how to replace this title they have lost and it should be their responsibility as lien holders. I moved all of the funds from my accounts there today and will be closing them all once the transfer is complete. The call line just fills you full of fluff and promises someone will call you back in 24-48 but that never occurs (so don't fall for it). I am finally just completely frustrated and want to warn others. DO NOT USE THEM! BEWARE!I
K
ken
2 years ago
STAY AWAY if you like access to your accounts and customer service.
This USED to be an awesome credit union but the last 10 years or so it has devolved into a nightmare. I have wasted hours and days trying to get an issue with my account resolved. Three times I have been told someone would return my call by the end of business never received a call. That is after waiting on hold for hours. They closed the lobby of the branch near me because they can't get employees to work. Rather opening say 1 day a week there and closing another branch for that day. The lines for the drive through take a minimum of 45 min.
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frank powell
4 years ago
NO STARS this is a scam offered by…
NO STARS this is a scam offered by nerdwallet.com they are all in this together please avoid because you will be broke and you won't get your money back. The first sign of trouble is that it takes over two weeks for the account to be accepted.