As the minutes ticked away, I sat surrounded by former FirstBank customers comparing the new banking options we chose. After PNC Bank bought FirstBank, people across Colorado have come to the same conclusion: A new bank would be better than this bank.
I became a FirstBank customer more than a decade ago.
In 2016, I opened a law firm and needed a bank. As a lawyer, I had limited options. As much as I loved, and still love, the Credit Union of Denver, that was not an option. They do not provide a very specific type of trust account designed just for lawyers. COLTAF accounts hold client funds and send the interest to legal aid and pro bono programs. They also provide direct transparency and oversight so that lawyers cannot use client’s money inappropriately.
At the time, FirstBank had an outstanding reputation as a local bank headquartered a couple miles away in Lakewood. They provided COLTAF accounts and plenty of locations, including one just down the street. Most importantly, their staff were helpful and upbeat.
That did not change for 10 years. Not until PNC bought FirstBank for $4.1 billion earlier this year. Their first act was to axe 777 jobs from Coloradans. That should have been a sign to tuck tail and run for the foothills.
But I stayed. Changing banks is a hassle.
By May, notices started rolling out to FirstBank customers about the planned switch. It seemed like they had planned things out and provided plenty of lead time to get things right. I figured I would give it a shot.
Sometime in mid-May I first tried to pre-enroll in PNC’s online portal. It did not work. After spending a few minutes dutifully entering my information, I eventually got an error message at the phone verification stage. Frustrating, but not infuriating. I figured I would try again later.
And I did. Again. And again. And again. And … you get the point.
Everytime I logged into my FirstBank portal, something I never had problems with, an insistent button popped up reminding me to create my PNC portal. And every few days I tried to no avail. After about a week of trying, I called the support line. It did not go well.
The first time I called I ended up talking to four or five people who each had me proceed through the exact same process I had already described only to transfer me to someone else. After more than an hour, the last person I spoke with put me on hold — after again making me try to login despite my assurance that I had done that multiple times already — and left me on hold until the line abruptly went dead.
I am sure most people have had similar experiences and I apologize to my readers for the blood pressure spike. Nothing is more irritating than spending over an hour with customer support before you get hung up on without getting any closer to a resolution.
Several calls and several hours later, I eventually got elevated to professional services agent dedicated to helping me figure out the issue. To her credit, she was patient and followed up with me regularly. But the problem was that she had to follow up with me regularly. Even with a dedicated support specialist, the problem could not be resolved.
First, she thought it was a problem with data imported from FirstBank to PNC. Apparently, it listed my phone as a landline despite the fact that I have not had a landline since I rolled my jeans and wore flannel every day in the 1990s. Then they thought it might be a text problem. Then something else. And then another thing.
Days ticked by and I did not have a resolution. It was not until after the switch had been made June 22 — and after I lost access to FirstBank’s portal, that I eventually got access on my computer. The PNC mobile portal still does not work for me, despite using a password manager to ensure the entry is the exact same every time.
By that time, I had bigger problems. Client payments were rejected and I had problems with transfers. Of course, some clients were caught in the same trap. One who attempted to send a wire to a vendor had to withdraw cash, walk over to Chase where he had another account, deposit the money, and then send the wire.
Of course the “withdraw cash” bit comes with its own problems. On Tuesday when I went in at 2:30 p.m., the line literally extended out the door. A customer walking out told me he waited for 55 minutes to get to a teller. I decided to come back later.
By the time I did, I had already opened a new account at BMO. I walked in, got help right away from two bankers and had three new accounts and a security box set up in under an hour. I then returned to PNC to clear out my security box.
And that was where I was sitting, waiting for 45 minutes and talking with other customers who all had decided to leave. Several heard the ubiquitous radio ads from other banks obliquely mocking PNC’s problems. Others received offers to switch that ranged from hundreds to a thousand dollars.
We were waiting and laughing when the “greeter” — who previously had to ask a customer where the bathroom was — walked over and asked us what rates we were getting, challenging our decision. He literally wanted to pick a fight with customers who already decided to go.
The irony was lost on him, but not on the people I had been talking to for nearly an hour. We all shook our heads and laughed. It was just one more reason we missed FirstBank, but could not get away from PNC fast enough.
Mario Nicolais is an attorney and columnist who writes on law enforcement, the legal system, health care and public policy. Follow him on BlueSky: @MarioNicolais.bsky.social.
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