Should you accept a bank with poor customer service to get a much better savings rate?

If you’ve ever received poor customer service, you know how frustrating it can be. But it’s one thing to have a store employee treat you differently when you call to cancel, or the receptionist at your doctor’s office to be unpleasant, but it’s another thing to experience consistently poor customer service from your bank.

In fact, bad customer service is usually considered a good reason to leave a bank. But what if your bank offers high interest rates on your savings? If so, a few tweaks might be reason enough to stay.

When a bank is simply a place to store cash

Generally speaking, it’s not a good idea to keep your money in a bank with poor customer service. But if your bank actually offers the best interest rates in town on savings accounts and CDs, you might consider staying there and moving your checking account to another institution.

reason? Your checking account is an account where you can make regular transactions. Not only can your paycheck arrive there, but you can also pay bills from your checking account each week and withdraw money from your checking account when you need it for social activities or one-time purchases.

So it’s not a good idea to keep your money in a checking account at a bank that doesn’t have very good customer service. Imagine having to wait 30 minutes every time a question comes up. That’s not a good situation.

However, if your bank or another bank has poor customer service but the interest rates on your savings account or CD are very attractive, it may pay to keep your cash there for a while. If it’s money you don’t plan on touching on a regular basis, you may not need to interact with your bank as much. So poor customer service may not be that much of an issue for you.

Don’t hesitate to escalate.

There are many reasons why you might experience poor customer service at your bank. In some cases, it may come down to technical issues. In other cases, the problem may be due to poor training or lack of communication with an employee who is having a bad day.

If you’ve ever had a bad customer service experience at your bank, don’t assume it’s the norm. However, if you have had a series of bad experiences, you should escalate this and make your voice heard. And there are options.

First, consider writing a letter to your bank’s customer service department. You can even go much further than simply telling a single customer service representative that you’re not satisfied.

Another option? Contact your bank via social media message and explain your complaint. You may be surprised at how quickly you receive a response.

If you think your bank has broken the rules or done something serious, you can also file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. However, if this is the case, make sure the incident in question is well documented. If you believe your bank has exceeded legal standards, you may also contact your state’s attorney general.

Overall, bad customer service is generally something you shouldn’t put up with. If your bank has a high interest rate, you may decide to make a temporary exception. However, in such cases, perform the check elsewhere to minimize aggravation.

This savings account is FDIC insured and can earn 11 times the bank’s earnings.

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