First Citizens Reviews

FirstCitizens drives me nuts. It should be able to do face or fingerprint recognition, as all the other financial institutions now allow, but it doesn’t. I see that FirstCitizens advertises it supports Touch and Face ID, but so far, mine does not. It also rejects my password when I enter it the first time, even though I am careful and slow about entering. I enter the same password the second time, and I’m in. Very annoying.

It would be nice if I could opt to see my password as I’m typing it. Most apps offer that option now.

Then, one of the features I need the most, Pay People, is never functional. When I called customer service, they said it would be up by the end of the day. WEEKS later, it was still down. I gave up trying. It also puts decimals for the dollar amounts in funky places, then tells me I’m entering the dollar amount wrong, but gives me no way to correct it. I feel like First Citizens if very far behind the technological curve.

I started my account during this covid19 due to reloading due to my states job market crash. I have had problems from day 1 here with the bank. I’ve deposited my checks online every week like always and they go through the next day most times. I deposit my check this week a day earlier Thursday at 3pm online deposit cause I was told by the bank it is directly done now they tell me it will not be available till maybe Monday?? They sent 22 messages saying the banks will be closed during the covid19 times but however never not 1 message saying the inside banks are open. What’s the point of your online banking if it doesn’t help the customers needs? No other bank makes you wait like this to receive your money from your account!

One star. FirstCitizens is terrible. If I’d have known that First Citizens didn’t have a better mobile banking app than what’s offered I’d have never opened an account with this bank. It’s that bad. What’s actually in my account never matches what FirstCitizens shows. And yes I balance my account regularly. And no the bank can’t explain why this is an issue. Was in the bank just last week over this exact issue. Only resolution I get offered is, “We can open an investigation.” Yet nothing ever comes from that option. If you go out to eat and leave a tip on your card, the tip will NEVER EVER show up as being charged on your card, just the cost of the meal. So there is always THAT discrepancy hanging out there also. Which just adds to the original issue of what’s actually in your account never matching what the bank says is in your account. Horrible app. Horrible bank. I’m already looking to move my money. Again.

I switched from chase to first citizens when I moved here and chase bank is what I miss most. The chase app was so much easier to use because it wasn’t just the website saved to an app. Apps should not be set up like a website. And helpful tips should not be necessary. Nothing is organized on here or user friendly. I’m in my twenties and should not feel like I’m looking at a computer for the first time.

Also the delay between a purchase and when it shows on FirstCitizens is insane. With all of my other banks it would show up in minutes. Some of my purchases take DAYS to show up. FirstCitizens is to keep track of stuff like that but now I have to track my purchases to watch FirstCitizens !

It doesn't seem like thorough testing is done on FirstCitizens or web based software before updates are implemented. I expect better from a financial institution trusted with peoples livelihoods. I have encountered several issues over my time of doing business with this bank and customer service is quite slow to respond. The most recent disappointment is account alerts. I have them set up to send a text for all credits and debits in a particular account, but they don't actually work and in my opinion this is a security/safety concern. Fraud is a threat that keeps increasing with more and more people dependent on web based services. I had a fraudulent charge that was not flagged by the bank and had I not had working alerts on that account I wouldn't have known until I woke up the next day. The impact could have been a lot worse and I'm thankful that the alerts were working at that time.

I would think FirstCitizens is mostly fine, but the most important features - like depositing checks & doing bill pays - are not user friendly. I don’t know if it’s an app glitch or their servers, but I’ve gotten error messages on mobile check deposits, or it’s insisted that there’s a problem with the check image or amount, or FirstCitizens just shuts down. As far as bill pay - it’s a bookkeeping and timing hassle that if I want to put an invoice # or note on a check, it converts it to a paper mode with a longer process. A few times since the 7 months I’ve had this account, Bill pay has failed to deliver a check by the scheduled date. The rep on the phone said, “Well we don’t guarantee the delivery of the checks by the date you requested.” And yet, there are no fine print details or links for that anywhere near the calendar field when you’re scheduling your payment.

Getting to many of the options and menus take too many steps. Ex: I want to see my transfers past and future rather than clicking on something like “transfers” I have to click on “manage online activity” individuals not very tech savvy will miss out on many of the features too complicated to find. I have nothing positive to say about the online bill pay system - it does not include eBills, seems random when checks are sent or electronically, large companies that should be electronic receive checks which increases risk of getting lost in the mail and missing payments. Moving from BoA to First Citizens has been a nightmare because FirstCitizens is so subpar. “Manage my money”doesn’t work either - all accounts eventually stop refreshing and you need to input an IT ticket to get it fixed...

