VyStar online banking issues persist for UNF students

Mallory Pace, Government Reporter

Online banking has become the new norm for most young adults and students, and when you suddenly cannot open the app and manage your finances, panic begins to set in. This has been the case for thousands of VyStar customers, including many University of North Florida (UNF) students, as the company’s new mobile banking feature has been down since May 13. 

Entering its sixth week of frustration, customers seem to be questioning their loyalty to the popular company.

VyStar recently invested $20 million in Nymbus, a provider of banking technology solutions. VyStar chose Nymbus to partner with for its new online banking platform in July of 2021. Since then, the company’s mobile banking system has been down and problems are popping up left and right, leaving loyal customers anxious and annoyed. 

VyStar logo
VyStar Credit Union logo. Courtesy of the VyStar website.

Among these frustrated customers is Tajah Wims, a sophomore at UNF studying accounting. Wims has been having trouble with accessing her VyStar online banking. 

“I couldn’t see my accounts for weeks and until this week, I couldn’t pay my credit card statement,” Wims responded to a Spinnaker Instagram poll. 

Serving more than 800,000 people, VyStar is a relatively popular bank that is currently letting around 200 sign-ins every minute, CEO Brian Wolfburg told News4Jax last month. Essentially less than one percent of customers could access their account at any given time, as of the end of May. 

The only options left for customers are to call support or visit a VyStar bank but those who have attempted to contact VyStar about these issues say they have only been met with hour-long waitlists with hundreds of customers ahead of them ready to complain.   

Amelie Peterson, a sophomore at UNF studying graphic design, attested to the long wait times and said that when she tried to access her online banking, she was put on a waitlist of over 400 people.  

Another defeated VyStar customer and UNF student is senior Tory Crawford, studying criminal justice. 

“It is not nearly as convenient as it used to be to access my account,” she said. “It’s really frustrating.”

 There is still no timeline for when VyStar online and mobile banking may be back up and running, leaving many customers debating whether to keep waiting or try their luck elsewhere.

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