Mechanics Bank

Bought out by a Texas billionaire named Ford, fees are going up, and he’ll flip it to Citi eventually, as he did so other small banks. Mechanics betrayed us by selling a 51% interest to him. I swtiched to the fab co-​op credit union on Ashby.

I have been banking at the Solano Ave. Mechanics Bank for my bussiness, personal, and family for about 15 years. Everyone there is SO nice and SO helpful and they REALLY take care of me– its not just words or a smile. My accounts are protected by their watchfull eyes and they even call me when necessary. I could not be happier with this branch of Mechanics. In this day and age, this is a very rare high level of care and trust.

What’s happened to the customer service at this bank? It used to be owned by a family, but now seems to be run by mean girls from high school. I am sure all the girls there have a better degree than I do and they are just killing time till something better comes along, but they don’t need to be so condescending about it. It only takes one customer to ruin your business, and I will never go in that branch again.

I’ve been working with Thuy, the branch manager, for a little over a year now. I applied for 2 home equity line of credits with her and was dreading the whole process. I thought it’s going to be a long process with nonsense requirements but it was a very easy process to my surprise and with Thuy’s help every step of the way I’m glad that I did it with them. A year after and still whenever I have a question she is there to help. She is very knowledgable of al the policies and guidelines and gets back to me quickly. Couldn’t be more happier! :)

Edit 5÷20÷15
Wow! The area manager, Grant Shoef, called me on ⁵⁄₁₉ to address all of the points in my original review below. He was lovely, and genuinely concerned and gave explanations, solutions, and apologies. Two stars added!
It seems that sole proprietors like me are in somewhat of a business limbo. Even though I’m a business, as a sole proprietor my banking needs are more of the personal type. And guess what? Without changing any account numbers or cards or really anything at all, my business account can be switched to be handled as a personal account. Which means I will be able to use the mobile app to deposit checks, and access all account info (like account numbers!) online.
If this actually works out, I’ll add a fourth star.
Grant also addressed the issue of the surly teller and the change in culture at the Shattuck branch over the past couple of years. I give him five stars for this, but overall can’t give it to the branch just yet.
Stay tuned…
— — — — — — —
5÷15÷15
This review is based on several years experience as a business account holder. I posted similar to the Shattuck Branch page because that’s the branch I use, but this is the branch where I opened my account.
I give one star because that’s the lowest you can give. I figure one star for some of the nice people plus zero for each of the bullet points below– if you do the math they still come out ahead.
Back when everything went to hell in the financial market I switched from Bank of America to Mechanics Bank because I wanted to go local. I’m (mostly) pleased with their human interactions, but their systems are awful.
1– Only personal account holders have the ability to deposit checks via smart phone. I often travel for work and have to mail in my account deposits (and don’t get a deposit slip). Wouldn’t it make more sense to offer this service to entrepreneurs/​contractors/​small business owners rather than the people who likely already have their pay come in via direct deposit?
2– Deposits can not be made using the ATM machine.
3– The online system is a nightmare. Some small improvements have been made over the years, but it’s still a disaster. Finding past statements– sometimes I can, sometimes I can’t. Which leads me to…
4– I’m all paperless, so I should be able to find my account numbers online, right? No. Again only personal account holders can see their account numbers online. For «security purposes» business account numbers aren’t accessible anywhere online. Wait, what?
5– This is what lead me to write this review. I called in to find out my account numbers because I need them for a rental application and don’t have all of my original paperwork for both accounts readily handy. I had to wait 25 minutes before someone came on the line to access them for me. As a business owner/​entrepreneur every minute is money and to lose almost half an hour on hold just to find out my account number (for the ridiculous reasons stated above).
If it wasn’t so damn complicated I would switch, but at the moment it just doesn’t seem feasible.

I’ve banked with these people for over a decade and when the rubber had to meet the road, they really let me down. I’m trying to do a simple mutual fund transfer and need what is called a medallion signature guarantee. And you know what? They do everything they can to make this maximally inconvenient and pretty much impossible. They limit what you can sign for. They want powers of attorney from every single person involved, including the deceased. They basically will do whatever they can to say, «No. Fuck off.»
I’m going to close out my account and open one at another bank. These people are clearly too small town to do business in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I have banked at Mechanics Bank for over ten years, and their customer service has consistently been better than any bank I have dealt with. The cost for an account is competitive, mistakes are dealt with quickly, and staff are willing to spend time figuring out how to meet my banking needs.

