ComplaintsforWashington Trust Bank

• Initial Complaint

  07/07/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am filing a complaint against Washington Trust Bank and the ******** branch location. I have been mistreated and my PTSD condition has been triggered at the location by the locations manager twice. On May 23, 2024. and again, on June 28th, 2024, I filed a complaint in branch before I left. The human resources representative called and asked what she could do. I asked for him to be fired and she said no. When I asked why She said, "I know him personally and under no circumstances will I fire him." This statement makes her BIAS and unacceptable as a representative. I told her I did not consider this resolved and that I would like to take it higher. The next day I get a call from WA Trust ******************** a different person. I thought he had called to follow up but, the staff has written statements and have requested that you never come to their location again. As it was put" Either you don't go to the branch any more or I am going to close your account." Once I realized this was a different matter, I shut up. I said I could not agree to that and asked him not to close the account. He closed the account and issued me a check for the balance in the account. As I have litigation with that branch, I do not think it is legal for them to make this request as it is considered retaliatory harassment. Furthermore, the account closed was a joint account and the other member was not contacted or notified in any way that there was an issue. I think when the call started, he was trying to quantify me at the primary account holder was verifying my identity that I was the Complainer for my issue. My name is the only name on the check issued, not the account name and that also is against the law as I am not the only account holder. The transaction request in my primary complaint is fulfilled by numerous other Washington Trust Bank branches locally so often at least two branch managers know my 6yr old son by name.

  

  Business response

  07/17/2024

  Dear BBB,

  Attached is our response to ******************. Washington Trust Bank believes this matter is resolved. 
  Thank you,

  ***********************,

  Senior Compliance ******** **************************

  Customer response

  07/19/2024

  No contact has been made with Washington Trust Bank since the filing of the BBB complaint. No legal actions have been started against Washington Trust Bank other than this complaint at this time. My wife reserves her right to pursue the account closure on her own. Taking action against her account makes a different issue. 

  Customer response

  07/27/2024

   
  Complaint: 21954200
  
  I am rejecting this response because:  I'm writing in regard to an incident between my husband and Washington trust bank. I was not there, but I can attest to his character, and have never seen him act in such a way that would get him or us kicked out of anything in our 31 years of marriage. I can say there was a prior incident with the teller a month before.  I remember this distinctly because it's all my husband could talk about, and it put a lot of anxiety into him before our yearly Memorial Day camp trip.
  
  ***** has G.A.D (generalized anxiety disorder), ******************* traumatic Disorder, and a tbi (traumatic brain injury) from serving in the **** war. When he feels any sort of distress his anxiety kicks in, sometimes he gets a little loud or may sound harsh when this strikes because his brain is having a hard time communicating to his mouth, his body feels danger, and shuts everything down for a moment. He struggles with the words he's trying to find while also trying to mask his frustrations within himself to not sound harsh or look wrong to others. 
  I do believe this was handled wrong by all parties. As someone who lives with my husband's special needs every day, I feel if your worker would have said I'm sorry I don't understand what you're needing or I can't help you, but maybe ***** over here.... Instead, he was dismissed and pushed out of his spot. Him being treated kinder would have made all the difference. I work with neurodivergent children. People who are neurodivergent still have bank accounts, work, live a pretty normal life, but also have a lot of the same traits as my husband has. If he had down syndrome or some sort of physical sign showing he was special needs would he have been treated differently? I try to remind ***** that sometimes he comes off as off putting to others, he seems odd, paces, speaks too softly and then too loud. Of Course this makes others nervous. How could it not.
  
  When your other worker called, which I assume was supposed to be a mediator, he could hear the man in the background laughing, yes, she hushed him. ***** felt like she was very one sided as she said "that's not going to happen today. I know him personally".  After that ***** couldn't or wouldn't hear a word, she said. He felt mocked, belittled, and even a little humiliated by how he was being treated then and now.  He heard he was losing something he loves, something that helps him work through his trauma and compartmentalize things in a non-harmful way.  I have no clue how the teller really acted, as someone who works with things like this every day, I can't understand how grew as badly as it did.
  
