Winewood Branch Closing FAQs

At the close of business on March 26, 2024, the Mutual Savings Credit Union Winewood location will close permanently. Mutual Savings Credit Union strives to continuously focus on our members and provide the services you have come to expect. With our enhanced digital services, you can access your account at any time of your choosing. Services such as home banking, mobile app, mobile deposit, online chat, and shared branching allow our members to conveniently manage their finances safe and securely from anywhere.

We have been trying to grow our footprint in the Winewood area without the success we need to justify maintaining a 12,000-square-foot building. The four employees at the branch use less than 1,000 square feet of the building. With fewer members, loans, and growth – the long-term sustainability becomes even harder and increases our bottom-line expenses.

More and more, members, both new and mature, are using our e-services. We have seen increased participation in home and mobile banking. Our chat now makes it available to communicate on a convenient platform. With e-signatures, online loan applications, and our call center, these members will continue to have access to their accounts, just through a different process.

Mutual Savings remains a strong financial institution with high capital and strong ratings. Our members’ money is safe and sound with us. As part of our continued focus on service access, we participate in the shared branching (CO-OP) network, CULiance, which is a surcharge-free ATM network. We simply can no longer maintain such an expensive branch when it’s not necessary.

Not at this time. In an ever-changing world, we found that members are visiting the branch less and less and navigating to our online services which makes it easy for them to transact their business at a time of their choosing – and safely. Though we have fewer face-to-face interactions, our member usage of the electronic services validates that it isn’t always the branch but the relationship overall with us that is important.

It’s understandable that you’re upset. It’s never easy to make a decision such as this. And, we always want to hear from our members. If you have a comment you’d like to leave, call our Member Comment Line at 205-682-1195.  Someone will call you back as soon as possible.

We understand that without a branch it feels different. And if you want to close your account, we can do so if you don’t owe a balance on a loan. However, we do hope you will give our electronic services a try. If you choose to go forward with closing your account, you will need to visit your nearest branch location.

There are several ways we can help you with this. You can deposit your check via our deposit-taking ATM at the Winewood location. You can set up direct deposit if that’s available from your employer or the source of the check. You can also visit a co-op shared branch location or visit one of our other branch locations. The quickest and most convenient way to deposit a check is to use our mobile deposit capture. If you have a smart phone and are enrolled in home and mobile banking, you can use your smart phone camera to Snap, Tap and deposit your checks. It’s a wonderfully convenient product.

A call center representative or our chat feature on the website can walk you through the set up. We feel you’ll really enjoy the home banking service. It’s very convenient. We also think you’d like the MyCardRules app. You can set up alerts for when your card is being used.  And, if you believe there’s been a fraudulent transaction, you can “turn off” the card so that you can stop additional fraudulent activity.

We have several options for you. You can visit a Mutual Savings Branch in the metro Birmingham area or you can visit one of our partner CO-OP branches closest to you. If you need help finding a CO-OP branch, give us a call and give us your zip code. We’ll be happy to assist you in finding the nearest CO-OP. You can also visit our website and look for the shared branching button under locations. The CO-OP option allows you to find a convenient location for you to make loan payments or conduct transactions wherever you are. There are over 6,000 locations to choose from across the country.

We can help you with that! You can fill out your application online HERE whenever it’s convenient for you. Or, feel free to contact a member representative in our call center at 1-800-950-6728, extension 2. Our call center representatives will be happy to take your loan application over the phone utilizing e-signature.