VyStar Member Complaints Filed With Florida Regulators, Demand Investigation

Image of complaint filed with the Florida Office of Financial Regulation by a VyStar Credit Union member.

VyStar Credit Union suffered a collapse of its online and mobile banking platforms for multiple weeks after the Jacksonville, Fla.-based credit union attempted to switch to a new platform on May 13. As of June 5, most if not all systems are working again, according to VyStar.

Since the outage began, several thousand of VyStar's 822,000 members shared their outrage on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter, explaining how they could not access their account information and worried about missed payments and deposits.

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On Friday, June 3, CU Times received the initial batch of complaints filed by VyStar members with the Florida Office of Financial Regulation. While the NCUA was made aware of VyStar's technical problems, the Florida Office of Financial Regulation has jurisdiction over the credit union in this instance.

The initial request for information from state regulators by CU Times covered the dates between May 13 and May 23. Between May 18 and May 23, state regulators found 13 complaints filed by VyStar members concerning the online and mobile banking outage. The complaints were filed through the regulator's website, by email and one by fax. Portions of many complaints were redacted to hide personal member account information. CU Times did not edit any portion of the complaints published below for style or misspellings.

The overall message of most of the complaints was that regulators must investigate VyStar.

Complaint Filed May 19: "Hard to believe the state is not involved with the corporate incompetence at VyStar.

By now the state has to know that their systems are down. Whatever information is available is questionable.

Even their own Website is saying transfers are questionable.

I have been in a position where you really have no good news to tell people so you say nothing. You cannot do this in a bank.

By the time this is dealt with the saddest thing is that nothing will happen to the people in charge. The CEO is on vacation.

I would not want people to lose their jobs because of a few incompetent people yet something has to be done."

Complaint Filed May 20: "VyStar Online Banking has been unavailable to members for 7 days now with no date given as when to expect the system to be operational. VyStar Management has been vague and evasive with little to no accountability for the botched roll out of its new online banking system. They have gone 'dark'. We cannot see our [REDACTED] and are 'promised' that our [REDACTED] are being processed. We are told to call 'Magic Touch' or go into a branch to transact business [REDACTED] would use 'Magic Touch' just to find out which [REDACTED] are being processed but [REDACTED] as I don't you this outdated system, and when I press the option to speak with someone, the recording says that the call volume is so high that they can't take the call and to try back later. Again, we are in day 7 now with little to no communication as to when this will be resolved. This isn't right. Can someone please look into this matter? Thank you."

Complaint Filed May 23: "VyStar has been off line with their online and mobile services for over two weeks. This has not allowed the company to have proper member access to their banking services. VyStar has had little to no hones communication to their members and members are leaving the company. VyStar has continued to keep their members in the dark with their ability to update and maintain a secure and up to date online presence for members. Please investigate VyStar for their incompetence of keeping their members data safe and in good standing."

Portion of Complaint Filed May 19: "Access to funds information online is spotty and when it is successful, I cannot trust [REDACTED] they give as they differ every time and current data regarding [REDACTED] is not available. This is wholly and totally unacceptable and Vystar needs to be shut down immediately and their files audited. It's truly an abysmal failure in this day and age of technology, I will be [REDACTED] once I ascertain if they are even close to being correct and [REDACTED]."

Complaint Filed May 20: "The inability of this credit union to provide services online or on the phone for 7 days should be investigated. For people who live remotely there is no way to make deposits, pay bills, mortgage payments, etc."

Portion of Complaint Filed May 22: "VyStar banking online has been down for over a week and customers [REDACTED] have online banking and online bill pay and rental payments to make."

According to the timeline presented by VyStar, the systems were down from May 13 until May 24. Between May 24 and June 5, elements of the new banking system were working, but due to the influx of members attempting to access their accounts, the credit union reported slow response times and members stated they were waiting in a virtual line with thousands of others to get into the system. As of June 5, a statement from VyStar on its website said, "Transfers between VyStar accounts are now available online" and "planned daily maintenance from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. EST when system access may be unavailable."

CU Times has repeatedly asked for interviews with VyStar executives and board members. The interview requests have not been granted.

On May 19 and May 20, VyStar Chief Member Experience Officer Joel Swanson posted videos with updates for members. After credit union members and local media questioned why President/CEO Brian Wolfburg was not addressing the issue, it was revealed that Wolfburg was on vacation during at least the first days of the outage.

While several members have posted on social media they had closed their accounts with VyStar and went to a different bank or credit union, it is unclear how many or if members have indeed left VyStar.

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Editor-in-Chief at CU Times. To connect, email at [email protected]. As Editor-in-Chief of CU Times since 2016, Michael Ogden has led the editorial team in all aspects of content strategy and execution, including the creation of the publication’s exclusive and proprietary research database of the credit union industry’s economic landscape. Under Michael’s leadership, CU Times has successfully shifted to an all-digital editorial product with new focuses on the payments, fraud, lending and regulatory beats. Most recently, he introduced a data-focused editorial product for subscribers that breaks down credit union issues into hard data, allowing for a deeper and more factual narrative for readers. In 2024, he launched the "Shared Accounts With CU Times" podcast, which offers a fresh, inside-the-newsroom perspective through interviews with leaders from the credit union industry and the regulatory world. He dives into pressing credit union issues, while revealing the personalities working behind-the-scenes to push the credit union world forward. His background includes years as a radio and TV anchor/reporter and a public relations and digital/social media manager, where he covered the food and music industries, as well as cooperatives and credit unions. Over the years, he has launched numerous exclusive video and podcast series, including a successful series of interactive backstage interviews with musicians at music festivals, showcasing his social media and live streaming production skills.