Woodforest National Bank
reviews and complaints

I have been an account-holder with WoodForest Bank for almost 6 years. Over the last 5 years, my company has direct deposited from their payroll account into my account every 2 weeks like clockwork. However, when I went in to deposit 2 checks, both from my company and both from the same payroll account, I was asked a battery of questions about the source of the checks, the validity of the checks, etc. I answered each one, even though there was no reason for questioning. Additionally, the manager on duty was called over to ‘verify’ the checks before the deposit could be made.

I’ve never presented a check for deposit that was bad, and I’ve never asked the bank to assume responsibility for my checks by making funds available to me immediately. If they feel there is a question with the checks, they are well within their rights to hold the deposit until they get paid funds from the guarantor of that check.

I was allowed to make the deposit, but not without being questioned publicly about the validity of the checks. I was insulted to say the least. If I had dropped the checks in an envelope and deposited them through the ATM, would it ask me such questions?

Today marked the pinnacle of bad customer service. I presented a cashier’s check made out to my son, and the teller would not let me make the deposit. There is MORE than enough money in my account to cover the check in the event that it came back NSF, but that was deemed irrelevant. The only way I would be allowed to deposit the check is to have my son present, with his ID, “SO THE HE CAN VERIFY THAT HE ENDORSED THE CHECK OVER TO YOU.” Those were the exact words used by the teller!

I’ve had some bad customer service, but to be called a thief tops the list.

First of all, I’ve presented personal, hand-written checks for my son on numerous occasions and was allowed to cash them on the spot. This was a CASHIER’S CHECK for less than 10% of the amount that I currently have on deposit with the bank. I did not ask for the check to be cashed but to be deposited. Again, if they feel that there may be a problem with the check, they are well within their rights to hold the check until payment has been received. However, rather than deposit the check and hold the funds until it cleared, Woodforest chose to call me a thief and refuse me service until I bring my son to verify that I’m not a common criminal.

Come along son... Tell the nice lady that I'm not a thief.

REALLY?!

I am a former customer of Woodforest Bank and was pleased to be one due to my overdrawn account at the time with Wachovia. They did in fact give me a second chance and stated to me that they did not use telecheck to open any accounts or report to them. Back in 2007 I lost my job and my account had become overdrawan and was told that they would close my account but would give an opportunity to bring my balance to a zero balance and would work with me to make small monthly installments. The manager was supposed to send me a plan to help me bring this down but never did. I later found that Wachovia was willing to put me back on the right track and remove me from telecheck, since then I reestablished another account with another bank and started utilizing my checking account privileges and was not denied to write checks at different retail stores until recently. When I called telecheck to find out why, they told me that I was in there for Woodforest Bank . I was very upset because I know that the debt was not forgotten but I received no notification from them to make things right and was not given an opportunity to start making goood on an old debt. SECOND CHANCE?! I think not.

Was once employed with Woodforest, loved the people I work with, however the practices of the bank I didn't love. I understand who they target, second chance customers, however if you're not a second chance customer and you have a Woodforest check, there's hardly any business that takes their checks, they specifically say NO WOODFOREST CHECKS! Bad marketing ploy and also looks horrible on the bank. If you think about it, you're sharing the same bank with people with bad banking probs, I understand times are hard, but day after day i heard I didn't do this, or i didn't do that, come on now! I'm an absolutely free holder and plan on changing banks, sorry but I don't wanna look like i'm a hot check writer, cause I'm not. Woodforest will one day realize that they're never gonna get their money from the charged off accounts, they need to wake up and smell the coffee. These second chance customers don't care they'll just drain the account dry until it charges off! Some though, were amazing at handling their account, but most weren't at all. I didn't leave on bad terms, I just think that woodforest needs to change their banking practices or they're gonna lose their account holders.

Well for the last 4 months we ever week get 2 over dfart fees and we know the moneys in there. also we have funds tooken out that we know have been tooken out alreadt once

I checked my account balance around a little after 2:00am this morning. It showed $700.00 and 2 refunds had posted that I was expecting to get. This morning around 6:00am I get my Woodforest email balance and it showed I was overdrafted!
I paid a bill last night and after paying the bill and making 2 other small purchases it showed $366.00 to the good.
All of my POS transactions were there and they were there as I checked this account last night before 12:00am.
Has anyone else had this to happen? This makes my second time for this stupid stuff with them.
Can anyone tell me why this happens?

