American Savings Bank
Reviews and Complaints

This bank is a nightmare to deal with. I've been trying to get some work done, but it's been a struggle. My brother passed away in 2011 and left his house to my sisters and me. However, this bank has made it incredibly difficult for us to access any information about the loan he had on the house. They claim it's for security reasons, but it feels like they're just being unhelpful. All I want to do is pay off the loan, but for years I've been trying to get the payoff amount with no success. I'm so fed up with them that I'm considering getting an attorney involved.

I wanna sue ASB cause they be stealin' money from me and other customers. They broke into my security deposit box and took 10K worth of jewelry and my ID and credit card. I reported it in August but the police and the bank ain't doin' nothin'. I also got scammed and lost my money when I wired it to some scammer for a car deposit. ASB didn't help me with that either. Then they put a hold on my social security checks, which is messed up 'cause it's a government check. I told 'em I'm comin' back with the police, but they just put a hold on my account for my behavior. When I went to check my other security box, the manager forged my signature twice. When I called 'em out on it, they closed my account and charged me BS fees. These people are the biggest scammers in Hawaii. Don't trust 'em with ACH, checks, or online banking. Their employees even told me they can see my password and all my account info. This one customer service rep at the Foodland branch in September told me that. Once I finally got my money out, I had lost a total of ***K.

This bank is really bad. The people who work there don't care about their job. I don't know how they hire their customer service representatives, it's like they just pick anyone off the street. I've had problems with this bank before, but I never complained. But now, I can't do business with them anymore. I have three accounts with this terrible bank and I called them over six months ago in 2020 to change the addresses on all three accounts. I stayed on the call and asked multiple times if my addresses were changed. The representative said yes every time. I was happy and went on with my life. But now, in April , I needed my bank statements to show my new address to an agency. And guess what? They still haven't updated my address. So I called them and the lady on the phone was rude and said she updated my address. But it's mid-May now and nothing has changed. It's terrible! I also tried messaging them through online banking to ask for a letter confirming my new address, but they just sent me my old statements with my old address. I attached a picture of my conversation with them below. Please look at it and see how stupid they are. It's like they don't understand English. Don't ever do business with this bank. Choose another bank instead.

So, I had a pretty frustrating experience with American Savings Bank. First off, their fraud protection is supposed to have 24-hour customer service, but when I needed to talk to someone after business hours, there was no one available. My card got suspended because of fraud, so I couldn't even use it. And to make matters worse, I couldn't get in touch with anyone to sort it out. The receipt from the bank machine said I had zero dollars in my account, which really sucks because I know I had some money in there. I'm really upset about this whole situation and someone is definitely going to hear about it.

American Savings Bank received two payments of $1,721.59 each from me on February 28 and March 29, 2022. These checks were mistakenly mailed out from my Fidelity account. I had already paid off my mortgage on January 31, 2022, so no further payments were required. On April 18, 2022, I called American *** to request a refund for the overpayment. They informed me that they had already sent two cashier's checks to ***, but I have not yet received them. They assured me that the checks had not been cashed, but they declined to refund the money to me.

I had a major problem with my business debit card and checking account at American Savings Bank. There was a lot of fraud going on, and the bank hasn't been helpful at all. There were 13 fraudulent transactions, and they added up to over $2000 in charges and fees. I told the bank about the police report and where I was when the fraud happened, but they didn't believe me. They said I made the charges myself and refused to fix the situation. This has really hurt my family's income and my small business, which is owned by a disabled veteran. It's also made it hard for me to get the mental health services I need during this pandemic. It's not fair that I have to spend my time fighting this battle instead.

Every worker at American Savings Bank has been great, but the Bill Pay company they use has been really bad for more than a year. They don't pay my vendors on time and always blame it on the USPS, which is not true. They take money out of my account for checks that haven't even reached the vendor yet. It's not right that this Bill Pay can control my own money when they haven't done their job. For over a year, my payments have been late to many vendors, causing problems and confusion. I've had to spend hours trying to figure out what went wrong. Taking money from my account that isn't yours is stealing. This bill pay service is stealing and shouldn't be allowed to keep going. ASB should do something to stop this bad behavior, even if they have a contract.

