| 5 star: | (7) | |
| 4 star: | (5) | |
| 3 star: | (3) | |
| 2 star: | (1) | |
| 1 star: | (20) |
I was attracted to FF initially because of the exceptional rates, did not have a problem until I went to website to get tax documents, the 'tax documents' folder was empty. I saw the Chat icon so I opened it up, it was 4:30pm, I assumed because Chat was available I would be able to ask my questions. I got something like "Our agents are busy helping other customers, but you are #1 in line". I got that message over and over, and after 20 minutes, decided to end that session and go to Chat bright and early the next day, when they opened at 9am. Same Chat message, over and over. I decided to call the office (El Segundo) at the # on my Welcome letter, and reached someone right away. I first informed the agent of my bad experience with their useless Chat feature but he didn't apologize for my inconvenience or seem to care about the issue. Moving on, I asked about a 1099 for my account and he said one reason for not providing one might be that I didn't make enough interest to generate one, there is a minimum amount required. I asked him what that amount was and he came back, after giving him my name and other info, he asked me what my passcode(?) was? I don't remember having to generate one, so he said there was nothing he could do. I simply asked what was the amount of interest that FF required to generate a 1099, but he said he couldn't give me that basic info without my 'passcode'. Between the Chat experience and the inability to get info I wanted off of their website, and now this annoying obstacle, I was furious and told him I wanted to cancel my account but he said he couldn't help me without my passcode???? Name, address, last 4 of SSN, account #, and I don't exist without a passcode?? I'm not sure what it will take, but because of his lack of concern or empathy for my situation...I will find a way to cancel my account.
Money Hungry....Zero interest in keeping your deposits ...continuously charges statement fees after 10 years every years and large Corporate Act...Trust Acct....they have SO MUCH of my money yet ROB ME in fees... I have to bring it to their attention they apologize then do it AGAIN.
Offered a new higher interest rate on new money Only...wont even d a 30 day look back.
After sitting on a million for over a year at .5% they want MORE MONEY to give me market rate savings acct.
Zero web help.
Short staffed on employees.
Employees are nice, polite but limited in understanding of large banking practices.
So far so good im in love with this Bank, now i have not tried anything online, i actually go into the branch and they have been great, the interest rates are Amazing!! So much better than my credit union
Thank you so much First Foundation
Update 9-26-23
I have now used them for several days, and it gets better and better and better. They have every single thing I ever wished for in a bank and then some: Savings with fantastic rates, checking with a perfect bill paying app, easy app for depositing checks, various methods of verification so if for some reason you cannot receive texts or calls you can still get in safely but without spending hours. On top of which, when I called customer service on three different occasions I got someone almost immediately and they extremely pleasantly and efficiently answered my questions.
I think I died and went to heaven. WOW!!!
Original review:
I am ditching Capital One 360 for making my life a living hell over the last month when I tried two very simple tweaks to my account.
Searching for banks online, I found I could get a much better return than theirs as well. First Foundation Bank had all the functionalities I wanted, a savings account with a terrific interest rate, a checking account with bill paying, and the ability to operate without a mobile, if so desired.
So I decided that it would be worth the lengthy application and approval process described in some reviews. Imagine my surprise when I opened two accounts plus added a joint holder and my church as a beneficiary (the two things I tried to accomplish with Capital One to the point of going insane) in exactly three minutes! WOW!!!!
What a joy!
I wanted to park some savings at a high APR and found it at First Foundation.
ACH funding was quick and easy. They feature a comprehensive financial app and online experience. Haven't had any issues that would necessitate calling customer service so I have no experience there but everything else so far has been great with FFB. ETA: its interesting they would issue the old school embossed cash card. It comes with the shiney raised alphanumeric characters to roll carbon paper for use with a manual credit credit card imprinter. Card has no chip, no 3 digit security number on back.
avoid this place...or go at your own risk and hope you never need a card replaced
So they can send me umpteen pieces of junkmail to my home on a monthly basis covering a bunch of useless info i already know, like my transaction history....YET when i need a new debit card they cant figure my address out...and here i am nearly 30 days later still waiting
They are horrible.
Then i call another branch outside of my branch and they are incredibly rude about it since i wasnt all pleases and thank yous..
I am a customer not a solicitor over the phone selling you something.
