Best Credit Unions Ohio: Don’t Miss Our Top 5 Picks

Best Credit Unions Ohio: Executive Summary

• Wright-Patt credit union tops our list, followed by General Electric Credit Union, Kemba Financial Credit Union, Kemba Credit Union, and finally 7 17 Credit Union.
• While there are some solid up and coming credit unions here, if we were going to open an account, we would probably stick to the top 2-3 for the time being. 
• If you prefer that local feel, that’s great, but don’t forget that as finance continues to modernize, you don’t really need a bank or credit union that has a local physical branch 

#1 Wright-Patt Credit Union (WPCU) takes home our first-place selection 

Wright-Patt is Ohio’s largest credit union with nearly half a million members. Focusing on the areas around Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, it offers a full suite of personal banking and basic banking products and services. 

Its long reputation, popularity, and strong reviews drove it into our top spot. 

To be eligible to join, you’ll need to be a member of one of the ~20 counties that surround Wright-Patterson and make up much of central Ohio. Being a member of one of those communities can be through residency, work, or worship. You are also eligible if you’re an employee of Wright-Patterson AFB (military or civilian) or stationed there. Employees of certain partnership companies are also eligible, as are students of Wright State University. 

Breadth and depth of products and services offered

They offer all the products and services you would expect for a small, local credit union. From checking accounts to credit cards to small business treasury management, they’ve got all the basics. It’s important to note, though, that if you need more sophisticated financial products, like brokerage accounts, wealth management, etc., you’ll need to go to a larger institution, most likely a nationwide bank. 

We generally liked the products they offered and especially liked that almost every product had multiple options to choose from. We’re no fan of savings accounts, but they do have one savings account that offers a very high APY rate on the first $1K. This could be good for someone just starting out, like a student. Note that there are many caveats to the high rate, like needing to also have a checking account, direct deposit, and more, so if you’re interested, make sure you follow the details closely. 

We also noted that they have some low-rate credit cards, which could be worth looking into. As we so often see, though, getting the lowest rate depends on their determination of your creditworthiness, so make sure you find that out from them before assuming you’ll get the headline rate. 

Quality and competitiveness of products and services offered (e.g., functionality, rates, fees)

Overall, on both the deposit and lending side, most of their rates looked to be roughly in line with market prices, with the exceptions below:

Deposits/investing:

• One saving account with a high rate, but only on the first $1K
• Some CDs had above-average rates 

Borrowing:

• Potential low credit card rates, if your creditworthiness qualifies 
• Auto loan rates looked higher than the competition
• Personal loan rates are much higher than average 
• Mortgage rates looked a little high 

Customer satisfaction and reviews

Customer reviews are generally good, within the context of local credit unions. It has 31 branch locations focused around the Columbus area and is part of an ATM co-op program that gives members access to 30K+ ATMs. 

Generally, the negative reviews seemed to center around occasional lack of follow-up communications and also running hard checks on credit reports without first notifying customers. So potentially watch out for those issues. 

They do maintain an A+ accreditation with the BBB, which is a small thing, but still nice to see. 

Technology stack (e.g., online banking, mobile app)

Overall, we found their website and online banking platform modern, intuitive, and easy to use. 

Their mobile app maintains an impressive 4.8 out of 5 score after nearly 30K reviews on the Apple app store, so customers seem happy with it. 

Size and safety of the institution

With about $8B in assets, this is a serious financial institution. While size is no guarantee of safety and larger financial institutions have failed, this gives us some comfort that they can afford real security and proper management. 

#2 General Electric Credit Union (GECU) slides right into the second spot

Coming in strong with about a quarter million members, General Electric Credit Union is also a very strong credit union choice for Ohioans. 

Membership is broad and is offered to, of course, employees of General Electric, but also anyone who lives or works in any of the 20 or so counties surrounding Cincinnati. They also are partnered with over 300 companies and offer membership to employees of those companies, regardless of where they live, as well. 

Breadth and depth of products and services offered

GECU offers all the basic personal banking solutions most people will need. From Mortgages to HELOCs to credit cards, they’ve got the basics well covered. Our ongoing thought while reviewing their product lineup was: “That’s a solid option.” But, we weren’t able to find any real stand-out products that are substantially differentiated so you probably can find the same things elsewhere easily. 

What you won’t find though, which you do sometimes see, is small business financial solutions or insurance partnerships. These are easily found elsewhere, though, and we don’t necessarily like or need to have all of those services at the same institution where we personally bank, so not a deal breaker. 

Quality and competitiveness of products and services offered (e.g., functionality, rates, fees)

Similar to what was described above, it was hard to find any product that wasn’t pretty much completely average on the rates side. 

One possible exception was their HELOC, which had very low introductory rates for the first 12 months, which is an attractive option. 

We also noted that there are certain maintenance fees on some of their accounts, if you don’t maintain a certain level of deposits and/or activity, so make sure you watch out for that. 

Overall, we found their rates fair and average, but not exciting. 

Customer satisfaction and reviews

They maintain an A+ accreditation with the BBB and have a very high customer review score there as well. 

Other reviews we found were slightly more mixed, but overall still quite solid, giving us confidence that customer happiness is indeed high on GECU’s list of priorities. 

While GECU has a few fewer branch locations, at only 11, they are part of a robust nationwide ATM network, giving members access to 100K+ ATMs. 

Technology stack (e.g., online banking, mobile app)

We liked GECUs website the best out of all of the credit unions on this list and their mobile app is quite highly reviewed as well. Did not see any issues here. 

Size and safety of the institution

Like every single credit union on our list, GECU is federally insured by the NCUA insurance fund for up to $250K per account. 

