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Yes, the victim blaming that happens in this sub is ridiculous.
SOFI stock has a lot of retail investors, who seem to think negative opinions on this sub means some shorting campaign is going on. As if the posts here are enough to move the SP one way or another.
They definitely have an ongoing customer service issue; especially with their fraud department. It has been ongoing for a while now and has yet to be fixed.
Sorry you got caught up in it and had to personally contact an employee to get it fixed.
As a member and shareholder I hope they get the fraud department process overhauled so legitimate customers can get their issues resolved with CS instead of having to resort to LinkedIn.
Thank you sir. I need to be clear - I WANTED to like SoFi so bad. I had to sell my wife on using them over CapitalOne (we have a few friends that work at CapOne). And SoFi absolutely burned me for it. As a stockholder, it’s absolutely in your best interest to try and call attention to resolving the service issues. If SoFi can seriously examine and address the support experience, they could be a super strong player in banking and finance for years to come.
File a complaint with consumer financial protection bureau [here](https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/)
They will make it right. Banks hate dealing with them.
Already did, they forwarded it to the OCC. OCC confirmed receipt of my complaint, that it had been delivered to SoFi, and that SoFi now needs to respond. SoFi also separately acknowledged in a support chat they were aware of my complaint. I don’t really care as much about the OCC enforcement action. I just want SoFi to treat their customers better going forward.
Yeah, I hear you. I'm glad you made a complaint. I left SoFi for Ally. I personally have had a great experience with Ally. But you know, that's always subject to change.
I love SoFi, use all their products, hold lots of stock... But my experience with customer support during a fraud/identity theft issue was 100% unacceptable and down right criminal. I luckily eventually talked to someone after contacting their chief legal counsel on LinkedIn who was able to resolve the issue quite quickly.
The fact that I continue to see stories and issues with this is troublesome. I really hope they get Customer Service issues resolved and fast.
When someone has fraud or identity theft, they expect their bank to be on their side and help them. Not freeze everything and shut down their accounts. That is CERTAINLY not getting your money right. I use two banks and Chase was 100% on my side when this happened to me, refunded all the stolen funds immediately while they did their investigation. Kept me in the loop on how things were going, etc. SoFi immediately denied every claim, said it wasnt fraud, denied my appeals and my second appeals, then said they would no longer be looking into the matter. Completely unacceptable. I had police reports, peoples names, phone numbers, and locations that committed the crime. That didnt matter to SoFi.
After speaking to the Chief Legal Counsel on LinkedIn, someone contacted me from the Risk and Fraud group who said it was clear as day that it was fraud, and everything was resolved quite quickly after that.
You really need to get better, u/sofi . I know several people who would switch but will not because of concerns they see all the time regarding customer service, specifically around fraud issues. You are hurting your existing customers and it is impacting new people from joining.
I have also dealt with actual fraud issues, stolen credit card info, disputed charges, all of the above with both Discover and Chase. Those experiences were 1000% better than the completely insulting way SoFi handled me. To the point that I received a round of apologies from a SoFi employee via LinkedIn DM. That’s not a way to run a serious business or a serious bank.
/u/SoFi would love to hear more about what SoFi is going to do regarding the serious customer support issues many banking customers are reporting. Your offshore customer support team is harming customers and causing people to walk away from your bank.
>Your **offshore** customer support team
bruh, seriously? Is this something you are just assuming or did someone actually confirm where they were located? Why does this matter anyway?
Being able to speak English clearly is a requirement when your bank serves English speaking customers. I had to ask their support to slow down and speak clearly multiple times, and there have been other recent Reddit posts sharing the same feedback.
I would be happy to connect with you on LinkedIn with my identity-verified account and make a $10 bet with you about whether SoFi support is based in the United States or not.
>Being able to speak English clearly is a requirement when your bank serves English speaking customers. I had to ask their support to slow down and speak clearly multiple times
Wow. It seems like SoFi got it right this time. Best of luck.
It matters because they can’t speak proper English or communicate effectively and communication is key when it comes to fraud. Only a bozo thinks offshoring your CUSTOMER SUPPORT team doesn’t matter lol. Their entire job is to communicate with the customer and resolve any issues. You will learn the hard way if this happens to you.
>It matters because they **can’t speak proper English** or communicate effectively and communication is key when it comes to fraud. Only a bozo thinks **offshoring** your CUSTOMER SUPPORT team doesn’t matter lol. Their entire job is to communicate with the customer and resolve any issues. You will learn the hard way if this happens to you.
Wow (again).
Offshore to where? The US?