I have friends that work at this bank, therefore I will maintain my account. The online function is frustrating. The alerts do not always work. After not getting a low balance alert several times, I changed it to have it send me a daily balance. This is still not reliable.
New problem: when I edited a payees’ address, it does update on app. I initially thought the payment was going to be sent to wrong address, do I called customer service and found out that it was updated properly. I could not delete payee and reenter information since a payment was pending. I was transferred to three people to find out why app did not update - and their solution was to tell me to use a desktop

Always room for improvement. Seems to be under maintenance more than I am used to compared to another bank I use online for. Occasionally, the debits won’t subtract from the balance for a few hours after a purchase. I am not thrilled about typing my password into my iphone every time I sign in, because passwords do not save even though I have FirstCitizens . There are times when atm fees appear and I don’t know why, where or what the purchase was it was connected to, so it can be tricky to track. Overall, it is user friendly. However, I wish they you may consider the above changes.

I’ve been a First Citizens customer for over 40 years. There have been a few bumps in the road but overall they have provided great service. I was very excited when the site was announced. I was ready to dump Mint, Quicken and other methods. The online tool certainly provides the necessary banking functions. I wish there were three additional tools. First I wish there was a view in the check register that included a running balance and a place for more details on the purchase. Yes a little old school but it would be helpful when there is the rare discrepancy. Secondly, a budget tool that tracked spending with a report that can be printed. Again a little old school but would help track business, tax filing and vacation related expenses. Finally and more related to purchases and not online banking but text alerts for unusual debt card usage. Having recently had a fraudulent charge it would be nice to have the option to approve debt card useage via a text response. Common recurring expenses that are tied to the card could be pre-approved. But a purchase over a certain amount would trigger a text asking for approval before the charge is processed.

To whom it may concern, The date of the receipt being transacted needs to be put on the on-line account also instead of the later date when it hit the account. Sometimes all of us as customers have “pending” listed above the transaction or the transaction hasn’t appeared on the account yet & when it does hit the account, the date that it hit the account appears instead of the “actual” or “original” transaction date. Please see what you can do about “fixing” or “correcting” this problem where our transactions that occur on one date & post at a later date with the latter date showing as the transaction date. Thank you & God bless😎😁🙌🙏💯👍🏻✅

Needs better organic app support to retrieve online credentials when forgotten. Personally I believe you should be able to get this information through a set of retrieval tools inside FirstCitizens . May be a little easier as well with questions to be answered. I don’t think you should have to call a human being to get support to be able to log In. Other than that I really can’t say a negative word. It seems like they have fix my previous issue with scrolling inside the mortgage payment area of FirstCitizens . I’m very appreciative of that recent fix.

I use FirstCitizens to pay my bills as soon as I open them, so I don't have to wait until I'm at a computer. A couple problems with the mobile bill-pay: It only brings up 10 billers at a time, in alphabetical order (an extra tap or 2 if you have more than 10 billers); When you are scheduling a bill, it lets you pick dates that are not valid (weekends, holidays) and doesn't tell you until you've already tried to confirm the payment. Then you have to get out, check the dates, log back in, and do the whole process again.

If these problems get fixed, FirstCitizens would easily get 4 or 5 stars from me.

So I do love FirstCitizens but my only CC is that when I make payments, purchases, or have any transactions I like to see immediately the results of it. I could care less to even joke with the idea I need to know my entire balance without the pending sales. It’s a waste of time and it gets confusing in the mobile app to see both and then see what’s pending in transactions. I can’t keep up with weather or not the numbers are accurate with what’s been paid for already. Especially can’t stand that my credit card bills and mortgage payments don’t come out IMMEDIATELY from the accounts they take literal days for them to even come out of my account. If I’ve had to take the time to set up the information to another server of all the direct account information it should take no longer than 24hrs to show transactions of that out. I do love FirstCitizens otherwise. It’s super helpful to have the account information secure but at fingertips if needed for another server. Also higher security 🖤 Great customer service at all banks I’ve visited. Fast delivery for cards! ATMs are usually not to far apart and in good clean lit areas of use. Usually near great places! All in all great bank - good app. 👌🖤🙏

FirstCitizens is easy to navigate and intuitive. I use it for multiple accounts and it is easy to move money. One recommendation I would make is that I am older and still use a checkbook with register. I use the register to document both my checks and electronic debits. I feel this gives me the best view overall of my accounts. BUT, it is sometimes hard when scrolling thru the debits on FirstCitizens , to tell whether I have already documented that transaction in my register or not. It would help A LOT to have a check box or some designation beside each entry on FirstCitizens that I can click when I document it in my register. That way I don’t have to keep searching each time I go in to reconcile my register. Thanks.