I have been a long time customer of Mechanics Bank but have noticed a major decline in the customer service over the past couple years. I chose to put my review with this branch only b/​c my last negative experience was inside of the branch. First of all, their ATMs are horrible for deposits. The machines are supposed to read your check when depositing it, but only about ½ the time do they actually work. You then have to come back to the bank during business hours to make the deposit. I’ve been so inconvenienced by this– having to leave work early to get to the bank before they close so I can make a deposit in person which is just absurd. They tell me to put it in the depository but every time I’ve tried, it is locked. When I complain about this to the tellers, they are pretty dismissive about it, and the last one told me that they document every complaint and check the ATM to diagnose the problem so they can upgrade the machines. But there I was, telling her my complaint, which she did not document at all, did not ask me even one question about my experience, or apologize for the inconvenience.
Lord have mercy do not try to make a wire transfer at this bank. It took me over 1 hour to make one international wire transfer at this branch. It took 40 minutes at El Cerrito. Either way, doing one wire transfer should NOT take this long. It is painful.
The online banking is not very good. If you have a problem at night, you are SOL and can’t pay your bills or do anything because they do not have ²⁴⁄₇ staffing of their online banking department the way other banks do. I had huge problems every time a check i send via online bill pay doesn’t go through. One online banking staffer actually reissued a check that didn’t go through, without telling me and without my permission!
I give MB three stars because it is a local bank that I like to support, and if your banking needs are minimal, they are just fine. And I’ve been a very long time customer and my dissatisfaction has only been in the last couple years since they changed the ATMS and since I started using online bill pay which obviously is not very good. (And they no longer have live people answering the phones the way they used to, now you have to wait on hold to get a live person, just like any other bank).

I decided to migrate over to Mechanics Bank from a nearby TBTF bank, and the personal service that I’ve encountered in only the first few days has been truly astounding. From my initial phone call to the bank and subsequent account opening to follow up phone calls and emails, the experience has been a breath of fresh air. I even received a thank you card in the mail, hand signed by Skye — the financial rep at this branch — who has been a delight since «hello».
I encourage anyone else around the area who is lukewarm about their current bank to take a leap of faith with Mechanics Bank. Perfect location of this Solano branch too — with everything within a block — post office, coffee, pizza, ice cream and groceries!

I have been a customer of Mechanics Bank for several years. They definitely set themselves apart from the big box banks with their customer service.
The employees are competent, polite, and actually know me, which is rare in this day and age. And they sent my 5 year old a happy birthday card for his birthday (he has a savings account with a small amount of money in it– surprising they don’t charge monthly fees for his account).
They have ATM rebates to reimburse you for ATM fees so you can go to any ATM you would like for zero cost, unlike the big box banks. And unlike my experiences with WaMu, Wells Fargo, and BOA, Mechanics Bank doesn’t try to bleed you to death with fees for every possible thing they can think of.

Like Toni, I use the ATM here and sometimes try to find a short-​term parking spot in back for my upper Solano chores. I also came inside once for a non-​customer request, and was treated like Family.
Mechanics is the Bank I would be a customer, if I wasn’t already a happy First Republic person. It’s local, cares about the community, and came through the recent financial crisis with its reputation intact. One can’t necessarily say that about at least 3 particular mega-​banks, who also have branches (and ATMs) on Solano.

Prompted by Eric B’s review of the Albany branch of Mechanics, I checked to see whether I had reviewed this one and I hadn’t. I have banked at this building since it was Great Western Savings, before it was Mechanics Bank.
My branch is in El Cerrito, but this one is handy when I’m on Solano and need to use the ATM. Occasionally I have gone inside when I have bank business that needs a teller and everyone has been helpful and friendly. They have a little parking lot in back that’s been convenient. But most important is that Mechanics is a family owned bank that is responsibly run, reimburses us for ATM fees worldwide, did not contribute to the housing debacle via predatory or careless lending practices and did not take any federal bailout money. I am proud to claim them as my bank.

