| 5 star: | (0) | |
| 4 star: | (0) | |
| 3 star: | (2) | |
| 2 star: | (1) | |
| 1 star: | (24) |
I have to add my two cents to what everybody else is saying. They advertise one of the highest yield 6 month CDs. The application has you funding it all at the same time then after hearing nothing back, no emails, nothing for a week Total claims you don’t have an account with them. All the malarkey starts after the money you transferred over to them posts from your funding account. This will go on for some time until they say your account has been closed after they’ve been saying you don’t have an account with them.. I had Capital One claw back my money. . Read the rest of these reviews to see what else they’ll pull after you transfer your money..
TotalDirectBank reels you in with juicy advertised rates, then runs you through a gauntlet of personal information requests that no other financial institution or government agency has ever asked for in my experience, and then denies your application with no explanation. My financial house is in order and I have never been denied credit, let alone a bank account. So I called the customer service team to find out why I was denied and to see if I could provide them with the information necessary to resolve the situation. They refused to provide any rationale for the denial and then actually suggested going through the whole portal process again to "see if it works this time." When I pushed back on that silly suggestion, the rep. further stated that humans do not intervene on denials at this bank. All accounts must successfully pass through the portal; otherwise, nothing else can be done to open an account. So apparently humans are not running this bank and if you make it through the front end of their convoluted process, good luck getting your money out on the back end. Keep shopping. There are better options.
Will not accept any ID! I tried multiple times but they refused all id. Complete lying crook! Do not give them your business
How to even begin!? What a nightmare and absolute scam! I opened my account 4 months ago. I've tried with my bank to set up a transfer to/from this account. It would not work. Come to find out from my bank, their routing number ONLY allows you to put money in THEIR bank. YOU CANNOT transfer money out!!! Never, nope. The only way is to close your account. Sure, interest rate is good, but if you need that money EVER? Don't open an account, don't do it!! Also the customer service staff have to tell you complete bullshit and lies about how it was my banks fault that couldn't get the money out until after hours of calls back and forth between my bank and them(this is not an exaggeration, it was hours!) finally they explained their routing number is only for inbound funds and they should have ACH transfer out of their accounts coming in Q4 or something of this year. Whatever. Stay far far away!!! I would give negative stars if it was allowed.
I applied online for a CD with high rate and got declined. They asked for lengthy info including ssn, photo of driver license, and scan your face left and right which is not normal for opening a bank account, but eventually declined my application saying due to ID failure. No explanation was given. Now I really felt scammed and scared that they stole my personal info for illegal use. I have credit score over 800 and have accounts with various major banks. Avoid this bank!! Don't open an account with them!!
I applied, online, for a CD account at this bank. Like no other bank I've ever experienced, I had to submit front and back pics of my drivers license, then pose, in front of my camera, for head-on and side pics of my face. After that, and submitting all of the usual info, I was told I had completed my application. Ten minutes later, I received an email letting me know my application was DECLINED! What? I have a FICO of 830, and bank accounts all over the US, with ample funds on deposit.
I deeply regret applying to this bank. Read other reviews, here. I have grave misgivings that this bank may be a front for identity theft. Via their application process, they get enough data to come up with AI forms of you and your ID.
I would urge you to look elsewhere. You've been WARNED!
For your 6-Month CD, we are currently offering an interest rate of 5.601% with an annual percentage yield of 5.76%.
I tried to apply for Total's short term CDs but was denied. I see they did a soft pull which revealed I froze my accounts on a fraud alert which may have caused the denial which was good in my case. The minimum for a CD is high plus their interest rate is simple interest which pays less interest than lesser rate CDs giving you the traditional compound interest.
Not only did I have to supply a photo ID in the appliation process, but I also had to provide pictures looking left and right. I felt as if I was going to jail next, so I picked up my deposit and ran.
8/2/2023. I set up an account with Total Direct Bank and linked to my Wells Fargo account. I did the deposit of $25k to get the higher interested rate.
