Great Southern Bank

10/16/09

Tryied out a regional bank, but was handed terrible service

by nycstl at Citysearch

I opened a new account and deposited a check as a new customer. I was excited about using a regional bank, because I've been using national banks for several years now.

Then I received a form (it wasn't even a letter) telling me that my funds were on hold for more than 2 weeks because GSB was not able to verify that the funds were in the originating bank. It was not a note, but just a couple of boxes checked off on a page full of boxes. And it was signed, "Trish Loss Prevention".

So, I go to the branch in the morning, and they told me that the check did not bounce, but that they needed to get a verbal confirm from the originating bank (which is Chase); but Chase was not giving away that info to protect their clients (and my client's) info. So, I asked her, "You're keeping my funds from me, even though the check didn't bounce." The rep sheepishly told me, "yes..." I asked her, "Does that make sense to you?" Then I said to her, "If you're looking to get new business, this is exactly what you should not do."

The rep assured me that she would do something about this and would call me back. She told me that she needed to call my client to see if she can have the authority to get information from Chase. I said, "Absolutely not! You are not going to contact my clients to ask them about my banking issue: That is terrible business." She at at least apologized and told me she would try to figure it out and would get back to me.

She never called back. So, I called her the next day to follow up. She told me that she called Chase and received a verbal confirm. But then their "Loss Prevention" team would not take the confirm because it was not on one of their recorded lines. So, again, I asked her, "So, the check was processed and didn't bounce; and you got a verbal confirm from Chase, but you are still holding my funds?" She sheepishly said, "yes..." I asked her, "Does that make sense to you?" So, I just asked her to tell me when my funds were available to withdraw.

The only thing positive was that my funds were at least earning interest.

Summary: Terrible treatment of a new customer; unfounded reasons for holding funds; loss of new customer.

Conclusion: She just called me and told me the hold was lifted, but there was no way to guarantee a repeat of this experience.

• Pros: Friendly
• Cons: Terrible banking experience