I started my first First Federal account back in September 1993, when I came up to Madison for grad school. I only went with that bank because they happened to have a branch close to my dorm at that time, Ogg Hall.
I stuck with them for close to 16 years now, eventually having two personal checking accounts, a money market account, four certificates of deposit, and a business checking account.
For years, Associated Bank tellers have begged me to get a mortgage re-fi with Associated, as I have been with two other banks for my mortgages. Now, with rates in the 5-5.25% range or lower, I finally decided to apply in January 2009. My first meeting with the Associated Bank mortgage banker was positive. After that, everything went downhill.
This mortgage banker would not return any phone calls or emails. Because of unique factors in my situation, this banker had to meet with his supervisors and the underwriters about my re-fi app. They met on Thursday, Feb. 12. I had a CD due, and what I would do with that CD would depend on how the re-fi app went. This unprofessional mortgage banker KNEW that Associated Bank was rejecting me on Feb. 12. On Monday, Feb. 23, I sat on the re-dial on my phone, calling his office repeatedly until I finally got through, until this unprofessional, incompetent mortgage banker could FINALLY tell me that Associated was rejecting my re-fi, not only saying 'No' but 'Hell, no!'
This, despite the fact that I have a 776 credit score, no late payments, and have a strong history of paying back four loans collateralized by a CD in about one year's time, which is an incredible accomplishment! Yes, my landlord business has had some losses for tax reasons, which anyone who truly understands the landlord business would understand, but I have always paid my mortgage, and even have had a 2nd job to make sure my mortgage is always paid, despite the ups and downs of the landlord business.
In addition, I recently took out another loan collateralized by one of my remaining Associated CD's. Now, Associated has jacked up the interest that they are charging on CD loans. My credit score range is not good enough for Associated Bank, so they added on a .5% interest rate due to the "risk factor" presented by my credit score. What risk factor? I pay the loan back, Associated gets their money. I don't pay the loan back, Associated takes the money out of the CD -- Associated still gets their money. One goofy banker suggested, "Well, maybe the government could seize your CD." Yeah, buddy, that's pretty remote!
Here's what's happening -- Associated Bank has gotten all this federal bail-out money, and now they are tightening up on all their credit policies, and treating their loyal long-term customers like ****, so they can hang on to all their money, so CEO Paul S. Beideman can pull down a $1 million dollar salary and pay their so-called performance bonuses by sending their employees to an expensive resort in Puerto Rico!!!!!! Associated Bank is filled with a bunch of highway robbers! Paul S. Beideman, why don't you take a lesson from Warren Buffett (one of the lowest paid CEO's in the country) who makes $100,000 and start learning what it's like to live like all of us ordinary mortals?
On top of this, Associated Bank customer service is completely incompetent. I recently had an encoding error on a check. I made my car payment for $162, and it was paid at $62. I immediately notified Associated Bank customer service, and I would have done whatever they told me to do to correct the problem. They told me they would take care of it. I saw on my statement that the $100 was deducted, so I thought Associated paid my car-payment-bank. No, they did not. My car-payment-bank sent me a late notice with a late fine, due to the unpaid $100. I went round and round with customer service, with different people telling me different things, with finally one person taking on my case to research it, and then she threw the whole thing back in my lap -- with Associated had done no wrong, and it was up to me to fix this with my car-payment-bank. I was told that Associated had sent a "wire transfer" to another bank. In the meantime, I made my car-payment-bank whole by doing an ACH deduction. After ONE WEEK of haggling, Associated Bank FINALLY credited me back the wrongly "wire transferred" $100.
Associated Bank is unprofessional, incompetent, and I strongly encourage you to take all your money out of Associated Bank and go elsewhere. That's what I'm doing!