Emigrant Savings Bank

Jul 29th, 2020

THE MOST HORRIBLE BANK IMAGINABLE! This bank is trying to rob me of my inheritance. They are nasty and unreasonable and impossible to deal with. I've been trying to get my inheritance for a long time and they always have an excuse. They are thieves. Stay away from these scoundrals.
Jul 19th, 2020

I've been a customer of Emigrant Direct, which is a subsidiary of Emigrant Bank. They have a "bait and switch" tactic that is widely known, where they advertise that they have the best interest rates for savings, and then once you establish an account, they quietly drop your rate to well below the best rates. For instance, the current APY is less than a third of what other banks are offering.
Jun 2nd, 2020

Jan 5th, 2020

Make sure you understand what you're about to do to yourself if seeking financing. I've been trying to refinance a coop mortgage through Emigrant since July 2020 (now mid-March 2021) and it has been a total disaster. It has been my 2nd job. The only worse experience in all my life have been deaths, but even death brings closure. My refinancing is now being monitored by the NYS DFS. The bank took 3 months to perform enhanced due diligence which they informed was required due to being self employed, and then more enhanced due diligence due to Covid economy. They charged me $500 for each of 2 appraisals of a small Tudor City Place studio and will probably make me pay for a 3rd $500 appraisal because the 2nd appraisal will expire before they agree to close. After several months of enhanced due diligence the bank provided a commitment letter and recoginiton agreements in Nov '20 for the coop to approve. Coop approval took a month. Meanwhile the current lender, Sterling National Bank and Abrams Garfinkle Margolis Bergson Law, the bank attorneys, took 2.5 months to provide the stock certificate and proprietary lease. (Avoid transacting with either business. They are not honorable. I had to threaten to go to major NY real estate media before they then immediately provided the documents.) By then Emigrant informed that everything expired and I must start over from scratch. I've updated all my financial documentation again. Now the property value dropped so the mortgage will be lower. While every other party in the refi transaction was provided extended timelines due to covid, my timeline to close was not extended by Emigrant Bank and Fannie Mae. Instead I am stuck indefinitely paying recurring fees to the application related service providers on the transaction. I have no clear path to closing before everything expires again. I've never defaulted or declared bankruptcy, nor have been late on mortgage or maintenance payments or have been very late on any payments. My gross income for 2019 and 2020 is more than the new $205k mortgage would be. 2021 gross income is on track to be more as well. This past month I had a lot of income so I've paid down debts but now Emigrant wants to wait as long as a month to see updated statements with the payoffs. Emigrant states that there is no other way they can prove payoffs but to wait a month for the statements or updated credit trade lines. There is always a reason for Emigrant to wait instead of close. Meanwhile the coop managing agent is reviewing the updated recoginiton agreements. Who knows when they will approve them as re-expirations loom. Emigrant stated that they sell the loan servicing rights to Fannie Mae so Fannie Mae sets the rules. Emigrant would not request an exception or extension from Fannie Mae, however. (I asked.) Today the loan officer had the nerve to ask if I would be willing to withdraw the application after so much time and money wasted to get this far and having been extremely patient. I do everything I can to get this refi to close as soon as possible. This is my 3rd refi, I'm not new to this. I don't understand why Emigrant treats qualified borrowers so poorly. If they do not want to lend, their NYS banking license should go to a firm that does. In addition to filing a NYS DFS complaint, I've written to the heads of Fannie Mae, FHFA, which regulates Fannie Mae, and even Sen. Schumer, Rep. Maloney and FRB Chairman Powell so that they are aware of the systemic issue, as I'm surely not the only qualified borrower that the banks are preventing from closing in this way.
Sep 23rd, 2020