  I'm sad and disappointed at how disposable this made us feel but accept their right to refuse service.  We love the branch we normally use and chose them when we moved into our house because we wanted to support all the businesses in our neighborhood. The tellers even know my kiddos favorite sucker flavor, so it's a huge loss for my whole family. I expect nothing from this except to ask that Washington  Trust Bank  as a whole have their customer service people take some sort of sensitivity training for special needs and disabilities, especially with so many people being diagnosed with things lately. I also would like the teller to take a de-escalation class on top of this. It would also be nice if the other party is in the room with the mediator, which they have every right to be, that they at least act with some composure. If he's acting in such a way, he has to be hushed for chuckling he obviously he has some control issues. My husband didn't feel like it was funny or laughable, he just felt loss.  We would also like some form of communication if and when this happens. We love education so this would give us a bit of closure in trying to teach more people about unseen disabilities. Again, this wasn't the first time my husband felt mistreated by this man. In Fact, if I would have known he was going into this place, I would have asked him to wait until I could go in with him, because it is so out of character for him to talk about something like this.  I don't get the bill thing ***** does, but I can say it helps him. To him it's like a treasure ****, the numbers cathartic, he spends hours looking at coins for imperfections and other oddities. It also helps him learn to speak to people again, to feel comfortable out in the open, and makes him leave the house. It's about the only time I get to see the sparkle in the man I love. I really hope this don't fall on deaf ears.
  
  
  Thank you in advance for any help.
  *****************************
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

• Initial Complaint

  04/08/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I CALLED WASHINGTON TRUST? BANK TO APPLY FOR A MORTGAGE LOAN FOR A MOBILE HOME PURCHASE. THE LOAN PERSON I SPOKE TO, ***********************, DID NOT TELL ME ANY INFORMATION ON THE CRITERIA REGARDING THE MOBILE HOME. I HAVE NEVER PURCHASED A MH SO DIDNT KNOW THE QUESTIONS TO ASK. YOU WOULD THINK *********************** WOULD HAVE ASKED ME A FEW QUESTIONS BEFORE I APPLIED. EXAMPLE-IT MUST BE ON A FOUNDATION, MUST BE A CERTIN AGE, ETC. HE HAD ME BLINDLY APPLY FOR A LOAN WHICH THEY DENIED, I GUESS BECAUSE THE HOME WAS NOT ON A FOUNDATION==HAD I KNOWN I WOULD NOT HAVE BOTHERED, OBVIOUSLY. THEY CHECKED MY CREDIT. NOW I RECEIVED A LETTER SAYING THEY DENIED ME AND CHECKED MY CREDIT. IF *********************** WOULD HAVE DONE HIS JOB AND INFORMED ME OF SOME IMPORTANT DETAILS, I NEVER WOULD HAVE APPLIED!! I HAVE WORKED HARD TO PROTECT MY CREDIT SCORE, ITS REALLY IMPORTANT TO ME AND DO NOT WANT THIS INCIDENT TO EFFECT MY CREDIT SCORE.I DO NOT TRUST WASHINGTON TRUST BANK NOW OR THEIR EMPLOYEES. IT JUST SEEMS REALLY UNDERHANDED BY NOT BEING UPFRONT ABOUT A POSSIBLE LOAN.AND THEY SENT ME A LETTER SAYING THEY MAY ORDER AN APPRAISAL ON THE PROPERTY THAT I WILL BE CHARGED FOR IT!! THIS LETTER CAME WITH MY DENIAL LETTER!THIS MAKES NO SENSE AND REALLY MAKES ME WONDER WHAT THEY ARE DOING AT WASHINGTON TRUST BANK.

  

  Business response

  04/16/2024

  Dear BBB,

  The Bank has reviewed ******************** concerns and attached is our response. We request your support in sharing our response with her. We consider the matter resolved on our end. 