Totally unacceptable.
they wont keep my business..
I am closing my account ASAP.
Good riddance...
Before they got bought out they were better..but not by much.
I've had this issue several times in the last few years but this time it was an emergency for me to have my card and this is unreal.
Then there is the issue of being locked out of the app constantly but that isnt that big of a deal.
Basically, i'd say, every other bank is better.
I opened an Online Savings acct with First Foundation Bank (FFB) and had $1000 transferred from my other Bank's checking account as part of account opening process. Afterwards, I was able to link the SAME outside checking account with my FFB savings account to transfer more funds to FFB. Soon thereafter I received an email from FFB stating my new transfer is on hold until I send them copies of two bank statements from the other bank to verify my identity. I called FFB and the Rep stated my account was being handled by their fraud dept. What??? I asked to be transferred to their fraud dept and spoke to the Rep and she stated that if I don't want to provide 2 statements, they can also accept 1 from the other bank. I stated that $1000 had already been transferred earlier from the SAME outside account without any issues as part of the account opening process, but she stated it was their policy. I transferred my money out of FFB back into my other bank's checking and closed my FFB account. They were making me jump through too many hoops and I didn't have the patience for it anymore.
UPDATE: Opened savings acct with Vio bank on 8/9/2023 and transferred funds from outside bank to Vio. No need to submit any proof of outside bank's statements like FFB had asked me to. Vio bank has been much easier to deal with. But I am not endorsing any bank over the other. FFB did not work out for me. It probably is a good bank. Hopefully it works out for you.
Signing up wasnt too bad. I realize all the identity valudation is necessary but I needed to verify something and was using on line chat. I finally gave up after waiting 50 minutes! While waiting for them I was also on hold on the phone waiting for an agent and the call got disconnected twice!!! I finally got someone on the phone and closed the useless chat. I felt like closing the account right then and there but I was afraid my money would get stuck in limbo that was being transferred from another bank. Better be worth my trouble.
Contrary to older reviews, online account set up was fast & straightforward. Pleasantly surprised that Initial deposit was credited the same day it left the external bank. 4.85% APR is currently among the highest. They have a local branch which gave me additional confidence to open the account.
I check my online accounts frequently. One day this month their login didn’t work on my phone app but did work on my laptop. I reported the problem by phone. The person from my local branch answered immediately and reported the problem which has since been fixed.
Prior to opening the account I called customer service with a question but primarily to see if they would answer quickly. They did and were informative.
The account is new but so far I’m glad I opened the account.
Dropped from 4.50% to 4.40% APY, online savings or money market. Simple yield 4.31%.
For first time account deposits, they take 10 business days to clear the money to make it available to you (very slow!)
Their systems are slow to post transactions. Even though they say that Zelle transactions are availalble to use instantly, it will show as Pending and get cleared in a day or 2. During this time, if you transfer the money out (internally or externally), they add a Pending Overdraft charge, which you hope and pray will drop off.
Their response to this - we know that our systems are slow
Opened account with them beginning of March and was happy that they do not do a hard credit pull. Initial funds went in quickly. Had a couple of issues. 1. on 2nd time adding funds I was advised that I needed to provide a bank statement with my name listed (as apparently the info they had just had my wife name as the sole owner of the account. Not sure why this was not caught when I set up the account and deposited several $k which already posted to the new account). I contacted Customer Service was given info on how to quickly handle and within 2 days it was done on their end. 2. When going to add funds the 2nd time again was told that they needed to make two micro deposits and I needed to verify. Huh??? Didn't I do that when I made the initial deposit??? Anyway went though that process which took another couple of days but since then NO issues at all. Their website is better than any of my other online banks and funds get moved and post quickly. As long as their rates remain near the top I have no plans to leave. Customer Service was quick to answer and at least seemed knowledgeable.
08/02/2023 - 4+ months in since opening and everything has been smooth as silk with them after initial small issues when first opened.
10/19/2023 - 6+ months in contacted CS Service with couple of questions. wait time not great but got questions answered and by very friendly CS Service Rep. Still no issues moving funds in or out. Can't find a bad thing to say about this bank so far.
The worse bank so far…..
It’s a hassle to open bank account to bring them huge amount of money , specially today, when banks are not in the best position !!!! LOL
Can you imagine if you want to get credit from them ????
