Sandy Spring Bank

I had to pick one, but if I could, I'd give a negative rating. I deposited cash into the ATM, but only $100 was available. I called and they told me it wouldn't be available until tomorrow. When I asked for extra help, they simply said we can't do anything, and told me to go to the branch. I am working until after they are closed. I called the branch, but there was no answer. They said I would get a call back shortly. That was at 11 am; at 4 pm, I called back. After being placed on hold for 26 minutes while they looked at the deposit, I was told, "tough luck." Every single time I have used the ATM and put cash in, it was all immediately available. The lady said it changed two months ago—I was blatantly lied to. I literally put my tips in every Monday, and they are always available. I asked for a manager; he said, "Sorry about your luck, it changed." There is a sticker on the ATM somewhere stating it—wrong. There is nothing on the screen and nothing on the ATM stands out for me to read at all. So now I have bills due tonight that I can't pay, and they will be assessed fees. Why, in 2025, when the ATM verifies the cash and the denominations, do they hold funds for 24 hours? It's greed! That's why. They keep the money on their ledger longer and keep it away from the customer. It's fraud and robbery at its finest. If you bank here, leave now! If you were thinking about it, don't—I repeat, don't. The service is terrible; there are no callbacks, and it’s rude and unhelpful.

Horrible bank! My daughter deposited a $20,000 check, and due to their associate's clerical error, they won't give her her money. They are trying to make her change her identification to match their error! Her rent and bills depend on that money; they don't care and are basically robbing and extorting her!

SSB has recurring problems with online banking services. This week it was impossible to access information about my bank account without going into the bank. Even when I reached out to the business center, I was disconnected and just told to go into the bank branch.

First visit to a branch was terrible. I was told that a particular promo did not exist. But customer service told me the next day that it did exist. Finally I opened a high yield savings account. They wouldn't allow me to select a beneficiary for 24 hours. Supposed that had died on the way home. To make it worse, you can't add it online. I had to return to the branch. I will be closing this account

At all locations I visited, the tellers and employees are very friendly within the short time i opened my account. More important to me is the protection of my funds. My issue is with their Master Card and fraud protection. Recently I was the victim of credit card fraud with Sandy Springs. When I called regarding a transaction that was flagged for less than $200, the experienced teller started telling me about recent transactions that in total was several thousand dollars that occurred within four consecutive days that was approved without ANY fraud alert then a transaction of less than $200 was flagged. The the teller told me to call the number on the back of my card to request a new card. The problem with this advise is that, there is NO telephone number on the back. When I checked my credit union and Bank of America Visa cards a number was listed on the back of both of them. How can you call to report ANY LOST/STOLEN cards to their MC services 24/7? I had to go to the bank sign Affidavit to get funds returned. The bank manager at this branch couldn't explain why the FRAUD ALERT notification system DIDN'T work to protect my account. Almost a month later there is NO follow-up of their investigation. I had to get my funds returned by multiple emails and calls to the company that the Senior Teller mentioned several thousand dollars of items were purchased within two consecutive days. After about THREE weeks the company returned my funds. I NEVER heard ANYTHING from Sandy Springs during this time and even now ONE month later. I understand this can occur, but NO follow-up, no idea of why thousands of dollars over FOUR consecutive days and NO fraud alert until second transaction of less than $200 is flagged and the previous one of around $200 was approved the same day. THE ONLY thing I received was an email about their Customer Service which I DIDN'T complete because previously when I completed and even sent email to VP of Customer Service I NEVER received ANY reply. I have told multiple friends and they will tell others, this is purpose of writing this review. Over 150 years of being in business and one would've thought they would get something as important as this right!!

Addendum: After closing my account 5 weeks later. Corporate Security calls me and Sandy Spring is literally blowing up my phone because they issued me wrong amount on check. Wow! I haven't used their online services in almost 2 months. I went in just to make sure a recent check had cleared before closing my account. You see when it's THEIR money, it is URGENT, but when it's your money they let the same money go over FOUR days and on the FIFTH transaction for less than $200 flag it for fraud after several thousand dollars in transactions approved.
The Corporate Security representative didn't even bother to return my call. That's "Excellent " customer service.

