Equity Bank is headquartered in ANDOVER and is the 4th largest bank in the state of Kansas. It is also the 278th largest bank in the nation. It was established in 1985 and as of December of 2023, it had grown to 713 employees at 66 locations. Equity Bank's money market rates are 7X the national average, and it has a B+ health rating.
Great Rate But Difficult To Close Money Market Account
I discovered their Luminary Money Market account and invested in 2023. It was quite easy to open the account and to set up online transfers; however each ACH transfer from their platform costs $2.55 which is quite unusual. I asked for a set of checks and they sent a very generous supply.
My wife and I agreed that all our accounts should be JOINT and there was no way to convert my MMA with them to a joint account, so I called to close it. I was told to move all the funds out and then call to close the account, which I did. However I got a letter in the mail that I had overdrawn by $2.55 - the ACH transfer fee - so I had to mobile deposit a check. I messaged them asking to close the account and was told they would. However the account stayed open with $1.73 interest added and a $10 monthly below-balance service charge added. Calling a 3rd time they waived the $8.27 deficit and finally closed the account!
If I had been able to make it a joint account, I would have kept it and enjoyed the flexibility of occasionally writing large value checks on it at times that I would not want to charge my regular checking account.
They now offer a Surge MMA with 5.35% APY which is quite good.
Great regional bank.
I originally was a customer of this bank when they were still called First Community Bank. Since the bank was changed, they have become more modernized and efficient. I am able to check my balances and make account changes online without issue. They are also very responsive to phonecalls and emails. In person the staff is very friendly and helpful. The only downside is they still lack some of the features that other banks have. My wife and I both have checking and savings accounts with Equity. I have used both accounts for many years and have no issues with depositing or withdrawing money. I love that the website shows when money is scheduled to be posted to the account and when it is to be withdrawn. There are no hidden fees or extra service charges with our accounts so we don't have to worry about using the debt card we have. Also the theft prevention is a great feature and we can instantly dispute any transactions that are fraudulent and they also will contact you should unusual activity occur. I have been using direct deposit with this bank for years and have never once had an issue with money being added to the account.
DO NOT BANK HERE
BEWARE of THIS bank in Guymon, OK. DO NOT BANK HERE if you value security over your account. We are currently going through a family member having almost $5,000 fraudulently taken out of her account...and we are talking 21 transactions PER DAY by the SAME culprit in California for multiple days. Um, red flag?? This bank will blame their hired security company that is located states away and you will be told to just call "them." AND what is so shocking is to now discover they have allowed fraudulent transactions to CONTINUE to come out (by the same culprit) after the card/account was reported of fraudulent activity. I have lived all over the U.S. and banked all over and this is BY FAR THE WORST BANK and customer service I have ever encountered. Save yourself unnecessary stress and know that your hard earned money IS NOT SAFE HERE! If zero stars were possible, that would have been my rating.
Beware Of Your Loan Balance!
Beware of your loan balance. Equity Bank uses Interest 9 or I9 software to calculate their loan balances. This was found by a court of law to be flawed and charges additional interest. Even though we questioned the payoff of our loan on multiple occasions, Equity Bank did not even do the math to determine why we questioned the payoff. We had to go all the way to trial before they admitted the mistake.
Rude Customer Service At Bank Locations And A Catch 22 On Home Equity Loans
At Equity Bank they will never let you "pay off" your home equity in full. There is always a residual interest amount. No matter how many times you try to pay off the loan and who you talk to- it doesn't matter. I have now tried to pay off my home equity loan in full twice and they are again telling me that I owe interest on my $0 balance.
So I'm trying to close my account out and they took more interest as "payment" out of my checking account.
The location agents and managers know nothing about customer service and chose to argue with the customer instead of providing a break down of the information to find the root cause of the issue. I CANNOT WAIT to be done with this bank. Don't EVER use them.
Data as of Q4 2023
Learn why bank health mattersHealth Grade Components
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| FDIC Certificate # | 25858 |
| Year Established | 1985 |
| Employees | 713 |
| Primary Regulator | FED |
| Profit Margin | |
|---|---|
| Return on Assets - YTD | 0.29% |
| Return on Equity - YTD | 2.91% |
| Annual Interest Income | $246.1MM |
| Assets and Liabilities | ||
|---|---|---|
| Assets | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $5.03B$4.98B |
| Loans | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $3.29B$3.27B |
| Deposits | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $4.16B$4.26B |
| Equity Capital | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $531.3MM$490.8MM |
| Loan Loss Allowance | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $43.5MM$45.8MM |
| Unbacked Noncurrent Loans | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $18.2MM$15.8MM |
| Real Estate Owned | Q4 2023vs Q4 2022 | $1.8MM$4.4MM |