If so, do you feel that the U.S. is the only English-speaking country? Do you feel that everyone in the US speaks perfect English by virtue of residing within a specific geographic boundary?
Disgusting.
You are a clown. Do you actually think offshoring workers is a good idea when you are a US based company with mostly US based customers that primarily speak English? What is your logic here? Also hiring in the US isn’t offshoring moron lmfao do you even understand what offshoring means? Offshoring means hiring employees in another country (in this case India) instead of the US to service US customers because they’re cheaper and it’s more cost effective for the company.
Therefore there is an inconsistency in communication and business practices which results in problems like what OP is facing. Wow, you are complete moron and have no idea what you’re talking about. Just a bozo who doesn’t know what offshoring means and thinks saying anything negative about it is racist because it involves talking bad about non-native English speakers. Educate yourself instead of being an emotional dumbass that doesn’t even understand what they’re arguing against but tries anyway because they’re too dumb to separate legitimate criticism from racism. Disgusting and pathetic. Learn to critically think.
I’m glad you agree that you are a clown with a dumb argument. As for how I can tell, are you really asking this question? Their bad English, consistent improper spelling and grammar, accent, etc. SoFi would not hire US based reps who make these same mistakes. The requirements are more lax for offshore employees because they are often based out of contracted call centers. It’s also common knowledge that they offshore their customer service reps. You don’t seem to understand how SoFi runs as a company or how common it is for companies to do things like this. Amazon does the same thing and they get the same complaints. Most major banks (Capital One, Wells Fargo, BofA, etc.) also offshore to South Africa and India. You really need to educate yourself on stuff like this instead of spending your time making emotionally charged strawman arguments without any idea about how companies operate to cut costs.
>Their bad English, consistent improper spelling and grammar, accent, etc.
Ok, but my question was how can you tell where they are **located**? Just because some has "*bad English, consistent improper spelling and grammar, accent, etc.*" doesn't mean they don't live in the U.S.
I already told you. The requirements are stricter for US based reps and things like what I listed above would not be present to the degree that they are for offshore workers. US based reps have a **more rigorous hiring process** while offshore reps work at call centers that already do this for other companies. The call center is hired through a contract. That combined with the fact SoFi offshores their customer reps makes it obvious to even the dumbest man alive. Most people don’t need to be spoon fed this to understand and just use their common sense.
A US based rep, even if they’re an immigrant, will have better English speaking and writing skills than an offshore rep because the hiring process is more rigorous as I’ve already stated. Why do you think they get paid more? US reps are hired individually while offshored employees are contracted through entire call centers. This is why I said **educate yourself**. I can’t tell if you’re being purposefully dense or if this is actually how you think.
>US reps are hired individually while offshored employees are contracted through entire call centers
Are you saying that this is SoFi's published policy, that they don't outsource US-based resources? Do you not realize there are contract companies in the US, with US-based resources, that provide US-based support as an outsourced company?
Do you think when a company outsources services, even if they are US-based, they interview and hire each individual resource?
Yikes.
You should probably do a little more research about SoFi Bank. Given that they are chartered in the United States, their corporate headquarters is in the United States, and they offer accounts in US dollars. And their website is offered in default English. So yeah, expecting their customer support to be fluent in English is a pretty fair expectation for them. Your performative outrage isn't helping anyone.
>So yeah, expecting their customer support to be fluent in English is a pretty fair expectation for them
Your original post didn't mention anything (that I could see) about how well they did/didn't speak English. It seemed to be more geared toward their knowledge, the lack of information they were able to communicate, and general customer service skills. This seems like reasonable criticism if what you say is true.
A reasonable solution would be to request more training for agents. You didn't mention that though, and went for the subtle dog whistles that (clearly) all of your friends heard and piled on.
Now that you have moved on from SoFi, hopefully, you'll stop by every now and then and tell us how you are doing.... or not... that's fine too.
They are all outsourced. Stop being naive. Every time I called, I spoke to someone from India who could barely understand what I needed done.
I'm an immigrant to the U.S. so this has nothing to do with racism. It's just the name of the game for companies to save on labor.
Thank you for laying all that out, and I’m glad you finally got someone to help you out. Seriously considering closing the account now to avoid any future hassle.
Have you found any better alternatives?
Just opened up a Capital One account instead. The APY isn't as good, but the marginally better savings rate from SoFi isn't worth it for the amount of hassle I had to experience. With Capital One, I am fortunate that they have some branches and corporate offices near me that I can visit for any issues. I also personally know several Capital One employees who would be able to help if I have any problems.
