Stearns Bank

We chose Sterns bank because we have had such great experiences in the past. For some reason, our current loan has no grace period, so any time we are late at all, they add on a late fee. Now they have added on over $6000 in fees, and we have never been 30 days late, and we are current now and have been ever since they told us about the no grace period. The guy calls us every day, on every phone number, including all cell phones, office phone, back lines, and emails us. Now they have gone and said we have to refinance the loan to add the late fees into it, or pay off the late fees in full. They have also called the repo guy also, and the only way to fix it, is to give them the entire $6000+ late fee right now. We have been doing business with the company for over 10 years, they used to be a great company to deal with, and now, they have been nothing but mean. We don't even have a payment due, just their added on late fees. Worst experience ever.

Stearns Bank is absolutely the worst place to go for equipment financing, because they are all about the money and not the customer. Their late fees are around $180, which should be illegal. We had a late fee in February and they told us they would waive it, but it still shows on our statement. They were willing to defer two months of payments if we signed up for automatic withdrawal from our bank account. We couldn't do this, because we were struggling and not making any money for two months during the COVID-19 shut down. That action would have only caused more late fees that we couldn't afford. Every other creditor worked with us and I'm talking about Beacon Funding, Chase, Discover and Citi Bank. Those creditors have a heart and realize that we will continue to do business with them in the future. We will never use Stearns Bank again and will advise others to go elsewhere. Sorry Stearns, but you are a disgrace to the industry.

I have Stearns Bank for our equipment loan, we have been paying, at times 6 months in advance. Covid-19 shut all of down, I get a call from a collector looking for payment. I went onto my portal and paid, I also paid the "late charges" they were not cheap. I then asked if I could get the late charges credited to my account and I was told no...... Here we are, a business, shut down and just needed a little time to go back to work. The late fees' $244.00. This loan will be paid soon and I can guarantee you, our company will never get another loan from this company. Thank you but NO thank you Stearns Commercial Equipment Loan, you shown me this bank doesn't care, even in times of hardship.... One month late!

Deceptive business practices. Total crooks that should be removed from the SBA program. Inflexible to no end, poor attitudes and even worse customer service. They are withholding money that they said would be returned to me, now the CEO, and VP's are nowhere to be found and refuse to answer their phones. They could care less about small business. I will fight this issue until i've exhausted all avenues, Stearns is aware they have put me and in terrible situation and I will make sure they will be held accountable by the law.

Omg horrible in this time of crisis they are nit willing to provide a responsible deferment protocol for their clients who have equipment loans with them..... they want to add more money to makeup for the months deferred during this horrible crisis epidemic.... I have shared online FB and the are nit a good company to dominance from so many are or have had problems with them when a crisis situation prevails ....?? It seems money is what’s important not the lives of the people who they have contracted with... not the American way .. please stay away from this bank ... as Wells Bank of America have been understanding .. Stearns ????????????Selfish company with no heart ??...

I have 2 loans there I have had several others I have always paid my loans there off early I called them today and told them I had to close my business where I live because of coronavirus and can’t get any materials in my field to finish any work and asked them if I could get 1 payment set up on my account until I could open back up I said I would pay the intreast if so I was told pay this month and then send us your bank statements and tax papers and other financial documents and then they would reveiwv it and make a desision I said by then I would get behind on my bills and you guys would want to come take my stuff I was told that’s fine if that’s what you want to happen we can do that to I said you are rude I didn’t invent this virus and I don’t want to loose my equipment or I wouldn’t have called they said sorry there is nothing we can do for you I hope I’m able to pay my loans off with them and I’ll never use them again a very non understanding place unbelievable and that said they know everyone in my business has been shut down I want to thank them for their help

They should not be allowed to issue SBA loans. No valuation as required by the SBA or else they couldn't have possibly been able to give us the loan. They disguise a personal loan as a business loan. When the business went under, the equity of the business didn't even come close to paying off the $150,000 loan. The collateral was the assets of the business, which turned out to be $10,000. They really took advantage of us being first time business owners and are in cahoots with the seller of the business We Sell Restaurants.
Do not do business with this bank.

high class scammers!!! Not cancellable contracts, even if you sell or trade in what you buy, they still collect interest over the full life of the loan. Hidden interest rates in the contract. Fraudulent activities. illegal payouts. I witnessed all of these issues in my time spent with Stearns. Very nasty company to work with.

Do not use this bank. Their customer service is horrible. They tell you one thing and then never do it. They try to charge bogus late fees and refuse to waive them. Three years of torment from this bank with harassing phone calls that will not stop. Luckily there is many other reputable banks to choose from for my next purchase.

