Sterling Bank And Trust

Do not attempt a home loan with this bank! We had a drop-​dead deadline of 30 days for a 1031 exchange (to defer capital gains on the sale of another property) and they took all our info and said it could be done. Among other things they sent a request to IRS for verification of tax returns which was rejected because the IRS requires the borrower to make the request (how did they not know this???). Waited weeks to order an appraisal and when asked a week ahead of deadline if it would close in time they said no — they hadn’t gotten the appraisal and weren’t willing to rush it. Steve Adams, the regional manager, took a cavalier attitude toward the whole thing — sorry there’s nothing I can do. That’s just how lending is these days. «If you can’t close a loan in the timeframe needed DONT string people all night until it’s too late! Meanwhile we are now on the hook for $ 35,000 in taxes.

I just completed a TIC purchase w/​Sterling Bank. These people will lose your documents, they will require you to re-​send things, they will ask the same question multiple times, and my main contact, HJ, will flip out and yell at you intermittently. We had to extend our escrow twice, at the last minute due to their failure to get their act together. The customer has to jump through hoops at the drop of a hat, but the bank, ho hum, slow and rude. I have purchased many properties in my lifetime, but nothing could have prepared me for the inefficiency, dysfunction, and unprofessional atmosphere of this bank. If your realtor recommends them, you should also fire your realtor, right now. These people will ruin your mind body and soul with their ineptitude and time delays. Run!

If you are in the market for a TIC loan, do yourself a favor and work with NCB or any of the other banks that are entering the TIC market. Anyone but Sterling… I don’t have a loan with them, however one of the six owners in our TIC building does. In summary, they have blocked us from participating in a city sponsored program to improve the safety of our building, and in gereral, are a complete nightmare to work with.
Our Situation:
If you are familiar with the TIC market in SF, you are probably familiar with the mandatory Soft Story Program that went into place in 2013. With a strong desire to protect our investment and make sure our building was ready for the next big earth quake, we immediately began the process of getting our building inspected.
With construction costs high, we were very happy to learn that the city had put in place a public financing option with AllianceNRG/​Deutche Bank with competative fixed rates. The best part? Loan payments are made through our property tax bill. If any of our owners sells down the line, the cost of our construction stays with the building and is passed on to the next owner.
More info here:
As you can imagine, this was an attractive opportunity for us as we would be able to get our building up to code without having to lay out large amounts of cash for the construction. We began collecting bids for the work, selected a general contractor, and also began the AllianceNRG aplication process. Things were moving along great until we found a clause in the AllianceNRG loan that stated its lien would take higher precedence over all other liens on the building.
We immediately reached out to NCB (where 5 of our 6 loans are held) and explained the situation. The folks at AllianceNRG were awesome and participated in a quick conference call to answer questions from NCB. Within days we had approval to move forward with the construction loan given the fact that:
1) The loan is to address a City mandated seismic retrofit (ie: not something we are doing simply to enhance the property)
2) The loan program is something official set up by the City and gets added to the building property tax bill
3) The loan amount is small in comparison to the value of the building and will add little to our HOA dues ($ 75-​$ 200/​month depending on the loan duration we select)
Hurray!!!
We then went to Sterling to ask for the same. After weeks of run around (typical whenever you need anything from these guys), we finally heard from Steve Adams who advised that Sterling will not allow our TIC to take a loan because they will not relinquish being the first lien holder on the building. We’ve been trying to get a hold of someone in the bank for over a month that will talk through the situation with us and have essentially been ignored. I could go on about the unprofessionalism we’ve experienced at this bank but I will just leave it at the facts. No surprise they were very responsive in pushing their own products and construction loan rates…
With the prevelance of TICs in SF and the fact that they are one of the primary providers of TIC loans, I do not understand how and why they would not cooperate with this city sponsored program. We will not be the last client with this request…
Do yourself a favor and stay away from these guys. I was not surprised to see so many other unhappy clients across all their branches. If you want a bank that is responsive, collaborative and will work to ensure your needs are met, go with NCB. We have already escalated this with the city so they are aware their program is being thwarted. I’m glad to see other TIC lenders hitting the market which will hopefully force these guys to start treating their customers with the attention and respect they deserve. The one owner in our building borrowing through them is already planning their escape plan.