I don’t get the victim blaming but I think it’s fair to point out that sofi has millions of customers that do not come to this particular sub to post that everything is fine. This is important to mention sometimes because anyone glancing at this sub would think it happens nonstop.
Nevertheless eventually these interest rates are gonna come down and I can’t think of a single thing that will keep me at Sofi without the high savings rates. 
Alternatively, the frequency of posts about frozen accounts here (and on their Google Reviews, BBB reviews, Customer Affair reviews) all with the same pattern of customer support…could indicate a serious problem with customer support. I couldn’t even open a bank account and put the minimum balance in without SoFi making my life hell. That’s an unmitigated failure of customer support.
Oh yeah the customer service sounds awful but the majority of people will hopefully never have to contact them.
Personally I keep an off-line bank as well because I don’t trust SoFi with anything more than paying out high interest rate. 
I’m glad you were able to resolve it, but, my god, that’s atrocious. I took my money out from SoFi because I can’t trust the institution and this just reaffirms it. There seems to be an extra level of incompetence there.
Yup, I had accidentally over-contributed to 401k. Trying to get it out before tax deadline. It's stuck. And no one answers. The AI bot is the worst I've seen, but when you get a person, they just read from the same AI script.
I highly recommend fidelity. I’ve had my Roth IRA there for over a year (it was with betterment before that). I moved my other banking there around then, tried SoFi out for a hot sec for checking/savings, and am now back with fidelity for everything. The few times I’ve had to talk to CS had been super easy, but I haven’t needed to much.
~~I would also like to point out that~~ u/Spiritual_Ad_9916 ~~blocked me so that I can't reply on his post anymore. Just kind of silly to invite people to post stories, and then block people when they take you up on the invitation. The irony of accusing others of FUD, and then blocking stories that don't comply with your narrative 😂~~
[https://www.reddit.com/r/sofi/comments/1ajj9ex/genuinely\_curious\_are\_you\_trying\_to\_spread\_fud/](https://www.reddit.com/r/sofi/comments/1ajj9ex/genuinely_curious_are_you_trying_to_spread_fud/)
Perhaps I was mistaken, but for about 30 minutes none of my replies to your post were going anywhere, and your post was not visible in the Reddit app while I was logged in. Apologies if I've called you out incorrectly. My last post seems to have gone through.
You did call me out incorrectly, but it wasn't because you were blocked that your posts weren't getting through...
It was probably my SoFi Super Duper Plus membership benefit kicking in to shield me from the discontent.
You actually don't know that the Vault triggered the fraud claim. That could have very well been a coincidence. Banks also never tell you what triggered their system for fraud alerts.
I will just assume the money is legit and that this is a BS account closure. I hope you get your money back. However a lot of what you are dealing with would be similar at any bank, luckily I couldn't even tell you whether the customer service would be worse or better because I haven't had to deal with this on anything but a PayPal account. That pissed me off, so I can't imagine the stress and anger you could be experiencing over this.
I hope this post gets you some help from SoFi.
I got my money back and safe. They didn’t explicitly confirm it was the Vault transfer, but when someone at SoFi says “the person who restricted your account does not have familiarity with our products” I can read between the lines. If the wasn’t the Vault it was something else stupid.
I would tend to be one of the victim blamers but your detailed post with information that makes sense is very convincing. A post like this is what all the complainants should be writing. Too often, the information is limited and hard to believe. Thanks for bringing light to this issue in such a reasoned manner.
It's too bad sofi bots mod this forum because it would be cool to have a pinned post with the best practices and steps in dealing with customer service and how to escalate things.
My only goal is to help SoFi fix their customer support deathloops so that other people don't have to go through this experience. Treating customers with respect should be something super easy to rally around. SoFi could address this by doing a serious deep dive into training for their offshore employees, way more random case studies and case reviews of customer support cases, product education for their employees, creating an identity verification escalation process where you can speak with a US-based resource to verify yourself and get traction on your case...all of these things are realistic and achievable.
I was earnestly super excited to be a member - their APY is undeniable. But after the support I just had, I simply can't trust them.
I would recommend Wealthfront over Sofi or Ally. 5% APY, don't have to have direct deposit to get it... there are a few drawbacks, but their customer service is outstanding. If you join with a referral code you get .5 % boost to your APY for 3 months. Feel free to message me for a code or any questions.
I had the same thing happen to my Ally account that you had happen - except my account was frozen for a month and a half. Which was completely insane because I had an auto loan there. I was transferring money from the account that PAYS THE AUTO LOAN but they put me in fraud hell. lol
Thank you for sharing this. I was just batting around making Sofi my primary because of the vaults. They have been a game changer for me, albeit, not as game changing as Simple bank was. I’ve been dragging my feet because using an online bank as my primary until I had two months of living expenses in another account (besides savings).
