RALEIGH, N.C.— There has been a spike in member complaints filed on the website of the Better Business Bureau over the last month following the merger between Local Government FCU and Civic Credit Union, according to a new report.

The credit union, however, said that most member accounts are just fine following the transition, with the CEO sharing a phone number unhappy members can use to call him directly.

Both credit unions have a unique operating history and had been operating under the umbrella of the nation’s second-largest credit union, State Employees CU, before merging and stepping out on their own under the Civic CU name. At the time of the merger, which became official in early June, Civic Federal Credit Union had $119.3 million in assets, while Local Government FCU had $4 billion in assets. The merger involved more than 400,000 members. 

‘My Car Payment is Gone’

“My car payment is gone, my rent is gone, there’s a whole bunch of charges that I don’t know who did it,” member with LGFCU Kathy Tyler told WNCT. 

According to the report, Tyler received notices in the mail from Civic about the transition for months, but she wouldn’t open them because she said she didn’t have an account with Civic FCU and thought it was spam. Then one day she said saw a card in one of the envelopes, WNCT reported. 

“It was like welcoming me to my new bank, then next thing you know, I’m contacting the bank because my card didn’t want to act right,” Tyler told the news outlet. “Come to find out, charges were being taken out of my account that I didn’t authorize.”

Complaints on BBB Site

According to WNCT, similar complaints to Tyler’s began popping up frequently on the Better Business Bureau’s website. 

“Since more than 400,000 accounts were transitioned to Civic, hundreds of people have been calling to find answers, making it difficult to have a quick response time to every member,” WNCT reported. “After more than 30 complaints and a long wait time on the BBB website, the business rating has dropped to a D-.”

Civic FCU CEO Dwayne Naylor told WNCT that even though the majority of members are doing well with the transition, it is crucial to have the communication channels open to help these members figure out solutions to these issues.

‘Vast Majority are Flourishing’

“The vast majority of our members are flourishing, and they are having a good experience but every single member matters, and the members that have had the complaints and the frustrations and the things like that are critically important,” Naylor told WNCT. “That’s all we are thinking about, I have a team dedicated to making sure that we are solving all those problems.” 

Naylor also emphasized to WNCT the security and the importance of communication between his staff and members. 

‘Breaks Our Heart’

“We have one of the best technology systems and we also have one of the best cybersecurity teams in the industry,” Naylor told the news outlet. “Not only is the money safe but every financial institution has cyber insurance and things like that, so the dollar amount is not the issue, the issue is us connecting with our members. This is all about member service and this transformation is so big that it breaks our heart that some of our members (have not had their calls answered) but that is very temporary.” 

CEO Shares Phone Number

In the report, Naylor shared a phone number at which he said unhappy members could call him directly.