They’re also growing rapidly, adding nearly $800M in assets in the past year alone to reach a total of $4.5B, which gives us confidence. Membership also grew over the same time by about 10%, another good indicator. 

#3 Kemba Financial Credit Union makes our top 3 as a solid choice

In our first of two Kroger-related credit unions (which may be confusing to some people, don’t worry, we’ll clear it up), Kemba Financial grabs the third spot on our list of Best Credit Unions Ohio. 

While it’s likely confusing, there are two very similar-sounding credit unions catering to Kroger employees, both of which were launched within a year of one another. We’ll discuss Kemba Financial Credit Union (KFCU) now, then review Kemba Credit Union next (KCU). 

With its nearly $2B in assets and 125K members, Kembra Financial brings a lot to the table for a prospective member. 

Membership is somewhat more strict, to join you’ll need to be employed by one of their partner companies or live in work in one of the following counties:

• Fairfield
• Franklin
• Licking,
• Madison
• Union
• Delaware
• Logan

Breadth and depth of products and services offered

Kembra Financial offers all the basic personal and small business financial products you might need. What was interesting to us was that, somewhat unlike other credit unions, they seemed to focus not just on the middle, but also the high and low-end customers. For example, they offer several products to customers who might be struggling, like “Fresh Start Checking” (note: requires a monthly fee) and debt restructuring. They also have a somewhat larger wealth management advisor team than we typically see at this size. 

Quality and competitiveness of products and services offered (e.g., functionality, rates, fees)

Overall we’d say most of the products were good, not great. Many of the rates offered were just about average, or below average, we didn’t find any standouts to the good or to the bad. 

For example, when we checked their credit card cashback rate it was a flat 1% cashback. That’s ok, but at the time of writing, can easily be beaten if you have reasonably good credit. It’s not hard to find 1.5 – 2.0% flat cashback right now. It was a similar story on both the deposit and lending side across other products we spot-checked, rates were in about the average range to slightly unfavorable to the customer. 

Customer satisfaction and reviews

Reviews were a bit lower here, another reason they only landed the third spot and not higher. They do have an A+ rating with the BBB, though. 

Their ATM network is a bit larger than many credit unions in this size range, but they only have about 10 branch locations centered around Columbus. 

Technology stack (e.g., online banking, mobile app)

Their website is clean and modern and their “digital banking” suite has all the functionality we’ve come to expect from our banking partners. 

You’ll also be able to complete basic tasks on their highly rated mobile app. 

Size and safety of the institution

Both assets and membership are growing a good sign. But both are growing relatively slowly, part of the reason Kembra Financial only landed the #3 spot and not higher. 

#4 Kemba Credit Union is an acceptable choice in our fourth position

Our second of two Kroger-related credit unions is an ok choice as well, with some good features, but also some real drawbacks. 

Breadth and depth of products and services offered

Kemba’s product offering is more limited than our top 3 best credit union Ohio picks. While they still offer the very basics like savings and checking accounts, none of their credit cards have rewards programs on them. Additionally, their small business product offerings is extremely limited.

Additionally, they do not have partnerships with financial advisors or insurance, for those members interested. We typically do see that offered around when credit union has over $1B in assets, so that felt like a bit of miss. 

Quality and competitiveness of products and services offered (e.g., functionality, rates, fees)

We weren’t able to find any products that had really exciting rates. Most were just in line with about the average we saw elsewhere. 

They do have a secured loan that looked like it had a lower rate than average. 

Overall, they made it much harder to find and compare rates than some of their competitors. 

Customer satisfaction and reviews

Overall, it was a bit harder to find data here compared to other large Ohio credit unions. What we did see was OK-ish and mixed, but certainly not outstanding. Overall, we’d need to see more reviews filled out to make a proper assessment. 

Technology stack (e.g., online banking, mobile app)

Their website and online banking were a bit less up-to-date and slick than others we looked at, but still certainly well within the acceptable range. Their mobile app is strongly rated and appears to have all the functionality you’ll need for basic banking services. 

Size and safety of the institution

Kemba added $300M in assets and about 10K members, so we’re liking the healthy growth. 

#5 7 17 Credit Union rounds out our Top 5 best credit unions Ohio list

This up-and-comer makes our list with strong growth and strong initial reviews.

Membership is somewhat strict, limited to those who live or work in “Trumbull, Mahoning, Columbiana, Summit, Portage or Stark Counties” and employees of partner organizations (unspecified what those organizations are though).  

Breadth and depth of products and services offered

They’ve got just about everything you expect from a reasonably sized credit union. Personal banking from money market accounts to credit cards, to home loans and HELOCs. They also have partnerships with wealth management and insurance services.

They also have basic business solutions like business checking and credit card processing.

Quality and competitiveness of products and services offered (e.g., functionality, rates, fees)

They are a little behind here. For just about every product we checked, whether it was on the deposit side or the borrowing side, we felt like we could likely get a better rate somewhere else. This seems like an area for improvement they could target if they want to keep up their strong growth.

We also generally like to see at least one product with a rate or feature you just can’t get anywhere else, but we couldn’t find that at 7 17, which was a bit of a letdown and partially drove the decision to land them at #5 and not higher.

Customer satisfaction and reviews

While data is still limited, the initial reviews of 7 17 are quite strong. If they can maintain this level of customer satisfaction they will become a real contender in no time!

Technology stack (e.g., online banking, mobile app)

While their website felt a bit clunkier and more difficult to navigate than others, their mobile app has the highest app store rating of any credit unions we’ve come across.

Size and safety of the institution

7 17 is growing nicely, adding around 6K members last year and another $200M in assets.

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