12 phone calls in the last two days. They say that MANY customers of my former bank (that I’ve been a member of for over 30 years) cannot access anything online. I can’t even login. Password resets, unlocking the account, nothing works.
My previous bank had 700 branches. It’s not a small potatoes local bank.
The ‘Team’ is working on it. The entire ‘Team’ should be fired. Doing this roll over before it was ready is unforgiveable.
I can’t see what bills have been paid, or move money around.
I had to bitch. I’ve got six figures in there. But I can’t see it or touch it. I’m a little bit more than worried.
Not necessarily. Even large banks don’t keep as much cash on hand as most people might think.
Anecdote: I knew a woman who worked at a large bank in the late 1990s, and as Y2K beckoned, she had a few customers who wanted their accounts turned to cash, minus the minimum allowable balance, and stowed in their safety deposit boxes. One person had almost $100,000 in various accounts, and they had to order that cash from the Federal Reserve.
Oh, and if your bank was bought out by Wells Fargo, take the money, however you receive it, and RUN. They’re totally corrupt. Use a credit union if you can.
I’ve been thinking about that. But have some autopay that may get screwed up. They say that the autopay will still work fine. But not having any faith.
If you went 30 years without your bank getting acquire count yourself lucky. My accounts got bounced around four banks in 2008 alone. And it happens fast! The tech team working on your issues probably had no more warning than you did.
It might be a good time to consider using a different bank. Set it up and fund it now. If needed, you can probably get a cashier’s check from a local branch to use to fund your new account. Start converting your electronic deposit and auto pay accounts to use the new bank account. You don’t need to do everything all at once. After a while when you don’t have any withdrawals from the old bank account, you can decide if you want to close it then.
Yeah. If this is not resolved soon, I’m going to have to get down in the mud. I’ve already thought about opening accounts in a new bank because of this. But it’s going to be a giant pain in the ass.
The bank my parents used for more than fifty years (Peoples Bank, Bridgeport, Connecticut) was recently taken over (by M&T Bank of Buffalo) and like you, there were problems in the first few days or weeks. I think all of that has been resolved now, month later, but I haven’t asked them specifically.
One thing to be aware of is if you have stuff in a safe deposit box, you should check it carefully. I remember seeing an article a few years ago about how some banks lost people’s stuff in the process of merging bank branches.
I’m a programmer. And I know that unexpected problems pop up all the time. But this is like the IS Team at this bank chose to drive across the desert with a 1/4 tank of gas and no water. But pulled the trigger anyway.
Yes, it could be a bit of bad code. But if I was the boss of the new bank I would freeze and take a close look at any employee in IT that has an account with the new bank.
Ten dollars here, ten dollars there. Office Space style.
I’m being petty and mean spirited, but this is not like a doctor forgot about my appointment.
As another guy with a bunch of time in IT, I suggest this is probably more accurate:
But this is like the IS Team at this bank chose were told by management to drive across the desert with a 1/4 tank of gas and no water. But IS said that’s a fatally flawed idea right up to just before management pulled the trigger anyway.
I went through this when the bank that holds our mortgage got bought out. I paid every month online easily, and then all of a sudden my login no longer worked,
It took months before their system worked. In the meantime, we had to pay by calling them on the phone and giving them credit info verbally. And sometimes we couldn’t get through.
I was tempted to not even try after a while. It’s like, you are not giving me a way to pay you, so I can’t be faulted for not paying. It was an issue affecting everyone who did business with them, and they even had apologies on their web site. A colossal fuck up.
It eventually got fixed and I set up an autopay. No problems for years. But come on, make sure your damn web site works before taking over thousands of mortgages.
Yes, probably correct @LSLGuy . “We already mailed everyone that it would be done at X date. Do it”
Where I work we are fondly referred to as the 'Nerd Herd". When we are asked to do something, we give them a date, not the other way around. We are the sorcerers and magicians that somehow make things work.
And protests from IT/IS that the modifications couldn’t be ready were dismissed. Especially true if the mods were being done by an outside contractor, in which case the bank’s team may not have been aware of the clusterfleech about to land on them.
I was on the support team for a state agency that had contracted with an outside company to develop a new tax reporting system. Bright red flags were flying all over the place, but the agency head declared that ready or not, the system would be brought online on date so-and-so (I think there was fear of questions from the legislature). And to put a cherry on the proverbial fecal sundae, there would be no provision for rolling back to the old system. Making a short story long, the new system came up on schedule — and when I left two years later, it still wasn’t working properly.
Of course they were. It’s not as if technical matters were at all relevant compared to the absolutely non-negotiable merger date. Shareholders cannot be deferred or delayed by mere nonfunctioning systems.
Yeah, a lot of programmers have blood sweet and tears in the systems. My number one demand is that new systems MUST be at least as good as what it is replacing. Full Stop.