Extremely unprofessional . I should trust negative reviews before gave to the bank all sensitive information .
Just pick another bank….
I've had a horrible experience with this bank and advise anyone considering this as their online bank to look elsewhere. First of all their application process makes it very difficult to get "verified". I applied 3 times for an account but only after emailing their customer service I was able to get approved. This should have been a red flag for me right away but I just shrugged it off as them being extra cautious. After a month with them they suspended my account for external transfers. Emailing them only got a reply that I need to call their customer service number for help with that. Their customer service is ridiculously hard to get ahold of on the phone. And are either completely incompetent or just give you a BS answer to move on to the next person. I believe that there are times when they simply don't answer the calls. It's hard to believe but I was customer "first in queue" for more than 40 minutes until I just decided to hang up. This has happened more than 5 times.?? The two times I did get ahold of someone they simply told me they'd look into it or speak with their manager and call me back. No calls after 1 week, no call backs regarding my voice-mails, phone system doesn't let me receive a call back when waiting even though I dial "2" as instructed, no one cares at this bank. I'm sure their customer service at their actual bank locations is good but their "online bank accounts customer service" is horrible. I tried speaking to someone at one of the bank locations, only to be told to call their online account customer service, which is almost non existent. Thank goodness they mailed me an ATM card and I was slowly able to withdraw my money. Avoid this bank, learn from my mistakes.
The initial account approval/opening occurred fairly quickly for me and I thought things were on the right track. But then the initial funding trial deposits didn't occur and I couldn't get external accounts to connect due to some sort of info mismatch. I suspected a titling issue on First Foundation's end, based on what I saw in their online interface vs. what I had entered on my application. But when calling customer service at the phone number listed online, which ends up being an outsourced rep from FiServ, I couldn't get a straight answer on the account title nor how to have it corrected and was instead directed to call yet another number, which while also listed was in my estimation the brick and mortar bank's number. But I was assured this was the right number to get assistance. Wouldn't you know it, that group told me they don't handle the online accounts and that I had to call some other number, a third which interestingly is not listed anywhere. Despite this being very dubious, I called that number and was on hold for a while before being forced to leave a message. At the time there was no way to send a secure message to the banking staff via the online interface. I could have tried emailing them as they had an external email address listed (along with the evidently useless phone number), but I decided to not spend any more energy trying to get someone to care. Fast forward a few months later and still no call back. Never mind that they also haven't automatically followed up/reached out to me regarding the trial deposits they originated that have yet to post and the zero balance I still have, which goes against their account opening policy. It seems First Foundation is a bank that can't properly title an account according to a customer application, won't work to internally direct or escalate such an issue to the proper staff upon speaking with a customer via phone, can't be bothered to publish the appropriate phone number for online accounts, won't return a phone call regarding something so fundamental, and generally just doesn't care what happens with your account. I guess it's a good thing that none of my funds ever made it into their hands to begin with.
Tried to update beneficiary information, for 2 weeks they still could not get it correct. The Docu-Sign template used was terrible the cells to enter information was for Social Sec. on all fields except the first line. Withdrew all money and will close account after 2 good years. 2 weeks to update beneficiary info? Ridiculous.
I did also have problems opening an account on-line in So Ca. Had problems getting my sign on to work and was on the phone for hours. Went to branch to get my DL scanned and sent to on-line folks. Now always do transactions in branch, do not take a risk with on-line transfer limits. Just a pain opening the account on-line almost 2 years ago.
Do appreciate the increase in the interest rate, almost unexpected based upon their prior rate history. This bank caters mainly to high balance wealth management folks I think. YMMV.
After years of wonderful service from First Florida Integrity Bank which has now merged to become First Foundation, I am extremely dissatisfied. Customer Service if you can get them in person to talk to, were helpful only to a point. They did activate my debit card for me since I am out of the country. They were either incompetent or unwilling to give me a PIN for the card. I have had my card activated since June 16, but can only use it for online purchases. If I don't have a PIN I can not use it in any ATMs. I was told that since I now have an activated card, I would be able to use there automated services to get a PIN. Not so......the messages I get on all of their phones is "they are sorry, they are unable to help me and to call Customer or Member Services". What exactly is that number???? Nowhere can I find a phone number called Customer or Member Services. I have used their customer service email on numerous occasions and have never received an answer. I am slowly moving all my money and banking services elsewhere and once that is accomplished, I will close this account. Too bad they don't seem to be reading all of the really lousy customer complaints.
