Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Columbia Bank's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Columbia Bank

  19-01 State Rt 208 Fair Lawn, NJ 07410-2832

• 

  Columbia Bank

  701 N Wood Ave Linden, NJ 07036-4063

• 

  Columbia Bank

  905 Broad St Newark, NJ 07102-2622

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/28/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  1) Started a home loan process with Columbia Bank.
  2) Paid $1,520 for origination fees or appraisal fees or may be something else.
  3) Loan took very long time to get "Conditional Approval"
  4) In the meanwhile, I was trying to complete all conditions per the conditional approval letter.
  5) The ****** ********** (the landlord association company) denied my bank loan as I was having a co-signor.
  6) Now I am requesting the Partial refund of my initial payment of $1520. then bank is saying its non refundable.
  7) I am not asking full refund but just the partial refund only. As I also understand that they might deduct some fees for processing or something.
  8) My point is "If I was not able to take the loan then bank should provide refund at least".
  
  Please help me if you can.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/19/2024

  ***** *****,
  
  Columbia Bank is in receipt of your complaint to the Better Business Bureau as of October *******, on behalf of applicant ****** ******* ***** (applicant) requesting a partial refund of the origination fee paid by applicant.  As the applicant provided written authorization to discuss the details of the loan applications with you, the Bank is authorized to share the details in this letter.
  
  An independent review of your complaint indicated that the Bank received two loan applications from the applicant.  Applicant submitted the first loan application on May 14, 2024, for a purchase money mortgage. On May 16, 2024, the applicant executed the Rate Lock/Float Down Policy, which disclosed an origination fee of $995.00. The Rate Lock states that if the loan is denied, the origination fee is refunded, but if the loan is approved and does not close; the origination fee will not be refunded. By commitment dated June 11, 2024, the loan in question was conditionally approved, which commitment stated that the origination fee and appraisal fees were due upon acceptance of the commitment and would not be refunded if the loan did not close. The applicant signed the commitment letter and the paid the fees.  However, the loan application was later withdrawn on August 8, 2014, after the loan had been underwritten and after the property had been appraised. Because the loan was approved, the fees were not refunded.
  
  After withdrawing the application, the applicant submitted a second loan application on August 13, 2024, for a refinance transaction. On August 16, 2024, our Rate Lock Policy was executed, which disclosed the same conditions of our origination fee. An origination and appraisal fee were collected on August *******, but because fees had been paid on the first loan that was withdrawn, the Bank offered a courtesy refund of the fees and reimbursed the fees the same day. The loan was later denied on October 17, 2024, and an Adverse Action letter stating the reason for denial was issued. All fees in connection with this application were reimbursed in full.
  
  I hope this letter helps clarify why fees for the first loan application were not returned.We appreciate you considering Columbia Bank. Should you have any further questions, please contact me directly at **************.
  
  Sincerely,

  ****** ******, Mortgage Closing Manager

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/28/2024

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On May 19, 2023 Columbia bank issued a bank check to the State of NJ on my behalf for the selling of my home. Subsequently Columbia Bank put a stop payment on said check, held my monies for 15 months and never let me, or the title company who is owned by Columbia bank, know. I only found out as State of NJ told me they never received the check, i called Columbia Bank and rep looked into it and told me that the stop payment had been put on last year. A supervisor, Amy, at the Corporate office was suppose to get back to me to let me know when and who issued the stop payment and an explanation as to why they sat on my money for 15 months and never let me know. she had me send her an email a week ago to which she responded that she would look into it. it's been a week now and still no response.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/29/2024

  Ms. *******,
  
  As you know,
  First Jersey Title submitted a check with your estimated non-resident tax
  payment with the deed to the county clerk, which is required to be sent for
  deed recording. As the deed was properly recorded in May 2023, First
  Jersey Title reasonably believed the check was processed simultaneously, and
  have since learned that it was not processed. As a matter of course, a
  stop payment is issued on checks not cashed within one year, such that the stop
  payment was issued in or around August 2024. First Jersey subsequently
  re-issued the check and have confirmed that it was cashed on September 9, 2024.
  We appreciate the opportunity to resolve the matter for you.  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/29/2024

  
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because I was initially told that the stop payment on the check was LAST YEAR and the representative was going to reach back out to me and tell me the exact date of the stop payment and who authorized, and also why i was not notified. The check had been issued on May 19, 2023. Your response mentions that after a year a stop payment was put on the check, which would have been May 19, 2024. why did no one reach out to me back in May, June, July or August until it was I who had to reach out to Columbia? why, when i called and spoke to Amy did she tell me she "assumed" that a stop payment was put on after a year ( which would have been May 2024) and that she would get back to me and has yet to and that was 9 days ago. Your response says about August 2024.

  Are you telling me that Columbia Bank cannot tell me when the date the stop payment was put on this check, who authorized, and why no one reached out to me? If i didn't try to track this down, you would still be sitting on my money. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  ****** ******* 

  Business Response

  Date: 10/07/2024

  Ms.
  *******,
  
  Per
  your request, the original check was issued on May 19, 2023, and the stop
  payment was placed by Columbia Bank’s Accounting Department on August 7, 2024.
  As previously stated, as a matter of course, a stop payment is issued on checks
  not cashed within one year. You were not notified of this stop payment because
  the payee on the check was the State of New Jersey, who was responsible for
  issuing your tax credit. Nonetheless, we will review your feedback with our
  Title Agency, so that we can both explore additional reconciliation processes
  and prevent this from occurring in the future. If there is anything else we can
  do to resolve the matter, please let us know.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/04/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Jan 31, 2023 I filled out application for checking account online. I was immediately denied. I was quite baffled by this as I have a credit rating of 825 and have never had an issue with a bank. After 9 phone calls I was told there was a glitch in their system that was automatically rejecting applications. That evening I received email stating I was approved, however I could not log in online. Made 3 more calls on Wednesday and could not get problem fixed so made appointment to go to ************* branch on Thursday 2/2/23. Went to branch on Thursday afternoon and by 3:00 PM all was well and could log in. Friday checked twice and all was still good. Saturday I find out that I am locked out of my account and can't access my funds because they need address verification. I went to email they sent and when I followed it I was back at my original online application. I know this because it stated I was making a $50 deposit, which I was originally going to do. However when I went to branch I deposited a check for $250. I then called customer service and the person on the phone could care less. Told me he could give me email address to send proof to but might take days before I could use my account. Fortunately the funds in there are not a big deal to me, but what if this happened to a mother trying to buy formula for her child and had no other money? How do you just lock someone out of their account with no warning, a mistake clearly made by bank for not asking for proof when I was in bank, and not have an instant remedy. I can't believe this bank can do this and truly think the ** ********** of ******* needs to look into Columbia's banking procedures. I unfortunately do not have the emails from before 2/2/23 because I erased on Friday 2/3/23 thinking all was set. Funny how they didn't need proof to take a deposit!! Consumers need to be aware of this Bank because someone could really be hurt by this Bank.