Bank of the West
Reviews and Complaints

1st off let me just say, Bank of the West is not only a horrible company to work for, but they are a horrible company to have an account with. Before I get to my main complaint, let me fill you in on a day of working with the company. There are on a 'hiring freeze, ' or at least that is what they tell us. So, don't call in sick, or think about taking a vacation, they are SO understaffed that it makes it horrible on the ones that show up everyday and do their job. Having to work 6 days out of the week for 3 of the 4 weeks in a month is unheard of in the banking world. Thats why most people work at a bank, to get weekends off, but no, not Bank of the West employees. So, basically, we are over worked, and we are NOT allowed any overtime pay. My annual raise was combined with my promotion raise and it was a whopping total of 00.81 cents. 00.81 cents should have been my annual raise, and then another for becoming a manager... what a waste of raise. Plus we never got our 2 15 minute breaks that every full time, 8 hr work day, employee is supposed to get. So- heres what happened. I am an ex-employee of Bank of the West, I was the Assistant Customer Service Manager. My last day was 05/18/07. My employee checking account was then changed to a Free Checking, for I was just a normal customer now. My boyfriend was on the account as well. He is the one that primarily uses the account for his childs' day care and child support. Which, by the way, ALL of the employees at that particular branch (Penn Plaza) knew that. I worked there for almost 2 years, they knew everything about the fact that the account was for those purposes. An FYI: Every account at Bank of the West has, what they call, an 'overdraft matrix.' It is simply a matrix that the systems uses without the customers knowledge. It will allow items to be paid even if there is insufficient funds. So, my account had be negative roughly 30 or some dollars, which I was aware of, but I knew that I had a $250.00 overdraft matrix (again the customer never knows this, but I worked there, so I knew), so I knew that I would just have to pay a overdraft fee. Well, my boyfriend, wrote a check for 130.00 to his daycare on May 28, 2007, fully aware that the account was negative. The matrix would have paid the check and just added an overdraft fee. He was to be paid from his work on 06/08/2007, which he was going to replenish our account. So, he wrote the check knowing that it would draw the account even more negative, and that he would receive another fee. So on Friday, 06/08/07, my boyfriend deposited 300.00 and I deposited 90.00 on 06/09/07, which covered what we were negative and then some. Well, my boyfriend gets a call from his day care on 06/11/07 saying his check was returned. Well, clearly it confused me because on the banks ETime Banker (where I can review my account) it showed that the check for 130.00 cleared on 06/01/2007. So I told my boyfriend that his daycare has to be mistaken, it cleared and the funds were taken, and there was nothing returned, via the online banking. So I call Penn Plaza (again I used to work there, I know how things run), and I speak with Michelle Whittington, the Customer Service Manager, she tells me that they did return the check. I ask how, since it shows that it cleared on 06/01/07. She tells me that it did clear, but then they reversed it and returned it on 06/04/07 because, and get this, because I was no longer employeed there and they were worried that I would not repay the account. Okay, so had a been a 'regular' customer, this is how this situation would have taken place. The check would have been paid, per the overdraft matrix, and there would have been an overdraft fee. Then I would have had 45 days to make my account positive again or it would have been charged off. However, that did not happen. The check did clear, and a fee was given, but then, on the next business day, the branch manager Katie John gave the authority to reverse the transaction and return the item. So, although my boyfriend still needed to pay someone the 130.00, he now has a fee from our account and has to pay his daycare persons fee as well. For these managers to make it their personal action to contact someone on the next business day, after the transaction was completed and a done deal, is discrimination. This would have NEVER been done to a normal customer. They now have slandered my boyfriends personal character by making his seem like he can't pay his daycare and has to write hot checks. Then they have discriminated me because they did not treat me like a regular customer. They may be holding some type of grudge against me for resigning, I do not know. Nonetheless, it is WRONG! I have already discussed the matter with 2 other branch manager within the company and they both are in agreement with me and what they did was wrong, and that it was poor business. I will be going to the branch tomorrow to request that I get my fee reversed, and that they compensate me for having to pay the daycares fee as well. Also, I will request that Katie write a letter of apology to my boyfriends day care for making this an unnecessary inconvienence. Stay away from working for this company and /or being their customer.

My family was with Bank of the West for over 18-years. Several hundreds of thousands of money has been processed by our accounts and Bank of the West. Recently, I received a courtesy call that I needed to deposit or transfer money into an account. I was there within 30 minutes with a deposit. Account supervisor/manager decided to NSF my check which in turn caused many problems. They apologized for error and was going to fax me a note explaining their error. No letter and no reasonable explaination. Everyone was advised that if no letter, Monday morning I will break the 18-year streak. So, Monday morning I am changing banks.

