Listen to this articleLet me first say that Acorns is a great platform for first time prospective investors to get their feet wet with simple, no nonsense investing. Publicizing my recent interaction with Acorns Customer Service is not an attempt to talk bad or downgrade the service that Acorns provides to the public.
I recently had a problem with my Round-Up Account link being broken again. This is not the first time that my Linked Card has became unlinked and it probably will not be the last since Acorns is upgrading the technology behind their investment platform. Developers are always tinkering with app settings and API calls between Acorns and Financial Institutions whither the bank or lender be existing or newly available on the platform.
I sent Acorns Support a message from their web form with details concerning my Linked Card becoming unlinked again. I should have saved the O.P. sent to Acorns but this about sums up what it amounted to. I immediately received a canned email from Acorns to insure me that they have received my message, appreciate my business, and will respond soon during business hours, usually within 24 hours.
Next day, I received a response from Acorns Customer Service which follows.
Hi Jonathan,
Thanks for contacting us regarding your bank account.
While Acorns is compatible with most financial institutions,
unfortunately it appears as though your bank does not
support our Round-Up technology. I apologize for the
inconvenience this has caused and I'd be happy to provide
some clarification regarding this issue.
While the Funding Account allows deposits and withdrawals
through ACH methods (account and routing number), the
Round-Up Account requires a third party connection through
your bank's website. Unfortunately, not all institutions
support this feature and this is why we're unable to connect
to your bank.
Although you cannot Round-Up transactions from this account,
you are still able to invest through recurring and one-time
investments.
To set up a Recurring Investment, simply complete the
following steps:
1. From the main menu, select Settings
2. Select Recurring Investment
3. Choose Daily, Weekly, or Monthly
4. Enter the amount of your recurring investment
5. Swipe upward or tap Set Up
6. Confirm the status of your recurring investment
In order to ensure your checking account is properly
connected to make investments, please review your linked
Funding Source by going to Settings > Funding Account on the
mobile app or click on Checking Account under settings if
logged in through our website.
If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact me
directly by replying to this email.
Thank you,
Adam D.I replied back with a short concise email.
My bank account has been linked as a round-up account for
over a year. This isn't the first time this problem has
occurred.
This problem is a developer issue.
I have put together a blog page to help other people in case
they are having the same problem with another Financial
Institution. Instructing them to report the problem to
Acorns.
Acorns - Round Up Bank Account Broken Again
It's strange that you didn't attempt to instruct me to add
the account through the Acorns Web Portal instead of through
the mobile app. Which worked, by the way.
It's a problem with the Android Mobile App. Ignore the
context on the website. Focus on the images on the webpage.
The images is step by step, what I did to get the error.
Thanks,
Jonathan R. GriceThe next email I received acknowledges that small and regional financial institutions are more difficult when it comes to integrating certain functionality but says that there is little Acorns can do unless the particular bank contacts Acorns.
Hi Jonathan,
You are correct, linking to smaller banks can be a source of
difficulty. Because bank backend systems are unique, some
banks’ systems are not fully compatible with Acorns’ Round-Up
technology. This is a more common problem with regional and
smaller banks. We are constantly working to improve our
connection with all financial institutions. However, there is
very little we can do to improve the connection to one
particular bank, unless that bank reaches out to Acorns.
The best way to resolve issues like this is to try
periodically relinking the account, contacting Acorns about
the problem, and contacting your bank to let them know that
you would like to use Acorns. I do apologize for the
inconvenience you have encountered.
If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact
me directly by replying to this email.
Thank you,
Adam D.It sounds like the old time scheme of blaming someone else because a team of developers can’t get their code together.
I also use a well known, brand name finance application. In the five years I have used their Windows Application, has it never lost the permissions to read my bank account transactions, even with the bank changing names from M&F Bank to Renasant Bank.
Thing is, Acorns had the appropriate permissions to read account data with the Financial Institution listed as Renasant Bank (formerly M&F Bank) but they removed that selection along with the other entries where Renasant incorporated other banks into it’s family and changed their name.
The issue isn’t with the Acorns platform, it’s with the Android app. The Acorns Website works fine adding my bank back as a Round-Up account. It just doesn’t work with the Android app. It’s strange that after sending the original message and replying with a link to screenshots from my previous post where I was referencing and using the Android app, that Customer Service didn’t get the message there is apparently something wrong with the mobile app.