Varo Money Reviews

The very worst customer service. Can't fix a problem because when you call you're placed on forever hold and no one comes to the phone. Absolutely pitiful.

Not the best bank. They are okay, 2 day early pay was nice but they don't seem to really care when it comes to customer service. Money was tied up for days for no reason whatsoever.

I've been in the market for a new bank for some time . One that handled things the way that I, the customer, felt they should be. One of the advantages here (supposedly) was no fees. Not a requirement, but a pretty decent bonus. That being said, I tried Varo out. Big mistake, YUGE!!! Here's why

To start with, Varo limits your account, and drastically. This may be ok with some, but not when you have a number of transactions going in and out and need to have these transactions taken care of . The limit is $200 or so... Even for ACH deposits (verified, bank to bank transfers), that $200 limit remains. Want to deposit more? They tell you to use a 'fast transfer' option, which WILL cost you more money in the longrun (average of $5-$10).

My own recent experiences with Varo (YMMV) as follows:

Friday: Initiate a $200 ACH from my primary bank
Saturday: Initiate a $150 fast transfer (paying about $5) to my bank
Sunday: Initiate a $200 ACH from my bank (same bank as Friday)

TWO of the transfers came in just fine. The deposit from Saturday and Sunday came in with no problem. BOTH of the deposits from my primary bank hit my bank Monday morning. OBVIOUSLY, since the transfer from Sunday came in, but not the one from Friday, there were concerns... So, I email support

Ticket entered in at 4:30 PM yesterday (I waited to make sure the $$ didn't show up). Wasn't answered until this afternoon. So, you effectively get ONE response a day from these people (if that). Their response? "Your money was put on hold". That's right, they took money from an account, and just 'put it on hold'. We're not talking small amounts here, we're talking $200 . When was it going to be released? Who knows. They couldn't provide a precise answer to that question, just generics.

But wait... There's MORE!

As of today ( April 10, 2019 ), they have no way to access your account information from a PC / Mac. That's right folks. The ONLY way you can get into your account is through a mobile device or tablet. Genius

They claim "Hey, we're Apple Pay friendly", but no, not really. In order to use their card with Apple Pay, you MUST activate the card for Apple Pay by calling their CSR team , who only operates from 8am to 430PM MST (who even USES MST). They assume, of course, that nobody DARES work past those hours , and they're just too lazy to put verification in their own app (plenty of other card providers do this)

They may, indeed, have no fees associated with their account directly, but I assure you, there ARE fees associated with doing business with this garbage company. You'll lose trust with your existing banks, because of the scams that Varo puts in place. You'll pay other institution fees because that's what happens when things get returned (because Varo is holding your money without permission).

There are other banks out there. Use Varo only if it's your LAST resort!