My husband wanted to add my daughter's name to the title of our boat. We are parking it at her house and she and her husband are insuring it since we no longer can do either. It took from 7/12/10 - 2/17/11 to get this accomplished with emails and phone calls and forms back and forth. This would have been so much easier if we could have worked through a secure email system. Some of the CSRs are very rude. No one could ever explain why this was taking so long. The title request was sent to the wrong state office. And then the registration and copy of title just appeared in my mailbox the day after I was told that they were going to have to start all over again! Clearly the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing.

On December 4th I had found that I had been charged $105 in bank fees to my account. I called customer service and they said it was three overdraft charges. My account showed that I was never overdrawn. The CSR said it's because I had a low balance and my available balance fell below zero, although my actual balance never showed below zero. The "available" balance is not recorded, so although I checked my account every day and saw that my balance never did fall below zero, from what I saw my "available" balance never did fall below zero. In order to refute the charges, I would have had to take a picture of my available balance every day, which of course I did not do because I never expected to be charged overdraft fees, because I was never really overdrawn.

I was then charged three fees, rather than just one, because they put through a large item before several small ones.

I know I should not carry such a low balance, but it was due to circumstances beyond my control, along with the holidays coming, I tried to be very careful not to become overdrawn. I had $5 in my account when my direct deposit came in, and yet the bank still charged me overdraft fees. Seems even if a person is careful, making sacrifices so their account is not in the red, the bank still finds a way to get their fees.

This is just one of many problems I've had with this bank in the last few months. I know they will not correct this problem, just as they did not correct the others, so I will be taking my business elsewhere, as will my family members who also bank there.

My sixteeen year old son over drew his checking account by 55 cents. He was charged $70 in overdraf fees. I disputed the fees. During the dispute the bank charged me $5 per day. So far they have charged his account $140. I attempted to negotiate a reduction in the fees, but they were unwilling to reduce the fees.

If you feel that these fees are excessive please contact the Regional Customer Ser...vice Manager Lindey Hoelting--[protected].

I am shocked and disheartened with the way Bank of the West has treated me. I have been faithful paying my mortgage on time for the last 3 years. Due to circumstances, I have not been able to pay my mortgage.

I contacted them 2 months prior to let them know I would like to request a short sale to avoid having the home go to foreclosure. What I got in return was rude and dismissive behavior from 2 loss mitgation representatives.

Both of them felt I did not deserve to have my home in a short sale. Not that my situation did not qualify for a short sale but in their eyes I did not deserve one. Here are two people who's opinion is blocking a short sale.

I had a buyer willing to buy but the bank turned down the offer. Seems strange to me that a bank would not want to deal when they could get money for a home instead of allowing it to go into foreclosure. I am very disappointed with the bank and now my home will go into foreclosure.

Shame on Bank of the West employees who feel they have the right to make a morale decision about a situation instead of the bank's guidelines. I hope if they are ever in need they do not get treated like I have been treated by them.

I inserted my debit card in a Bank of the West ATM to see if it would work. On the first try, I got an error message that my Pin wasn't recognized by them, & the machine held onto my card! I went inside the bank, & two bimbos looked at my blankly when I explained my problem. They said the ATM was serviced by an outside company so they knew nothing, nothing, & the bank was closed tomorrow. So I was just out of luck. I sent Bank of the West an angry e-mail and received a response that I must have tried too many times. Well, I didn't! It did this on the first try! They also said they destroy any debit cards the machine holds onto. Great!

This was a Friday night so I had no cash for the weekend, and had to go to the trouble of replacing my debit card, which, as everyone knows, is a hassle and you have to wait a week to ten days to get a new one. Bank of the West, you are completely screwed up!

I am recently divorced and in the settlement have assumed the debt for our 2004 Motor Home which is financed through BotW. I simply wanted to get my ex wife's name removed from the loan and am told that the only way to do this is to refinance the loan. I don't have a problem witht that but they want to refinance me at an interest rate that is 2.76% higher than the original loan and will not loan me the full ammount that I owe them by several thousand dollars. When I asked to speak to someone who could negotiate these terms with me I was given only to the collections department. Understand that I have never been delinquent on a payment and have a credit rating in the 800's on the FICO or 900's on the Vantage scale. It did not matter who I spoke with at the customer service number, they would not listen or try to find someone who would actually be interested in helping me. I feel that the bank is just trying to take advantage of my situation and take more money from me. I realize that they have policies in place and I also realize that there is someone somewhere who has the authority to adjust those policies on a case by case basis. All I wanted was a chance to speak with that person and I was stonewalled.

