First Citizens Bank

My Dad opened a new account here three days ago. After opening the account and depositing money he was told that he could not get a debit card for one whole month. They don't do virtual debit cards either. He delivers granite slabs for a living and is constantly traveling. He had a breakdown in Oregon and needed to spend money out of his account so he attempted to zelle funds to our business account at another bank. First Citizens blocked the transfer, forcing us to call a 1-800 number to verify the account. Not only was the lady on the phone very snarky, she asked him all kinds of invasive questions including "why we were sending Zelle to our own business account" and "what exactly it was for". In the end after everything was verified we were informed that they were still unable to remove the block on our account for 1-2 business days as it needed to be audited by their back office (whatever the heck that is). This leaves my dad broken down in Bend, OR and unable to access any of his money for the entire weekend. I have NEVER dealt with a more incompetent bank in my whole life and this has costed our business thousands of dollars in missed and delayed deliveries. They suggested we go to a local branch, well guess what, my Dad is 400 miles away from the closest branch. As soon as the hold is removed we are closing this ridiculous account. I am in utter shock and disbelief right now.
Jan 18th, 2023

First Citizens bank has about 120 locations in California while Wells Fargo has 1,400. FCB is a large national bank but not a giant monster bank. Service falls somewhere in between a small local bank and a giant monster mega bank. FCB has their own website and they have their own way of creating an account, getting help signing in, setting up bill pay, and account transfers. Interbank transfers are a type of ACH and they charge for that. Each type of account has its own rules for fees. As with other banks they might charge for services. This is not unusual. Services include cash deposits or ordering coinage. They offer loans including commercial and building. Their rates might be competitive. Their process might be better than other banks. Their fees might be lower or more fair. Getting a loan will probably require opening an account and making deposits or having a minimum balance. Bankers at First Citizens do claim to provide better service. Customers should hold them accountable for that. I was offered to have a banker pickup my deposits on a weekly basis because the branch is 15-20 min away. I can text my banker if I have questions or concerns. Do they know everything about banking or business? No. Sadly, most bankers don't. One time I was at a different local bank and asked a teller about current events in money markets and she was not only clueless but completely uninterested. I guess you wouldn't expect the garbage man to be interested in what the best kind of garbage bags are. In summary, it's a bank. It does banking things.
Jan 13th, 2023

Nikki the branch manager and Nick the business banker have zero customer service skills and should both be fired immediately. I spoke with Nikki initially for a lengthy period of time and she promised me that they are the most client and business centric bank there is and I would always have her to contact and she would help me with any and everything. So I went in and opened the account with Nick who assured me multiple times that the accounts were free. I opened the accounts and set up the online banking for myself and my business partner. A month later Im getting charged $15 so I reach out as this has to be a mistake because they said its free. Nick replied and advised me that the accounts are free because they dont have minimum balance requirements but we do get charged for other things. Like being charged $7.50 for any additional online users. The accounts being free and not having a minimum deposit requirement are two completely different things but these people have zero common sense or customer service training to understand that. I set up the online banking for myself and my business partner with Nick so that would have been a great time to have told me there are additional fees for a second person but he didnt mention anything. They refuse to even wave $15 in fees and I will be closing my account. There was nothing offered from either employees to even help mitigate the situation as if they dont give a damn if we stay or go they are keeping their $15 at the cost of a relationship. Very sad to see that $15 is enough for them to end a banking relationship over. Zero customer service. I asked Nick the business banker if they report to D&B and he didnt even know what that was. what kind of business banker doesnt know about D&B.
Dec 10th, 2022