July 2022 by Jennifer P.
I've only been to actual branch one time and the staff was very welcoming. I noticed they greeted most customers by name. If it weren't for that, I would be giving this bank 1 star. My experience is based on the online service. Last month, I noticed the interest credited was a little less than anticipated. When you call, the wait times are over an hour so I emailed instead. I received an email that as long as I meet the requirements, the interest would be correct. Not a helpful answer, but again, didn't have an hour to wait. Come the next month, the interest was SIGNIFICANTLY lower than expected. So after that unhelpful email response, I called. The person told me I had received notice mailed out in February that the terms had changed. You know those fine print changes that banks sometimes send that aren't written in user friendly ways? Yep, that. Apparently that explained that there were going to be changes to what qualified as a "direct deposit." And in addition to that, instead of no longer just waiving the fee with direct deposit, the interest rate significantly dropped! I received about 1/8 of what I had previously received. When I had emailed the month before, the rep had the opportunity to make me aware of that change as I was questing the interest. But the rep didn't do that. So if you like a bank with super long wait times and that will do a Bait and Switch on you, then you've found your bank. However, if you want more consistency in what you can expect and easier access to help, I'd go with a credit union. Having my interest rate drop from 3.0% to 0.1 a total bait and switch as I was meeting all the requirements that were laid out when I opened the account. I'm done with FirstBank. I immediately closed the account when I was made aware of the Bait and Switch. Again, the branch was friendly, but in this modern day and age, most of us rely on online banking. Their website is not as functional as other banks and excessive wait times and inadequate help when help is needed. But I dealt with it for the higher rate until they pulled that Bait and Switch. And now that rate is the lowest of the lowest. No thanks. Moving on to the financial institutions I can trust.
