WaFd Bank

Following the death of my mom over 8 years ago, I contacted WaFed by phone to remove my mother's name from our joint account. I followed the instructions I was given and emailed them the documentation they requested, and my mother's name was removed. Then, 3 years ago, my mother's name was back on the account. When I contacted the bank, they told me that I had never contacted them, and the procedure I was told to follow to remove her name was not their procedure. They said they never would have told me to do what I had been told to do, and I was called a "liar." I have been attempting to get my mother's name removed ever since, but WaFed does not wish to help me. They just want to argue with me and verbally insult me.

Then, yesterday, I called WaFed customer service because my debit card is about to expire, and I have not received a new one. They sent my card to an old address that I haven't lived at for 4 years, even though I gave them my change of address when I moved and even though I have received correspondence from them at my correct address for the past 4 years. I was told by two different customer service representatives that they needed a copy of my driver's license to issue my debit card. They asked for my email address as they were going to email me a form that I needed to email back with a copy of my driver's license. But I never received an email.

Today, I attempted to use my debit card and it was declined. So, I called customer service and was informed that my current debit card was canceled because my new card was sent to the wrong address. I tried to explain to the customer service person that I spoke to two different customer service representatives yesterday who told me I could continue to use my current debit card until it expired. While I was trying to explain, the customer service person began speaking loudly over me and wouldn't allow me to continue explaining. I then attempted to tell this person that I hadn't received the form that I had been told yesterday would be emailed to me so I could send them a copy of my driver's license. This person then told me I wouldn't have been told that they would send me a form by email for my driver's license because that is not how they do it and told me to just send a copy of my driver's license to some random email.

What is wrong with this bank? Do they not train their personnel how to conduct themselves professionally with customers? Do they not train their personnel on proper bank procedures, so instead each person makes up their own? Thank goodness this bank is not my primary bank. I have previously moved my CD accounts I had with them to my primary bank because I don't trust WaFed with large amounts of my money. I will be moving my money from my remaining WaFed account to my primary bank, The Bank of Hawaii, where I have always received outstanding professional customer service!

Hate this bank. I had $63,000 in one of their safety deposit boxes. After one year with no problems, I stroll in to check on my money. What do you know, I'm missing $40,000. I ask to speak to the manager. Her first response is "We didn't steal your money." She refused to look at the cameras.

First of all, when you request to leave a review from their website, it takes you in circles, never providing that option. Hmm. I have banked with WaFd satisfactorily for 25 years. But now, what have they done with their online banking? It provides absolutely no help in monitoring our account. Payments made 2-4 days ago are not there. I cannot see my running balance. How can a bank of this size and experience think this is a good idea? I have no choice but to close my account... very dissatisfied! I need a bank that gives me the information I need at my fingertips, daily. None of our information should be hidden from us. The question is, why is it?

Whoever is the decision-maker about the current online banking needs to reconsider or replaced with someone who understands their customers!

Had a credit card for 9 months. Was able to access my account online once! Invalid password, power failure, system down, etc., they must have hired an IT tech from a subpar technical school like ITT tech.

If I could give 0 stars I would. This bank is atrocious and I have had them for less than a month. I am a firm fintech modern day bank user and do not tend to have accounts with brick and mortar banks. However, I opened an account with WaFd just for the sole purpose of depositing checks when needed and having ATM access. Biggest mistake. This bank can't handle any transaction with speed, create bogus issues when you deposit a check that is 5k-10k and call you to 'verify' by asking weird questions such as "will you be getting such checks again?", "who is the person giving you this money?", "why is the person's address the way it is?", in between others. They run systems that are super arcane from 1878 and their online banking + app simply suck. As soon as they process my check I will be closing my account.

I have banked with this branch since 1998, and the last two years have been the worst due to a change in bank manager. She is incompetent, rude, and has been promoted to a level she does not deserve. I will be changing banks.

Update:
I had no idea WAFD Bank uses an outside vendor for bill pay. Now that makes sense regarding the problems I have encountered. I changed banks today!

This place is extremely disappointing. I've been attempting to cash a $200 check for 30 minutes. As a small business owner, I would never subject my customers to this hassle when cashing one of my checks. The thought of my customers enduring this ordeal over a mere $200 check is absolutely ridiculous. Moreover, they requested my Social Security number to process the check; I'm uncertain about the legality of that request, but I complied just to expedite the process. I am immensely discontented and, frankly, very frustrated, as I had numerous other tasks to accomplish today besides sitting here for half an hour or 45 minutes. I was obliged to select a star rating, so I chose one, but even that seems overly generous.

