This was pretty funny. I have a small home-equity loan through Provident Bank. I wanted to get the exact payoff amount so I can close it.
Nowhere on the Provident Bank site is there a way to do this, so I called. The customer service rep told me — seriously — that the only way to get this information is to fax a request in.
To say I was surprised would be an understatement. I repeated it back to her. “There’s no way to do this online?”
“No, sir.”
“I just need the payoff figure. Is there a number I can call to get it?”
“No, sir, They’re telling us to have you fax the request in.”
Wowzers. I thought Cincinnati’s Fifth Third bank was the most backward in the world, but this wins.
The Fray
Susan Pruden says:
In order to get your payoff, most banks require your social security number. Since anything transmitted via email can be hijacked, banks are very careful about this information. Besides, it’s not just a simple number – the bank has to calculate any unpaid interest charges – for example, your payment is calculated assuming you pay on the first of every month. If you consistently pay earlier or later than that, your actual interest charges will change your payoff. That’s the most likely answer I can come up with, based on over 20 years in the industry.
gnomic says:
EXCEPT… that the payoff amount isn’t protected information. And that giving the teller the information is a legitimate business need. Not to mention that most banks can do this and do this routinely as a matter of good customer service. As for the calculation – it can be done by any 9th grader with a calculator. And Andrew didn’t say anything about email. Like most people, he probably would have been happy to call – even if he got a VRU system to answer the question.
As an IT bank auditor, I can tell you that the explanation is far more simple. Many banking IT systems are outdated and systems don’t work together. The mortgage system might even be outsourced to a 3rd party (that would be where the fax is going) and the bank didn’t want to spend the money to interface the systems. Customer service be damned; they are talking profits here.
Not all banks are so backwards. Most try to service their customers well because they can’t afford to chase them off anymore.
OH – an you can bet that the bank is sharing the information you can’t get with its “affiliates” for “marketing purposes” and making a buck at it as well.
Leland says:
No… Fifth Third still wins hands down. But this is a very close second.
I didn’t know you were a 5/3 victim as well.