West Bank is headquartered in West Des Moines and is the 5th largest bank in the state of Iowa. It is also the 362nd largest bank in the nation. It was established in 1893 and as of September of 2019, it had grown to 176 employees at 14 locations. West Bank's money market rates are 2X the national average, and it boasts an A+ health rating.
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Bank Review: West Bank (Iowa)
We opened three "Reward Me" Checking Accounts when the RCA was nationally available with the (4.5%, $50K) offer. This is a very friendly bank with excellent customer service. A VP opened our accounts and followed through the entire process, she is also personally available to answer our additional questions. The no-pin debit card requirement is reasonable (to reduce fraud). They have recently upgrade their website as well as their BillPay system, the BillPay system is the best set that many top-notvh banks (e.g., Danversbank, Rockland FCU) employ. The turn-around for their BillPay is pretty short and absolutely reliable.
They lowered their interest rate and limit several months ago, now (4.0% APY, $30K) and restrict applicants to Iowa residents only. We moved our fund out of the WB Accounts (to seek higher rates), but still keep the three accounts open in case their rate becomes competitive in the future.
Pros:
- Ease of account opening
- Generous on debit card transactions (multiple charges with small amounts are perefctly fine!)
- Excellent BillPay feature
- Good customer service
Cons:
- No starter free checks
- Now limited only to Iowa residents
Terrible Bank
I used to use this bank as it provided pretty good interest rate for using the debit card for certain number of times each month for shopping. What I didn't realize at that time was that this was a baiting rate which faded away and dropped significantly to become not attractive at all, at which point I stopped using it.
Since this was a no fee account I just tried to be a loyal customer by still keeping the account open. I haven't received any communication(email/mail/text) from the company, but it silently changed the account policy to begin to charge monthly fee on the account since 2017. After 3 years when I finally thought about checking the account, my account already got robbed ~400. I tried quite some time to work with the company to get some fees back, as the bottomline is that I have never received any communication about this fee. The banker Ian promised to call back that afternoon but never did, and I am very sure he never will until I called him again at the third business day afternoon. It's very obvious that the company just tried to play a delay game so they could charge another monthly fee from my account, to rob every penny possible from a loyal customer!
If you could, avoid using a bank like this. It just treats every customer like a cash machine and tries to rob every penny possible from you!
Data as of Q3 2019
Learn why bank health mattersHealth Grade Components
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| FDIC Certificate # | 15614 |
| Year Established | 1893 |
| Employees | 176 |
| Primary Regulator | FDIC |
| Profit Margin | |
|---|---|
| Return on Assets - YTD | 1.26% |
| Return on Equity - YTD | 13.07% |
| Annual Interest Income | $73.6MM |
| Assets and Liabilities | ||
|---|---|---|
| Assets | Q3 2019vs Q3 2018 | $2.46B$2.17B |
| Loans | Q3 2019vs Q3 2018 | $1.82B$1.58B |
| Deposits | Q3 2019vs Q3 2018 | $2.03B$1.84B |
| Equity Capital | Q3 2019vs Q3 2018 | $231.7MM$216.8MM |
| Loan Loss Allowance | Q3 2019vs Q3 2018 | $17.0MM$16.7MM |
| Unbacked Noncurrent Loans | Q3 2019vs Q3 2018 | $521.00K$1.8MM |
| Real Estate Owned | Q3 2019vs Q3 2018 | $0$0 |
