Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Garden Savings Federal Credit Union's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Garden Savings Federal Credit Union

  129 Littleton Rd Parsippany, NJ 07054-1869

• 

  Garden Savings Federal Credit Union

  23 Prospect St Dover, NJ 07801-4514

• 

  Garden Savings Federal Credit Union

  120 Ferry St. Newark, NJ 07105

• 

  Garden Savings Federal Credit Union

  15 Scotland Rd South Orange, NJ 07079-2016

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/06/2025

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  As of Monday 5/5/25 Pinnacle Federal Credit Union merged their systems with Garden Savings Federal Credit Union. Since this merger they have locked out all of our ATM cards, we have no access to the money in the account, cannot put gas in the car, buy groceries, etc. When we use the cards all transactions are declined. They issued one new card from the new credit union and every time we try to activate it we can't. No matter how many phone calls or emails that are sent, they hide behind an automated telephone system and return no calls or answer no emails. They are basically holding our account hostage and refuse to rectify the errors. This is a major problem, it appears they had no ****** for this merger and I'm sure I'm not the only one in this position. This is a major issue for me as I am retired an need access to my money. In addition, one of my retirement checks was supposed to be posted to the account and since no transactions are listed online I have no idea where the check is and if/when it will be posted. My SS will come in on the 14th and I am afraid this money may end up missing as well. Isn't a situation like this criminal?

  Business Response

  Date: 05/07/2025

  As Ms.********* ******* noted, this system conversion of ***************** into Garden Savings systems has not been without its challenges.  Noted are a few points with my comments next to them:
  
  Members did not receive new debit cards until 5/4.  This was communicated to the Pinnacle members through a large mailing that was sent to members in an oversized booklet detailing all aspects of the merger and through several emails.  Because we were aware the cards would not be arriving until the 4th, all Pinnacle debit cards remained activated until the close of business on the 5th.  Members did in fact have access to their funds and this was communicated clearly.
  The online banking system was not available on 5/1.  On this matter, Ms. ******* has our apologies.  Despite months of planning and extensive testing that showed everything was working fine, our core system provider, ******, missed something in testing that caused any members that have Certificates or previously had Certificates to be locked out of online banking.  This was indeed a troublesome part of the conversion.  We have been working non-stop with Fiserv since this became apparent on the morning of 5/2.  We found the issue and have since remedied it, although it admittedly took longer than we hoped.  The good news is that all system balances came over and balanced to the ***** from day-one and so there were never any issues with the funds, just the ability to view them through online banking. 
  Member queue at over 100 members in queue.  This is also true.  Because of the issues we were experiencing, the calls backed up. We had every single employee with member access here working in the queue and we simply ran out of bodies because it took on average 5-8 minutes per call to clear up these issues.  We authorized overtime on the weekend and had people working through the queue and the emails all weekend long.  The queue is far lighter the past two days after our fixes came into play, although some manual intervention is still required for those that tried to access online banking too many times and got locked out.  I will forward this email to our AVP of Communications, ****** ****** ************************************************************** and ****** ********, AVP of Branch Operations *************************************************************** to assist Ms. ******* with any remaining issues directly.
  
  Our apologies again for these access issues but remain confident we have worked extremely hard to rectify them and unfortunately, when you are at the mercy of certain third-party vendors, certain things just take a little bit to fix, but they are getting fixed.  This issue did not affect all ******** members but unfortunately it did affect them more than we hoped.  We will work to regain the confidence of the affected Pinnacle members.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/22/2025

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On February 18 2025, I started an charge back of $230 that I paid for work to be done on my BMX X5.. On 1/31/2025..I paid for the $230 car repair bill from an mobility repairs service provider from off of ******** ***********, the individual merchant quotes one price, before the work was preformed upon him taking the $230 payments on Jan 31, two weeks passed my truck, isn't fixed still.. I'm calling and calling getting the voicemail and run around after not being able too receive the $230 that I've already paid.. Left without any action or whatever I called the charge back, department of Garden Savings Federal Credit Union and the charges against the merchant was started by the proper department on February 18 2025.I was told that I'm going to receive an provisional credit of the $230 in 10th business days. No problem, after I received a letter from the corporate offices saying that Garden Savings Federal Credit Union has received all of the necessary paperwork from myself that I'm going to receive the provision credit in the 10 business days. After 14 business days I go to the local branch and asked about the provision credit ..the branch teller got very smart and unprofessional by responding I don't see any action or credit ..it's probably because you need to send over paperwork, I explained I've done that already plus have a recorded voicemail message from the charge back department and the individual letter from the corporate offices saying everything asked of myself has been verified already and the credit should have been in my account already, this goes back and forth between different departments for over a month and half, when I called the local branch again, one of the tellers take it upon himself to "hot ticket" my debit card on his own now my card is cancelled for no fault of my own, after almost 2 months of myself calling and emails on April 4th.. I received an letter from Garden Savings Federal Credit ?? Union saying that they made aj error here da $$