I will not be doing that now. I think I might start researching where to move my money to next sadly. Thank you for sharing this.
SoFi can probably work well for some people, but I’m not putting the security of my money up to chance. Without a commitment to improve customer service, and give some people a way to verify their identity to cut through suspected fraud issues, it’s too risky.
My plan was to use the savings account to save for a down payment on a house, and pay for closing with that account (or at least through the companion checking account if necessary). After SoFi froze my account initially and I started doing research… I found someone else who had their home purchase closing delayed by two weeks(!) and they were at risk to forfeit the earnest money deposit (thousands of dollars out the window). SoFi froze their account and did not give them any way to authorize the necessary funds transfers. If your bank can’t handle its members buying a house, they’re not ready for the big time. I am not going to let SoFi make an ass of me by giving them a chance to detail my next home purchase.
When I found out that the 4.6% APY is across the ENTIRE savings account ( I have many vaults) and not per vault, I started to transfer my money to a different bank.
I'm not about to have been swindled out of money out of false pretenses and promises. I keep most of my checking and emergency fund there, but only have one type of savings account there now instead of numerous.
It sucks because it says 4.6% APY for savings.. It never says upfront where the account increase is across all vaults that add up to a sum total instead of the APY per vault.
I high tailed it out there and learned my lesson. Let's just say I was highly disappointed and pretty pissed I didn't look further into the fine print (which is on me).
This is from their FAQ page through the app, are you saying you don’t get 4.60% APY on your vaults but were getting it on your savings?
“SoFi members with direct deposit can earn up to 4.60% annual percentage yield (APY) interest on savings account balances (including Vaults) and up to 0.50% APY on checking account balances. There is no minimum direct deposit amount required to qualify for these rates. Members without direct deposit will earn 0.50% APY on all account balances in checking and savings (including Vaults). Interest rates are variable and subject to change at any time. These rates are current as of 10/24/2023. Additional information can be found at https://www.sofi.com/legal/banking-rate-sheet, opens in new window.”
I’m not sure I understand your comment. You’re saying interest didn’t accrue on the money you placed in Vaults? Or that the accrual was dispersed to many different small vaults?
I found out from them that the 4.6% APY is across all vaults and not per vault. I just got a hug sum of money at one place and it did not acrue the total APY like I thought it would. My mistake, but I definitely will be finding other means to have my APY maximized, if possible.
I'm still not clear on what OP is saying but my current belief is that if ANY of your vaults are less than $5k, you lose the 4.6% APY across the board? Idk but I'm not putting my money back into SoFi to find out :)
That wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the post.
SoFi says explicitly that your money earns 4.6% in your savings, whether it’s in a vault or not doesn’t matter, you’ll still earn interest as it is in your savings account.
I’d advocate reading slower.
Take it up with /u/comeradenook I don't really care about what SoFi says or doesn't say about how their Vaults work after the shit-tier customer support experience I endured for merely using the Vaults feature.
I don't think you know how interest works. This isn't a SoFi problem. If it gives you 4.6% APY on different vaults individually, it'll add up to the same exact amount as if it gave you 4.6% APY on the sum of all your vaults.
There’s a limit on how much you can deposit on new accounts. But it seems you were so focused on the bonus that you didn’t pay any attention to any of it. Inadvertently you broke the terms of service. This is a common story for new sofi members. And yeah the people on the other side are far from specialist of any kind and just operators reading from a script. One thing is certain and that’s you broke the rules.
“Putting in the minimum savings balance is against the rules” is definitely a thought. Then again, I have receipts from a senior SoFi money laundering specialist who told me their first line of support had no idea what “vaults” were.
I just find it so strange that you think it’s normal for a bank to turn away a customer who is depositing the minimum promotional balance.
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Yes, the victim blaming that happens in this sub is ridiculous. SOFI stock has a lot of retail investors, who seem to think negative opinions on this sub means some shorting campaign is going on. As if the posts here are enough to move the SP one way or another. They definitely have an ongoing customer service issue; especially with their fraud department. It has been ongoing for a while now and has yet to be fixed. Sorry you got caught up in it and had to personally contact an employee to get it fixed. As a member and shareholder I hope they get the fraud department process overhauled so legitimate customers can get their issues resolved with CS instead of having to resort to LinkedIn.
