Bank services interrupted during takeover
By GEORGE EARL, Enterprise Staff WriterArticle Photos
SARANAC LAKE - Community Bank's takeover of Citizens Bank branches went into effect over the weekend, but the management transfer included glitches with the bank's debit cards.
Community Bank N.A. agreed to buy Citizens in June; however, the deal was pending regulatory approval. On Monday morning the former Citizens branch here was supposed to be a fully operational Community banking center, but many customers said they were unable to withdraw funds or activate their new ATM cards.
Company officials said they notified Citizens customers well in advance that they would be denied access to their accounts over the weekend while the bank changed over; however, some customers were still unable to withdraw funds using their debit cards today. For them, it didn't live up to Community's advertising slogan, "Bank Happy."
"They froze our accounts over the weekend," Bryan Stearns said while he waited in line at the new Community Bank. "It ended up being a nightmare. I had to write checks and worry that they wouldn't clear. I had to borrow money from friends."
Additional employees were brought into the branch to help customers Monday morning. Bank employees said customers were told to withdraw money ahead of time and that they could still write checks even though they couldn't take out cash. The bank's marketing director, Hal Wentworth, did not return calls by press time.
"For the first swing, this is not too good," Stearns said. "We'll see how it goes from here."
Contact George Earl at 891-2600 ext. 25 or gearl@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.
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Afinehowdoyoudo
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11-12-08 12:00 AM
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No problem either. I rec'd plenty of notices, got my cards earlier in the week, activated them fine on Monday morning. Pershaps there was some operator error?
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Truthbetold
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11-11-08 1:17 PM
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I feel bad for the folks who had trouble activating their accounts, but not for those who didn't plan ahead and get the cash they would need for a few days while the transition hapened. The bank gave its customers LOTS of advance notice and very clear instructions. I had no problems with the transfer and was impressed with how smoothly it all went; all my account no.s have stayed the same, all my on-line bill-pay accounts are the same, and when I called a few weeks before the change, I was reassured by a patient bank employee who answered all of my questions. Life is complicated and this was a pain, but it could have been worse. Kudos to the employees who helped the transition go as smoothly as it did.
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