Not sure who is responsible for this, but the transfer limits are $5k per transfer and $6k per month (not a typo).
So if I want my money back, I will spend 5 months transferring it out - all of which will be at next to zero interest because I will have less than $25k after the first transfer.
This needs to change.
I tried 4 times to go through their byzantine online application process, with drivers license, passport, digging up house numbers and zip codes from 20 years ago. They do not want my money.
For the record: 800+ credit score, flawless record. Try Upgrade Bank or CFG Bank instead.
Opening a Savings/Money Market account in Total Direct Bank is too messy and complicated.
An year back I opened an account and moved the funds out since the UI was bad and doing transactions was difficult. That account was closed automatically.
Again I opened an account in May 2023 and I was unable to login. I had use a different email. Even after that unable to login. Called CS 3+ times unable to login and fund the account!!
These operations, what other banks were able to do it in a breeze, with totaldirect bank is too messy and takes too much time to waste!! Not. user friendly process in opening, funding and accessing the bank accounts!!
Beware that transfers in and out of the Direct Money Market account can ONLY be originated through your linked bank account. My account at Frost bank allows transfers in but NOT back out. I only became aware of this limitation AFTER my $25,000 was transferred to Total Direct. It has NOW been almost 4 weeks that my money has been held hostage. Frost Bank has been trying to contact Total Direct Bank with no success. This has been such a TOTAL NIGHTMARE. Total Direct Bank needs to be reported and shut down!!!
After going though hoops to apply, including submitting a face scan from my phone, I get the following message,
"Thank you for applying for an account with us at TotalDirectBank.
We regret to inform you that we cannot approve your new account application.
We are unable to provide additional information."
WTH? You can't tell me why I wasn't approved? I have over half a dozen bank accounts with over an 800 credit score and they didn't approve me and WONT say why? I'll be contacting Florida and federal banking regulators about this. If a financial institution denies you credit, they are required to explain why.
MY MONEY IS STUCK AT Total Direct Bank (TDB) BECAUSE CITIbank only will link external accounts that have 3rd party data access (such as PLAID). And you can't link an external account using TDB's website. Truly sucks.
Opening an account and dealing with this bank has been the worst experience ever.
1) First they open the account with well over a week delay (despite pulling the opening deposit from the funding bank within a day).
2) Then once the account is open, online banking does not allow registration. Repeated calling always resulted in "there is a known error and the data is just not pulling through. We will try again overnight".
3) So almost three weeks after application, it finally works, I can log in and notice that the opening deposit was credited a full week later than it had been pulled from opening bank.
4) But that's not enough, there is also no external ACH transfer system. So how do they expect me to actually put money into that account?
5) So I try to link the account with rtg and acct number from my hub account. Trial deposits just do not seem to arrive. Try again a week later, they actually reject the trial deposits with some error code that my hub account bank has to inform me of.
6) Try to log in to TotalDirect online banking - now locked out. Have to call them. Do that three times - answer is "there is something wrong with our online banking - try again tomorrow".
7) Never works again, so I keep calling every day, and finally get through to somebody more competent who now says that they need a phot of my drivers license to unblock the account. Fine - provided. Oh but no... No acknowledgement of receiving the document, only a couple of days later a letter stating account has been closed.
In summary: I have no idea what's wrong with this bank, but their processes are from the 1980s at best, completely incompetent staff, and not even any idea how this bank manages to have any customers.
WORST. BANK. EVER. Stay far away!
Does anyone know of any changes to this bank - mergers, etc.?
Trying to open a new MM account. My plan was to have a maturing CD in October at TDB transferred to this new account. The application process went smoothly enough and micro deposits were sent to BofA for the ACH transfer to open the account. TDB has taken the funds out of BofA and this morning is no longer showing as pending at BofA but I have no idea where the money is because I have no account number and nothing showing online to my already set up online banking where I can view my CD. I realize they must be busy with such a great rate but obviously can’t handle the additional business. I called yesterday and was told once they’ve received my funds I’d get an email with the account number but still nothing. I’ve opened dozens of new accounts the past few years and have always had the account number provided at the end of applying. This is really unacceptable. I was planning on adding more to the account once initial funding was complete but now I doubt I’ll do that. The unprofessionalism and unpreparedness for the new influx of business is unacceptable.