When I first started banking with Sterling, for my business, I was brought in by a fantastic account manager (Dane Morton). If I had an issue I simply called Dane and whatever issue I had simply disappeared. Then my account manager left exposing the disorganized mess that he was sheltering me from and Sterling bank became damn near impossible to work with. Now when I call my branch for the simplest of issues I’m asked for my number so they can call me back, or I get passed around to half a dozen people until I realize how much time its taking and I just hang up. The website kinda works but in that circa 2004 kinda way where you can do a lot of things but certainly not everything that people in current times are used to. God forbid you have a website issue and they transfer you to their corporate offices… yikes.
My advice would be to do your banking some place else. Maybe at the branch level there might be some good customer service but at the business level this is a cold, non personal, and very disorganized mess of a company.
I’m going to do something I really don’t want to do but Sterling is giving me no choice otherwise… I’m going to take my business elsewhere.

I am also surprised by all the trolling aimed at Sterling. Being as objective as possible, I think your experience will depend on what you seek in a bank. Personally, I use Bank of America for checking and an institution in Ohio for my home loan. However, my money market and CD accounts have always been with Sterling, because they offer the best interest rate relative to the other brick-​and-​mortar financial institutions. I know I can get a slightly higher rate with an internet bank, but there are times when you simply have to be able to make a large withdrawal on very short notice. With regard to the customer service reps, they have always been extremely polite and helpful to me and to my wife. I have no complaints about this bank and this branch, and I would recommend it to friends and strangers alike.

I am surprised to hear people complain about the bad customer service as i have never had this problem at Sterling. Every time I have gone in their teller (A woman whose name I can’t think of) has been very friendly and helpful. I am a big fan of the service they have provided me over the past year.

Avoid this bank at all costs. I cannot express enough how absolutely terrible they are. From the insanely high interest rates to the ridiculously bad customer service.

The only reason I gave this branch one star is because of their high interest rate. That was the only reason why I decided to bank with them in the first place. First of all, I agree with the others that commented about the teller name Fredrick. He is the most rude teller I ever encountered. He doesn’t greet me, makes no eye contact, and basically flat out rude to me every single time he helps me. I called him out today to see what his problem is with me because I get the same treatment from him every single time I visit that bank, he replied it’s not you, so I’m guessing he is like that to everyone. He didn’t bother to apologize for the way he treated me. I told him that I’m beginning to take his rude customer service personally and he replied «obviously». I contacted the branch manager, Steve Adam, and he basically sided with his teller. He said to me that he asked the employees around and he was not rude to me. I told him that the only people at the bank at that moment was Fredrick and I. Even the manager is sooo terrible. He asked me what he should do about it since he already talked to him about his customer service when I complained to him the first time. I must say, this branch needs some type of customer service training and I think it begins in the Manager level. How can the teller follow a good lead when the leader fails to do the same. I just closed my account right now — I had 2 and will try online banking since they have comparable rates and better customer service as this bank. BEWARE — Do not go to this bank. If you have to go to the other branches, I think they have way better customer service than this one! That Fredrick guy needs to get fired or something!

As with many others, I am with Sterling as they offer fractional TIC lending. Unfortunately that’s about the only good thing about them. They are just too small to be functional and whenever I’ve had to call the lending customer service it’s always the same guy who is incredibly grumpy (probably from being overworked) and unhelpful. No two systems seem to be in sync so they are sending my documents to three different addresses and their communication style leaves a lot to be desired. If you have any alternative, take it over this option.

I have a home loan with this bank. I find «Customer Service Representative» Frederick Cortez to be rude, unhelpful, and uncomfortable to work with. I have visited this branch a number of times, and Frederick has an attitude and refuses to recall the instructions he gave me on past visits or even acknowledge that he met with me. He puts me on a wild goose chase, and he is consistently defensive in his communications. He is not accommodating, and I always leave with more work to do — to accomplish simple tasks. He blames everything on «policies.» When I urged him to call the bank about a transaction — he kept saying «perfect» and «that’s great» to the guy on the phone who was apparently agreeing with HIM, for me to have to do more work. That is plain rude. Well this small bank has more foolish, antiquated, and bureaucratic policies than Bank of America. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. If they assign you to Frederick, I suggest trying to visit with another teller.
If you want specifics: I have a mortgage with Sterling, the terms of which require me to direct deposits my checks from work into this account. I’d like to be able to transfer money to my other bank account. However, the account I set up does not have a bill pay option, so this has to be set up manually. In order to set up the transfer, I apparently need a voided check from the other bank. However, I pay my bills using online bill pay and do not have physical checks. My other bank gave me a «letter of account» which they said suffices everywhere for this sort of thing. However, Sterling says no. Sterling said I need to actually order a checkbook to rip off one check and write void on it, and that there is no flexibility. This is a ridiculous policy.