Someone keeps disabling my Facial Recognition over & over to get into my account to spy. No one has my Power of Attorney & has no right to be going in and out of my bank account. The law should go after them. I have reported it to First Citizens Bank. I have reported it to Verizon. First Citizens Bank Said it is Verizon & Verizon said it was Verizon. Sounds like the law should decide.

Gail Pernell 🙂

I love my FCB APP, but I am still having trouble with facial recognition sometimes not working on Social Security pay day & State Retirement payday. I have also had other personal things stolen & all my bank cards compromised.

Ok
For over 12 years, I was a customer ( daily banking, credit card, checking, money market savings) with a competitor of FC, let them remain in named ( wagon train)
After several issues with my account durning the beginning of the Covid crisis, I was less than impressed with the customer service I received. The Wagon train bank was closed, you could enter by “ appointment only” and the drive thru was the only means of banking with my Former ( the wagon train) bank
I was shocked to say the least
Then I had a Wonderful new experience, when I entered the First Citizens Bank, yes they were actually open and welcoming, I was totally impressed with ALL the employees. All smiles, all willing to help, and all introduced themselves. At the Stantonsburg Rd location in Greenville NC, if you would like a totally New Experience, then give them a try! You won’t be disappointed, maybe surprised at such wonderful customer service, but not disappointed

Dan Carraway
Greenville NC

I use FirstCitizens almost every day and sometimes multiple times a day. It is the most convenient financial app I’ve ever used plus it updates me via text whenever there has been a deposit made into my account or if there is any suspicious activity that has occurred. FirstCitizens lets me do nearly anything I want with my account or between accounts such as transferring money from savings into checking with just the use of my phone. I have been using it for years and it has not let me down yet!!!

I’ve been a member of First Citizens bank for probably 20+ years. I’ve taken advantage of online banking and mobile banking as soon as they came available. I patiently awaited the apps’s ability to use fingerprint to sign in, which was MUCH later than other banks, but it finally came and I’ve been happy. I love that we’re always aware of when maintenance will be done & what functions will be unavailable. The only additional feature I can think of that would be beneficial is credit score monitoring. Most other banks provide that as well & progress tracking can be viewed via FirstCitizens . I hope that is coming soon

FirstCitizens that I have been waiting on forever is a disappointment. When I first downloaded it I was pleased as it seemed easy to use. I assume most of the good reviews are from directly after download. Mine shows no activity since Sept 22, it is Oct 10! There have been probably 30 transactions since Sept 22. I love the company and would not trade it, but I know BoA has features on their website and app to track your spending into categories; shopping utilities etc and was really hoping for this feature so I don't have to keep manually inputting every purchase into a separate budget app. I love your bank First Citizens and appreciate the effort but your app leaves a lot to be desired.

I’m SOOOO done with either this dumb app or First Citizens themselves NEVER showing me my correct balance. Literally a couple of days ago I had $30 in my account and stopped to get food, card got declined. COOL thanks. Check my account, says -2. I start freaking the frick (pg language but like I wanna use so many vulgar words) out and accept that I spent too much money. I basically become a prude with spending for the next 2 days and check it today? $30. How do you lose $30. Like..... I don’t make that many purchases how was there $30 worth of mistakes. Like I technically was owed $4 by one of the purchases that needed to be refunded but that doesn’t explain how 32 dollars I guess was LOST. makes no sense to me and caused a lot of embarrassment looking like I can’t afford a $16 purchase. Embarrassing. and this is NOT the first time this has happened. Don’t know what’s causing it but I’d like an answer? Is it FirstCitizens or the bank and why does it happen so often?

First of all, it’s nice that FC has an app available, because some banks do not. Secondly, FirstCitizens functions well for the most part. Your account balance stays up to date in real time. Ie: if you make a transaction, your new balance is immediately displayed. The only reason I rate it 4 instead of 5 stars is that you have the option to transfer funds from one FC bank account to another FC bank account, which is great, but it takes days for it to process and actually transfer the funds which makes it kind of pointless in most cases. Overall, it’s worth having and I’m glad I do.

I have been banking with first citizens for 5 years now and have never had a bad experience in any branch from any teller or banker. I have personal and friendly relationships with multiple people at multiple branches I frequent, and FirstCitizens makes banking with first citizens that much better of an experience. It quickly uploads transactions on your account and immediately lets you know if someone is trying to get into your account. Overall no complaints from me for the bank or FirstCitizens . Great job guys!

I am very happy with the mobile banking! It is easy to access, so convenient, and I wouldn’t want to be without it now. If there are ever any question, banking staff are easy to reach by phone, and quickly and easily resolve any issues. Since using FCMB, I have been able to better manage my finances, and even better monitor any fraudulent activity. The earlier these things are found, the sooner they can be resolved! Love FCMB, and will continue to use it regularly!!

Cathy F