I got an auto loan through Bank of the West. I paid it off in full in 2007. Yesterday, 3-11-09 I went to a different bank and was trying to get a loan and on my credit report came up that i had a collection for $240.00 that was sent to collection in 12-08. I do not owe this, I never received a letter or a phone call before this was sent to collection. I went to the Bank of the West yesterday when I found out and talked to the Pres. Sandy. She said they would investigate the problem and it could take a long time. In the meantime I did not get the other loan and now my credit will suffer in this investigation period. I am fed up with the way I have been treated and demand some sort of response and would like my credit fixed. I have already contacted my attorney and he is advising me of the next steps I should take.

A family member cashed a 3 month old (stale dated) check that overdrew ( the check was returned) my account.

There was communication with the family member and the check was removed from my balance.

That is not the problem. I did not know what caused the fee in my account and called [protected] to find out what the fee was for.

The CSR stated that a certain check had been returned. I was surprised because my previous bank ( which I still have and am going back to) paid anything up to $550 but of course charged lots of overdraft fees.

When I mentioned this I got a lecture of sorts from the CSR and asked her to please act professionally. Then she let me have it with both barrels and laid into me about responsibility and such.

I believe CSR's are there to assist customers with the details of their accounts not offer their opinions about checking account responsilities.

Banks make big bucks on these fees but I have never in my whole life listened to this kind of demeaning lecture by a bank customer service representative.

I have been a customer of Bank of the West located at 2127 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612, since 2004. The account was on my name but never experienced any problem depositing or cashing any check, including checks payable to me and my husband, such as tax refund checks. The bank never required us to open a join account for this purpose, which was one of the reasons why I loved this bank. If only they did require us to open a join account for depositing or cashing this kind of check, we would not hesitate to open one, but they never did, so opening a join account there never crossed our minds.

In the beginning of 2005, my husband fell severely ill which caused him losing 100 lbs and almost losing his life. For 1.5 years he was fighting for his life, lying in bed (in hospital most of the time), depending on feeding tube, medicines and miracles to stay alive. His dying condition had forced me to be the sole decision maker on everything. That was why I became a payee (as advised by a Social Service agent) when we applied for SSDI.

The first SSDI check (with my name as a payee) received in November 2006 and we deposited it at the same branch of the Bank of the West. The teller didn’t inform us that we needed to open a join account for that kind of check and we experienced no problem at all since then, until...

l May 10, 2007, teller Lan (who actually was the one persuaded me to open an account in that branch) refused to deposit the same check (yes, we’re talking about deposit here, not cash in). She said we needed a join account for that kind of check. After a few minutes of arguing, we asked to speak with the Manager.

Hazim Elbgal, who according to his business card was a Customer Manager, showed up a few minutes later and informed us we couldn’t deposit the check unless we open a join account that my husband couldn’t access (how much sense does it make?). When we asked why they let us depositing that kind of checks all this time, he repeatedly answered, “I don’t know”, which is an irresponsible response considering these tellers were under his supervision. We ended up closing the account and opened a join account at another bank instead. See, if only they played nice, we would have opened a join account with them and this complaint would never been issued.

l On May 11, 2007, after consulting with a lawyer friend of ours, we sent a letter of complaint to Bank of the West demanding an explanation of the sudden change of policy on SSDI check’s acceptance (with the account holder’s name as a payee) and why we were never previously informed.

l 5 days later, May 16, 2007 at around 4:45PM, after sending multiple faxes with no response, a lady named Kim Rodriguez left a message (saying she would take care of it) and a call back number on our answering machine.

l The next day, May 17, 2007, my husband returned the call to find the phone number Kim Rodriguez gave us was disconnected and not in service. He tried twice with the same result.

l Friday, May 18, 2007, a lady named Margaret Teuysel (spelling might not be correct) who claimed to be the real Customer Manager called me at my office. Her statement as the real Customer Manager made me wonder: if she was the real Customer Manager, does that mean Hazim Elbgal was a phony one? Whatever she meant by real (she indeed emphasized this word), she acted as, if not more irresponsible as Hazim Elbgal by telling me the following lies:

She said my husband never returned their call at all (please re-read the last paragraph of page 1)
She claimed that on April 1st, 2007, we were depositing the SSDI check at their 2127 Broadway-Oakland branch and a teller named Denise helped us. During the transaction, Margaret claimed, teller Denise had informed us that it was going to be the last time they allowed us to deposit the check and we should open a join account next time.

When I told Margaret that we didn’t deposit the April’s SSDI check at Oakland branch, she immediately corrected, “oh, I mean on March 1st, 2007.” This is when I caught her lying, clumsily, insulting my intelligence. Apparently she didn’t check my records prior to making such a lie. Being an investigator’s wife for more than 6 years, I always keep records of almost everything for just in case. I found this to be helpful, particularly in this case.