I was conditionally approved for SBA loan in 2017, project was delayed, again approved conditionally in Sept 19. Deposited $2500 to package a loan with them in 17. They have held the money since. They declined my loan request in Nov '19 and will not return my deposit on the loan packaging fee. I made a deposit for a service not rendered. They will not return my money. The say the loan request expired 90 days from the initial request. I just learned that today 12-12-19. They made no mention of this until declining my loan this month. Having me deposit funds for a loan denied is a license to steal. Under good faith this was to go toward my business funding. This is not a $25 fee but a whopping $2500. Now that we are looking for another lender and having to close by Feb 25, 2020 I'm reading these contracts. All other lenders ask for the $2500 deposit but condition them to be refunded if the loan is not approved. All I want is my money back as no service was rendered and it is a deposit. This is highly unethical and I entered into the contract in good faith. If they don't return my money with interest, I will pursue a legal remedy, perhaps with other complaintants of which I have found a few.

Request Business Loan for $140000.
They approved me and as SBA they said you need only $14000 (10%) down payment and I agreed.
They took my bank information and took $2176.00 on 10/16/2019 to move forward then they come back and said no, we need 25% instead of 10%, I said ok no problem.
They they came back and asked me to open savings account with them and put extra $25000 so they can put restrictions on it for 2 years, I said no.
I asked them to refund my money back and cancel this application, they don’t disclose everything from the begging. No integrity.
Please help me refund my money and make other customers aware of this bank.

I utilized Stearn's Bank to lease a laser for my company. The company is filing the incorrect valuation with the county each year causing an increased bill in taxes each year. The taxes are more than what I pay for a 5,000 sq ft facility and is incorrect billing, but Stearn's is not correcting the valuation being sent to the county. They sent in a higher sales amount than what the product was originally purchased for and are not sending in the accurate worth of the product. I am attempting to pay the account off, but they are not rectifying the issue to reduce the amount of taxes owed, and now they are charging me for another full year of property tax, although I am attempting to pay this off in July 2019. I am being held prisoner to their incompetence with billing and follow up. I called in 2018 asking about the bill for 2017, but was too overwhelmed with work to dig deeper and assumed the taxes would reduce the next year. I called back at the end of 2018, because the taxes were still over $300 for property tax on an item that only takes a 2 x 2 space in my facility and is worth less than $10,000. They are attempting to bill me another $300 in property tax for 2019. So over $1000 in property tax for one piece of equipment in my facility over a 2.5 year period. I have asked them to correct the valuation being sent to the county for the past 7 months. They have made no changes and are now trying to charge me the same amount of the entire year of 2019 with no prorated amount or reduction in total cost. I feel trapped to pay an extra $700 to get out of this lease. When I signed the contract agreeing to pay taxes according to term, I was basing this off of how we file for our annual property tax, sending in correct valuation. I also get an exemption applied towards my total taxes and have never went through this with any other leasing company.

I would not finance anything with this company. First we financed a balance on an equipment purchase of $51,000.00 but they charged finance interest on the entire purchase including our trade of $101,000.00 including the trade of $25,000 & deposit of $25,000.00 contract is for $51,000.00 + $250.00 for application. when we tried to pay it off the first year, no credit for interest was available. I asked for amortization table because the math of 4% on $51,000.00 did not add up. They informed us that is was on $101,000.00 (which is more like 12% since they collected finance charges on monies we paid to the dealer). Our contract states $51,000.00 + the $250.00 Add insult to injury we have to pay $250.00 to them to release the lien when paid off. (Our other $50,000.00 loan -same dealer was 0% with a different bank) Now we consistently receive our statements late with $200.00 fees on a $966.92 payment so I send the payments without the statement. I get another late statement today without credit for the $1950.00 payment they cashed in Feb (for Jan & Feb again no Jan statement) on time 2/4 due 2/15. They are rude & nasty to speak with and being in business since 1962 with excellent credit. These thieves are smacking our credit to boot with this "late" payment nonsense. I even asked for a payment book or online payment/account management which they do not offer. DO NOT USE THIS BANK-RUN AWAY!!!

I financed a piece of equipment through Stearns Bank. It was suppose to be 1 year no interest lease with a $1 buyout once the primary balance was paid. The original contract I was suppose to sign never had ANY dollar amount listed. When I called them, they gave me a verbal amount and said I had to pay an additional 8% sales tax, which I was ok with. I made monthly payments throughout the first year with the goal of having it paid in full before any interest or additional fees would be incurred. When I called for my payoff balance, the amount they gave me was several thousand more than I expected. When I asked for an explanation, I was transferred to several different people. but no one could explain the discrepancy. Eventually, it was reviewed by a senior team member and the amount decreased by over $1200. It was still more than I expected because they passed on a $900 property tax fee to me that was not disclosed in the beginning, but thankfully the other fees mysteriously went away. Word or advice, get the total amount, including all fees, in writing at the beginning & keep good records so you don't get cheated by this company!!

Every month or two they have a new fee. They are apparently just a bunch of thieves. After 4 years of thier lies not one more penny of mine will they see.