American Savings Bank gives out Debit cards as *** cards. When I was traveling, they randomly charged some of my cash withdrawals as *** cash draws instead of debiting from my account, resulting in extra fees. I didn't ask for or need this *** card. In October, while I was in ***, they charged my cash withdrawal as a *** withdrawal, adding an extra $16. I had more than enough funds in my accounts to cover the withdrawal. They never informed me or gave any indication that they would randomly categorize it as a *** expense instead of a regular account withdrawal. I'm certain they do this to all their customers, making a huge profit for themselves. I would prefer to have a Debit card that is not a *** card. Additionally, I don't think the bank should require me to have this *** card instead of a simple debit card. I already have enough credit cards and never applied for this *** card. They sent it to me as a debit card.

There's been some fraud going on with my business bank account since June 27. I reported it to the bank and they canceled the card that had the fraudulent charges. But the very next day, on the 28th, I saw the same charge from hello mobi for $839. The bank allowed it to go through even though there was no debit card linked to my account. Then, on the ***, the bank put a freeze on my account so that no one could withdraw money. But on July 1, another $839 charge appeared. Every day, I go to the bank to complain, and they remove the charge from my statement as if it never happened. However, I have pictures of my account showing the charges. Today, they informed me that my account is now overdrawn by $839, and they expect me to bring it back to a positive balance. If not, they will start charging me a daily fee. Something is definitely not right with this bank, and I need to spread the word. Please help me, as I have lost a significant amount of money because of this bank. I don't know where else to turn.

On 7/3, I made a mistake while doing a digital money transfer with American Savings Bank. I accidentally entered the wrong information for the recipient and sender. As soon as I realized my error, I immediately called the bank for assistance. They informed me that the only solution was to transfer the money back. So, I followed their instructions and initiated the transfer. However, to my surprise, the transfer happened twice, resulting in an overdraft of over $1,500. This left me without access to my funds for several days, which was quite inconvenient.

To make matters worse, American Savings Bank also charged me $150 in overdraft fees. Frustrated with the situation, I called back and spoke to a manager named Reyna. Unfortunately, our conversation was not pleasant as she was confrontational and aggressive. Reyna initially refused to refund the full amount of the fees, only offering to reimburse $120 until she reviewed the recorded conversations. Feeling dissatisfied with this outcome, I requested to speak with a different supervisor. I agreed to let them keep the remaining $30 if they would either close or freeze my account. This incident was not the first time they had mishandled a transfer of over a thousand dollars for me. However, Reyna declined my request to close the account, insisting that I had to visit a branch in person. This was quite inconvenient for me as I had recently moved to Massachusetts, and American Savings Bank showed little concern for my situation.

Fortunately, a supervisor contacted me later and apologized for the inconvenience after listening to the recorded conversations. They also refunded the overdraft fees. However, my account remains open and continues to incur additional fees that I have never encountered before.

I opend an account with American Savings Bank at the Hawaii Kai branch in high school. I used that account until I left to work on the mainland and thought that I had closed everything before moving. There are no brick and mortar banks in Hawaii that also operate on the mainland. I recently found out that I not only had an account still open with this bank but they had deemed it inactive for years and have been charging me monthly inactive fees, returned mail fees and imaging fees. The balance of the account went from $1893 in 2011 to $3 as of 4. "Attempts" to contact me were poor. My phone number and email has been the same this whole time. The bank never turned the funds over to the state. I check the unclaimed property Hawaii website periodically and have never once seen this account appear there. As a mother with a chronically ill child about to give birth to her second during a pandemic, that money would have went a long way. How many others are they doing this to? Shame.

I had a Home Equity Loan #xxxx with American Saving Bank (ASB) but don't want it anymore. I asked ASB to close it on 4/27 through their online messaging. ASB replied that they need a letter to close it on 4/27. I sent the letter to close it on 4/28. I told ASB's Brian Z. on 5/7 that I sent the letter, but he said they didn't receive it. I sent the attached letter to close it on 5/8. ASB's Vince P. said the attached letter looks good to terminate it. They wanted permission to charge $36.00 to my checking account for the release of the mortgage fee. On 5/8, Vince P. said ASB would take the $36.00 from my checking account and process the request to close it. On May 13, ASB took the $36.00 release of mortgage fee from my checking account. On October 29, our refinance company told us that ASB still has the mortgage attached to the *** that was supposed to be terminated in May . The refinance company said we need to request termination from ASB again. ASB still shows the #xxxx *** as open on my online account with no balance owed. What's wrong with ASB? They didn't follow my request after taking my $36.00 release fee. Is that theft or unfair banking? I need ASB to legally close my ***#xxxx. ASB has terrible customer service and doesn't respond.