My 19yr old and 17yr children opened an account at Woodforest. It was their choice as they felt the hours fit their schedules best. During sign up, I was there and we ALL discussed NOT having this "od protection"- i even told them my older child had a bad experience and that was not something that needed to happen. About six weeks later we noticed about 180 in OD fees on the account. My son used that stupid card to do everything so each 3-4 dollar transaction cost extra 34. At that time we called and the BRANCH MANAGER told ME and my SON that both kids had to go in to sign something to take the protection off the account. I was upset and told them we knew the person we talked to and what was said and she still said both kids needed to come in. Their schedules were not going to be same for about a month, but I just told my son to print out the transactions to ensure that he had money in the account. He was very faithful about that, and kept those prinouts of balance in folder. My daughter made an error thinking her check went direct one week and she went to ATM to get what would be just a little less than her check. Three days later the account was overdrawn by nearly 550 mostly due to fees. I called and talked to MY bank who informed me that their policy was to do transactions as they happened but that we should check with Woodforest who may do it different. And different is what they do. They spent an hour trying to convince me that ALL merchants hold transactions for up to 7 days before they run them. My husband is a retail manager and said no truth to that! They were moving and holding them in pending in order to get OD money because that "protection" was in place! My child could prove that there was money in account and there were still massive od charges. I told them to not use that stupid card and just get money and even that did not work. To this date they have been charged over 1000 in fees! Now the latest is that my daughter asked about working out a pay agreement but closing the account and was told it would have to wait a MONTH so that more fees could accrue! By the time they can "work out something (which is not a guarantee) there will be another 400 in fees min. THis is such a scam that I am filing every complaint I can.

I am caring for my parents who are both dying. Upon starting to straighten out their finances, I opened a checing acct. With woodforest bank. After a person stole a chk from their acct. , and cashed it for594.00, I requested to close this acct. The day it came in for pmnt. Woodforest kept it open for over 2 weeks! In addition to all the charges from the companies that had received payment by check from us, woodforest charged us over 2500.00 worth of overdrafts. In addition they move payments around (Even taking off an already posted payment and moving it to a later date) so that they can charge the maximum number of od's. I am fed up! This company needs to be sued. They ar clearly breaking the fdic laws and I have proof. If anyone else is involved in a class action, please post the info so I may join! These crooks need to bein jail! It has gotten so bad that my dying disabled parents have no food. At least I know justice will be served eventually - if not in this world then in the next. I would suggest woodforest employees think about that!

I was once employed with Woodforest as a manager. I was let go because one of my employees made up a story to the HR dept. She was on the verge of being fired and knew it was coming so she got everyone together that she all went to school with(small town) and said the I mistreated the employees. I was never contacted about the situation and came into work one day and was told that I was let go without warning. I also believe it had to do with the outlandish sale goals that were placed on the branch. It hard to get people to open accounts when no one in town would accept a check written on the bank.

Wal-mart who proudly services Woodforest National Banks in their super centers has once again found a way to screw the "American Public!" Two years ago I went an opened a second chance checking at the bank and opened both a personal and a business account. The business, being seperate from my personal with it's own EIN and LLC documents and company name, mailing address, phone, ect. Due to a large amount of NSF checks returned to my business account, Woodforest took it upon themselves to transfer everything in my pesonal account to my business saying they could "legally do that". Then my personal account became overdrawn due to checks that were out! I was so furious, that when I closed my business, that year, I filed for personal and business bankruptcy! Last week I had to go to their bank to cash a check that was drawn on them, not only did they keep my check, they refused to give it back to me when they told me they were collecting on an old debt! That they could legally do that! It didn't matter to them that I had no groceries and no gas to drive back. My children were with me and it was the most horrible thing I have ever had to encounter! I thought that was why in opening businesses we get LLC and EIN numbers and why when we file bankrutpcy "we are protected"... Way to go Wal-mart! This bank also charges the Blue Collar American Worker, $3 daily as their accounts stay overdrawn! Wow, if you are paid once a month, that really adds up... Is this legal? Stay away from this bank! AND STAY AWAY FROM WAL-MART! Sam never wanted his store to be part of scams or fraud to the Americans he loved so much!

