first niagra bank

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Category: Business & Finances

Contact Information
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

first niagra bank Reviews

AnonPGH May 21, 2010

Terrible Bank/Morons

First Niagra bought my bank (National City) so my accounts were automatically transfered to them. They didn't have half the services that my old bank did, and their website was difficult to use & irritating. Also I had set up an automatic transfer of $50/month to be deposited into my savings account with them, and that's the source of this problem. I got fed up with their usability issues, so I opened an account with another bank & changed my paycheck deposits to them. About a week after that I took all my money out of my First Niagra accounts & faxed them a form to close my account. Then I started getting letters about overdrafting my account $50 & a $36 overdraft fee, so I called and said I closed my account I keep getting this fee accessed so they took care of it & reversed all the fees (leaving $14 from each overdraft in my savings account) they asked me to fax them my form to close the account again so I did. Next month, more overdraft fees so I call again, fax the form again, and they ask to send me a check for $42 from my savings account, I inform them that money is phantom money that overdrafted from my $0 balance checking account, and left $14 when they reversed the fees go online & login to my account (which shouldn't be active because I don't have an account) and cancel my $50/month transfer. It took me 5 tries to turn off my transfer, and 3 faxes to close my account... Or so I thought, apparently I've got $160 in overdraft fees still somehow, all caused by the $50/mo transfer that I was told were reversed by a customer service rep. Now they've sent $60 to a collections agency to harass me, they want my bank closure form faxed to them (Which is stupid to do, it has all sorts of private info on it)

SO in the long run, thanks to First Niagra's stupidity that took $50 out of a $0 balance several times, and charged $36 overdraft fees several times, and reversed those fees leaving me a positive balance in my formerly $0 balance savings account; all of these accounts that I've closed 3 times, yet somehow still remain open... Feels like I've been a victim of big long scam.

Pittsburgher December 11, 2009

First niagra bank

This bank gives the word bad awhole new meaning. They don't respond to customer inquiries, they can't answer simple questions and they have problems depositing direct deposit paychecks. You have to wait until who knows when to have access to your direct deposit paycheck. They have no problems taking money out of your account but for some reason you may have to wait until mid morning on payday to have access to your money. I would not recommend this institution to anyone. I have had a bank account for 30 years with absolutely no problems. I have tried customer service and they can't understand why I would want access to my paycheck before 9 or 10 am. Would that be EST time or what? They're not sure. Just keep checking. Don't schedule your bill payments on payday because they run all of your scheduled payments and then run your direct deposit. And then charge an overdraft protection fee. Our family like most today lives paycheck to paycheck. Having to wait is just another way to rip off the public. I am off on Fridays and I can't pay bills, do the grocery shopping or get gas until ? They're not sure keep checking. I almost believe they wait until you account is empty and then deposit the paycheck. That is unacceptable. To be safe you should wait a day before scheduling payments! Why? That's the banks policy. Maybe they should wait a day before deducting my withdrawls! That would at least make it fair. Of course they don't play fair or mention that policy when they introduced themselves to the Pittsburgh market. I can't wait to get out of this bank.