We just fell for Valley's $499 refinance scam! They sent their "appraiser" to ouur house and it was valued $65,000 less than our 2 year old appraisal and $55,000 less than our 1 month old assessment. We asked ablout this and were told that they don't use the appraisal, just recent sales in a 3 mile radius. Features, lot size, condition don't matter. Three miles from my house includes 3 other towns that are much lower than mine in property value. The house next to mine with a similar lot size just sold for just under what we bought ours at and one up the street, with a smaller lot, just sold for more. Valley just stole $499 from us!

On 01/30/2012, I called to get a payoff for my vehicle. These people quoted me a figure about $1600 more than I figured I owed. When I asked about it, they said it was because back in 2007 I had a period of time where I had no insurance. When I disagreed, they took my information and they said that they look into it. I called a few hours later to verify that something was started. They gave me an attitude and we ended up in a screaming fight over the phone. I hung up and called my insurance company at the time and they found the information I needed and they agreed to do a conference call back to Valley National Bank. The issue was resolved and 2 days later, they called me to give me my final payment. This could have been avoided IF I had gotten a notice at the time. It was almost like they were looking for a reason to charge me extra. Moral of the story...make sure you know your balance AT ALL TIMES!!! I will never do business with this bank again. Their customer service sucks and their bookkeeping is incompetent!!!