Sound Community Bank

Joe Sills was an excellent manager; he’s long gone. Also long gone is another excellent manager, Jo Figurelli; she’s moved on to Umpqua Bank. Then came a few subpar managers with the most current being Maria. The one who should be the manager — if she’s still there — is Stefany. Now she knows customer service. Like many reviewers reviewing this bank, I tired of the lousy attitude and moved to a new bank, a bank I was asked to come to and one in which provides excellent customer service. Good bye SCB, it’s sad that you lost a long time, loyal customer. We don’t come along often nor easily.

Wow! I have been a customer of Sound Community Bank for years and have always LOVED the service I receive there. This past week I went to Mexico for vacation and, to my dismay, had my card cloned and my PIN stolen as well. I was mortified and so stressed out when it was discovered. On top of that, what terrible timing!
I contacted the after-​hours service to shut down my card and contacted the bank when I returned. Having money taken from your checking account is, as one can imagine, terribly stressful.
My representative walked me through the steps of reporting the incident and assured me everything would be handled quickly. I’m moving this weekend. I was very concerned that the amount wouldn’t be there to pay the movers and my new home. Can you say anxiety?
I am so pleasantly surprised at the level of service provided though such a terrible experience. The funds that were fraudulently taken from my account were replenished in less than ONE DAY! I recommend Sound Community Bank to my friends and colleagues on a regular basis for their every day encounters, but it’s times like this that really show what an organization is worth. Amazing job! You have a customer for life! Thank you so much for continuing to be a great financial institution.

I can’t recommend Sound Community Bank. We’ve been with them for seven months and it feels like they are constantly having issues and making mistakes. Any one of the mistakes would be understandable, but it seems like every single thing I try to do with them, they mess up. Here is a rough timeline (dates might be inaccurate as they are from memory):
June– my girlfriend and I open accounts at SCB. Everyone there is so sweet and helpful! She (Erin K) leaves a positive Unilocal review. Unfortunately as we found out several days later, they have linked her debit card to my checking account, so all her purchases are against my account. Where is my money going? I call Sound and they apologize and fix the cards immediately, but we have to sort out the charges on our own. (Isn’t this a pretty bad breach of confidentiality too, that I could see all her purchases in my account history, let alone having to pay for them?)
July– Both of our debit cards are declined for no reason at a restaurant one night. Good thing we still had an account with a debit card at a different bank, but that’s not really something I want to rely on. I call Sound the next day and they say it was a «system problem.» No apology.
August– I lose my debit card, oops. I still had returns that needed to process on it so Sound offers to «warm card» it, meaning credits can come through the card but no debits can go out. Unfortunately despite this, the return wouldn’t go through. I call them, they put me on hold for a while and then say they fixed it and I should have the merchant process the return again. Still refused by the bank. I gave up and had the merchant send me a check.
October– I fill out a customer satisfaction survey and mention these issues. Someone from the bank calls me trying to explain that the incident with the declined cards was because there was no money in the account (which was false, and it happened to both of our cards, and they had ALREADY told me it was a «system problem»)
December– I made too many transfers against my savings account. Oops, but the online warnings I was supposed to be getting (saying I had reached the maximum of 6 transfers/​month) never came through. They call me and accuse me of ignoring the warnings and continuing to make transfers. (Why do they even physically let you make more online transfers than the legal limit?)
January– I lose my debit card AGAIN. (I don’t come out looking any more effective than SCB in this story!) I call them, have them hot card it and send a new one. After two weeks, no new card. I call and they say (after quite a while trying to decipher their online records system) oops, they never sent it. Now I am waiting for them to call me back after they find out if they can expedite my new card and I am generally fed up with dealing with them. (Update on this: they did expedite the new card but told me that I MUST be home to sign for it in person, no exceptions, the desk at my building CANNOT sign for it and it would be refused if I didn’t sign for it. They also couldn’t give me an exact date it would come. It didn’t come Saturday so I took Monday off work and stayed home to sign for the card. Turns out it was delivered and the desk signed for it no problem.)
All the people are really sweet and kind and helpful, but they are constantly confused, trying to figure out how to do things. They just seem unable to meet my basic banking needs, and I’m not doing anything complicated– just maintaining a checking account, a savings account, and a joint checking account with my girlfriend. The most complicated thing I do is lose my debit card from time to time. I feel bad writing such a negative review but my experiences with this bank have been nothing but trouble.

We’ve been banking here for about five years. Love the staff and the rates. Great place to re-​fi a home mortgage. If you have thought of leaving one of the big banks and are seeking an alternative, start here.

Speaking from a different perspective — while I worked there this was a great bank– the moment I gave my notice to quit and move out of state it became a completely different feel and situation. Very personally disappointed in how this bank treats it’s employees (or former for that matter)
Just speaking from my personal experience.

Yes. Yes. Yes.
That’s how banking should be done. Super friendly, professional, personal.
The lady who’s in charge of the cash is a little bit gruff — but you get the feeling she won’t screw up ever.
We’re with Sound Community Bank for our (cash-​heavy) business. I heartily recommend them especially for small businesses.
(Chase, BoA, Wells Fargo, US Bank, Key Bank, and all those other big commercial banks can’t even get close to the kind of service we’re receiving here at SCB.)

I have banked here for 15 years! since before sound community. Always the best. I have had two car loans and a checking and savings! wonderful people! this is through my place of employment, so i do all my banking over the phone or other! you need to bank here! never had a problem

This is an awful bank staffed by people who don’t like people. I did my business and personal banking there for 14 years. For the first 12 – 13 years, they were great — great people, no or low fees. Then everything changed. There was a mass exodus of all the good staff, and the bank started charging fees for everything under the sun. In my last month, I was charged — I am not making this up – a «non-​activity» fee of $ 4. That’s right, the bank charged me for not using my account because, you know, it’s expensive to do absolutely nothing on an account.
I can confirm the tie in with 5^th 3^rd Bank too. Sound Community Bank’s credit card accounts are all handled by 5^th 3^rd (which is indeed the second largest bank in the U.S.), and SCB will not help you at all if you have a problem with your credit card.
The long and the short of it: Steer clear of this bank if you want good value in banking in terms of services, fees, and customer service, especially if you are a small business owner, because this bank will waste a lot of your precious time and money.
I truly do not like writing poor reviews, but in this case, I cannot possibly write a positive one and feel good about myself.

We switched from the downtown branch (Who we banked with for a few years, but the service fell off) and have received excellent service!!! We love these guys (& gals)!!!

Fantastic Service, friendly people. I love my community bank. Much better than any big bank in town.