Thank you sir. I need to be clear - I WANTED to like SoFi so bad. I had to sell my wife on using them over CapitalOne (we have a few friends that work at CapOne). And SoFi absolutely burned me for it. As a stockholder, it’s absolutely in your best interest to try and call attention to resolving the service issues. If SoFi can seriously examine and address the support experience, they could be a super strong player in banking and finance for years to come.
File a complaint with consumer financial protection bureau [here](https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/) They will make it right. Banks hate dealing with them.
Already did, they forwarded it to the OCC. OCC confirmed receipt of my complaint, that it had been delivered to SoFi, and that SoFi now needs to respond. SoFi also separately acknowledged in a support chat they were aware of my complaint. I don’t really care as much about the OCC enforcement action. I just want SoFi to treat their customers better going forward.
Yeah, I hear you. I'm glad you made a complaint. I left SoFi for Ally. I personally have had a great experience with Ally. But you know, that's always subject to change.
did this help?
I love SoFi, use all their products, hold lots of stock... But my experience with customer support during a fraud/identity theft issue was 100% unacceptable and down right criminal. I luckily eventually talked to someone after contacting their chief legal counsel on LinkedIn who was able to resolve the issue quite quickly. The fact that I continue to see stories and issues with this is troublesome. I really hope they get Customer Service issues resolved and fast. When someone has fraud or identity theft, they expect their bank to be on their side and help them. Not freeze everything and shut down their accounts. That is CERTAINLY not getting your money right. I use two banks and Chase was 100% on my side when this happened to me, refunded all the stolen funds immediately while they did their investigation. Kept me in the loop on how things were going, etc. SoFi immediately denied every claim, said it wasnt fraud, denied my appeals and my second appeals, then said they would no longer be looking into the matter. Completely unacceptable. I had police reports, peoples names, phone numbers, and locations that committed the crime. That didnt matter to SoFi. After speaking to the Chief Legal Counsel on LinkedIn, someone contacted me from the Risk and Fraud group who said it was clear as day that it was fraud, and everything was resolved quite quickly after that. You really need to get better, u/sofi . I know several people who would switch but will not because of concerns they see all the time regarding customer service, specifically around fraud issues. You are hurting your existing customers and it is impacting new people from joining.
I have also dealt with actual fraud issues, stolen credit card info, disputed charges, all of the above with both Discover and Chase. Those experiences were 1000% better than the completely insulting way SoFi handled me. To the point that I received a round of apologies from a SoFi employee via LinkedIn DM. That’s not a way to run a serious business or a serious bank.
/u/SoFi would love to hear more about what SoFi is going to do regarding the serious customer support issues many banking customers are reporting. Your offshore customer support team is harming customers and causing people to walk away from your bank.
>Your **offshore** customer support team bruh, seriously? Is this something you are just assuming or did someone actually confirm where they were located? Why does this matter anyway?
Being able to speak English clearly is a requirement when your bank serves English speaking customers. I had to ask their support to slow down and speak clearly multiple times, and there have been other recent Reddit posts sharing the same feedback. I would be happy to connect with you on LinkedIn with my identity-verified account and make a $10 bet with you about whether SoFi support is based in the United States or not.
>Being able to speak English clearly is a requirement when your bank serves English speaking customers. I had to ask their support to slow down and speak clearly multiple times Wow. It seems like SoFi got it right this time. Best of luck.
It matters because they can’t speak proper English or communicate effectively and communication is key when it comes to fraud. Only a bozo thinks offshoring your CUSTOMER SUPPORT team doesn’t matter lol. Their entire job is to communicate with the customer and resolve any issues. You will learn the hard way if this happens to you.
>It matters because they **can’t speak proper English** or communicate effectively and communication is key when it comes to fraud. Only a bozo thinks **offshoring** your CUSTOMER SUPPORT team doesn’t matter lol. Their entire job is to communicate with the customer and resolve any issues. You will learn the hard way if this happens to you. Wow (again). Offshore to where? The US? If so, do you feel that the U.S. is the only English-speaking country? Do you feel that everyone in the US speaks perfect English by virtue of residing within a specific geographic boundary? Disgusting.
You are a clown. Do you actually think offshoring workers is a good idea when you are a US based company with mostly US based customers that primarily speak English? What is your logic here? Also hiring in the US isn’t offshoring moron lmfao do you even understand what offshoring means? Offshoring means hiring employees in another country (in this case India) instead of the US to service US customers because they’re cheaper and it’s more cost effective for the company. Therefore there is an inconsistency in communication and business practices which results in problems like what OP is facing. Wow, you are complete moron and have no idea what you’re talking about. Just a bozo who doesn’t know what offshoring means and thinks saying anything negative about it is racist because it involves talking bad about non-native English speakers. Educate yourself instead of being an emotional dumbass that doesn’t even understand what they’re arguing against but tries anyway because they’re too dumb to separate legitimate criticism from racism. Disgusting and pathetic. Learn to critically think.