As an intro, gotta say that my complaint to the ComplaintsBoard.com 'bout American Savings Bank Hawaii is pretty much like what others have said 'bout 'em. Even though the details might be different, it seems like American Savings Bank Hawaii has a habit of doin' shady stuff with their banking. Here's what I recently told the big shots at American Savings Bank Hawaii: "HEY PRESIDENT AND CEO OF AMERICAN SAVINGS BANK HAWAII ***: I heard stories 'bout one of your employees stealin' money from another customer at American Savings Bank Hawaii, and now I'm worried that the same thing happened to me. I've been tryin' to get my money back and close my account, but American Savings Bank Hawaii keeps ignorin' me. If a regular customer acted as bad as American Savings Bank Hawaii, they'd be in big trouble with fines and legal action. So, I gotta ask you straight up: Why is American Savings Bank Hawaii treatin' me so badly? Are they makin' decisions based on race or doin' other unfair stuff like they've done before? I expect a quick response. Yours truly, a customer of American Savings Bank Hawaii." So basically, American Savings Bank Hawaii won't give me my money back and they might be doin' it outta spite or just 'cause they're shady.

Today, on September 14, 2022, I went to the Beretania branch of American Savings Bank like I usually do to deposit a check for a job I did. I work as a freelancer and receive checks ranging from $1000 to $1500. So, I went to the bank with a check that had my first and last name and my nickname ("***") written on it. I've been called *** since I was around 6, so this is nothing new for me. In the past, when I've brought checks written like this to American Savings Bank on ***, they never mentioned anything about the name. However, today I was surprised when the teller told me they wouldn't deposit my check because of the nickname. I found this very surprising since they have deposited at least 40 checks written like this before. I tried to explain this to the teller, but she didn't budge, even when I mentioned the previous instances where they accepted these types of checks. This has never been an issue for me before. Needless to say, I was frustrated, especially because the teller didn't directly tell me she wouldn't deposit the check. She just kept messing around on the computer until I finally asked her if there was a problem. It was only then that she said she wouldn't deposit the check. We had a bit of back and forth about the many times they had accepted checks like this. I called *** and they basically told me to talk to the branch I was complaining about, which wasn't the response I expected. Yes, I got frustrated and raised my voice. It's incredibly frustrating to try and understand a company's policies when they seem to be enforced arbitrarily. As a customer, it's confusing to have rules that are applied differently to different people. If the teller enforced this on me but not the next person, I want to know why.

On 4/13, my boss, the owner of our company, called the customer service center for American Savings Bank. The company's online banking portal was locked, which meant that we couldn't write checks or see balances, etc. The first person she spoke to asked for her security password. She said it correctly, but he then said he needed to ask 3 security questions. She forgot the answers. Eventually, a supervisor came on the phone. I also spoke with her. She said she had to follow procedure and couldn't grant access. She was condescending, had a tone of voice that showed she didn't care about our situation. Being unable to access our bank accounts costs us a financial loss because of time wasted. About one hour later, an Assistant Vice President called us and apologized. She said she would investigate and get back to us. We told her another issue was the lockbox application that we had made several months earlier at the main branch on Bishop St. Today, 4/14, she hadn't gotten back to us about the lockbox. So I called ASB and asked for the branch manager. He came on the phone and I asked him if he received an email that Mary sent concerning the PPP loan forgiveness program. He said he was very busy and hadn't checked his email yet. Then I asked him about the month and year that we submitted the paperwork for the lockbox, he said he would have to check. My boss and I are extremely disappointed with the customer service that we have experienced from the first day we opened our multiple accounts with ASB. There are other instances of poor service, miscommunication, mistakes, etc. But these two instances of gross incompetence and/or indifference and/or laziness were too much for me. I don't see how someone can reach the position of branch manager and treat customers the way the branch manager has treated us. I don't see how the call center employee could become a Supervisor and Quality Assurance Lead based on our conversation with her. The performance of these two employees brings shame and embarrassment to the hardworking bank employees who have helped us and have solved our problems professionally and with empathy. Our request was simple: unlock the account. It became drama that was unwarranted and wasted our valuable time.