UPDATE ¹¹⁄₂₀₁₃: Since opening this account, I’ve closed my old business checking and now just maintain a personal checking account here. Since the initial bumps upon opening the account, things have, for the most part, been fine. There have been a lot of nice employees — the folks at the window of the El Cerrito branch have been stellar, and the phone customer service has been impeccable (no comparison to the frequently rude phone customer service of the big banks). Yet there have also been a couple of rude employees at the Solano branch in Berkeley (and a couple of nice ones too, to be fair). I’m glad to be at a community bank, but obviously not consistently floored by this institution — it has been OK.
Also, the relatively new iphone app works great — and the web system has improved significantly since the problems described below.
Previous review.
After the financial crisis, I was so upset with the behavior of the big banks that I needed to get out of B of A. Of course, the rudeness of their customer service didn’t help.
So I found this bank off of the Move Your Money web site.
Unfortunately, Mechanics Bank has been one hassle after another:
1. My ATM cards BOTH (personal and biz) arrived wrongly coded. One had to be reissued. This was annoyingly time consuming and inconvenient.
2. The bank held checks for 5 business days before releasing funds during the first 30 days your account is open. That was a challenge.
3. The bank has a new web site, which while nice, has not gone particularly smoothly to transition to. They totally screwed up my logins for the new site and I had to spend hours on the phone and filling out forms fixing their errors.
4. All of sudden after four months at the bank, I got a fee on my business account, which is supposed to be «FREE» business checking. Had to call up, sort it out, and have it removed.
5. Now all of a sudden I have lost capability to transfer between my personal and business accounts, important for simple expense reimbursements, for example. I had the capability for months, and today I got an email saying an important transfer failed and I had to call. More time on the phone fixing a problem and guess what — another form to fill out and fax in. Lovely.
It goes on — nothing has been easy with this bank. Some of the customer service folks have been wonderful (which could bring them up to two stars — if I can go a month without having a problem, I’ll start increase stars), others have been either incompetent or just downright unfriendly (one sub-​manager at the Solano branch is particularly unfriendly — she should work for B of A, where she’d fit right in!)
So I’m still looking for a good community bank. My wife, seeing all my hassles with Mechanics Bank, has decided not to open her account here and we are looking for a new one for our family. Any recommendations out there?

I have been using Mechanics Bank for close to 30 years, most
recently the Solano Ave branch. When I was younger (in my twenties)
I needed a loan to purchase property and applied to several of the bigger
banks along with Mechanics Bank. Mechanics not only approved the
loan but treated me very well. The other large banks didn’t even bother
to respond. On a daily basis the customer service is outstanding and
friendly. Mechanics online banking is easy to use. Bank local, you will
be glad you did!

I have been a customer of MB for the last 6+ years since I moved to the Bay Area. I have preferred smaller banks/​credit unions since I have had constantly bad experiences with a range of larger banks, especially with stupid mistakes and poor customer service.
MB has been consistently good quality over the years. I have only a few small issues with them, which they have always quickly and friendly corrected for me. Today Zusa (I’m sure I’m mangling the spelling) at the North Berkeley branch was able to help work through an issue that came up and was willing to provide flexibility in bank policy to ensure I had access to my cash over the weekend. It was nice that they allow their staff to have some flexibility in policy to ensure good customer service.
I also like the reimbursement of ATM fees from other banks — makes it much easier not having to find a local branch.

High end operation, well kept bay area secret. Perfect customer service and excellent bank policies. My money will always live here.

Mechanics Bank is AWESOME. First of all, there’s very little wait, if any, every time I go in there, which is, in and of itself, GOOD. Secondly, everyone in there is super nice. I’m always coming in there with an Albertson’s bag of cash (it’s where Impact banks; it’s not like I have that kind of money myself) and they never throw me attitude over having to count a brazillion ones and whatnot. You’d be surprised how little a bag of ones and fives adds up to. Donate to Impact! OK, moving on.
Once or twice I’ve been overdrawn there because A. I’m retarded and B. Impact is broke and C. Some of you bitches don’t deposit your checks for months! (Helen, I am looking at you). Instead of making me feel like a tool, they actually called me at home to let me know what was going on and then were incredibly nice and understanding about it both on the phone and then when I sheepishly showed up to rectify the problem.
We’ve never had anything but A+ service from this bank. They must treat their employees well, because everyone in there is very VERY friendly and nice and helpful. When you have to drag your ass unwillingly into, say, BofA or Wells Fargo, the tellers all look at you like they’re thinking, «Eat a dick, bitch!» and dreaming of the days when tellers had real windows they could slam on people’s unsuspecting fingers.
This branch has a tiny parking lot (like, seriously three spaces) but it works because there’s almost always an available space. It’s next to a Starbucks and a Jamba in case you need corporate drink loving, but I never go there because I feel too guilty parking in the bank parking lot while I’m waiting for my fucking latte. I have just enough integrity not to do that but not enough integrity to not go to Starbucks. Meh.
OK, I’m done eating and now I have to get back to work.
(fake British accent) Laters!