I was an employee at Woodforest National Bank for 3 years. I left for a better opportunity at another financial institution. I wanted to write a check off my other bank account to deposit into Woodforest to make my car payment and they claimed they have a "new rule" that they can't accept TO ME FROM ME checks any more. There would be an automatic hold placed on my check from the other bank where I WORK for 7 business days! I have never written a bad check before in my life and I am definitely not going to write one off of my new job! THAT"S CRAZY! The regional manager, the branch manager and the assistant manager have came up with this all on their own. From what I understand it's not a "WOODFOREST" policy. I am very disappointed in this bank.

Long story. Their mistake but were reluctant to do anything.

My unemployment goes into an account that I have a debit card for. My only access to the money is by using the debit card or paying extra to do an online transfer to a bank.

I wanted to pay off a 0% cc loan that was about to expire. I had a few grand in my checking account and I had about $4500 in my unemployment account. On April 23rd I went to the bank to get a $3000 cash advance to deposit into my checking account so I could pay the cc off.

When the teller swiped the card the machine malfunctioned (she didn't tell me that). She processed the transaction again and it was delcined. I thought maybe there is a limit, try $2000. It was declined again. I said try $1000. The $1000 transaction was approved.

When I got home I checked to see if there was a limit and found that there was in fact no withdrawal limit. But I also saw a pending pre-authorization on my account for $3000.

I called the company and asked why the pending transaction if it was declined. They said it was not declined, that the amount was approved when the request was made. I knew that in order to get the pending removed I would need the bank to send a letter telling them they were not going to finalize the transaction. I asked the guy if there was another alternative other than waiting 5 to 10 days, he said no.

Next day, April 24th, I went to the bank and explained to the teller that there was a pending transaction for the $3000 and they needed to send a letter to the bank. I provided a copy of my statement showing the pending transaction. I thought it would be a simple request because I knew the procedure. It happened to me once at the post office. They said I had to swipe my card again and there were actually 2 transactions for the same amount. I did let that one go for 5 days. They had no idea what to do so they were going to send it to someone else and let me know what they found out. I never received a call so I just waited. 5 days and it was still there. 10 days and it was still there.

I called the company and found out what really happened. They told me she had swiped the card twice and the first time got approved, the second was declined because the first was approved and there was not enough money for the second request. The 3rd attempt was declined because the first was approved. The 4th attempt was approved because there was still enough money in the account.

She also said any thing over $250 would remain for 30 days unless the bank sent a letter. And she said the matter could be resolved in a few hours if they would just fax a letter. I went to the bank and asked them what was being done. They said nothing was being done because when they forwarded the matter no one had ever heard of anything like that and that they could not send a letter because they did not have any record of the transaction. I said if you have no record then what will it hurt to send a letter to that affect and tell them it won't be processed. I got them to call someone and in the phone conversation that is when she said she swiped the card and the machine malfunctioned. But in all the people she talked to, she never told them what needed to be done. She just asked if they should do anything to get the funds released.

But they still said they had never had to send any correspondence like that. Their risk dept. didn't have any idea. I made a small scene in the bank at Walmart and they said someone would call me that afternoon. I went straight home and called the account company back and spoke with them again and they assured me there was nothing I could do, the bank had to do it. I called the banks main CS in Houston and talked to about 3 people and a CS supervisor told me that someone in risk was taking care of it and it would be done within the hour. The branch manager called and I explained to him that I had called CS and he said he would call and make sure I was told correctly.