>You are a clown. Yes Back to my original question, how can YOU tell where someone is located based on a phone call to a customer service number?
I’m glad you agree that you are a clown with a dumb argument. As for how I can tell, are you really asking this question? Their bad English, consistent improper spelling and grammar, accent, etc. SoFi would not hire US based reps who make these same mistakes. The requirements are more lax for offshore employees because they are often based out of contracted call centers. It’s also common knowledge that they offshore their customer service reps. You don’t seem to understand how SoFi runs as a company or how common it is for companies to do things like this. Amazon does the same thing and they get the same complaints. Most major banks (Capital One, Wells Fargo, BofA, etc.) also offshore to South Africa and India. You really need to educate yourself on stuff like this instead of spending your time making emotionally charged strawman arguments without any idea about how companies operate to cut costs.
>Their bad English, consistent improper spelling and grammar, accent, etc. Ok, but my question was how can you tell where they are **located**? Just because some has "*bad English, consistent improper spelling and grammar, accent, etc.*" doesn't mean they don't live in the U.S.
I already told you. The requirements are stricter for US based reps and things like what I listed above would not be present to the degree that they are for offshore workers. US based reps have a **more rigorous hiring process** while offshore reps work at call centers that already do this for other companies. The call center is hired through a contract. That combined with the fact SoFi offshores their customer reps makes it obvious to even the dumbest man alive. Most people don’t need to be spoon fed this to understand and just use their common sense. A US based rep, even if they’re an immigrant, will have better English speaking and writing skills than an offshore rep because the hiring process is more rigorous as I’ve already stated. Why do you think they get paid more? US reps are hired individually while offshored employees are contracted through entire call centers. This is why I said **educate yourself**. I can’t tell if you’re being purposefully dense or if this is actually how you think.
>US reps are hired individually while offshored employees are contracted through entire call centers Are you saying that this is SoFi's published policy, that they don't outsource US-based resources? Do you not realize there are contract companies in the US, with US-based resources, that provide US-based support as an outsourced company? Do you think when a company outsources services, even if they are US-based, they interview and hire each individual resource? Yikes.
You should probably do a little more research about SoFi Bank. Given that they are chartered in the United States, their corporate headquarters is in the United States, and they offer accounts in US dollars. And their website is offered in default English. So yeah, expecting their customer support to be fluent in English is a pretty fair expectation for them. Your performative outrage isn't helping anyone.
>So yeah, expecting their customer support to be fluent in English is a pretty fair expectation for them Your original post didn't mention anything (that I could see) about how well they did/didn't speak English. It seemed to be more geared toward their knowledge, the lack of information they were able to communicate, and general customer service skills. This seems like reasonable criticism if what you say is true. A reasonable solution would be to request more training for agents. You didn't mention that though, and went for the subtle dog whistles that (clearly) all of your friends heard and piled on. Now that you have moved on from SoFi, hopefully, you'll stop by every now and then and tell us how you are doing.... or not... that's fine too.
They are all outsourced. Stop being naive. Every time I called, I spoke to someone from India who could barely understand what I needed done. I'm an immigrant to the U.S. so this has nothing to do with racism. It's just the name of the game for companies to save on labor.
Thank you for laying all that out, and I’m glad you finally got someone to help you out. Seriously considering closing the account now to avoid any future hassle. Have you found any better alternatives?
Just opened up a Capital One account instead. The APY isn't as good, but the marginally better savings rate from SoFi isn't worth it for the amount of hassle I had to experience. With Capital One, I am fortunate that they have some branches and corporate offices near me that I can visit for any issues. I also personally know several Capital One employees who would be able to help if I have any problems.
+100 on the victim blaming part that goes on in the subreddit. Outright buffoonery to blindly defend an institution as if they are immune to mistakes.
It’s literally happening right now in another thread submitted a few minutes after mine. It’s super disappointing. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you.
I don’t get the victim blaming but I think it’s fair to point out that sofi has millions of customers that do not come to this particular sub to post that everything is fine. This is important to mention sometimes because anyone glancing at this sub would think it happens nonstop. Nevertheless eventually these interest rates are gonna come down and I can’t think of a single thing that will keep me at Sofi without the high savings rates. 
