Banks commit to assist customers
Banks including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup and Capital One Financial have assured nervous customers that they will provide assistance to those affected financially by coronavirus.
Banks in the US, including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup and Capital One Financial, have assured nervous customers that they will provide assistance to those affected financially by coronavirus.
“Call us and we’ll make it right,” Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said on Sunday on CBS News’s
But reaching a representative is proving more and more difficult as customer-service centres are inundated by calls from clients seeking help.
“Due to staffing issues resulting from our response to Covid19, also known as coronavirus, wait times may be longer than normal,” callers to Wells Fargo’s customer-service line were told on Monday. The bank said it was “having a larger-than-normal number of employees work remotely on a specific day.” A Wells Fargo spokesperson did not respond to questions about call-centre employees.
The problem is twofold: banks are trying to fight the spread of the virus by keeping some employees at home, while call volumes are higher than usual as more American workers worry about paying creditcard bills and making mortgage payments as workplaces close.
Particularly hard hit are workers in the service industry as governors in New York, New Jersey, California and other states order businesses such as bars, movie theatres, restaurants and gyms shut to fight the spread of the coronavirus. President Donald Trump said Americans should stop eating out.
‘LONGER THAN USUAL’
“As we address the needs of our customers, including those impacted by Covid-19, call wait times may be longer than usual,” Capital One callers were told. On Monday morning, hold times to reach a customer representative at the bank were in excess of 20 minutes, according to calls placed by Bloomberg. That compares with an average of 41 seconds in 2018, according to a study from MyBankTracker.
Capital One spokesperson Sarah Craighill said wait times were longer than normal, and digital tools including the bank’s mobile app were the fastest way to reach the company.
“We are grateful to our customers for their patience and understanding as we navigate these uncertain times together,” she said.
Some customers have taken to social media to express their frustration. “Yesterday, I sat on hold for three hours, and got nothing accomplished,” one user tweeted. “I’ve been disconnected seven times.
“I spend an insane amount of money on Citi cards annually. This is awful customer service.”
Citigroup has offered to waive monthly service fees and penalties for early certificate of deposit withdrawals. But a spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment about increased hold times.
Asked about what Bank of America would do for customers who cannot make mortgage or credit-card payments, Moynihan said they could “call the number on the card and they say, ‘I’m affected by the disease,’ and we’ll defer the payment.”
To get that deferral, customers may be on hold for more than 30 minutes, based on wait times on Monday.
“Overall, call volumes and wait times have remained stable, though we continue to prepare for increased volumes,” said Bank of America spokesperson Bill Halldin.
The company is using social distancing and additional cleaning at its call centres, and some customer-service employees are working from home.
20 the average number of minutes Capital One kept Bloomberg on hold
30 the number of minutes Bank of America clients can expect to be kept waiting