Centennial Bank

Centennial Bank Florida – Business Owners Beware

I had my business account with Centennial Bank Florida, and the experience has been a nightmare. I was charged over $20,000 in fees, many of them excessive and poorly explained. As a business owner, this was devastating.

The staff at the St. Cloud branch are friendly and professional, but the Lake Nona branch manager was rude and dismissive. Even worse, the territory manager, Jeff Gonzalez, was completely unprofessional—not at all what you'd expect from a leader. Instead of offering solutions, management only made the situation more frustrating.

Their online banking system is outdated, unreliable, and often crashes during simple transactions. Combined with unfair fees and a lack of accountability, it’s clear they do not value their business customers.

Business owners: be cautious before trusting Centennial Bank with your hard-earned money. Transparency and professionalism are sorely lacking.

I did not overdraft on my business account because they would never approve anything over what I have in there. So, I have to transfer from my savings to the checking account when I get low on money, and once again, I do not have overdraft protection, so it should not approve anything if it is not there. Then, they give me ten or more overdrafts in one weekend. I would stay as far from this bank as you can, and if you're the victim of these issues, file complaints with the government so they can be fined. Let's all do a class action against them. People, close your accounts with this bank and find another one. It is getting to the point where banks are no good anyway, but do not trust this bank at all.

Okay, here we go. You would think that setting up your online banking account would be a no-brainer, but that's not the case with Centennial Bank. Despite following their instructions verbatim, the system would just keep resetting to the previous page. After multiple attempts, I sent an email to C.B. and received an email back with the assurance that I would be able to set up the online banking account now. However, the same problem persisted. So the next option for my problem was to contact C.B. at their (888) 372-9788 number, which I did. That conversation was unproductive other than the promise that I would be able to set up the online banking part of my account tomorrow. Supposedly, a representative from C.B. will reach out to me today, February 13, 2025. I will wait and see.

Worst Bank I've ever used. Continually bullying me to provide letters stating I have hazard insurance. I provide it (in PDF format) and they say we didn't receive it. This site can only receive PDF format. That's odd, because that's what I sent. Now they are charging me for their insurance, even though I already have insurance. I'll be seeking attorney help and moving my loan as soon as possible. This is the second year they've done this. Erroneously known as Happy State Bank. There's no one in there or that is a customer there that is actually happy.

If leaving fewer than 1 star were an option, I would prefer that. The bank operates as if it's in the 1990s. Stay away if you can. I can't wait until our commercial property loan matures.

If you want your business to fail, then this is the bank to choose. They will sell you on personalized service and emphasize that it's a bank geared towards businesses. I had the account for three years and have been in business for over 30, coming from a family with a lifetime of exposure to business banking. I almost lost my best client because of the irresponsible nature of this bank. Despite having triple the amount in liquidity, they declined my payments. They will decline any transaction made through a payment portal. To do a wire transfer, you must pay a monthly management fee and pay for each wire, which even the strictest banks don't do. They don't allow you to perform ACH transactions or use Zelle. You can't order checks on their website; the option is there, but it just redirects you to the vendor, which is very inefficient. And if you call to get help from your banker, the attitude is terrible; you can almost feel them rolling their eyes. Your ATM card is only good for minimal use; don't think it will serve as a tool to operate your business. It gets locked very often, and you will find yourself calling to verify it constantly. Although I understand the need for safety, this bank takes it to the level of absurdity. This is also issued by a third party, so any help you may need on the weekend or after 5:00 pm is simply not offered. Your business is hinged on their schedule. Going to a branch is unpredictable; you may be able to make a transaction, or you may not. It depends on the mood of the manager, and the tellers don't even look up (as if you're bothering them). Without my knowledge, they opened my account in one branch and placed the account officer in another. So every time I went to withdraw cash from 'my branch,' it needed approval from another branch, which takes forever. And I can continue with examples of their incompetence as a business bank, but the biggest takeaway is: JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE LIQUIDITY IN THIS BANK, IT DOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE CASH FLOW. Even their third-party vendors are irresponsible. It's been three years, and I'm still waiting for their credit card processing representative to call me.

Horrible Bank. I have been a customer for years and never had an issue until now. Now they refuse to remedy their mistake! They returned a payment because they do debits before deposits. A deposit was made the same day as a payment was coming out..they returned said payment and changed $35 overdraft, even though there's was enough in the account to cover it. Their reasoning was, "You should have made the deposit sooner." It was made early morning!

