Independence Bank in Havre, MT

Independence Bank likes to claim to be a community oriented bank that is friendly and puts personal service first. After a number of years of banking with them I had a series of conflicts that have left me bitter towards them. The most notable and frustrating issue was being stuck in numerous places without access to my funds. I went on a extended international trip, which I notified them about. I knew that a few months through my trip I would have to buy an expensive train pass. I notified them of the exact date that I would be purchasing this and requested that they raise the minimum POS for my debit card. They assured me that it would taken care of and I had nothing to worry about. Needless to say when I got to Germany and attempted to make my purchase my card was declined. The frustration and inconvenience of this was expounded because it was a Friday so I was stuck for an additional three days. Later I traveled to New Zealand with plans to reside there for a year. I opened a New Zealand Bank account and called Independence so I could have funds transfered, which I needed to rent an apartment. They told me over the phone that it would take seven to ten working days because it was international transfer. This would have left me stuck living in a tent for close to half a month. Luckily I was with my friend who banks with a different bank in town that I was able to transfer funds through. Her bank was able to have the money deposited in less than two hours. About six months later I traveled to Germany with my brother. Aside from the train pass debacle I had never had trouble using my debit card overseas. So left confident that I could travel with out having to carry cash and lose out on exchange rates. To my disbelief when we landed in Frankfurt my debit card was refused at the ATM. Here, if I wasn't with my brother I would have been stuck without a penny to my name. Once again I had to wait two days to have this remedied because it was a Saturday. After these three incidents I swore to move on to another bank. Yet for some reason I stuck with them, for nearly another year even though there level of service continued to be marginal at best. In fact while on an extended hunting trip I attempted to use my debit card to buy gas in Missoula and found that it had been canceled with out the bank ever getting in contact me. Here after they told me me that they mailed me a notification, never mind I had been gone for weeks, I was stuck for several hours waiting for it to be sorted out. Independence Bank states on their website that: "Independence Bank will excel as a locally owned Bank with its primary focus on developing and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with agriculture, commercial, professional and consumer clients. We will achieve success through our consistent commitment to our communities and our customers" From my personal experience I would have to strongly disagree with this statement. Independence Banks utilizes the same fee systems and has the same poor impersonal service as any other over sized irresponsible multinational bank. Their is nothing "mutually beneficial" about banking with Independence. Bottom line - Go somewhere else.

Good tellers.

Very unprofessional, especially the loan officer. I'll never do business here again.

Friendly bank staff and lenders that understand our rural area!!

fractional reserve banking