Truist transition leaves some customers without access to their funds

Customers have started reporting that they lost full access to their funds during the final stages of Truist’s integration of BB&T and SunTrust customers. 

Truist acknowledged the issue and encouraged customers to activate their Truist debit cards “through online banking or your mobile app, at a Truist or non-Truist ATM, or during a purchase with your PIN.” Earlier versions of the site message warned customers, “After activating your new Truist debit card, you may experience a delay of up to a few hours before it’s ready to use.”

This caused frustration for some customers as it was Truist that instructed customers to activate their new Truist debit cards on 02/21/2022. The date that Truist proposed was a federal holiday, which means that banks, namely Truist banks, were not open. So, customers who needed emergency funds while waiting for their debit cards to become available didn’t have the option of visiting a local branch to withdraw their funds.

Some customers, depending on which set of Truist notices customers they read, might have considered Zelle as an alternative. Notifications throughout the Truist customer portal forewarned all customers that SunTrust customers wouldn’t have access to Zelle during the transition. But, the outage ultimately affected all Truist customers, even those who were never SunTrust customers. Truist didn’t post this notification on its site until Friday. The site indicated that Zelle would be available on Tuesday morning, and although the Zelle outage notification had disappeared by Tuesday morning, Zelle was not accessible by all customers. 

These oversights are part of a merger that began over two years ago and isn’t complete even after this weekend’s fiasco. Next month, Truist will convert BB&T and SunTrust mortgages to Truist mortgages. Although some former SunTrust and BB&T customers may have noticed that credit bureaus are now reporting their credit lines under the Truist brand, Truist informed us that it will be some time before their newly-acquired customers actually receive credit cards with the Truist brand. 

In the meantime, Truist has promised to waive fees that customers incur as a result of their inability to access their funds. With any luck, the recent blunders have provided Truist with valuable teaching points that will lead to a seamless conversion of its remaining services.