I have been using this bank for several years, and I'm always impressed with the phenomenal customer service I receive there. Recently, as usual, I went in to make a deposit to a charming and very friendly atmosphere. It started with Peter, the security officer at the door. What a friendly and welcoming man! He could be an ambassador for WaFd! Seriously!

Dee at the Santa Rosa branch on Third Street is absolutely delightful. She greeted me with a hug as she always does; however, this time I noted that the fragrance she was wearing was quite nice. Without hesitation, she told me the name of the fragrance and that this product was also available for men. I went home and looked it up on Amazon, and sure enough, it was there. Dee called me at home later and suggested that I go to another vendor rather than Amazon because it was a lot less expensive. She was right. So I did, and I received the cologne yesterday.

What does this have to do with WaFd banking? Absolutely nothing! But it addresses customer service that is so rare these days. I'm so happy and grateful for employees like Peter and Dee. Please give them both my utmost and profound gratitude for simple gestures of kindness that speak volumes about caring for your clients.

Sincerely yours,
Tommy Francois

WAFD online services are unreliable. Despite over 10 calls, their tech services have failed to correct the simple matter of logging in. This has gotten so bad we have decided to pull all our accounts, despite them having good folks and service at the local branch. Their Visa CC operates inadequately, and constant error messages are too much. We have done everything they have requested—changed browsers, cleared caches, all that—and nothing changes. It is no wonder they have such a low rating.

I've been a long-time customer of WaFd Bank in Show Low. I appreciate their professionalism and great customer service. The manager, Pam Arlaud, is well respected in the banking industry as well as our community. She is heavily involved in community service!

My bank (Wells Fargo) and my friends bank (Chase) for some reason does not like checks from this bank and states there is doubtful collectability of funds. When I went to cash my check at this bank to then deposit cash at my bank I was not allowed to as a non account holder and would only be able to cash it with an over the counter checking account through them. Most other banks I have experience with does not do this and it is a big red flag in my opinion. The only way I see why they would do this is so the company could have an overinflated number for number of active accounts to mislead the shareholders that they have so many active accounts when in reality its only a fraction of the total they provide them.

I would suggest you run the other way if you're thinking about doing business with this bank. Our experience with WAFD is that it is very clunky and very difficult to deal with. They put you through the ringer like nothing else when you're trying to call into customer service - and the only company I've ever dealt with that asks for the last five of your social instead of the last four - on the surface and on its own not that big a deal; but that's indicative of how we have found them to be in general - way too much trouble. And if you're in the Dallas-Fort Worth area forget about it. They've only got a couple of locations I'm aware of where you can physically go in if necessary. And the kicker is they they closed our account with no notice because we had bounced a few checks, leaving us in a very difficult position with a business account that is tied to multiple streams of revenue. Injury to insult from a terrible business.

Cannot log onto their website as it is always down, and this seems to happen quite consistently. They either need a new system or should give up on having any kind of website for their customers to use.

I've never had an account with a bank where my account is more often inaccessible than accessible. I mean, my goodness, the number of times I wanted to make a transfer from savings to checking only to find out the website and mobile banking are down for extended periods of time. A scheduled maintenance session that was stated to last only until 3:00 am PT ended up lasting over two extra hours past that deadline. When I called the help line, the person on the other end told me that they couldn't access my account to perform any tasks. When I asked for the new estimated time of arrival for the maintenance to be completed, they said they didn't know—absolutely unbelievable. It feels like I'm being held hostage by my own bank. I will be switching very soon.

I had a CD at Luther Burbank Savings (LBS) bank before it was bought by WaFed. I have since moved cross country so I could not go into the branch to close the account. When i tried to close the account i could not reach the branch formerly LBS by telephone. Despite leaving multiple messages no one returned my calls. Calls to the WaFed customer service resulted i my being told that I had to speak to the branch. When I finally got through to the branch they closed the account and supposedly mailed me the check that day. That was on 3/21/2024. When i hadn't received the check by 3/28 I called again. They told me to wait till the following week to see if the check would come in. I called the following Monday and was told to wait a couple of more days. i called that Thursday and was told that if i had not received the check my the next Monday they would initiate paperwork to stop payment and issue me a new check. I called again today and was told that they would mail me the paper work to sign. It has been 17 days. Mailing the paperwork will take 2-3 days each way. It seems it will be at least 10 more days until i receive my check. Needless to say, I will never do business with this bank again.