FAIRWINDS Credit Union

The Relationship Manager Elaine Daniels really helped me out when it came to starting my credit. I came in with a billion questions and she took her time to answer each and every one of them with complete patience. I’d be lost without her!
I’ve had an account here for about a year or so and I’d definitely recommend them to anyone looking to open up a credit card or just a regular checking/savings account. Them being a credit union definitely makes things easier on their customers as well, rather than if they were like any other regular bank. I would for sure recommended Fairwinds, I have never had a negative experience here.

I've been with Fairwinds for many years. There has never been a time that all of the ladies at the drive-thru have been more than exceptional in helping us. When I say us I mean my husband ,myself ,and both of my parents who are 91 and 93 years old .The staff are all very professional and help you with smiles on their faces. It is easy to recognize courtesy, experience, compassion ,and resolution issues, with these employees, because I also work in customer service at a hospital. I recently had a very stressful financial situation with my mother with a major credit card company and I would like to extend a special thank you to a young lady working at the Tuskawilla branch, Priya who helped to resolve this matter for my mother. I will never forget her for her diligence in helping us to bring this to a resolution, and hope that Fairwind knows that she is truly an asset to their establishment, as well as all the other young ladies who I have spoken to at the drive-thru. In my opinion you have a very very great team of workers. Thank you to all of you! 👍👍👍😊

Left former bank for Fairwinds Credit Union. Brandon Mullen, the manager, set up all our accounts and been extremely helpful every time I needed it. Love the vibe at the Winter Springs office - it all starts with the manager.

I went into Fairwinds on Tuskawilla to take care of a friends account that I was POA on. I had questions. I didn't know how to proceed or what was allowed. I thank the Lord that Francisco Leon (Frankie) was the person to assist me! He was kind, patient, helpful and took the time to explain banking policies. This was a sensitive situation and my mind was frazzled. By the time I left a weight was lifted and my mind was clear. Thank you so much Frankie, you are the epitome of customer service!!

Stopped by this location to update my account due to legal name change and Tracy was wonderful! She was courteous and very supportive while helping me. As a transgender individual, it was a huge relief to be met with genuine excitement and caring, even during a brief interaction updating some info. She was knowledgeable and very thorough and even tipped me off to a change in my license number I hadn’t caught. Thanks so much!!

I opened a checking and savings account today with Robert Toyzan. His customer service was amazing! Robert is very knowledgeable in his field. He gave me options to choose from, and answered all of my questions.
Thank you Robert for providing me a great experience!

My husband visited here to get some advice on managing and securing our accounts. We were blessed to have a wonderful representative, Shellon Maxwell spend quite a bit time going over our account, updating it and making changes. She was sweet, professional, patient, thorough, and encouraging. We are both elderly and appreciated her willingness to help us and educate us about our options. Thanks Shellon, and thanks Fairwinds.

*Sharing from Main Google Review Account for Visibility*

Member for 11 years. Someone was able to bypass my two-factor authentication and access my online banking. I am told my only option is to close my account. With multiple payments coming from clients around the world, this will take months to undo. Will be withdrawing my funds and moving to a different bank altogether tomorrow. So unfortunate.

*Editing review here for transparency*

Was reached out to by who I believe to be a Senior Executive (Assistant VP) who blamed my cell phone service/hardware for the possible breach; stating that I “must have downloaded malware.”

I have been in Information Technology for over 20 years with credentials easily verifiable via Linkedin. I am using a secure company phone with the latest version of iOS installed (as mandated by security protocol). I have contacted my cell phone carrier and they have researched the case, ensuring me that the IMEI of my phone has not connected to any towers that are not local to me. The other option (physically replacing components on my phone) is also ruled out as the technician validated that no changes have been made since the initial sale of the phone.

The bank stated that the initial breach was from Virginia (validated by IP/Timestamp). I have also opened a fraud case with my cell phone provider, although they have assured me that their research has shown that the two possibilities of bypassing this kind of security (SIM cloning and “Spoofing”) were certainly not on their end. I am currently working on obtaining signed validation from my carrier that this security breach was indeed not on their end. I’ve consulted closely with a few industry professionals and they agree with my assessment.

I should note that I have not received one single other 2FA request from any other platform, including multiple brokerages, other linked bank accounts, email accounts, social media accounts, or otherwise. In my experience, if a SIM card is cloned or an IMEI is spoofed, the victim will receive multiple attempts for external parties to access other accounts. This is a very simple issue that boils down to a failure of security on Fairwinds’ end until that can be proven otherwise (which I am working on now). I do not agree that this is a “malware” issue and am frankly insulted to have been suggested that this is what the problem is, however, I will complete my due diligence to make sure this is not the case.

I will continue to update this review until a positive outcome is reached, or other agencies including DFPI, CFPB, FDIC, BBB, etc. need to be involved in order to ensure that Fairwinds has not been negligent in their security protocols.

I feel that it is important to note that the very next customer in the lobby today was also there due to debit card fraud. I realize this is a separate issue, but certainly one to take note of.

EDIT: I spoke with a director of IT Security, who stated that he was extremely sorry for the problems and that there was a major miscommunication. The “breach” was actually a verified 3rd party aggregator that has had access to my account for months (Plaid). He was extremely nice and we spoke for quite a long time about not only this situation, but other IT Security stuff. The next day, the branch manager seemed like he felt very bad. I was credited $250 (which didn’t even *touch* the amount of time and stress lost over this situation. The Assistant VP (who blamed ME for these issues) never took the time to reach back out to me and apologize.

I consider this situation resolved, and still choose to bank with them (as it could take months to re-route music royalty payments from worldwide partners) - but am extremely disappointed in how this situation was handled, and how I was blamed for this by one of their Executive Leaders, yet never reached back out to with an apology upon learning that it was indeed their fault.