Customers of TCF Bank whose accounts were transferred to Huntington due to a merger were left without access to their debit cards and online banking services this week, said the Star Tribune.
Huntington, an Ohio-based bank, announced the merger with TCF Financial, a Minnesota-based bank, late last year. The merger closed this summer and TCF is now being rebranded under the Huntington banner.
Customers from TCF were officially rolled over to Huntington last Friday after weeks of advance notice from the baking company, which sent out kits about the transition. However, the Star Tribune said the process has not gone smoothly for some.
Even though Huntington said customers would still be able to use their TCF cards, a small group of customers were not able to Friday night and Saturday morning before it the was resolved Saturday afternoon, according to a Huntington spokesperson.
Matthew Koscielski of Bertha, Minn., said that his card was declined at a gas station Friday night. Later, it was also declined at a Burger King. He said Wednesday that he could still only use his TCF debit card for credit purchases.
“They seem to not really have it all together,” he said of Huntington.
“I'm sure they tried hard to do this well, but they've simply failed,” said Jeremy Bond, a TCF customer in Mount Pleasant, Mich., said Wednesday. He encountered a different problem. When Bond tried to set up online accounts this month with Huntington, he was repeatedly denied access.
Randi Berris, Huntington's director of external communications, told the Star Tribune in an email that the welcome kits provided to customers gave step-by step instructions about what to do for the rollover.
“We understand that this can be difficult for some to navigate and that's why we're seeing the increased call volume,” she said. “We are working through those calls as quickly and efficiently as we can.”
Bond said Huntington customer service representatives also told him high transaction volume was behind his account accessibility issues. He was advised to try accessing his accounts at odd hours, when traffic volume would be low. Bond tried, but still had trouble getting in.
Previously, TCF Financial merged with Michigan-based Chemical Bank in 2019. During that merger, Bond said he had few troubles with account access.
Greg Ott of La Quinta, Calif., has also had trouble while trying to view his home equity loan. He was told to visit a Huntington branch, even though there aren't any in his area. He thinks the bank wasn’t prepared to handle national customers.
“We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience,” said the bank spokesperson about the transition issues.
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