Citizens Equity First Credit Union TERESA AND LAVONNE--unethical, disparaging, hateful treatment of customers UNETHICAL BUSINESS PRACTICES--SCREAMING AT CREDIT UNION MEMBERS--FREEZING ACCOUNTS Peoria Illinois

I want everyone in the region to know about the unethical and despicable business practices that Citizens Equity First Credit Union engages in.  I want everyone to know that they make it a common practice to berate and belittle and scream at credit union members who are trying to resolve problems with their organization. I want everyone to realize that the commercials they run are a fraud and a joke—SAVERS HELPING BORROWERS AND BORROWERS HELPING SAVERS??  Not true.  Maybe they should let their CU members know that they are being investigated by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.  Maybe they should let them know that the Credit Union refused to engage in state mandated mediation with me, and instead is sending their lawyers after me and now the Attorney General is looking into their violations of Illinois foreclosure protocol. Or maybe they should tell you about Teresa, who is the most unprofessional person I have ever dealt with in my life.  This lady has screamed at me, frozen access to my accounts and has hung up on me.  this company is two faced, there is a public persona and then there is reality.  The reality is that I was the victim of identity theft, I hope no one ever has to go through this.  As a result multiple unauthorized charges were made out of my checking account.  My mortgage payment was made through automatic debit and unbeknownst to me the September payment bounced because of all of these charges.  A couple of weeks later I discovered what was going on and began trying to sort through the mess with the bank.  All of my money had been liquidated, and I did not have the money to make the October mortgage payment.  At that point I called in to CECU to explain what had happened and to try and make arrangements to resolve this by making a payment on November 4th.  Instead of expressing sympathy and working with me Teresa at CECU put a block on my savings account and refused to accept my regular monthly mortgage payment.  I had no access to my funds and this woman would not listen, she did not care that I had my identity stolen.  Future calls to Teresa ended with her screaming at me.  When I tried to speak to her supervisor Lavonne, she behaved the exact same way.  They would no longer accept a mortgage payment from me, and I was not able to pay back the full amount owed in one lump sum.  They began foreclosure proceedings.  I requested mediation because that is required in Illinois. The mediator recommended that CEFCU work with me and they allowed me to submit paperwork so I could be considered for help. However, they came back and said I did not have a hardship because I had a job and made enough money to afford my mortgage payment.  that is true, but I do not have enough money to pay back the past amounts due all in one lump sum because of the identity theft that drained my bank account.  I pray that this never happens to you, and I am warning you to beware of CEFCU.  Their logo states, not a bank. Better.  Not true, it is not a bank, evil.  I am now moving into foreclosure, a foreclosure that could be avoided if this company were to work with me towards a common sense resolution.  I want to pay them, I want to fix this, but they don’t care.