UPDATE 9-18-22 So on 9-14-22 at 8:30 PM I did get an email that I received my new account number via secure message, BUT here I am a full week after the initial application not able to view my account online along with my CD. I have sent 2 emails and then phoned them regarding this on 9-16-22 and was told I’d be able to view the account online on 9-17-22. Still nothing so I am not able to link any new accounts to pull new funds into TDB. The interest rate is good but really, I just don’t think it’s worth the hassle. I’m worried what’s going to happen when my CD matures there mid October. Not sure I trust them with my money.
Tried to open an account. Got username and password. Micro deposits were apparently made to 2 external accounts, but not absolutely sure as identified only as prelim.com. Able to log on a few times then nothing. Total fail, seems even my email address has been purged from there system. Called three times and emailed twice, no response to emails and quit call after 70 minute hold time. I will say that I have tried 7 of these high yield online banks and these issues seem to be common.
Tried to setup a money market account, setup initial deposit. Got no response other than to confirm my email. Money pulled from my external account, emailed them multiple times on how to access, no response. Called 2 days ago (8 days after setup, 5 days after funds taken out of other account), waited on hold over an hour. they said accounts were taking "a long time to setup". Called back 2 days later, they said they cancelled my account setup, never sent me any notification of any kind and that I needed to do an ACH recall from my other bank. I have never dealt with a bank like this, stay away from these guys.
No answers from their customer services.
Fees listed below:
There are also many additional restrictions and what I would consider hidden fees.
I always look at the fee schedule for accounts I am interested in. All I have to say about this bank is.....Holy Hanna! My other banks do not charge these fees and if they did I definitely would have had to pay a lot!
Miscellaneous Service Charges for Total Direct Bank Account Holders
Account Research/Reconcilement (Hourly Rate) $30.00
Cashier’s Checks $30.00
Collections (Domestic) Incoming $20.00
Outgoing $20.00
Consulate Letters $5.00
Deposited Items Returned (per item) $12.00
Deposited Items Re-Submitted (per item) $10.00
Dormant Account Fee (monthly fee) $25.00
Overdraft (OD) Funds Paid Item Fee $37.00
Uncollected Funds Paid Item Fee $37.00
Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF) Returned Item Fee $37.00
Uncollected Funds Returned Item Fee $37.00
Legal Order Processing Fee $125.00
Returned Mail (per statement) $20.00
Stop Payment Order
(per item) $30.00
Sustained Overdraft Balance Fee $20.00
Overdraft Protection Transfer Fee (per transfer) $10.00
Temporary Accounts (Accounts Closed within 6 months of opening) $25.00
Wire Transfers Domestic / International Incoming $15.00
I have called Total Direct (City National) 5 times to fix a problem that won't let me enroll in online banking. To make it even more frustrating, each time I call I have to wait between 30 and 60 minutes for someone to answer. Yesterday, I waited for an hour at which point the call disconnected. I hung up after calling back and waiting an additional 40 minutes. Today was the 5th time that a rep told me that the "back office" will fix the problem and to try enrolling tomorrow morning.
Update: My CD matured today and I called to move the funds to a different bank. That was at 8:40 am. It is now 2 p.m. and the move still hasn't been authorized because no one bothered to tell me everything I needed to know and do. Customer service is very polite but not well trained on processes.
Unable to open a CD from this bank on their website. Tried twice, once as an individual and once as joint account. After taking 15 minutes each time to fill in all the info, I get a message saying that I cant open an account or a CD online. Shouldnt be this difficult to open an account on an online bank. I should not have to call the bank to open an account.