As bad as Wells Fargo
If there were an option to give negative stars, I would happily do so.
After a decade of membership, with 10's of thousands in assets, and multiple accounts in positive standing, this institution decided to force-close my accounts over a clerical error. Despite my history with them, they insisted on being unhelpful in resolving the error up to and including the moment I was finally able to free myself from being a part of this ridiculously careless corporation.
After several hours of getting nowhere with multiple transfers between customer service, resolutions managers, and every department in-between, I had enough. It was up to me to find a solution to the issue, it was up to me to figure out where the discrepancies were in my accounts, and it was up to me to figure out how to resolve the issue.
Even after clarifying the issue, and making right the assets that were charged without my authorization, I was repeatedly met with the company's unwillingness to be helpful or take even a modicum of responsibility, aside from excessive, empty-backhanded apologies that only served to insult my intellect and confirm their unwillingness to be helpful. I won't get into the level of disrespect I experienced on a multitude of levels, but the best part of this scenario was knowing the final call with them was the last I will ever have to make to this company.
Be aware that if you bank with this institution and have an issue, you will have a fight on your hands just to get to the source of issue at hand when it arises.
If you have the tenacity to make it through the initial 20 minutes of fighting their automated system, you will have the pleasure of speaking to someone who will fail to offer any solutions or recognize that your issue may be unique or require a little critical thinking. Forget about them finding a reasonable solution.
In my case, I had the delightful experience of being gaslighted about why a loan account I hadn't used in years was charged without authorization at the very moment I was notified that I was being threatened with collections. Before having the opportunity to correct the error, Bellco had taken the liberty of consolidating my liquid assets (more than 10x's the amount of the error) into my membership account, and force-closed each account in the process.
As mentioned above, the loan account was the last of what amounted to PAGES of accounts with Bellco. Despite also not having any use for the better half of a decade, and having had to resolve a similar charge YEARS BEFORE to safeguard my accounts from this very issue, I was not helped further.
This resulted in a merry-go-round of incompetence and client-blaming over many hours as I was suddenly burdened with re-establishing my personal finances from 1700 miles away, and left reeling from the fact that Bellco had not only upended my personal financial structures, but had not bothered to resolve the issue post-matter, and seemed perfectly content with failing to make the minimal effort to right a wrong.
I was repeatedly "thanked," however, for "being a valued member." A repelling reminder that I was anything but that.
I'm not sure what version of English or alternate reality exists where these things align to be a "valued" anything, but they will happily regurgitate this phrase while being completely unwilling to help a member, but then I am just one person.
Needless to say, I took my assets exceeding 10X's the financial amount of the discrepancy and went elsewhere post haste. I immediately made right any business accounts and moved those also, which alone exceeded 100x's the worth of the oversight.
I wouldn't recommend Bellco to my worst enemy, let alone the standard American that has a working income or an operational business. I don't want to imagine where I'd be if this had occurred on my business accounts.
I won't say you're better off at Wells Fargo because that is the single worst institution on the planet, however, I will say that having a membership with Bellco is just as valuable.
Do yourself a favor and go to a credit union that truly values their customers and the assets that those clientele represent, because you will not find that with Bellco.
Thanks Bellco, for helping me see the error of my ways in personal asset management before showing me the same with my business accounts, for that I am grateful. (Insert middle finger here.)
March 19, 2024
Unprompted review