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February 2023 by Dwight L.
Like many others here, I have to say that my experience with Stearns Bank has been quite poor. We used them as a facilitator for an SBA Loan to help fund our franchised business back in late 2019/early 2020, and in hindsight, I should have done more research, or looked at some of these reviews PRIOR to going with the Franchisor's recommended lender (you guessed it....Stearns). Since our business relationship started, the level of compassion and understanding has been laughable. Even through the pandemic, we have never missed a payment or even come close (we have auto-pay). They have almost $25k of our money that they took as "security" in 2019, in case we didn't pay on time, or to show the business could be viable, and now, over three years later, they are saying they won't return it to us because we still haven't shown via our financials the "right" debt/income ratios according to their underwriters. Even through the pandemic, when many businesses have closed down, we have made almost 40 payments, on time, and yet this isn't enough history for them? In addition, even though they claim to be a "friend" to small business, they really aren't and candidly, it's like they go out of their way to do everything within their power to drain every dime from their small business clients. Granted, "they are just trying to make the money they are allowed to make" but please don't believe them when they are trying to win your business and they make themselves out to be some sort of advocate to you or your business....it's simply not true. Finally, their technology and customer service systems are sub-par. They don't have an online way to access our account, and we don't receive online statements, or year-end statements. Each January, I have to reach out to my "representative" to get a statement of what I have paid each year for my accounting team, to ensure it matches my records and it always takes SO LONG to get a response. Considering the amount of fees, etc. that they seem to be charging everyone else here, you'd think they'd reinvest in better technology, but alas....the improvements are nowhere to be found. All in all, my experience with them has been horrible, and I will never do business with them again. I would highly recommend NOT giving them your business either, for loans or banking.
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December 2022 by Cy Thao
Bad predatory bank. I did a construction loan with them through Ameris Bank. I missed signing a renewal of the loan documents about two times and within a few days of the deadline. The loan was for $10,500,000. They charged me over $1,000,000 for missing those deadlines. After complaining the bank cut me some slacks and told me to pay over $200,000 in fees for signing those documents late. I had no choice or they won't release the note which will incur more interests for me. I stand by this review. Call me if you want confirmation.
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October 2022 by Cathy B.
Worst finance company I have dealt with in 36 years. ZERO compasion, vultures at best. My area just suffered a Category 4 Hurricane. I made a double payment last month, so October would be covered. They took part of that payment and applied it to late fees. So now my October payment is late, even though I paid it 20 days early. All Mike could do was recite his "you know you took the risk etc etc" over and over again. Told me I wasn't listening to him, wasn't hearing what he was saying. Nothing takes 3 days to process online. Cannot wait until we are done paying this contract. There are not words to describe how awful and uncaring this company is.
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July 2022 by Rae Ann F.
DO NOT WORK WITH THIS BANK! READ ABOUT ALL THEIR FEES. They charge $25 to mail a check payment. If you are paying late then the app adds the next month and won't let you just pay the amount due. This forces you to pay them by phone for an extra $20 even though you are already paying an extremely high late fee. In our case over $600. Sometimes business is slow and the payment is delayed. They will try to get you with fees wherever they can.
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April 2022 by Peter K.
My wife owns a business that financed equipment two and a half years with Stearns bank. Let me tell you that this is the worst banking experience I have ever seen. Stearns Bank will not provide any information on interest assessments made to her contract. They repeatedly say things like "this isn't a simple interest contract" and "we cannot calculate or break down the components and fees included in your interest". For the last three weeks we have been working on an early termination of the contract and they mysteriously added about $15K in additional interest and they won't provide any details on what it is. If anyone has an idea on what Government agency to escalate these practices to, we would appreciate it.
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March 2022 by Eliza C.
The worst customer service I've ever received. Flaky employees. Unprofessional. I would not recommend giving them your business for loans or banking.
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December 2021 by Tara H.
We used Stearns bank to finance a CDL truck and we're very happy. They were helpful with our million questions and walked us through the entire process. We would defiantly use them again!
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December 2021 by Clarivel S.
This is the worst bank I have done buisness with. I took a loan from this bank and during the 2 years I had the loan never received a statement. I called several times for the statement, every time I was informed that I was going to receive it but never did. The two year I call also for the taxed end of the year information and never got a reson for not receiving statments and the information of the taxes was . During the 2 years I had a direct payment from my bank to Sterns Bank to be on time. This month I call again and they told me that they have been charging me a 25 dollars fee now for a year because the payment was done throw my bank (check fee). They change the agreement after 1 year of payment. I was not able to see the fee because I never received a statement and when I ask them about the fee they agreed that they started a year after my closing of the loan and the way the can do it is because they suposly call me and left a message in my phone (that I never recived) to inform me that they were going to start charging the 25 dollars to chash the check my bank was sending. Please be very careful with this company and look really closely at the bill (if they send it). If they dont send it possible thye are charging extra fee without disclosing it in the contract or without communicating to you. When I talk to them about the poor comunication, and this beein dishonest, costumer service mention that they could not remove any of the fees. Also they mention that they never sended a bill because the payments were on time. So they punish me with a 25 dollars fee every month for beeing on time sending my payment with a direct check payment from my personal bank.
