The Equitable Bank

Excellent bank, locally operated, wonderful customer service. Great mortgage lender that holds loans, doesn't sell off to larger banks. Best bank experience I've ever had.

Went to ATM only.

There is nothing local or personal about this bank...so definitely don't pick them based on that basis. They closed down their Mequon branch shortly after we acquired our mortgage loan with them in 2009 (we live in Ozaukee County) with no advanced notification. So we were now dealing with an out of area bank, which we would not have elected to do if we'd known they were planning to close their Mequon branch. Fast forward to today (15 years later) We are current on our mortgage and after 15 years of them making absolute bank (pardon the pun) on our 30 year mortgage loan throughout that time, their "payoff" option actually bloated the current price instead of decreased it. One of the line items on the payoff document indicated an "inspection fee"...so you have to pay them to inspect your home before they will let you pay for it in full lol? I would understand an inspection fee if we were asking to extend or refinance the loan, but to pay it in full? Aside from that, the one time we did have some financial hardship 6 years after obtaining the loan but remained out of default/foreclosure (so we were never 90 days late during that 3-4 month hardship) their "loss mitigation" representative at the time regularly harassed and insulted us over the phone, with comments like "you guys barely even got this loan in the first place...just get it caught up!". I will never do business with this bank in the future once we have sold our home. Port Washington State Bank will be getting all of our banking business in the future.