Solutions Credit Union, Elmira, NY

I am very disappointed with Tom. He is the bank president. I been with this bank for almost 8 years and I been another state taking care of my mom the last month and a half because she fell and I've been on a leave of absence from work. I am getting paid but I'm not getting my full salary. So between my mom and my uncle they have been giving me checks to help me pay my bills. I been depositing them through remote deposit. One of the checks I deposited said on the mobile app that it was held by Tom so I called the bank and talked to him. He claimed it was suspicious activity that I deposited too many checks in the last week. He was very rude about it and was saying that it was fraud. He was rambling on about protecting his members even though I had enough money in my account to cover the check. He ended up releasing the check a couple of hours later im assuming he felt bad for the way he talked to me. He lost a member though because I already opened another bank account and I'll be switching everything over when I get back into town. Tom really needs to watch the way he talks to his members. Especially the loyal long-term ones.

Our family had an extremely negative experience with Solutions Federal Credit Union at our most vulnerable time; when we were dealing with the passing of my mother. On the day after her passing, without any official paperwork or notification, their first action was to completely empty her account to pay themselves back on a line of credit she had taken out with them. This was an issue due to the fact that a few days prior to her death, we had written a check to the funeral home for final expenses, which had yet to be cashed. That same day, we met with the bank president, Tom Wood, and were bluntly informed that the bank was well within their rights to ensure they were paid back and to keep my mother’s account balance, and if needed, "we could let our lawyers settle it." This was done, even though they would have been paid just like all other creditors upon the settling of her estate. I would like to restate, the bank had not received any type of formal notice that my mother had died, just a word of mouth notification that they did not verify prior to emptying her account. My mother and others in our family have banked with Solutions for many years. I believe it would have been common courtesy for them to not immediately empty my mother’s account, or at the very least, they could have notified us they planned to do so. Instead we found out that a check we’d written for funeral expenses could not be processed while we were at the funeral home finalizing her arrangements. To add insult to injury, one week after my mother's death and one day after her funeral, we received a letter from Solutions offering us an interim loan "at a very low rate of 4% to allow the funds needed for the funeral." (see attached photo) I fully understand the “business” side of things, however I feel that Solutions needs to better understand the humanity of the situation we were in and show some empathy. They failed our family in this respect, and we have moved our accounts elsewhere. -Robert "Pat" Beeman

Terrible customer service. Change their policies from one day to the next without notifying anyone. They force you to write remote deposit and account number on check to deposit, then deny the deposit so the check is no longer good. I spoke to the manager who hung up on me, but then called him back and was assured he would take the checks for me this one time. I advised that I do not get out of work until 5 and was assured he would be there to handle it. He wasn't. The clerks insisted there was nothing they could do. These were my children's christmas checks from their grandparents. Now they both lost $50. Strongly recommend any other bank.

Always been my personal favorite! The staff is amazing

I've been using this bank for about 3 years now the tellers have always been really nice never had any mess ups or confusion

I am very disappointed with Tom. He is the bank president. I been with this bank for almost 8 years and I been another state taking care of my mom the last month and a half because she fell and I've been on a leave of absence from work. I am getting paid but I'm not getting my full salary. So between my mom and my uncle they have been giving me checks to help me pay my bills. I been depositing them through remote deposit. One of the checks I deposited said on the mobile app that it was held by Tom so I called the bank and talked to him. He claimed it was suspicious activity that I deposited too many checks in the last week. He was very rude about it and was saying that it was fraud. He was rambling on about protecting his members even though I had enough money in my account to cover the check. He ended up releasing the check a couple of hours later im assuming he felt bad for the way he talked to me. He lost a member though because I already opened another bank account and I'll be switching everything over when I get back into town. Tom really needs to watch the way he talks to his members. Especially the loyal long-term ones.

Our family had an extremely negative experience with Solutions Federal Credit Union at our most vulnerable time; when we were dealing with the passing of my mother. On the day after her passing, without any official paperwork or notification, their first action was to completely empty her account to pay themselves back on a line of credit she had taken out with them. This was an issue due to the fact that a few days prior to her death, we had written a check to the funeral home for final expenses, which had yet to be cashed. That same day, we met with the bank president, Tom Wood, and were bluntly informed that the bank was well within their rights to ensure they were paid back and to keep my mother’s account balance, and if needed, "we could let our lawyers settle it." This was done, even though they would have been paid just like all other creditors upon the settling of her estate. I would like to restate, the bank had not received any type of formal notice that my mother had died, just a word of mouth notification that they did not verify prior to emptying her account. My mother and others in our family have banked with Solutions for many years. I believe it would have been common courtesy for them to not immediately empty my mother’s account, or at the very least, they could have notified us they planned to do so. Instead we found out that a check we’d written for funeral expenses could not be processed while we were at the funeral home finalizing her arrangements. To add insult to injury, one week after my mother's death and one day after her funeral, we received a letter from Solutions offering us an interim loan "at a very low rate of 4% to allow the funds needed for the funeral." (see attached photo) I fully understand the “business” side of things, however I feel that Solutions needs to better understand the humanity of the situation we were in and show some empathy. They failed our family in this respect, and we have moved our accounts elsewhere. -Robert "Pat" Beeman

Terrible customer service. Change their policies from one day to the next without notifying anyone. They force you to write remote deposit and account number on check to deposit, then deny the deposit so the check is no longer good. I spoke to the manager who hung up on me, but then called him back and was assured he would take the checks for me this one time. I advised that I do not get out of work until 5 and was assured he would be there to handle it. He wasn't. The clerks insisted there was nothing they could do. These were my children's christmas checks from their grandparents. Now they both lost $50. Strongly recommend any other bank.