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October 2021 by Jon U.
I am a fool for not reading the very very fine print. Sterns Bank is the worst bank I have ever encountered. TI had the account for 2 years, In the first place they don't charge finance charges as they accrue, They charge it all at once at the beginning of the loan. The balance I have paid off in 2 years includes interest for 5 years, Yeah I said that right. At the point I thought I had paid them off I quit opening mail I was so frustrated. Turns out that small balance entitled them to continue to charge me for the insurance. at the end of the 24 months I paid $23,000+ for 17,000 original amount borrowed.
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August 2021 by Darion Dockter
Absolute worst bank around very rude Ryan and Craig are not understanding not happy with this place will be spreading the word everywhere possible about this scam of a bank. Purchased a truck from MTH out of at cloud have had nothing but issues with the truck, had some recent business changes added a new trailer to are fleet and on top of the mechanical problems the truck is just not heavy duty enough for what we need. Ryan has been calling me a liar through this process told me there is nothing he can do trying to charge me 4 grand over what I paid to in a “early buy out” never have I ever had this happen with a auto loan especially a business auto loan, this bank does not care about repeat customers or you or your business needs absolute worst bank around. Spread the word everyone. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THIS SCAM OF A BANK.
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July 2021 by Maria D.
This lender does business like a loan shark. If they receive your payment one day after the due date, or if they don't post it until later, they charge a late fee. They charge a 20% penalty for any late payments. It's ridiculously unfair, and should be illegal. They have their trailer park collection people call every day to harrass. After even one late payment they will say the loan is in default. Never do business with this lender.
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May 2021 by Eric Fernandez
Excellent bank and great customer service. They make it easy to do business and they are very responsive. I trust them. Highly recommended.
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May 2021 by Paul L
Stay away from these criminals they will not work with you their fees are the highest in the industry they charge hitting fees $25 for a check cashing fee that they started adding halfway through the contract then when you're done paying they try to hit you with release fees which are nowhere in the contract and these release fees are usually $299 they're late fees or 20% of the payment they can't even tell you how much your interest rate is because you pay all the interest no matter when you pay the loan off I paid my last payment three days early then the due date and they decided because it came in early that they would apply it to late fees check cashing fees and their default fees instead of the last payment I would never do business with this bank again do yourself a favor and stay away from them they are horrible
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December 2020 by Stephanie T
Update to first review. A class action lawsuit against Stearns Bank is underway. Since my last review they have committed criminal acts of violence against their clients. Their repossession vendor, a subcontracted third party, showed up at our home with no paperwork, documentation, and he would not identify himself. Our ring doorbell caught this man banging on the side windows of our front door. Our security system caught the entire thing on tape, and it was scary. The police were called and we filed a report. They have attempted to contact our other creditors to get information on us so they can attempt to illegally extort our bank accounts. Every single creditor that we had called us and told us what they attempted to do and it is against the fair credit and collections act, FDIC, and SBA. A cease and desist letter was sent to them on four separate occasions by email, mail, and phone. They still claim they never got it despite the return receipt. The title and UCC filing are incorrect. After they committed this act they continued to harass me and my husband. My husband is a first responder on the front lines of COVID19. They called him at work and threatened legal action if we didn't respond to them 2 days before Christmas. Our response has been that we are prepared to go to court, and please bring on the legal action so they scam can be exposed. If anyone else would like to report them, contact Legal Shield at eight 000 two two 3 eight six 8 eight. Please be careful, another one of the owners in Florida's home shed was broken into and the man had a gun. He was another 3rd party repro company looking to gain unlawful entry. The police were called and he was arrested for unlawful search, and branding a firearm, destruction of private property. For transparency purposes, other small business's are coming together and asking for protection through our state and a separate filing in Minneapolis Minnesota. Please do not risk yourself or your family. These people could be dangerous and are in a panic for low hanging fruit in the wake of COVID19.
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November 2020 by Tena Fitch
I financed medical equipment with Stearns, extremely unhappy with their customer care. Regret using them, and NEVER will again. They are 'fee happy', and tried to blackmail me to use ACH auto pay after reassuring me it was not required. NEVER AGAIN!! Don't use them, you'll regret it.
