A Cautionary Tale: My Disastrous Experience with Sovcombank

Hello everyone!

My experience with Sovcombank has been a nightmare, and I'm sharing it with you all to save others from going through the same thing. After they absorbed Home Bank, their service has been a complete disaster.

Unfortunately, I have two negative reviews for products from both banks - Sovcom and Home. I was a client of both banks from 2015 to 2018, using their installment cards to pay for gym memberships. However, I only used them for that purpose and quickly closed my accounts.

Last summer, I downloaded my credit history as I was planning to take out a mortgage. I checked that I didn't have any unnecessary loans or open credit cards, and that's when I discovered an open account with Sovcombank. I remembered blocking my card, but I hadn't contacted the bank to close the account. The balance on the card was zero, and I didn't have any outstanding debts, so I decided to visit the bank's branch and close the account, updating my details in the process (my surname had changed). The staff at the branch took a long time to assist me, and it was a tedious process. They made a copy of my new passport, I filled out a statement to change my details and close the account. At the end of the visit, they gave me a document confirming the account closure, but it still had my old surname on it. When I pointed this out to the staff member, he told me it wasn't a problem, and my details would be updated a little later. I left, hoping that the issue was resolved.

2024 was a year of surprises, and I'm not just talking about the weather. I decided to download my free credit report again, this time to make it a regular habit - you know, just to be on the safe side. But when I opened it, I was greeted with an open and shut case of a closed account with zero balance at Sovcombank. I tried to log in to my personal account to double-check, but I got an error message - wrong login details. I thought, why not try reaching out to their chat support and see what happens?

Let's cut to the chase – my visit to the bank's office in 2023 was a complete waste of time. They still hadn't updated my name in their database, and my account for the financing plan was still open. I'm fuming, to say the least. The bank completely ignored my request to close the product, which is a clear breach of my consumer rights. I've already filed a complaint with the Central Bank.

Now I'm back to needing to visit the Sovcombank branch to resubmit my card closure application and notify them of the name change again, since I refused to send my passport in an unlogged chat session. Looks like a visit might be necessary after all.

I recently took out a tech gadget on a payment plan from M.Video through Home Bank. Ironically, all Home Bank products will be transitioning to Sovcom starting July 14, 2024, as the latter has acquired Home Bank. But even before the merger, Home Bank showed off its 'professionalism' and disregard for customers.

In April 2024, I took out a 30-month payment plan, which had a small monthly payment that I wanted to pay off early. In the personal account, which has a woefully limited and underwhelming interface, I couldn't find the button to pay off the loan early. I reached out to the chat and asked if I could include partial early repayment in the contract, and I got a positive response. I asked them to set a specific amount, but on the payment date, only the standard amount was deducted, without the partial early repayment. I reached out to the chat again, where they told me about some error - and apparently, it couldn't be fixed right away, I'd have to wait for the next payment date. I managed to sort this out somehow, and the early payment was deducted. The monthly payment changed for the better, but the number of payments changed too - from 30 to 58, which turned my payment plan into a loan with a 100% markup. Unfortunately, when I tried to find out what happened to the payment schedule, I wasn't given a clear answer - I was simply told that something was disabled without my knowledge, which changed the deadline, and now I have to write in and enable early repayment every time.

What really gets my goat is that customer support takes ages to respond - I'm talking two hours or more. And when they do, they don't actually explain anything. The rules they refer to in their contract are basically meaningless. They just disable stuff, slap on a new payment plan, and then dismiss me in chat. I'm definitely going to take this up with the new owner, Sovcombank.

xa0

So, what's the takeaway from this experience?

Rewards credit can be super useful, and there are some great banks out there that offer them. But Sovcombank isn't one of them. They're seriously lagging behind in terms of technology and customer service. I'm planning to close my reward credit as soon as possible and cut ties with them for good.

xa0

UPDATE:

It's been a few days since I wrote this review, and I wanted to follow up for anyone who's suggested I give Sovcombank's products a try before trashing them. So, here's the deal:

I visited the bank office in Nizhny Novgorod on July 15th, located at 1, Maxim Gorky Square. I ended up waiting in line because the available staff member didn't let me through the general window - I had to wait until another woman was free. When I asked her why the bank didn't close my account last year as per my request and update my details, she looked into it and found that two profiles were created - one for my old and new surname. She created a request to merge them with the words 'you'll be able to access your personal account tomorrow for sure'. We also talked about the installment plan - she said there were many complaints about Home Bank products, but she recommended closing the installment plan by making payments that exceed the regular payment - she said their app has a 'partial early repayment' button. I left feeling somewhat reassured, hoping to check the installment plan status myself.

On July 16th, I tried to log in with the details she provided, but I kept getting the same error message. I went back to the office and asked them to take action. The staff member recommended downloading an alternative app and verifying my phone number - maybe the issue was with that? - but I still got the same error message:

My consultant, who's relatively new to the job, had her colleague swoop in to help with customer service. They were teaching her how to create a request, respond to customers, and who to contact. I was already prepared for a long day tomorrow, but I asked about payment plans anyway. I had a payment due on July 14th for 5,000 rubles, and I'd asked the Home Bank chat to set up a partial early repayment for that amount. But when I couldn't log in to either the Home app or Sovcombank, I asked them to check if the payment had gone through. And that's when I got a shock - the payment that had been taken was way off, and they'd even added a 900-ruble commission for early repayment!

I have to say, no one mentioned this to me at all - not when I set up the payment plan, not in the Home Bank chat, and certainly not in Sovcombank yesterday. And if you look at the earlier payment history, there was no commission for early repayment. I managed to screenshot my next payment in the Home app, but I still couldn't get any explanation from them.

I've gotta say, the second (more experienced) staff member was constantly getting distracted by someone else. As soon as a new person walked in, she'd interrupt our conversation mid-sentence and greet the new customer. At one point, she just left me hanging and went to help someone else. It was like she lost her train of thought. I had to ask her to come back and finish our conversation several times, but it was pointless. She'd just throw out a few words, like 'write a refund application,' but wouldn't explain anything. I did end up writing the application, but I'm still waiting to hear back. The experience left a bad taste in my mouth. Why do staff members have to juggle so many customers at once?

And to make matters worse, they kept shifting the blame onto Home Credit. 'We didn't do anything, it's all Home Credit's fault,' 'we didn't consult with you, Home Credit did,' and so on. But, let's get this straight - Home Credit became Sovcombank on July 14, 2024, and I'll be asking you about the refunds for that date.

The staff members even told me to call the hotline instead, saying they didn't know anything about the issues. That's just ridiculous!

After spending another hour in the office, I finally called the hotline. But, of course, no one answered. I waited 20 minutes, then another 10 minutes. What a great way to spend my time after work.

Now that I've had some time to think, I'm still not recommending this bank to anyone.

xa0

P.S. Last update from 24.07.24 - after almost two weeks of constant trips to the office and calls to the customer support hotline, I finally got access to my personal account. Each time I called, a different customer service rep gave me a different reason for the delay - from a supposed transition from Home Bank to this one, to a duplicate account (although I was told in the office that my accounts had been merged), to promises that a senior manager would reach out to resolve the issue (which never happened). It wasn't until today that a rep finally figured out that the office manager had blocked my access to the app on July 16th. The same person who had been neglecting my account and leaving me hanging.

I've finally been able to see what's going on with my installment plan (not the credit card installment plan, but the one I set up in-store for a purchase). They've already tacked on a whopping 5000% interest on top of it - I have no idea what kind of math they're using. This is just the next chapter in the saga. I still firmly believe this is the worst bank I've ever had the misfortune of dealing with.