  Thank you,

  ***********************,

  Senior Compliance ******** **************************

• Initial Complaint

  06/16/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My name is *********************** and I recently opened a checking account online with no issues whatsoever in less than 10 minutes. Shortly after I added a bank account (BOA) to transfer money from and I verified it by confirming the two small deposits made by Washington Trust Bank into the external account. Shortly after that I initiated a transfer of $5,000 to fund my Washington Trust account. The transfer was processed successfully and the funds were available within two business days. When I tried to login to my account on or about 6/3/2023, I got an error message saying to call the bank. I contacted the bank and was informed that my account was under investigation and when I asked why it was under investigation, I was told its because I had a multiple inquiries on my consumer report. Thats ludicrous to use that as an excuse to withhold my money until today 6/16/2023. I have been calling customer service for the past two weeks to be told the same thing that theres no update and I still do not have access to my own money. When I asked for the account to be closed so I can have my money back, I was informed that they will not close my account. I have missed paying some of my bills and have incurred fees on top of my bills for being late due to this experience. I have filed a complaint with the consumer financial protection bureau for what this financial institution is doing. Im being treated like a criminal instead of a customer. Shame on all of you for making peoples lives harder. If I knew I would be going through such hassle, I wouldve never opened an account with **********************. I have left multiple voicemails for the supervisor named ****, but he has not reached out. No other supervisors seem to be available. Such a horrible customer service experience. I still do not know nor understand why my account was subjected to an investigation resulting in me being completely locked out of access to my own funds and account. It has been 2 weeks and I can not wait.

  

  Business response

  06/29/2023

  Sorry about the delay. 

  Customer response

  06/29/2023

   
  Complaint: 20199172
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I dont need nor did I ask for a fake apology for the delay. This is not a delay.  According to cashapp policy, I am not to be held liable for unauthorized transactions but thats exactly what happened here. ******* denied my claim for unauthorized transactions that were made with my stolen/lost cashapp card without any reason. Cashapp clearly knew the card was not in my possession at the time those fraudulent transactions occurred. I want my claim reopened in order to get my money back from those fraudulent transactions.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

  

  Business response

  07/03/2023

  Please letter attached. 

• Initial Complaint

  05/22/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On May 22, I attempted to access my mobile application to check my bank account balance. It stated account dormant and provided a phone number to call. I called the phone number, only to be told that I would need to wait for a call back after the customer service agent looked into the issue. I called the local liberty lake branch and was told that my account had been closed May 2. I never closed my account so I was shocked to hear this. The account had $25,000 in it. I asked where my $25,000 went to which the lady could not provide an answer and said she would call me back. I received a call from customer service stating that my account was closed due to fraudulent activity when I made 1 transaction to buy gold. I did not receive any notice, not a phone call, letter, email NOTHING. I was told the check was mailed with my $25,000 on May 2, but never received a check. I showed up to the branch Im liberty lake, to be told that they would make it right, and theyve never seen anything like this before. Only to them be told by the assistant manager ******* that she would not be able to get me a replacement check for 30 days. she then shoved a form in my face saying I needed to sign it. It was a RELEASE, saying I wouldnt hold the bank liable. She said I needed to sign it if I wanted my money. I said absolutely not, youre not giving me my money why would I sign this? She then told me she was there until 6 and that I could leave and she would **** me a call. To which I responded no; I am not leaving until you give me the money you took? No normal person on the planet would let a bank close your account with $25,000 in it and just walk away like nothing. She was not apologetic at all, and If anything acted like I was inconveniencing her. She finally made a phone call and gave me a replacement check only to credit herself that shes glad she was able to do it for me? Was so awful. Awful experience. Only got me the replacement check cause she didnt want to deal.

  

  Business response

  05/26/2023

  Please do not share personally identifiable information with ******************; the specifics shared are for the benefit of the Accredited Business Resolutions understanding of the events that occurred with Ms. ******** account. 

  

  Business response

  05/31/2023

  Please attached letter that you can provide to the customer.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