Clueless customer service team.
I do not think Unicredit looks after existing customers very well. I tried to change the interest rate to fixed rate, they told me to come in to their office and I did, but the documents were not ready, never received any apologies or information after that. Their website is not very user friendly. In the end we decided to switch the banks. Although our new bank tried to settle the transfer, they did not answer, did not try to assist the process. It has been more than 4 weeks now, we are still waiting. When they found out that we were switching the banks, they tried to match the rate, but it was too late. We have already found out they are no good for the existing customers, our decision did not change. They should know that we have choices and should look after the existing customers as well as new customers.
They need to employ more people because having one person is not enough. Their customer service is good but just takes too long. I do not appreciate being told that I'll be called back, and it never happens. That is lying in my books. Applications take way too long to go through compared to other banks. What we get in a low interest (which is why we joined) we make up for with shocking customer service. Oh well.
I joined Unicredit over thirty years ago and have been with them ever since. They are small and local, yet innovative. They are trustworthy and efficient to an unprecedented level. In over three decades, they have not once made an error, neglected to send a statement, ignored a request or done any of the things that are unfortunately so common in so-called "customer service" today. The most spectacular thing about them is that when I was a single, twenty-one year old woman, and wanted to buy a house on my own, they happily gave me a mortgage. Every other bank, building society and credit union turned me down unless I provided them with a male guarantor, despite the fact that I had a full-time, stable, permanent job. This shows that they have always been ahead of their time. Since then, I've had savings accounts, cheque accounts, credit cards, debit cards, and insurance with them. I have remained loyal to them, and they have never let me down.
Setting up the account was fairly straight forward and the customer service in this respect was great. ATM network is okay with rediteller being widely available but branch access is not great. Not a huge problem for me. I signed up for the equity access account at 6.2% and a couple of months on the RBA cut rates by 0.25%. Unicredits answer to this was to increase my rate to 6.50%!!! No warning, no letter and no response to my query on why the interest rate went up when the cash rate went down. Very disappointed with this action as such a drastic move has considerable interest implications. A simple letter would have been appreciated. The rate is still decent in comparison to other lenders but I find it very hard to take that an unannounced rate increase is justified in this case. The slogan on the website 'Lower rates. Pass it on.' is not applicable here. I don't believe any other lender has increased their rates!
I previously had a home loan with the ANZ, and have been so much happier with Unicredit. With the ANZ, I was paying $8 every month in account fees on top of interest charges, but with Unicredit I only pay interest - there are no ongoing fees. And whenever interest rates go down, Unicredit reduces their interest rates too, and don't always increase them when they go up. They really do put customers first.
We wanted to do an extension to our house and this happened just when we were going on study leave and long service leave. We were able to pay our mortgage payments in advance for the period which cut back our interest payments. We were able to remotely extract the payments for the extension as we needed them. What other financial organisation is this considerate?
WARNING: This comparison rate applies only to the example or examples given. Different amounts and terms will result in different comparison rates. Costs such as redraw fees or early repayment fees, and cost savings such as fee waivers, are not included in the comparison rate but may influence the cost of the loan. The comparison rate displayed is for a secured loan with monthly principal and interest repayments for $150,000 over 25 years.
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