I had to pick a category for review and chose checking as that is just one of many services I have or have had with Sandy Spring. I was employed by the Federal Government from 1974 thru 2014. Since our office had a credit union downstairs, that was the source of my checking and savings until 2014. Needing to find a bank for my savings and checking that was close to home once I retired, I chose Suntrust, now know as Truist. The reason for that selection is that Suntrust had a branch in our local Safeway making it very convenient. I was OK with the Suntrust service until the Pandemic. The branch in the local Safeway closed tripling the distance to the bank. I desired to deposit as many checks as possible using mobile banking and found the Suntrust app very difficult to use and it had a monetary restriction on the dollar value of deposits each month. That was when I started looking at the services offered by Sandy Spring bank. I was no stranger to Sandy Spring. They provided the construction loan for my house in 1986 and they provided the financing for six of my condos in Ocean City. I was pleased with all of that but never considered them for my checking, savings and business accounts until recently. Several months ago, I made the plunge and set up a checking, savings, and business account with Sandy Spring. I do not wish to denigrate Suntrust but the service and features offered by Sandy Spring are so superior it is hard to describe. The first interaction was discussing with them about setting up accounts. Their staff bent over backwards to may this as easy as possible. It was a "what can we do for you" attitude from the beginning with frequent calls and emails to make sure I had everything I needed. That service plus continues to this day. When I would go to Suntrust to make a deposit, there was always a line of people. It was not that their staff was slow. It had to do wiht the procedures. For example, if you were making a deposit and wanted some cash back, you needed to give them your driver's license and I believe they wrote down the number for verification. This created long lines. At Sandy Spring, if a teller is not immediately available, it seems that someone always springs up to lend assistance. Deposits, withdrawals, or cash backs are handled in just a few seconds. And most important to me, there is no monthly cap on your mobile banking. Individual checks can be no larger than $5,000 but there is no limit on the number of checks you can do per months. I only wish I had learned about Sandy Spring's excellent service before now.

Terrible Commercial banking and mortgages
We have been with Sandy Spring Bank since BOA closed Commercial lending in. Montgomery County Md. The Commercial side of Sandy Spring is terrible. We pay on time every month but they send letters of default in error and continue the threat to raise the interest rate. Since the interest rate has creeped up, they send these threatening letters and now today of 10% interest on a 200K balance on a building worth 2 million plus in Montgomery County. We will pay it off, but I do not say to use them Use any one but Sandy Spring.

It is very hard to find someone to help. Their phone system is very annoying - you can get transferred over and over again. The branch customer service is nice

We attempted to work with Eva from Sandy Springs Bank to get a mortgage on our new modular home. We went with this bank specifically because they agreed to finance a modular. After months of waiting, after signing a contract with the builder, and getting loan approval from Sandy Springs - they pulled our mortgage just before signing as they no longer wanted to cover modular construction. She straight up called me a liar, saying I never told her it was modular construction. That's why we chose this bank in the first place. DO NOT TRUST THEM

Questionable practices. We didn't realize we had an account here that wasn't used for 5 years and yet the bank charged fees without ever sending us a statement or contacting us. Mortgage side is good but run from the checking side

Horrible. I gave it 1 star because it wouldn't let me give it 0 stars.
I signed up online to open a My Free Banking account. I'd unfortunately also mistakenly opened a Premier Banking account at same time but didn't like charges. So the bank ended up sending me deposits to fund the account that never work. I called Sandy Spring Bank 5 times to ask for the new account to be resolved and each time they said, "only Milton in new accounts can help you". He never called me back and he never helped me. This bank is chasing customers away!!

This bank should be investigated by the FDIC. Since they merged with WFBI in Virginia, they have stopped sending me statements and changed my mortgage amount without notifying me about the change among other irregular actions. Again, the consumer is the victim here, we did not ask to do business with this company. Sandy Springs Bank's lack of ethics, transparency, accountability and refusal to solve customer issues should be carefully monitored. Do not do business with this bank!

I had a savings account with Sandy Spring Bank for about two weeks. Without warning me they closed my bank account for having insufficient funds. When I opened the account no one told me about any minimum I had to keep in the account. I actually asked before I opened the account and was told there was not one. When I asked them about this they did not have an answer for me. I would not use this bank. They were very rude and I would never trust them with my money again. If they had not closed my account I would have.

I've been banking with Sandy Spring for over 10 years, since I was a little kid. Customer service is top notch. Every time I walk it, the tellers greet me by name and ask me about whatever is going on in my life. The checking and savings services are great. The entire time I've banked with them, I've never been hit with a single fee. One thing that they do which is uncommon and nice is they let minors have a Visa Check Card with their name on it & pretty much full control of the account, just with a parent as the official account holder -- this was very nice when I had a job at 16 and wanted my own card. 2 issues I have with them: the hours are very limited and their ATM checking deposit system is bad - sometimes they don't even have deposit slips available, and there's never a pen.