Im a very lazy person, so the fact that I registered with this website just to complain should really tell you something.
This is the worst online account creation system Ive ever seen in my life. The instructions came out of order and were unclear. With customer service, you will either get decent help, or be on hold forever and then transferred to voicemail.
All I want is to be able to Zelle money to my savings account and then leave it alone for years.
It should not be this difficult.
This is the most basic possible thing to do with a bank, and yet its frustrating.
Get it together First Foundation Bank.
Application process is whimsical and unreliable.
Teaser interest rate not worth the hassle.
.
I’ve had online banks accounts for at least 15 years starting with Goldman Sachs that is now Marcus Bank. Their rates are no longer competitive IMO.
That being said 1.65% is not worth the total time I’ve spent on the phone with them, mostly on hold, for many hours between application problems and deposit time frames. When I made my initial ACH deposit, FF withdrew the money from my external bank account and deposited it on the same day into FF account. It was done on a Friday 7/8 both withdrawal and deposit. I did a 2nd ACH transfer, once again initiating transfer from FF website on Friday July 15th. FF took the money out of my external bank on July 15 and didn’t deposit it until July 18 into FF. So I lost at least 2 or 3 days of interest. ACH transfers can take 3-5 business days but when I’ve initiated transfers in the past from other banks, I always initiate the transfer from the bank I’m depositing the money into. That way I have never lost interest. I have lost interest if I do an ACH withdrawal from one bank and deposit into another. Withdrawal and deposit can be different days. When I called to complain, they asked if the transfer was done on a Friday, I said yes, they said well it can take 3-5 business days. I informed them the first ACH was also on a Friday and then they told me that was because it was the initial funding.
**** ALSO VERY IMPORTANT, while your money accrues daily and posts monthly, if you move any money out of the bank during any day of the month, except the 1st of the month, you will lose interest on the money you withdraw for the entire month. That's not how all banks work. If you don't believe it ask them, they even acknowledged that's not how all banks work. Also make sure you don't close the account within 90 days, they will charge you $20 to close. Take everything out from an external bank site using ACH on the first of the month.
As one reviewer put it, THIS BANK IS A JOKE. E*trade you can get 1.4% and Citizens Access is 1.75%. They're a division of Citizens Bank which has been around at least for 40 years. Customer service isn’t what it used to be anywhere but at least with the other banks I’ve mentioned it’s much easier to reach someone especially Conmexus Credit Union. Connexus excellent customer service. I opened a one year CD for 2.25%, that was a special and no longer offered. They do have a lot of new help there so don’t hesitate to ask for supervisor if person does not seem knowledgeable. Actually do that at any place of business since most CSR's seem to be clueless today and they all give the same spiel, "a supervisor will tell you the same thing I'm telling you". WRONG, there's a reason supervisors get paid more and are your superior. They have more knowledge and access to more tools that lower level CSR's do not.
PS Why do review websites always put 4 or 5 star reviews on top when their not the most recent reviews. You have to click on the tab for the most recent reviews and that’s when you really see how INCOMPETENT this bank is. STAY AWAY, RUN from FIRST FOUNDATION.
First Foundation Bank
Tried to open a new savings account. Would not save info unless all entries accepted. Application would time out before I could locate all my personal data. Several times I had to start all over.
Called for help and was put on hold for over 2 hours and when call was finally answered got message “Sorry were are having system problems, please call back later”. Tried again the next day and after 2 hours the person did not have ability to give me an answer so got transferred. Waited another hour and got my answer.
Then got online to see my new account and found they did not include a joint account or a POD. My online account web page appeared very unprofessional, like the saving account was just an afterthought. I called again and was referred to a client service manager who was very knowledgeable and emailed a form to add my joint account. Sent it back called back and told she was on vacation for a week. I talked to my financial advisor about all the above and he said my time was too valuable to waste it on this bank. I had not yet verified my 2 small ACH deposits so the account was not funded. I was advised to cancel the account because I did not need all the stress.