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/20/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On 9/20/2024 I went to break at work and learned my car was repossessed, I do understand I was late on the payment and rushed to the bank to pay the balance of *******. After paying the balance I explained that my wallet with my cards and Id was in the car and I would like to get the vehicle asap, I was told that the repo man would call me, this was at 3pm i asked was there a location I could go to or contact to call the repo guy for meet up, I was told that was against policy and that they emailed him twice to release the car, I sat outside for an hour I called the parsippany branch back and was sent to voicemail because it was 10 minutes to closing. Its 10pm and I have yet to hear anything I would appreciate a call or follow up as I did pay the balance and still unable to retrieve my vehicle. I apologize for the late payment and it will not happen again and understand this is my fault but I would like clarification on when the vehicle will be released since payment was made.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/23/2024

  Good Morning,

  ******* ******* payment was made at 3:40pm on Friday, September 20th.  Unfortunately, the repo yard had already closed for the day.He was advised by the ********************* that he would get a call back Monday morning.  The repossession company did call him around 9:00 am today and made an appointment at noon for him to retrieve his car.

  **** *****, AVP Compliance, Garden Savings Federal Credit Union

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/21/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On Tuesday August ******* at approximately 1300 hours, I, ************************* contacted FCU to pay the balance of my car note. I was transferred to the collection department and spoke to a male employee in that department ( I later found out there are only two employees in that department) and told him that due to the nature of my job I was pressed for time and wanted to pay forthwith. I was greeted with great hostility and unprofessionalism and was denied the opportunity to pay my car note. I made several follow up calls and was never connected. This morning at approximately 0702 my car was repossessed and I was able to go to the bank and make a 368 dollar payment which is all I owed to try and find my car. I believe that the employee abused his power based on our verbal exchange and had the car taken. I followed up with several phone calls this morning after my debt was paid and was hung up on twice. I had to have my wife call in order to get service and was still not told where to go to retrieve my vehicle. I have reason to believe that a personal vendetta was taken against me and I would like this matter investigated thoroughly. I will seek legal representation against the employee if necessary and am ready to commit to whatever I need to in order to attain reimbursement for towing and storage fees.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/28/2024

  On August 20, 2024, Mr. ************************* called Garden Savings FCU attempting to make one payment over the phone.  The loan payment was already 47 days past due.  Our Collector was trying to explain to ******************** that he was two months past due and we would be taking action against the vehicle if both payments were not made.  Unfortunately, our Collector was interrupted by ******************** who was attempting to intimidate him by falsely claiming he was a Federal ********.  ******************** asked the Collector for his name and location because he was wanted to see him immediately.  Our Collector terminated the call, being made to feel threatened, and payment was not made at that time.  Payment, however, of $772.54 was subsequently processed at the Dover Branch of Garden Savings FCU on August 21, 2024.  The vehicle was then released.  There has been no further communication between Garden Savings FCU and ********************.  Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance.

  ************ Short,

  Compliance Officer

  AVP-- Compliance

  Garden Savings Federal Credit Union

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/01/2023

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  ***** repossessed my car after being 45 days late on a car payment. I had spoken on a Wednesday to explain my situation. Explained I was awaiting a check to clear(Friday). They said no problem and repossess the car on Friday morning. I called them to see why they did that and claimed I was high risk. My check cleared Friday, but the bank requested $3000 to get the car back. Along with $1500 I had to pay to the repossession guys. I called the bank in **********, spoke with the branch manager. He said he would call me right back, and left for the day! I called the branch In ******, the branch manager said she believes the other MG was very busy so we had to leave early. They did not work with me when I had a financial issue and communicated to them. They cause more harm than good. The ********** lending department lacks communication skills. They claim to put what you say in the notes and dont.

  Business Response

  Date: 04/03/2023

  We have reviewed the complaint.  The below is an actual history of what transpired from our AVP of Collections, ********************************  If there are further conversations to be had, please contact ******************** at *************************************************************.

   

  This vehicle was assigned out on 12/07/22(47 days past due) for repossession and repossessed on 12/09/2022.  After we assigned the account out we made contact with ***************** He advised he might be able to make payments in 2 weeks but would not commit to a date.  He was advised that we needed 1 payment immediately to stop further action.  This was his THIRD repossession since 02/25/2021.
  
