How I Almost Lost Money with Svoy Bank: A Warning for Their Clients

I stumbled upon "Svoy" bank on the bank.ru website in September 2023, when they had the most attractive interest rates for deposits. Their ads were popping up everywhere online, and I have to admit, I was intrigued. The reviews on bank.ru and online were mixed, with some people complaining about issues with transfers, but for some reason, I didn't take that as a red flag.

They sent me the card via courier just a few days later, with delivery to my doorstep. I made a tiny mistake in the documents, getting the date of issue of my passport wrong, but the courier himself corrected it and told me it wasn't a big deal. That did raise some eyebrows, but I still went ahead and downloaded the bank's app. The card came in a mini envelope with the bank's logo on it - they're definitely cutting costs on packaging. I also still have the statement of comprehensive banking services on hand.

In the same statement, it says that the tariffs are an integral part of the DKO... The wording implies that it's not easy to opt out of the service fee. The first two months of debit card service are indeed free, but after that, it's 99 rubles a month - and the bank doesn't even bother to warn you about it! But I won't get ahead of myself and tell you about my experience with this nightmare of a bank just yet. I'll get to that in due time.

I'm still wondering how long their license will last. Who knows how many people will put up with this bank's nonsense before it's too late?

AO "Svoy Bank" operates on the basis of the Basic license for performing banking operations with rubles and foreign currency, with the right to attract funds #3223 of March 13, 2023.

Their head office is in Moscow, but they don't provide services to individuals - or so they claim. The address is listed as 121096, Moscow, Vasiliy Kozhina St., 1.

The app was a bit wonky in the first few days after I downloaded it, but that didn't deter me. I decided to make a transfer and open a deposit through the bank's official website. The first transfer, a small amount, went through without a hitch, and I decided to make another one, for the full amount intended for the deposit. And that's when things took a turn for the worse - the money disappeared from my T bank card, but it wasn't on my Svoy bank card!

I was shocked to find out that getting in touch with their support team is impossible on any day of the week and at any time. The operators only respond in the online chat on their website, and even that takes more than a day. Eventually, after two days, they told me that there was a technical glitch and that my money would be credited to my card as soon as possible. But 'as soon as possible' turned out to be a whole week! The bank couldn't display my own money on my balance for a whole 7 days, and I'd already started thinking about filing complaints, from the Central Bank to the prosecutor's office.

So, when my money finally arrived on my card, I realized that I was still short a small amount to open the account. I decided to top up my balance using a VTB ATM (it's a partner bank, and there were no fees at the time). But the machine swallowed my money, and it didn't show up on my debit card balance. I had to call the support team from the ATM and give them the ATM's details so they could check the transaction. The girl on the phone assured me that the money would be credited soon, and sure enough, it appeared on my balance within about 10 minutes.

I've now had three unsuccessful interactions with this bank, and it's definitely making me think twice about taking the risk and opening a deposit. But for some reason, I felt sorry for all the effort I'd put in, and even the comments on the bank's VK page, asking when they'd return their money, didn't deter me.

When I opened the deposit, I kept an eye on the app regularly and immediately asked the operator to turn off the fee for my debit card. But I guess my request just got lost in the sea of daily complaints...

The deposit term was 3 months, and the conditions stated that interest would be accrued monthly and recalculated on the date of closure if the agreement was terminated early. Even after the interest for the first month was credited to my deposit, I was worried that getting my money back would be just as problematic as getting it onto my card in the first place. And the negative reviews on VK, piling up every day, just made me want to terminate the agreement. After re-reading the agreement conditions, I was convinced that I'd get the interest for the first month, since it was already displayed on my deposit balance.

But that wasn't the end of it - when I went to withdraw my money from the account, the bank had taken out the interest for the first month too! So, in my quest for a high interest rate, I ended up losing a whole month's worth of potential earnings, and the amount wasn't even that significant, but the aftertaste was pretty unpleasant. To make matters worse, when I went to withdraw my money, I had to deal with some negativity and a call to customer support to confirm the transfer, which required an SMS code that never showed up. I had to write to them everywhere - their official email address listed on the website and in the online banking chat - but I never got a response that day! So, I had to dig around on my phone and discovered that all the SMS from the bank were going to my spam folder!

After successfully withdrawing my money and losing the interest, I still went back to the app a few times to check if I had those interest payments on my account. Can you guess what I found? A debt of almost 1000 rubles, and the kicker was that I found it when I was trying to close my account and block my debit card in the app, and I got an error message. And then, the operator responded with a debt for account maintenance for all those months after the free period had ended!

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't shocked. I immediately wrote to the operator that I had asked them to turn off the paid maintenance as soon as I got the card and that their demands for payment were completely unjust, and that I would be filing a complaint with the prosecutor's office! They responded with a pretty mysterious message that my debt had been wiped clean, which didn't show up anywhere and couldn't be checked in the bank's app. After that, I asked them to send me a confirmation email with their signature and seal stating that I had no debt, and after that, I was able to block my card.

Don't believe the 500-ruble payouts for positive reviews about the support service - it's a joke! 2.7 stars speak for themselves. Before they can call themselves a bank, they need to create conditions for their customers, and when everything is tied to one place, no amount of paid reviews will help!

P.S. the bank doesn't offer any real benefits, not even decent customer service or transparent terms on their contracts and even debit cards, and no loyalty program with the option to get cashback. If you've ever signed up for a debit card with this bank, make sure to check if they're charging you for the service!

However, their ads are all over TV, the internet, and their website, so be careful and don't get in touch with this organization! From what I've found, the only office they have is in Saratov, and the bank's owner has Armenian roots...

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