I have tried for 9 days to set up a savings account with this bank. Filled out application on line. Received email account was approved but needed government photo ID’s. Sent them same day of request and not heard from bank since. I have sent 4 or 5 emails to newcustomer email address. No response. Called three or four times and had to leave message with phone # for call back. No response. Notified bank by email to day to forget about my account. If a business is so sorry that they cannot respond to a potential new customer, how irresponsible would they be about other things, especially handling you finances.
I would advise anyone to not patronize First Foundation. Worst experience I have ever had with any business. Why they did not jump on an account that was going to invest a quarter of a million dollars and the investor has a credit score rating of 849 blows my mind. Had to give bank a one star in order to post. It is not worth one star.
UPDATE:
notwithstanding my initial poor experience, I contacted the local Oakland, CA branch by phone and the helpful lady was able to go into my application and add beneficiary's SSN and opened my account right away, she gave me her direct branch number to contact her in the future if any problem arise..... one time when I called her though I didn't leave a message, she even called back based on my caller ID, I think that is very responsive customer service
I also called their online phone center again the next week, they must have fixed their phones as a nice day answered the phone and helped me register for online access
when my wife opened her account later we made sure to put in beneficiary's SSN this time and the account opening and funding was smooth
we have no problem with our accounts so far and transferring money is straight forward, in case there is any problem, I can always call the local branch and based on my experience I trust they will give excellent help
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ORIGINAL REVIEW:
here is my lousy experience with this bank trying to open an account:
-applied online on 6-20, at the end of the application shows a page with approval and new account number, also received confirmation email of account opening
-on 6-25, received email they denied my account because either ID not received, ID expired, or ID not of valid image.... none of this is true as I uploaded at application time front and back of my still non-expired driver license taken with camera (not scanned) as they required
-undaunted, and giving them benefit of the doubt, I applied again on same day on 6-25, this time they only required front ID and the ID upload page also looked different, so I thought they have made some adjustment to their website to fix some problem..... again received approval and account number and email confirmation
-8 days later, 7-3, received email that application is denied for reason SSN of beneficiary is not provided, even though SSN is optional on their application and at other banks SSN are also optional for beneficiary
-today, 7-5, thinking I could call to sort this out, pressed option 3 for online account opening, after 2 hour hold going from queue position 8 to 1 and finally heard a ring tone thinking I am being connected, lo and behold I got this message "We are currently experiencing system problems and unable to process you call, please try again later" and got hung up........I CALLED THREE TIMES TODAY with two different phones, ALL GOT HUNG UP AFTER 2 HOURS HOLD EACH TIME !!!
What is confusing is that at first they granted approval and even provided new account numbers but after a few days emailed denials on two occasions, they seriously need to revamp their account opening procedures...not to mention their very unreliable phone contacts.
I am a patient person as you can see I tried applying on two occasions and called them three times trying to resolve the issue.... I am really trying to stick with this bank because they seem to have good financial rating "A" and have a nearby branch, but due to their incompetency and confusing practice I am giving up
APYGuy said it best...its as if it was me that wrote his review! EXACT same things happened, without question parking money with an institution like this who isn't responsive makes no sense when there is a hard stop in getting my funds out in small increments of 20k with at least a 3 day settlement.
To those who haven't started the application process consider another online account. They are all coming out of the woodwork fighting one another to have the right to your money! You'll find the right fit. Need to do a review of my own and score them a one star to make sure I accurately represent my experience too. Thanks for sharing APY Guy. Validates my misery and hopefully helps save others in the process.
With a 1.65% rate being one of the highest around, I decided to apply for their high yield online savings account. I liked the fact that they also have some physical locations in my state. So I fill the application out with every bit of sensitive, personal information they request (more than other banks I have dealt with), including that of my beneficiary and the funding setup. Shortly after submitting the application I receive a confirmation email stating my application has been approved. Great right, well not really.
A few days go by and I see the funds never left my funding account, I also had not received any other emails or correspondence from First Foundation or my funding bank. I decide to give them (FF) a call. After waiting in queue for entirely too long I choose the call back option. A couple hours go by, no call back. I call them again, and again on hold in queue for longer than I'm willing to admit to, and once again I choose the call back option. Here we are several days later and still no call back from them. I also tried emailing them with same result, nothing.