  His account is consistently ***** days past due and there have been lapses of insurance in the past.   I did speak with him after the vehicle was repossessed.  He made the same claims to me that he made an arrangement to pay on 12/09/2022 but admitted to me that was not communicated to Collections department.  We stand by this repossession as the appropriate measure based on the history of this account.  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/05/2022

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I have called Garden Savings to satisfy my credit card bill since July. Nobody ever answers their phone. When I do get through to the only valued employee there and she transfers me, they see that the call is coming from that employee so they do pick up the phone. I tried for 2 months to resolve these credit cards directly with Mastercard and through where I got the card from Garden Savings. I spoke with ***** and Desire, who never assisted in this matter. Just last week, ***** called me telling me my credit card is past due. I told him how I've been calling him since July to fully pay off my credit card and my husbands. I told him once the late fees are removed I will be able to make a direct payment. Another employee called me last week and I have yet to hear back from them in regards to this matter. They were supposed to call me the next business day at 4. I don't see why there is such a complication when I called in July to fully pay off the credit card and I have not been given any kind of assistance. Take off the late fees and I'll give my routing and banking information. Or a secondary option give me the information from the card, which I never received since they switched from **** to mastercard so that I can send a check from my bank. This is absolutely bad business practice as my hands are tied as a consumer and meanwhile my credit score is affected by this matter. I also want that adjusted as well.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/06/2022

  We apologize for the frustration with our phone system.  We are exploring several ways to enhance that in the future as staffing is somewhat problematic right now and we have admittedly suffered some service issues in terms of answering calls.  We have confirmed that the late fees have in fact already been reversed. The employee you spoke to informed us that you wanted to pay these cards over the phone and we simply do not have that capability here as this is an outsourced function at the credit union.  The *** of that area then attempted to reach out to you but the phone number that was provided was not in service; an email was then sent to you to let you know that we were unable to reach you but we still have not heard back. A payment is in fact due but we will waive further late fees upon receipt of it.   You can make a payment online by using the link on our home page, www.gardensavingsfcu.org, clicking ONLINE SERVICES, and selecting MAKE A LOAN PAYMENT.  When you register for this service, there are no fees charged so be sure to choose that option as opposed to "PAY AS A GUEST" which does incur a fee.  If you would prefer to contact us directly, please reach out to the *** of that area, ****************** at her direct number ************.  The other way to make a payment if you are intent on paying from a bank account from another institution, is to set up as a bill pay "Payee" from that institution and send your payment to us via that method.  Thank you for your inquiry and we hope to resolve this matter with you as soon as possible.
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/06/2022

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is not satisfactory to me. I have had the same phone number since **** so I am unsure how you were not able to reach me.  Maybe someone needs to pick up the phone and dial the number it is an efficient way to make a phone call. I will try the process described in your message its unfortunate that the last person I spoke to did not give me any of this information.  Your phone system hasnt worked for years.  Banking at Morristown federal credit union was a pleasure and an honor the switch to garden saving has been nothing short of atrocious. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *****************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/16/2022

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I AM NOT LIABLE FOR THIS DEBT AND DO NOT HAVE A CONTRACT WITH THIS CREDITOR THEY ALSO NEED TO PROVIDE AN ORIGINAL APPLICATION TO VALIDATE THIS DEBT

  Business Response

  Date: 08/22/2022

  Good morning and thank you for your comment.  We have a signed loan document in which you were the cosigner of a loan from another individual for a vehicle purchased at *************** Used Cars in *********, **.  We have all necessary documentation and are happy to provide this to you.  We recommend you contact the dealership itself first if you feel as though you may have been a victim of fraud.  You may contact us to receive copies of the documents at any time at ************ to speak to our Collections Manager, ********************, directly and to obtain the documents you may need.  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/22/2022

  
  Complaint: 17726101
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  I did not co sign anyone or assume this debt and do not want GARDEN SAVINGS FCU to hold me liable to this debt they can provide a copy of the signed loan document to my given email *********************** if possible for further review. Under Federal regulations all information reported to all credit bureaus must be 100% accurate this debt is reported on my credit report & hindering my circumstances with false information & HAS no validation of an ORIGINAL  application with my signature therefore it shall be removed from the the reporting agencies. & Even if this account was to be validated it is also in violation of ( 15 u.s code 1681a(2)(A)(i) as well. This Business is conducting poor consumer relations and is in many violations and should be held accountable !!! 
  
  Regards,
  
  ********************

  Business Response

  Date: 08/23/2022

  In regards to ******************** complaint and rejection of our reply, we do indeed have all necessary paperwork and his driver's license as well.  However, we cannot just send along the copies of these documents to his email without confirming his identity.  You will need to contact ******************** as I noted at ************ to verify identity and begin the process if you believe you have been a victim of fraud.  We cannot send out documents to an email address without verifying your identity.  Again, the auto dealership is ******************** of *********, ** if you would like to discuss it further with them also.  If you are a victim of fraud, we are here to help and will work to correct your credit report as quickly as possible.  However I am sure you understand that we cannot just forgive a debt based upon a letter to the Better Business Bureau.  There is a proper process that must be followed.  Please contact ******************** at your earliest convenience.   If you prefer to do so my email, you can reach him at ************************************************************* but you will still need to confirm your identity.  Thank you and have a nice day.