E-Loan

Full review
I cannot begin to put my frustration with ELOAN into words. Their lack of customer service is just the beginning. They lie, switch rates, and essentially keep you worried about your money- is it still there? can I actually access my money? Please listen to my experience and the horrible experience of others and stay away from Eloan.

I was lured in by their fantastic savings rate. Granted, they are attracting many customers these days with their rates. I wanted a savings account, so I went through the online process. Incredibly the electronic transfer went smoothly, and quickly! I think I was all set up within two days.

Now, the problems began when I realized I'd forgotten my security answer, or rather, I knew what it *should* be, but I either mispelled it, or inserted a capital letter somewhere. For your information, the ELOAN security answer is case-sensitive. You need to enter it for every transaction, even a deposit. Three wrong guess later and I was locked out of my account.

The toll free number they list for you to call if you get locked out is only operable during normal business hours (PT). That meant I was frozen out for an entire weekend. But I waited and was patient (for now). Called Monday and got someone to unlock my account. However, I managed to freeze myself out once again. This time, instead of calling, I sent a secure email which "will be answered in one business day." Four days later, I got a response sayign my account was unlocked.

I called the customer service line to request they either reset or retrace my security answer. On hold for 30 minutes before getting a viable human. This person was clueless, kept saying she couldn't do anything, it was in the hands of IT, and not once did she say how I could contact IT (I asked) or how she could contact them. Essentially got hung up on.

Called again, got no human after 45 min wait.
Another phone call and got some sort of response. A "ticket" with my request was submitted to IT and I would get a response "within one or two business days." Guess what, one week later, no response. I'd lost patience by then and began calling during Week 2. Well, I was on hold each time for 30+ minutes before I hung up in frustration. The email is a joke; I sent them three emails and none have gotten a response. Who even knows where they are ending up?

Got a hold of someone in customer service, who didn't even ask me for my private info, just my SSN. I asked if she needed other info (how does she know it's really "me" asking about my account?) and she said, "no." That makes me suspect she wasn't even trying. No surprise here when she cut me off and transfered me to someone's voice mail. I called back, finally got a human after an interminable wait, and all she could do was search through the "tickets" totry to find my original complaint (I even gave her the dates, trying to be as helpful as possible). No dice. So it's back to teh waiting game as all she could do was submit yet another ticket- this one marked URGENT- to IT department. My request to call IT directly was turned down. Ithink next time I will be more forceful about getting hold of IT.

Banking should be easy and hassle free. Online banking should make up for their lack of face-to-face by making customer service EASY to access. Instead, you have emails that never get responses, or horrendous customer assistance. As of lately, Eloan is experiencing high call volume, which I take as a sign that many, many other customers are having complaints and problems (as evidenced here at epinions).

Save yourself the trouble. You don't want to be worrying about something as serious as your OWN money. To be honest, I'm wondering how long it will take me to be able to access my money again. Just think, if managing my savings account is this complicated, how hard will it be when I try to withdraw or close my account? Do I have to jump through all these hoops of fire?

STAY AWAY FROM ELOAN!!!!!