I am glad that, for whatever reason, the account doesn't seem to have been funded and opened. But I do regret giving them so much personal information. I would hate to have my $$$ tied up with a bank like First Foundation Bank, who in my experience appears to have the worst customer support of any institution I have ever dealt with.
On line set up was not an easy process. First application was rejected because I scanned my driver license instead of taking a photo and uploading to them(they didn't let me know the reason my application was denied until I called). They won't let you scan your ID. So I submitted a second application and took an iPhone photo of my passport and sent to them by email and it was approved. However, there still was a delay in getting account set up so I called customer service. I left a call back number and they called back after about 3 hours later. Then they had a problem identifying my wife's SS number on the application. So I had to send them a photo of her SS card. Then they had a computer problem and had to call back. Finally, the problem was resolved and the account was set up.Their website is very easy to use.
1. During signup an optional beneficiary can be specified. When providing the beneficiary's information, there's an optional field for SSN (other fields are mandatory). I didn't provide an SSN. After submitting my application I received notice that my account application was denied and that the beneficiary's SSN is required. Their email said I needed to start from scratch and fill out a new application. However, after spending over an hour on the phone to get a hold of a customer service rep, I was able to get them to remove the beneficiary from my existing application and continue opening the account.
2. After my application was approved, I waited and waited for an email to complete initial funding, which involves verifying two deposits at another financial institution. Despite my account having been opened 4 days ago, no deposits have been made and I have not received any email in order to validate those deposits, despite First Foundation saying in other emails to me that they've already sent it. I emailed the bank asking about this email and how to validate my external account and have gotten no response after four days.
This bank is a joke. If it's this hard to open an account and fund it, I can only imagine how ridiculous it would be trying to deal with the bank in making large withdrawals or for other issues. Stay away unless you don't mind wasting your time dealing with incompetency.
Update: Even better! Dec 2022
FF's been raising rates to be in the top 5 regularly. When I get the urge to look at depositaccounts and think about rate chasing, I wait less than a week, and they've raised. Now 4% APY.
Raised ACH limits to a very reasonable 100k a day, 250k a month. They have a fast transfer that's also free for 5k max a day. My gripe is that the standard transfers take 4-5 days to credit. When a family member exceeded the check deposit rate, they raised for the day a couple of times.
I've had more interactions with newaccounts when I needed something and to open for family. Always prompt and helpful and effective. I still prefer them to chat & messaging (that seems not as effective.)
This is fun. I leave my funds, and have to do nothing to keep getting top interest. I haven't seen any fees.
They've added some helpful features. The credit score report has good info. The link to your other accounts is nice and gives totals, but a tad glitchy at updating a couple of my accounts. But it's nice to have one place to open and see what's happening at all my accounts from credit union to 401k (shows the daily transactions.)
_________________________________
Original review
FF's rate's been consistently higher than other banks. They went down after I opened, but so did everyone else and they were still higher. They've just raised to 1.65% when everyone else is at 1% or .7%. They're A or A+ rated.
The time I needed to add higher amounts (or was it remove?), I got a wire fee waver and it was done promptly.
I tried ACH at first but each limit doesn't open up until the last ACH has fully cleared, so it takes too long. I use my broker (who has high limits) to push pull larger amounts if needed, without problems.
The customer service is mixed. Some interactions go smoothly. Others not so well. The online messaging person isn't very good. Chat wasn't very clear either. Tone's are cheery though.
You need to ask for the new accounts dept.
Recently needed to deposit a large check. New accounts raised my mobile limit for the day.
Mostly my funds sit there and I do nothing, so it's worked well for me!
Their web account is clunky, but it works.
Application requires drivers license. By photo. NOT scanned. I do photo and attach.
Somehow "unreadable" at its end. Representative says copied on home office copier paper is acceptable. I mail in US mail within Southern California AND send by fax, to person at address given.
A week later neither is supposedly received (!) Application denied.
You do not want to leave any deposits in such a place as they, too, could become not found.
Wealth Management? What a mistake!! Take your investments (Trust) to another bank. BE AWARE! Poor management, high fees, and you will need legal counsel to pull out. HIGH RISK for potential investers.
Same experience as "bankcustomer" - can't seem to ID people...
Any bank with this many review can't be good.