Mechanics Bank

I had a savings account at Mechanics Bank for a few years. My balance was about $1100 - $1200. They gave me about one cent per month in interest. Is that legal? I wised up a year or two ago and cancelled my account.

What an absolutely terrible bank. They purchased HomeStreet Bank and in the process made everything good about that company disappear. Insanely long wait times holding for customer service (30+ minutes), an inability to deduct the correct amount each month for an automatic mortgage payment, and other failures make everything about this business awful.

The transition from Homestreet to Mechanics has been a nightmare. Sat on hold for over an hour for help, only to be summarily disconnected. Mechanics claimed that existing ACH links with third parties would continue to work -- completely untrue. And, platforms like Current and Venmo don't have the right Mechanics bank platform loaded in order to reinstate those... leading to situations like my kid being stranded with no ability to deposit money on his Current account. I feel like my money is being held hostage, and I can't reach anyone at Mechanics for help. I've spent hours on this, and it was never my choice in the first place. Will be leaving Mechanics ASAP... completely incompetent and totally unconcerned with actual customers. BYE!!

This bank is absolutely awful. After blowing me off for 2 weeks they decided they could not cover a cashiers check that they themselves had written. Basically they refused to honor there own check. That has to be illegal.

After being a customer of Mechanics Bank for 19 years, my recent experience tells me it's time to move on to another bank. I noticed a service charge for transferring money to another bank which I had never seen before.

I called their customer service line and held for 20 minutes without a live person answering. I tried again a few hours later and got a recording saying the estimated hold time was 58 minutes (in the middle of the day). That was the straw that broke the camel's back. I have an average daily balance of over $10,000 in my checking account.

Apparently, they don't value my business or my time. As I said, I'm moving on.

The worst experience with a bank I have ever had. The transition from HomeStreet Bank to Mechanics was poorly managed. I must find an alternative, favoring a credit union, and am grateful for suggestions.

Home Street Bank was bought by Mechanics Bank, and today was the day they said our online banking would switch over to the new Mechanics Bank systems. After over four hours of working on this with no results, I recommend withdrawing all your money and opening a new account somewhere else. It will save you lots of time, frustration, and trouble. You could take your money and open a new Mechanics Bank account if you like the risk/adventure of dealing with uncertainty and incompetence. Either way, it will be faster than waiting for them to help you regain access to your account online or via their help line. On hold for hours.

I regret switching to Mechanics bank. They are close to my home, and my neighbors praised them, so I thought it would be a good change from felonious Wells Fargo. Unfortunately, Mechanics has been nothing but a headache from day 1. I should have known better when they gave me wrong info on business account doc requirements, (they said I had to bring in a multitude of docs to prove I owned a business that I'd had for years, but I was later told I needed only my business license, which I had brought the first time), they gave wrong info on checking account benefits (FYI- there are none) and they gave wrong info on deposit hold times (they are absolutely ridiculous and not in line with any banking industry standard of the past 20 years- I spoke with someone that has banked with them for years, and Mechanics STILL puts a 5+ day hold on their paycheck every. single.time.). They have made awful mistakes, like depositing someone else's money into my lawyer trust account, then not tellin me until after they removed it. The IOLTA account is monitored by the state bar, so that could've looked very suspect to the overseeing agency. They have held checks from insurance companies and law firms for weeks without clearing them, their mobile app is a joke, and they actually reject mobile deposits if they don't have "FOR MOBILE DEPOSIT ONLY" written on them. Who does that?? They also have a daily deposit limit of $5k, even for business accounts. It's insane how limited this bank is. Unfortunately, they don't have "old fashioned" customer service to make up for their very archaic business practices. I've been meaning to move to another bank, but it's such a hassle with business and trust accounts, that I haven't had the time or energy to deal with them to do it. I would not not recommend Mechanics at all.

Crooks! They charge interest on top of interest. Customer service very seldom speaks clear English and makes hidden charges at the end of the note.

The worst customer service and bank ever; all of a sudden, they closed their car loan division and transferred my account, which hasn't had a single late payment, to Westlake Portfolio Management, a debt collection agency. They can't even secure a proper loan servicer to serve their existing customers. I'd advise all customers to leave this so-called bank as quickly as possible; it is failing, and you will suffer the consequences of their failing business model.

I am deeply disappointed with my experience with Mechanics Bank and feel compelled to share my story to warn others. I used this bank for a car loan, and for five years, I made every payment on time without fail. However, during the last month of my loan, their lack of communication caused a significant problem that has now impacted my financial standing.

Without any notification or warning, my auto-payment was stopped. I received no email, text, phone call, or letter alerting me to this issue. As a result, I unknowingly missed my final payment. Instead of notifying me or reaching out in any way to resolve this matter, they waited 45 days before reporting the missed payment to the credit bureaus.

This single missed payment has tarnished my 800 credit score and jeopardized my ability to close on a loan, even though I have been a responsible borrower and recently closed on a house. It is beyond frustrating that a company would be so careless in its customer communication, especially given the stakes involved.

