Fare Thee Well, Axos Bank; and the Story of the Chip Chewer
Goodbye to the bank that froze my assets "for my protection." Hello to a waiting room chip chewer with a bottomless bag of chips. And the childhood zig-zags that nearly got a house demolished.
The saying goes that the two happiest days in the life of a boat owner are the day he buys it and the day he sells it. Somewhat related to this, the only easily accomplished tasks in working with Axos Bank are the opening of an account and the closing of an account. Everything between those two ”happiest days” is a nightmarish catastrophe.
My personal favorite anecdote (which occurred numerous times) is when I make the monumental mistake of using my Axos debit card at a new retailer. Instantly, the transaction is rejected and my card is frozen — for my protection. I can’t just switch cards and deal with it later, because if my cell phone bill (or whatever) auto pays on the debit card, well, it’s going to fail. I call their toll free number. The phone system recognizes my cell phone so I only have to enter two or three proof of identity numbers. Finally I confirm that the transaction was legitimate. The phone system assures me that this headache is all worthwhile because Axos is dedicated to preventing fraud. My card is now unfrozen and I can attempt the transaction again. Yay for me!
Of course, this has nothing to do with consumer safety: the consumer is not liable for fraudulent transactions. For that matter, neither is the bank (I can’t imagine who helped draft that legislation). But that doesn’t stop the bank from rashly overreacting to every single new retailer I dare to patronize.
Goodbye Axos. I will not miss you.
