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Had 2 CD's that matured last week. Had the funds transferred to their MM. Started transferring money out to multiple higher yielding MM's. They hit me with $60 in excess debit fees, my fault for not checking in advance. I did get them to refund $40 since they had never refunded any fees to me, but for some reason they wouldn't refund the remaining $20? So I opened a checking account to get the money out of there without the excess debit fees. Reg D and the limited withdrawals has been suspended by the Fed, but some banks just like charging fees.
With recent increases in interest rates, I decided to open several different high-yield savings accounts with smaller, lesser-known banks. All fdic insured. Salem Five Direct, being one of the older institutions, led me to expect superior and more established service. However, my experience with them turned out to be the worst compared to any other bank I have ever worked with in my life!
To start, after I opened a high-yield savings account online and indicated my intention to transfer a substantial sum, they conducted a hard credit pull on me, citing random slection, which left me quite disappointed and questioning its legality. I prefer basic security features like email notifications and text messages, but none of these options were available with this bank; they solely communicated through secure messages.
Fast forward four months, I checked my balance one day, only to find that my account had disappeared entirely. There were no paper trails or statements. Everything was gone! No email from them. Frankly, I panicked. Unfortunately, the bank didn't have a 24/7 hotline, and when I finally managed to contact them, a representative informed me that they had closed my account and sent me a check. Their reason was an identity verification issue, which they attempted to address with just one message on their portal that I missed, leading to the abrupt account closure. No email or no phone communication.I found it astonishing that they couldn't have reached out via email or phone. This entire experience, from start to finish, was the worst customer service I've encountered. I strongly advise against using this bank. Smallest and less known banks offer way better service.
i tried to move my money out because rates didn’t keep up and found out they cap outbound ACH transfers to $5,000 a day. So I used my other bank to pull the ACH transaction and they denied the transfer and wanted me to send them extra paperwork to prove that I owned the account. Mind you I already set up the connection with the “trial deposits.” Also app sucks and doesn’t show your interest rate in the app.
I applied to open eSaving account at Salem Five Direct 2 weeks ago and they instantly opened me account as promised. Two weeks latter I get notification that #1 my account is locked since they need some more random documents that prove my address ?? # They put a hard credit pull on my Equifax credit report ?? I specifically called them before to verify there is no hard credit pull and it doesn't state anywhere during the application they perform one. Somehow right now after they performed a pull on my account they state that yes they do it when you open the SAVINGS account. So long story short if you dont want a mark on your credit report for 2 years stay away from this bank with their misleading practices. Also during the account opening I initiated a transfer of funds in and to this point Im confused on what came out of it. The support is not great. So I opened 3 high yield saving account in very small banks in the past year, this one is the worst experience by far. Stay away...
I have had many checking accounts over the years and wanted to open another one to use as a bill pay source. I have never heard of an institution running a hard credit pull for a basic product before. My credit score dropped nearly 30 points and also saw an inquiry for a mortgage as well. It is outlined in the disclosure, but regardless it is NOT common practice for a bank to pull credit for a basic account. Needless to say the checking account was declined due to a low credit score, I assume.
I signed up for Salem Five because I was looking for an additional high-yield online savings account and I recognized the local name.
Very surprised to find they have a very strict limit on external transfers. Specifically, $5,000 (in either direction!) and a rolling limit of just a few transfers per month. I already have accounts with Emigrant (MySavingsDirect) and Citizens (Access) which have no limit at all, and LendingClub which can increase their limit upon request after a few months.
So now I know Salem Five is more of an old-fashioned bank that expects you to write checks or initiate an ACH from another bank or something if you need to withdraw significant money, rather than a modern online savings account where I can move funds around with just a few clicks.
I opted not to fund this account, and customer service was helpful in closing it.
Your rate should on an open daily savings account should reflect their current rate for that account without one having to jump through hoops or be a researcher to find out if the bank rate went up but your account didn't because you are an existing customer.
I made an account with Deposit Accounts with the sole purpose of warning people.
This "bank" is a scam. They limit the amount of money you can transfer... but only after you deposit waaay more than the limit. So if you deposit 200K you can't get that money out. You can only transfer $20K/month
Nowhere did it warn of this before funding of the account.
Also, setting up the account in the first place was cumbersome. glitches all over the place. The "open account" sign in is different than the "online banking sign in". super weird
Trying to get someone on the phone? don't bother. "the estimated wait time is... 44 mins"
Note: Interesting idea (from another poster) of using a pull request from another bank to get around this, I'm going to have to try that. otherwise it's legal action
Be aware --- after you jump through the hoops and get an eSavings account with that good rate that got your attention:
When they raise the rate on eSavings, not only will they NOT raise YOUR rate, they won't even tell you that the rate has been raised. Unlike other online banks which email you about how proud they are to have raised your rate again, this bank keeps the whole rate raise a secret. If you discover the rate has gone up, you can e-mail them and ask for an increase to the current rate, and after a week or so they might get back to you and tell you that the new rate is for NEW accounts, but since you asked, they'll raise your rate as a favor. Or maybe not.
The top of their home page says that they are overwhelmed by phone and messages, and it'll take a while for them to get back to you. They're not kidding.
I am not able to use the app. It keeps saying that my information can not be authenticated. I log in on the website but not on the app. I called to have the issue fixed and spoke to a supervisor. She kept telling me that I was entering the wrong login information. I told her how can that be possible if my login information worked on the site? I also told her there must be an issue with the app and she said no there was not. She kept blaming me. The whole discussion made no sense. The interest rate is no longer competitive also. There are several banks with a better rate. I'm not a happy customer.
I've been reasonably happy with my Salem Five Direct account since they've always been willing to adjust the rate on my existing accounts whenever they have a "new money" promotion but one big selling point for me was that they had Masachussetts DIF in addition to FDIC insurance.
They just sent me a letter saying that they are getting out of DIF though the insurer has agreed to cover existing funds for one more year.
Opened a new account yesterday.
Talked to a CSR gal today. Unsuccessfully tried to spell my email multiple times. Finally she told me that the word “SIERRA' starts with ‘C’ and I have to say ‘SAM’ instead.
It feels scary!
First off the online banking is terrible second they charge you if for attempted over draft. If you don't have a line of credit through stay away. Bank is Terrible!!