BUYER BEWARE: Bank of Internet/Axos Retaliates Against Bad Reviews

If you currently bank with or are considering using Axos Bank (previously Bank of Internet) then we offer this word of caution:  DON’T.   We offer you the following cautionary tale about using this bank.

We have had personal and business accounts with Axos/Bank of Internet for over a decade and a half.   When we opened our account, Bank of Internet was pioneering online banking.   It offered reasonable interest rates, responsive service and an innovative spirit that eluded most of their brick-and-mortar competitors.   We were pleased to be able to support this upstart.   Over the years, the bank became less innovative and increasingly unresponsive.   We caught it imposing high fees upon unsuspecting customers and called them on it.    We also found their service to be increasingly unresponsive and dropped them from our list of recommended online banks.

Apparently, one or more of our public criticisms of the bank struck a chord with some executive somewhere because the bank informed us that they were closing our account.  No reason was given (nor had we done anything to warrant an involuntarily closure).  Even the bank employees with whom we spoke were mystified, as we were good long-term customers with large account balances.

In short, there were no reasons for our involuntarily closure other than the fact that we’d publicly criticized the bank.   We were pleased to learn about this vindictive side of this bank, as it gave us an opportunity to move our accounts to a better bank.   We were pleased to find a number of banks that offered better services and more attractive interest rates.   They include:

NBKC –  Offering some of the highest rates in checking and money market accounts along with a simplified array of services, this is one of the more attractive current online banking options available.

Aspiration – offers an Summit Account interest-bearing checking account with a 1% return and free access to every ATM in the world.

Radius  – This is a relatively new entry into the online world and they are making a splash with high returns and mobile-friendly services.

FNBO Direct –  offers .95% interest on its savings account and .65% on its no-fee, no minimum checking account.

Ally Bank offers a checking account with no monthly fees or minimum balance and a decent 1% interest return for large balances.   It is a large, well capitalized on-line bank that used to be GMAC Banking.

Schwab Bank  doesn’t offer much in the way of interest, but has no fees for ATM, checks or minimum balance.

There are some other online banks that also deserve your attention.  We recommend the comparisons offered at My Bank Tracker and Go Banking Rates.   Most all of the banks listed above offer interest, free ATM, free bank-to-bank transfer and relatively low fees.

To find a local bank that offers free checking, we recommend you log into Bankrate and do a search for banks in your area that offer “free” checking services

 

8 thoughts on “BUYER BEWARE: Bank of Internet/Axos Retaliates Against Bad Reviews”

  1. They steal your money! Beware. Opened an account transferred funds. Next day I get an email saying they closed my account no explanation. Now I can’t get my money from them !!!

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  2. Thanks for helping to shine some light on the problems with Axos, but I also agree with others here about the timing. Not just with Axos, it always feels like reports of malfeasance and/or incompetence from financial institutions come so long after the fact.

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  3. I had my checking account at Axos bank for more than 10 years, and was a very satisfied customer. In March 2019, I received an email from them stating that they would close my account in 30 days, without providing any further explanation. I called them, and they refused to explain why they were doing this. I’m sure you think this is the craziest thing you ever heard of, and that’s exactly what I thought. After all, most banks try to increase their customers, and Axos is trying to get rid of their customers. You can google this issue, and you will find the many other customers whose account Axos has closed for no reason whatsoever.

    The final blow was this. When they told me they were closing my account, they said in writing that it would close 30 days from the day of their notification, which would have been on April 6. They closed my account on March 19, and 3 of my checks bounced as a result. When I called them to complain that they had broken their word, they refused to do anything at all to remedy the situation.
    I urge you not to open an account with them, because you may find they do to you what they did to me, and close your account too.

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  4. Years ago I opened an IRA through H&R that first got sold to Bofi and then eventually landed with Axos. I never wanted to deal with an online only bank so I attempted to close out the account, first when it was Bofi and then with Axos. I had to restart the laborious process with Axos because even though I had twice submitted all appropriate paperwork/forms to Bofi to close the account (which they failed to do) I was told that because they were separate companies I needed to start the paper trail again.
    Despite talking to MANY representatives over the course of a year (you get a different person each time because you are calling a call center in god knows what state… you can never get the same person twice and forget trying to work with a Supervisor because they are no more help than the level 1 person) I would get new instructions on what I needed to do; fill out various forms, notarize certain forms, send letters with specific instructions. Despite sending in all information I’ve been asked to do, not all of my forms were processed correctly so I have to resend in everything. On top of all of that, I’m now told that in order close my account I have to pay a $40 wire transferring fee (I never asked for a wire transfer by the way, just a check for the “benefit of” me to rollover into another IRA). This was the first I heard of this fee despite many conversations with various employees.
    Individuals may be nice but the overall business culture/structure creates a horrible environment for Customer Service. Stick to Brick and Mortar banks… you’ll be much better off.

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  5. I wish you had posted this warning 2 years ago, then I would not open the deposit accounts with them, and avoided so much trouble now.

    What’s really frustrating about AXOS is that they make serious operational errors. I recently discovered blatant errors in my accounts that lasted for years. Account statements went missing for no reason. A mysterious loan appeared under my account despite the fact that I had never opened any loan account with them whatsoever. Interest accrued in one year was accounted as the interest of another year. A bunch of errors are entangled together, as a result their own calculations contradict each other, not to mention entirely wrong.

    Despite my repeated calls and messaging to AXOS for about a month, all I get is “ your request has been forwarded, someone is working on it, you will hear back….”

    Once, the deposit department replied and said everything will be fixed in 12 days time. They even laid out detailed plans on how to fix each problem on a given day. However, by the end of the 12th day, nothing happened. I asked them what went wrong. No reply.

    My accounts are term deposits. How I wish they terminate my accounts, and let me go.

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  6. While BofI was very responsive to phone calls, Axos makes it very hard to get a human, and a difficult to navigate phone system, with long hold times–everything I hated about the bank I left, without even the option of going to my (nice) local branch! The service aspect has been going downhill for years, but this new merger seems to be a huge step down.

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  7. I opened a bank account with AXOS bank, but nobody answers the Phone to tell me how to put money in the account. I finally got someone to answer the phone when I chose the “close account” option. I am just going to find another brick and mortar bank for now since my current bank is closing locations.

    I don’t recommend this bank if you need help to understand the online procedures. You won’t get help here.

    Reply

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