Mechanics Bank's failure to provide even the most basic courtesy of a notification is inexcusable. Their actions—or lack thereof—have caused unnecessary stress and financial complications for me. I would strongly advise anyone considering doing business with them to proceed with caution. There are better financial institutions that value their customers and prioritize clear, timely communication.

This experience has been nothing short of infuriating, and I will never use Mechanics Bank again. I hope this review helps others avoid the frustration and financial harm I have endured.

Most horrible bank; they will not work with you and do not care about your needs. They will charge a bunch of late fees and try to take all your money. I've been with this horrible place for nearly 5 years and never missed a payment until this one time. I am a month late and tried to explain my situation, but they don't care what you have to say. I even tried to see if I could break down the late payment that I owe, and they told me they couldn't do that. If I could rate this place a negative five or more, I would.

This has got to be the worst bank ever. This bank is a predatory lender and takes advantage of people with health issues and disabilities. My 30+ year old niece obtained a loan from this company in Minnesota through a car dealer located in the Minneapolis area. She diligently paid her loan for over 30 months but was stricken with a severe case of COVID-19 last year and hospitalized. During this time, she developed a disability due to her failing pregnancy. She has her master's degree in education and is a teacher at a high school in rural Minnesota. She was late only a few times from March 2023, and they came to repossess her car without notice in November. I had made a payment of $1633+ on her loan in late November to catch her up completely, and my elderly parents mailed two checks, one of which was cashed for another payment of $335. This heartless bank took her car from her at a critical time in her rehabilitation during the Thanksgiving holidays and at the very cold start of a harsh Minnesota winter. Now 35 years old, she requires a cane to walk and has a 5-year-old son to care for and drive to daycare while she works. To help her, I linked my checking account to her online account to make any necessary payments. After I paid the $1633 payment, they locked her out of online access to her account and payment processing, and automatically mailed a form letter stating that her car would be sold at a car auction on December 11th, just in time to leave her without a car for Christmas.

As her uncle, who recently found out she lost the baby she was carrying, I was not going to let her lose anything else. So, I had her contact them for the total payoff information. They gave us the payoff amount of $6209.90, which was well under what the Subaru car was worth on KBB.com. We had also made recent sizable payments. They received the payment exactly as requested. I spent $3.00 to draw the cashier's check from my Iowa-based credit union through MoneyGram services on December 3rd and paid an additional $32.00 for priority/signature required to send the cashier's check via USPS. They said they couldn't process the payment, though they received it on December 5th (we have signature proof of receipt), as we drew ever closer to the December 11th deadline, not citing any real reason why they couldn't process the payment.

I truly believe they were trying to benefit from the sale of this car at auction, as used cars in this price range are in high demand. They then sent a mysteriously lower payoff amount, as they had miscalculated the payoff with all the extra payments we had made, now an extra $5584.94. Never one to give up, I complied again on December 10th with two more MoneyGram payments of $89.99 each for $2882.96 each to make that total amount of $5584.94, due to a limit on making two payments over $3000 within 30 days via their bill pay system. They acknowledged this complete payoff but stalled in returning her car for an additional five days. Then, to add insult to injury, they added a $450 parking fee for her car, and she had to drive to a repossession lot in the Minneapolis area 1.5 hours away. There's also the issue with the other $6209.90 cashier's check they were holding—my money—for no reason at all, that was immediately withdrawn from my account. Incredibly, they are still holding onto it without any reason whatsoever, other than complete disregard for the law.

My niece called many times, but this bank doesn't answer phone calls and will not call back. We called the main branch in Irvine, CA, and after explaining the entire fiasco their auto loan branch had caused us, they pretended to care and then disconnected the call before it was finished, twice. Upon calling back the Mechanics Bank Auto division again, we actually got through to someone who said they would check but then the call was disconnected again. This bank doesn't care about people, much less common decency or the law. They flagrantly break lending and repossession laws without regret. It's baffling how they are still in business with a 1-star Google review. They are a pathetic excuse for a lender, lacking common courtesy, communication, or accountability. Please be aware of this bank's fraudulent activities. This matter will be pursued further.

Mechanics Bank customer service has to be the worst I have ever dealt with. I had four representatives give me incorrect information. The supervisor/manager listened to three of the four calls, agreed that the reps all gave incorrect information, and defended their service by stating they were trained, but decided to do their own thing and still did absolutely nothing about it. This has to be the worst service I've ever had. She justified their miscommunication.

This bank is terrible. ATMs are scarce in Bakersfield, CA, and they never carry enough money to withdraw, taking only about 10 bills at a time. Their app is substandard, to put it simply. They have difficulty accepting checks online, which is fine, but they require you to write "for mobile deposit only" on the checks. When you can't deposit it online and you bring it in, the clerk is rude and points out that it's marked for mobile deposit only, which is what the app instructed, but it wouldn't accept the deposit.

It's bewildering how this place even qualifies as a bank. I've also encountered clerks who were rude to me for coming in to deposit because ATM deposits take a week to reflect in my account, which is absurd. If you choose this bank, don't expect anything but continuous problems. They've also deactivated my card for making regular bill payments, citing "weird transactions," which are the same recurring transactions every month. I can't wait until Monday so I can switch banks.