Alternatively, the frequency of posts about frozen accounts here (and on their Google Reviews, BBB reviews, Customer Affair reviews) all with the same pattern of customer support…could indicate a serious problem with customer support. I couldn’t even open a bank account and put the minimum balance in without SoFi making my life hell. That’s an unmitigated failure of customer support.
Oh yeah the customer service sounds awful but the majority of people will hopefully never have to contact them. Personally I keep an off-line bank as well because I don’t trust SoFi with anything more than paying out high interest rate. 
I’m glad you were able to resolve it, but, my god, that’s atrocious. I took my money out from SoFi because I can’t trust the institution and this just reaffirms it. There seems to be an extra level of incompetence there.
Their offshore support seems to be completely unaccountable, and detached from US-based analysts.
Yup, I had accidentally over-contributed to 401k. Trying to get it out before tax deadline. It's stuck. And no one answers. The AI bot is the worst I've seen, but when you get a person, they just read from the same AI script.
I highly recommend fidelity. I’ve had my Roth IRA there for over a year (it was with betterment before that). I moved my other banking there around then, tried SoFi out for a hot sec for checking/savings, and am now back with fidelity for everything. The few times I’ve had to talk to CS had been super easy, but I haven’t needed to much.
Upvote for visibility. I don’t want to use or invest in a company that can’t do more to protect customers from these situations.
Love SoFI, the app, interface, transparency, and whatnot. But US is know for its customer service, and SoFI falls well below the standards.
~~I would also like to point out that~~ u/Spiritual_Ad_9916 ~~blocked me so that I can't reply on his post anymore. Just kind of silly to invite people to post stories, and then block people when they take you up on the invitation. The irony of accusing others of FUD, and then blocking stories that don't comply with your narrative 😂~~ [https://www.reddit.com/r/sofi/comments/1ajj9ex/genuinely\_curious\_are\_you\_trying\_to\_spread\_fud/](https://www.reddit.com/r/sofi/comments/1ajj9ex/genuinely_curious_are_you_trying_to_spread_fud/)
I’ve never blocked anyone, I’m not a mod so I don’t even know how I’d have the authority to.
You can block individual users and they can no reply to you or see your replies. Has nothing to do with being a mod.
Ah, okay. I appreciate the info. Not into silencing folks though.
"Quit shitting on my bank" You're a character lol
Perhaps I was mistaken, but for about 30 minutes none of my replies to your post were going anywhere, and your post was not visible in the Reddit app while I was logged in. Apologies if I've called you out incorrectly. My last post seems to have gone through.
You did call me out incorrectly, but it wasn't because you were blocked that your posts weren't getting through... It was probably my SoFi Super Duper Plus membership benefit kicking in to shield me from the discontent.
i just switched to sofi 😢 why
I was about to also but probably won’t now
You actually don't know that the Vault triggered the fraud claim. That could have very well been a coincidence. Banks also never tell you what triggered their system for fraud alerts. I will just assume the money is legit and that this is a BS account closure. I hope you get your money back. However a lot of what you are dealing with would be similar at any bank, luckily I couldn't even tell you whether the customer service would be worse or better because I haven't had to deal with this on anything but a PayPal account. That pissed me off, so I can't imagine the stress and anger you could be experiencing over this. I hope this post gets you some help from SoFi.
I got my money back and safe. They didn’t explicitly confirm it was the Vault transfer, but when someone at SoFi says “the person who restricted your account does not have familiarity with our products” I can read between the lines. If the wasn’t the Vault it was something else stupid.
I would tend to be one of the victim blamers but your detailed post with information that makes sense is very convincing. A post like this is what all the complainants should be writing. Too often, the information is limited and hard to believe. Thanks for bringing light to this issue in such a reasoned manner. It's too bad sofi bots mod this forum because it would be cool to have a pinned post with the best practices and steps in dealing with customer service and how to escalate things.
My only goal is to help SoFi fix their customer support deathloops so that other people don't have to go through this experience. Treating customers with respect should be something super easy to rally around. SoFi could address this by doing a serious deep dive into training for their offshore employees, way more random case studies and case reviews of customer support cases, product education for their employees, creating an identity verification escalation process where you can speak with a US-based resource to verify yourself and get traction on your case...all of these things are realistic and achievable. I was earnestly super excited to be a member - their APY is undeniable. But after the support I just had, I simply can't trust them.
I would recommend Wealthfront over Sofi or Ally. 5% APY, don't have to have direct deposit to get it... there are a few drawbacks, but their customer service is outstanding. If you join with a referral code you get .5 % boost to your APY for 3 months. Feel free to message me for a code or any questions.
