Greater New Orleans Federal Credit Union

full disclosure: i opened an account today, and will be periodically posting back. i feel a bit of civic duty in doing so, as there’s a major dearth of info on NOLA banks/​credit unions on Unilocal and elsewhere.
i’ve lived in NOLA for four years, banking with wells fargo the whole time despite their not having a single branch in the state of LA, usually via mobile deposit and payroll. then i up and bought – and then sold – an airstream camper. i was left with a bunch of cash on my hands and no bank to put it in.
i figured it was high time to be a big boy and open an account. besides, most major banks have proven to be evil beasts, and i didn’t want my involvement with them benefitting any mary poppins-​esque fat cats, directly or indirectly. credit unions seem far more benign, so it was GNOFCU vs. ASI. there’s not much out there on the interwebs about either, so my decision was mostly aesthetic: GNOFCU has a more modern website and more branches that appear slightly less 80’s. beggars can’t be choosers?
they told me on the phone that i’d be able to «temporarily» open an account without a social security card – mine was still in a safe back home in the midwest – but didn’t let me when i showed up in person; they told me they’d been having problems with people misinforming customers on the phone.
so, i came back a week later, and showed up at noon. after waiting in line for fifteen minutes, they told me their account opening lady was gone for lunch at noon — 1. i went to restaurant depot to buy gumbo ingredients like a boss, then came back at 1. someone had beaten me to her. i waited in the lobby another 45+ minutes having to piss like a racehorse; there are no public restrooms (!). the teller lady was nice enough, and now i have an account. could’ve been much better, could’ve been worse?
here’s what i’ve discovered so far: unlike the credit unions i’m familiar with, you don’t get universally reimbursed for ATM fees – just theirs and capital one ATMs. it cost ~$ 27 to order my first book of checks. their online banking component seems okay, but there doesn’t appear to be any sort of mobile deposit feature like you get with major banks.
now i suppose we’ll see where this goes.

This is my current credit union and I don’t like it. The staff are alright, but not very friendly, and the branch hours are terrible. Seriously, you’re really not open until 9:00AM? And there’s no on-​site ATM outside? And you can’t call for help before 9:00AM either? And you close right at 4:00PM most days. Thanks so much for the convenience… not. I signed up with this credit union for the «free» checking, but it is only free until I’m 26. There are a lot of little stipulations and restrictions that I didn’t need to deal with my previous credit union. Oh, and the website is hard to navigate as well.
I don’t recommend going to this credit union if you have better options.