Novel - Austin, Texas

Nycmy W.

Please don't ever use this Bank, I have been working with them for over 2 years now and I was saving my funds in their system thinking they were they best for our company, but after they changed a bank provider from Blue Ridge bank, after 2 weeks of migrating to another provider called Five Star Bank, My account was closed. for no reason and I was told they will email me a check. as we speak it has been one month already and they have not sent me my check which they promised it will be emailed and "Grace Litan" Who happened to be their customer care representative keep making up new stories. I have called FIVE STAR BANK And they said they don't work with this people so be careful with this guys.

oystein K.

This bank is not trustful. they closed my account without any notice and it took about 6 months to get the money back from them. also extreme terrible customer service. they never ever answer your emails. I would recommend everyone to please avoid this "bank". (They are not a real bank either as they belong to Blue Ridge Bank, and when I called them, they also did not want to help me). So better avoid both of them!!!

tkis B.

I am a small Business Owner. I am having Weekly recurring subscription setup via stripe from 7-8 small retail stores. I have employees on my payroll. Yesterday out of nowhere - My account got blocked due to fraud. I emailed their support and I have not received any response or reply. I have proof of work done , Invoices etc. I also have small amount of money in account. which I was using to pay software bill's ,misc. services like server etc.

Now my billing date is due , I have to collect payment pay employees. I don't know what to do. This is sad as economic condition is already bad. I don't know if I will trust the bank again.

KYC's and regulations are all fine , But they should ask for more documentation via E-mail before just closing the account.

And very slow support. I was getting replies within 2-3 hours when I was trying to setup the account. Told the reps couple of times double checking if anything else they require and now this.

Its sad and depressing. No phone number available as well to call and talk to someone.

The one listed here is not in service.

So Finally, I got a reply stating bank has closed the account , and no reason was provided. and check will be mailed at the address provided by me.

This is a complete waste of time and my money.

Gauthier L.

Tried to open an account with this awful bank for a company that I co-founded with business partners residing in the US.

- long processing times for litterally everything
- de-activation of a credit card by mistake and billing of a new card with no reimbursement whatsoever
- deletion of their previous archives because of server issues and another de-activation of a credit card, again billing the customer
- poor interface making it impossible to export your data as a CSV file for your accountant
- surprise-closure of an account with no explanation and not even the courtesy to respond to emails
- blocked bank transfers, sometimes without even letting you know (you have to send them an email asking why your money didn't arrive so that they can wake up and tell you that you should justify the wire)

1 star reviews all around, but they seem proud of themselves...

Dan P.

If you are looking for a place to deposit money. Fine. If you are looking for BUSINESS banking. Think twice.

I initially had some difficulties with creating an account with Novel.

When I began the setup of the business bank account for my LLC the process required me to use a third-party vendor to prove my identity and this vendor requested what I would consider to be an overzealous and frankly, dangerously insecure, amount of identity information including "selfie".

I contacted support to explain my position and offer additional documents and my willingness to be identified by a Novel employee over video, but this was initially batted back with pretty poor "you need to adhere to our requirements, we're not forcing you to do so". Not the best. A bank should not, while trying to verify your iD, request you to open yourself up to potential identity fraud.

After trying to reach out to the founders of Novel on LinkedIn, and subsequent to posting a 1* review on this platform, and on Trustpilot. The customer service agent reached out to me again, as did another.
And at this point I received flexibility and willingness to ID me with my documents directly

They booked this meeting to ID me over video call swiftly, joined, and very quickly got me through the identity process when I showed my iD over this call.

They asked me to update my review. I did so, giving them a 4* which was reasonable at the time.

Since then, I made a request for a new debit card, and went through the process on the online website (no app for Android yet) and paid the <$10 charge. I made this request at the end of September. I heard nothing more. I received no email - but I saw no reason to be concerned as the fee was taken from my account. FIVE WEEKS pass. I need my card to activate some lines of credit. I send an email to ask about progress of my card. I can tell from the response, it has not been actioned... AT ALL. It is then presented to me that because I am a non-US resident, I would have to pay $60USD to receive my card in the post. I ask about delivering to my US hotel under my name for me to collect while I am doing business - am told this is not an option. When I push back on the cost, and mention the FIVE WEEKS my card request has seemingly sat dormant - I'm offered a 50% discount on the card postage, and am told someone will look into this. During this time, I travel for business and am card-less and have to find an alternate way to organise some of my creditors who request an active bank card. At this time, I receive a call from my PA to let me know my card has arrived, in my home country just before Thanksgiving. No communication is sent, we just receive the UPS postage automated email with no indication it's Novel. Seemingly they have paid the exorbitant cost for postage. I return home, collect my card. All seems well. A week later I receive an automated email that my account will be frozen in 5 days. I have not paid enough money into my account to keep the balance at $2,000USD or higher. I contact support again. No, I have not funded my account, it's true, because, until a week ago, I had no card, and the business I intended to do, I could not do, because of the (almost) EIGHT WEEKS I had to wait for it. I ask for 4 weeks, half the time I waited, to fund my account with the required $2k. This request is kicked upstairs, and I hear no more, 2 weeks pass, I assume my request is granted. Then, I receive an email again - my account is frozen. I contact support again. I won't type the back and forth but I'm basically told, I must pay the fees associated with an <$2k account, or, basically, tough luck. The above explains my * rating. I was detailed because I did not wish anyone to think that I arrived at my opinion casually. Consider the above if you want a banking PARTNER and intend to do business banking with Novel, I do not believe at this time they are providing anywhere close to the requiste amount of service or functionality to be considered a partner for business banking. I very much do NOT recommend them.

Dan P.

Novel Bank is a scam. They freeze your account for “Fraud” then close it a few weeks later. They are holding over $300,000 and will not give you your money. Please for your own sake avoid this bank. No real customer service, just a few VA’s and engineers off of FIVER. If you call Blue Ridge Bank (who they supposedly work with and get there FDIC Insurance through) they will swear up and down they have no association with Novel.

JC E.

Horrible bank system, only one person attends over email someone name Grace Ann Litan. No way to contact them over the phone.

Big issue with a wire transfer for 10,000 USD and the wire has not been received and this bank says that they will look into this.

This has been like this since December 16th. Imagine the situation.

Horrible bank.

Jarvous H. C.

A scammer company who sucks your money and walks away, be vigilant and never bank with them.They just close down your account and say they will send you a cheque for the balance which never received in my case.