Freedom First Salem Branch and ATM

Reviews

• ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
  Went into this place Tuesday morning right when they opened. I spoke with a young lady about getting a loan. I knew it would be difficult as I had no revolving credit and had a couple of hits on it. Also recently started a business 3 months ago and didn't have any tax returns. I use square pay and produced a sales report to show my total sales as that's all I had. All this was done first thing Tuesday morning. I patiently waited, and as anybody would I called back at 3:28pm to be exact and got no answer in which she returned my call 10 minutes later and said I would need a cosigner since I had no verifiable income. Okay, contacted a lifelong friend and he without question said sure. Tried calling the lady at freedom first back at 3:49 pm and got no answer left a message and tried again at 4:45 again left a message. The next morning I called this young lady at freedom first and left another message and never heard back again. Finally got through to her at 1030 to let her know my friend was consigning but wouldn't be available to give her his information until lunch time. Unfortunately as myself and anyone who works he was unable to take lunch until 1 pm. I tried calling several times once again left 2 messages etc.... fast forward 2 hours I walked in and sat down and waited. She invited me into her office and we called my friend to get what they asked for. She submitted and I went on my way. Never heard a peep. Called back at the end of the day again no answer strait to voice mail. So I kept calling until I got someone to get her, she then told me they needed an invoice for the equipment I was going to purchase as well as my cosigners proof of income. Okay, first an invoice is not created until you purchase something, which is why I was trying to get a loan so I got a link to the company I buy my equipment from and sent that Wednesday evening. I knew it was late and I wouldn't hear anything back. So my consigner sent his proof of income in the next morning before 9 am. I called to verify she received all she needed as her communication was also wishy washy at best. Guess what, no answer. No return call. Called again at 1030 same song again and again at 1130. Called again at 130pm and repeated I had left several messages to verify and never heard anything and I guess I would drive to Salem to see her. Guess what, I received a call 25 minutes later. Denying the loan as I had no proof of income. Okay no big deal, I could borrow this money from a friend but trying to establish credit again however wasted 2 and a half days of trying to get through to someone that never called had no communication skills whatsoever. Now it's Thursday evening and I am supposed to go out of town next Tuesday morning as Christmas is Monday. What's wrong here.? Aside from me having to call and show up to find out what I needed because I couldn't get a return call. I was denied for something we knew Tuesday afternoon. What is the protocol with freedom first? Is that normal to make me get a consigner if in fact you know that it's not going to work and still drag it out another day and a half. So now he has great credit but has a hit on it for no reason? Also is it protocol to never return a call? As I look at reviews on yelp I realize this is fairly common with freedom first. I truly am not upset with being denied as I knew I would have challenges. My problems lye with the complete lack of communication and reasoning that we all knew from the very beginning. I worked in customer service for 18 years prior to starting my business 3 months ago and I know the importance of communication as that's the whole scope of anything when dealing with the public especially as time is valuable. I always trained my employees to keep the customer in the know whether good or bad news so they could make whatever moves they deemed necessary.CSI was very important in my industry and was always my goal to keep people informed so they could never say they waited and waited and nobody called them. Power of communication is key and being upfront is just as powerful.
  By That Guy, March 05, 2018

Photos