Centennial Bank misapplied my loan payments. I was paying my loan payments 14 days early and making double payments. One month they messed it up and I found out four months later that they had been charging me late fees, all because they misapplied my payments. And when I asked them to fix it, they could not correct it properly. I would avoid using Centennial Bank unless they sell the mortgage to someone else. But, in our case, when it's a lot loan , they kept the loan and they do not know how to properly service the loan.

I was a loyal customer for 18 years. I didn't realize my insurance had gone up, so I ended up with a $0.10 overdraft. Centennial decided to be greedy and charged me a $35 overdraft fee over that dime. A week or so later, I mistakenly used that card and went over by $7. Got another $35 overdraft fee for that too, of course. My rent and everything else had gone up, so I didn't have the money to cover it. Somehow within two months, the $80 I supposedly owed turned into $350. Here's the worst part. My son's father banks there and years ago, when he was very sick, he added me to his account in case he needed me to handle his business. We eventually broke up and he opened a separate account without me on it. Centennial, being the greedy thieves they are, stole his money. They didn't care who they got it from, so they literally took from an account not affiliated with me. I have a few relatives who no longer bank with them, so I hope they learn from this. In fact, I hope they get shut down permanently!

Deceptive business banking charges appeared monthly, and no one could explain what they were. I just had to check monthly and request that they credit my account until I switched to a better bank.

If you have an account at Centennial Bank, I would go first thing when the bank opens and pull out your money and close your account! This bank and the people in leadership are so deceptive. The negligence of this bank has caused great harm to my small business and my family. The corruption runs deep. I know I am not alone. The dishonesty and potentially criminal activity by this bank need to be exposed. If you would like to share your story of corruption or negligence by Happy State Bank or Centennial email: [email protected] and expose what is going on.
This lender completely mishandled my PPP loan causing a burden far beyond what any small business should have to experience in this program. They do not care about small businesses, and they bully anyone who calls out the corruption and use lawyers to intimate because they know small businesses are the weaker party. CEO & President Tracy French and COO John Stephen Tipton called me to discuss my situation. They said they would investigate and call me back. That was June 30, 2023. I never got a call back. Public records show Tracy French has a compensation package of about $1.6m and Stephen Tipton $987,979. I think they could afford to find time to return my call. If your money and business are at this bank you are contributing to their pockets getting deeper while further separating any care for integrity or ethical behavior towards small businesses. They have no problem ignoring the importance of following through on what they discussed they would do and have operated in complete bad faith with my situation with no accountability. The leadership in this bank has no morals but only finds joy when John Allison touts the success of deposits each quarter. As a client at this bank, you are only worth the dollar you have in the bank or what you bring to the bank. They don’t care about you, your small business, or the livelihood of your family. If you stay with this bank, it is only a matter of time before you are a victim of their corruption. The first step is to close your account and get out, the second is to email me with your experience and we can work together to expose what is going on and the harm they are causing to mom-and-pop small businesses that are still hurting from the COVID closures.

I have made all the payments on my loan and actually paid more than the minimum payments and they reported me 30 days late on my credit report. Unacceptable

Why in the world do you not lock my card when i put my money and then lock it back when i am about to use it every time .,?? I have to pay bills and because you lock my card all the time my bills pile up and i go to negative and I can’t even budget and everything has to be paid in the time when ya’ll bless me sometimes without locking it ?? I get overdue bills and have to frikin pay 50 to 100 more wvery time ?? Worst worst bank ever.

I don't recommend them. They are not business friendly. I have several business accounts with them. I own a property management company. I dont normally need to go into the bank. All my banking is done online. Their working hours are limited, then closed their drive thru lane. They are not open on Saturday. Three instances of poor systems and employee training 1) tried sending money to Canada customer - they couldn't help 2) tried transferring money online into bank account that they said was inactive, that's ironic because I download my statements every month - I think that is pretty active, 3) I tried depositing a check in to my business account, and they said the couldn't take it. I highly recommend you find another bank for your business needs. They are not helpful, and they do not seem to keep their branch manager around for more than a year.

Worst bank ever. Trying to verify my email address and it tells you my email is not valid. I checked double check even at customer service right my email address in there and it still says not valid and they sent me an email to make sure it was and I got it. But now I got to wait until tomorrow again. That's where every time you call them up it's got to wait until tomorrow you got to wait until tomorrow. The local branch is cool but their computer system sucks. I made a mistake by coming to this Bank.

Richard Shelton