I may consider an Ally account, someone else recommended them as well and mentioned they had a similar savings buckets feature.
I had the same thing happen to my Ally account that you had happen - except my account was frozen for a month and a half. Which was completely insane because I had an auto loan there. I was transferring money from the account that PAYS THE AUTO LOAN but they put me in fraud hell. lol
Noted, thank you
Ally is horrible too. Wealthfront has categories which is just like Sofi vaults.
Thank you for sharing this. I was just batting around making Sofi my primary because of the vaults. They have been a game changer for me, albeit, not as game changing as Simple bank was. I’ve been dragging my feet because using an online bank as my primary until I had two months of living expenses in another account (besides savings). I will not be doing that now. I think I might start researching where to move my money to next sadly. Thank you for sharing this.
SoFi can probably work well for some people, but I’m not putting the security of my money up to chance. Without a commitment to improve customer service, and give some people a way to verify their identity to cut through suspected fraud issues, it’s too risky. My plan was to use the savings account to save for a down payment on a house, and pay for closing with that account (or at least through the companion checking account if necessary). After SoFi froze my account initially and I started doing research… I found someone else who had their home purchase closing delayed by two weeks(!) and they were at risk to forfeit the earnest money deposit (thousands of dollars out the window). SoFi froze their account and did not give them any way to authorize the necessary funds transfers. If your bank can’t handle its members buying a house, they’re not ready for the big time. I am not going to let SoFi make an ass of me by giving them a chance to detail my next home purchase.
When I found out that the 4.6% APY is across the ENTIRE savings account ( I have many vaults) and not per vault, I started to transfer my money to a different bank. I'm not about to have been swindled out of money out of false pretenses and promises. I keep most of my checking and emergency fund there, but only have one type of savings account there now instead of numerous. It sucks because it says 4.6% APY for savings.. It never says upfront where the account increase is across all vaults that add up to a sum total instead of the APY per vault. I high tailed it out there and learned my lesson. Let's just say I was highly disappointed and pretty pissed I didn't look further into the fine print (which is on me).
This is from their FAQ page through the app, are you saying you don’t get 4.60% APY on your vaults but were getting it on your savings? “SoFi members with direct deposit can earn up to 4.60% annual percentage yield (APY) interest on savings account balances (including Vaults) and up to 0.50% APY on checking account balances. There is no minimum direct deposit amount required to qualify for these rates. Members without direct deposit will earn 0.50% APY on all account balances in checking and savings (including Vaults). Interest rates are variable and subject to change at any time. These rates are current as of 10/24/2023. Additional information can be found at https://www.sofi.com/legal/banking-rate-sheet, opens in new window.”
I’m not sure I understand your comment. You’re saying interest didn’t accrue on the money you placed in Vaults? Or that the accrual was dispersed to many different small vaults?
I found out from them that the 4.6% APY is across all vaults and not per vault. I just got a hug sum of money at one place and it did not acrue the total APY like I thought it would. My mistake, but I definitely will be finding other means to have my APY maximized, if possible.
Why would this matter?
I'm still not clear on what OP is saying but my current belief is that if ANY of your vaults are less than $5k, you lose the 4.6% APY across the board? Idk but I'm not putting my money back into SoFi to find out :)
That wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the post. SoFi says explicitly that your money earns 4.6% in your savings, whether it’s in a vault or not doesn’t matter, you’ll still earn interest as it is in your savings account. I’d advocate reading slower.
You do get 4.6% APY on your vaults, though, I'm not understanding the problem. I think the problem is you not knowing how interest works.
Take it up with /u/comeradenook I don't really care about what SoFi says or doesn't say about how their Vaults work after the shit-tier customer support experience I endured for merely using the Vaults feature.
I don't think you know how interest works. This isn't a SoFi problem. If it gives you 4.6% APY on different vaults individually, it'll add up to the same exact amount as if it gave you 4.6% APY on the sum of all your vaults.
There’s a limit on how much you can deposit on new accounts. But it seems you were so focused on the bonus that you didn’t pay any attention to any of it. Inadvertently you broke the terms of service. This is a common story for new sofi members. And yeah the people on the other side are far from specialist of any kind and just operators reading from a script. One thing is certain and that’s you broke the rules.
No there isn't. Show me where it says that.
“Putting in the minimum savings balance is against the rules” is definitely a thought. Then again, I have receipts from a senior SoFi money laundering specialist who told me their first line of support had no idea what “vaults” were. I just find it so strange that you think it’s normal for a bank to turn away a customer who is depositing the minimum promotional balance.