Well, the next morning the transaction was still there. I was hot. I called the account company and they said they had received no letter. I called the banks CS and went through about 3 people and no one knew what the hell was going on. I finally got a CS supervisor that told me that she had spoke to someone in risk and that the letter had been faxed in that morning (18 hours later than they said they were going to) and that they had received a confirmation of the fax. I told them I wanted a copy of the letter faxed to the bank so I could pick it up. I never got to speak to anyone in risk at any point. I am the customer, shouldn't they deal with me if they are offering customer service? They can't even give you a direct call back number, you have to start everything from the automated process.

I called the company back and got to the head person on duty on the phone and she told me the fax number I was give was for the Texas office and that she was in Harrisburg, Pa. so she could not verify receipt of the fax. I told her I was going to get a copy of the letter and would she accept it if I faxed it in. She said yes. She was very accomodating and said that if she saw the money post to my account before the end of the day she would call me. I told her I would get the letter but would wait until morning before I got back to her.

I went to the bank about 4 hours later to pick up the letter and no one knew a thing. After about 15 miutes they finally came up with the letter from an email. I brought the letter home and waited. The next morning the money was back in my account showing a transaction reversal.

So after 12 days and only two extra blood pressure pills I got my money back. The people at the bank did not seem at all concerned that I would have to wait 30 days to get my money even though it was their machine that malfunctioned and caused the whole ordeal. Hell, I guess all their account holders have an extra 3 grand to throw away for a month.

The lady at the account company said it is a very common thing to happen and that she has had a few banks refuse to send a letter, and those banks did complete the transaction 90% of the time. But she has never known of a bank that has never had it happen and did not know what the procedure was to rectify the situation. I think the bank was just stalling with the whole thing.

They said they made a one time exception just for me.

I know this was just one incident with the bank; but the way it was (or should I say wasn't) handled and the several times they lied to me about what was being done and the total lack of communication is just not the way customer service should be provided. Especially for a financial institution.

I told the teller, I normally keep a few thou in there but since they messed up, all that money was now gone from the account and I will make damn sure that there was never any money in that account again. I don't think they really care.

I opened an account at Woodforest Bank for convience. That was by far one of the worst mistakes I have ever made. My SS Disability check is deposited directly in to this account. Why would a gvoernment check be listed as"pending. Because of this my check is only $812.00, I was hit with over $500. in overdraft fees and charges. for someone that lives on a fixed income that is a very big blow. I do hope eventually some agency will step in and put a stop to this.

Well to start off with my husband and I got our tax refund check. We went to the bank in walmart and cashed it. Everything has been fine until up to two days ago. I went into gamestop to buy my neices birthday gift and the cashier give me the three one hundred dollar bills back and told me they were fake. I went back to woodforest bank and I showed my ###. They called secret services and read the numbers to them that was on the bills and all of them came back fine, but the counterfeit pen was still showing up dark brown. After finding out they were fine, I went and paid my car insurance bill with them. They called us back today and told us that the bills came back fake again (They were using the pen too). So the bank that my insurance company goes thru kept the bills and sent them to the secret service to investigate them. We have to wait two weeks to hear something back about them. In the meantime, I had to go back up to the insurance place and pay them again and of course one of those hundreds came back a fake, so we had to go thru the whole process once again. Of course the secret service said that one was fine too, but I cant use it! So I guess if the other three hundred dollar bills come back fine after their investigation, I wont be able to use those either, because everyone who uses the counterfeit pen on them will have a negative response on them. In other words they will all come back fake. So the secret services said that we have to call the federal bureu of printing and engraving and have someone come out and check all of our refund and which ever ones that are getting marked bad with the pen, they are going to take those out of circulation and give us new ones. But thats going to take forever to get all of this done. But woodforest bank told me that this is not their fault. Well if they were a good bank, wouldnt they be checking their bills before they took them. So now we are out of money, until all of this takes place. Its ###! Bottom line is, if woodforest bank was doing their jobs correctly like the man at secret service said, than none of this would have happened. The secret service thinks that it was the paper it was printed on and now its just a waiting game. In mean time we are completely out of money. Its aggravating as hell! So if anyone has went to woodforest bank, you should definately go buy you a counterfeit pen and check all your bills. Thats what we had to do after getting four like the ones we had! I hope this does not happen to anyone else and they have to go thru what we are going thru right now!