Comments on: TotalBank Leaps To Top Of CD Rates

By: JO

JO — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:03:41 +0000

Interesting… I wonder how much people are tracking this website… shortly after posting my cautionary contribution above, I got a phone call from Totalbank explaining what happened. Essentially they had the system set up so that it would reject any application from an international! No why wouldn’t they tell you that upfront???? Additionally, it seems that I can now open an account because they added the exception for internationals who have social security numbers (i.e. my case).
I hope this helps!
Obviously… I now have to setup the account for a third time!
Note: they said that they were doing soft credit pulls and not hard, thus it shouldn’t hurt people’s credit score

By: JO

JO — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:32:54 +0000

Caution! Totalbank isn’t very good on customer service and its system may hurt your credit score.

I tried contacting them via phone and after being bounced three times I got to leave a message on somone’s answering machine. Upon doing that I learned the employee’s name, and a subsequent google search yielded his email, and having finally sent an email to this person I got a reply.

Next I tried setting the account up and got some sort of error “One or more of the applicant information you provided requires further review. You will hear from us within 2 to 3 business days. If you have any questions, please call our Customer Service Department at (305) 232-4900″. Guess what? The business days went by and yet again I didn’t hear from them. So I sent an email to the same person and sure enough I got a phone call saying that there was a glitch in the application as it listed itself as incomplete, and they recommended that I apply again online.

Guess what? I applied again online and the same problem occurred So, I tried phoning them and got to leave a message AGAIN.

I would not recommend using this bank to anyone. Of course generalizations are unjust sometimes, thus if you have a similar profile as mine then you should really consider not using this bank. My profile: 740 credit score, F1 visa holder, $75K-$100K household income.

By: DealMaven

DealMaven — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:41:41 +0000

TotalBank says there’s no cost to open or maintain a CD, unless the money is sent by wire transfer.

Wire transfer charges run from $20 to $50, depending on the amount.

But you can avoid that cost by just sending a check to open your account.

The same rules apply when your CD matures. If you don’t wish to roll it over, the bank will send you check for the principal and interest, or they will wire transfer the money to your bank for a fee, as stated above.

Our database is provided by Bankrate, Inc. (which owns Bankaholic). Although it’s the most extensive database of interest rates anywhere, it’s impossible to keep up with every rate at all 8,000 community banks in the country.

By: JO

JO — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:00:48 +0000

Forgive my ignorance, but is there any reason why this rate is not included in your database? When I use your search engine it doesn’t show up.

Also, I tried contacting the bank with some basic questions and didn’t get an answer from them. Perhaps someone here might help Thanks!

“1- What costs do I incur for opening and maintaining such product?

2- Do you charge a transfer fee when I open the CD?

3- When I decide to terminate my CD (within 10 days of maturation) how can I transfer the funds elsewhere? Do you send me a check? Are there any fees involved?”