Brio Direct, A Division Of Webster Bank
Online Savings Account - 4.71% APY

I could write a long list of things that are wrong with this bank. Any positives (just the rate) are outweighed by too many negatives to list. Just heed this warning - stay away.

This is the second worst online bank that I have experienced. BMO Alto is the worst.

If there was ever a bank that deserves 5 negative stars, then Brio Direct would be that bank. My experience started off fine with the initial deposit of $5000.00 from Sikorsky Financial Credit Union. After that I set up transfers from my UFB account by using the two small deposit method. I got the email that same day from Brio saying that all was well for the world of transfers from UFB. Great, I executed a transfer, the transfer went through to completion and was deposited into my Brio account.
I then set up my Sikorsky account for transfers. I was able to do that by signing into my account and using a text verification code. The pop-up box said the system had accepted Sikorsky and transfers could be made. I then transferred through the Brio system from Sikorsky in the amount of $20,000.00. Everything seemed fine and the transfer showed as pending, Okay Great, but that is when the nightmares began. The next day I received an Email from Brio saying that the transfer was rejected, and the money would be returned to my Sikorsky account within three to five days. The very next day I received an Email from Brio stating that my Sikorsky account had now been verified. Okay Great, but that was when another nightmare happened.
After initiating the transfer from Sikorsky I had also initiated another transfer from UFB. Now I got a phone call from Brio saying that my account had been frozen, and I needed to call Brio. I called their transfer department, and I was told that I needed to send them verification that I am the owner of the UFB account. Now remember I had already verified this account and Brio had accepted one transfer from this bank already. So here I go back and forth with Brio sending them information, then being told they needed the information sent another way.
Finally, that problem is solved, now back to the Sikorsky Financial Credit Union issue. The five days expire, and Brio has not transferred the $20,000.00 back to Sikorsky, I call the transfer department once again, and was told I needed to go to Sikorsky and ask them to request the money be returned. Great, Brio screws up and I must run around trying to fix the problem that they created. So, off to Sikorsky I go only to be told that they cannot request the money back. Now I have $20,000.00 in limbo because of Brio’s incompetence. I called Brio once again and I was told that a supervisor would call me back. Okay, they call, and I miss the call. I call back and speak with an entirely different supervisor. She explains to me that Brio needs to send Sikorsky a letter of reconciliation and Sikorsky needs to request that the money be sent back. Now remember the first time I called Brio on this issue I was told that the money would automatically be returned, and I didn’t need to do anything. So, I asked this supervisor to send out another reconciliation letter to Sikorsky and she did. After almost two weeks of hassle the money was returned to my Sikorsky account.
I transfer the initial transfer from UFB back to UFB and it goes to completion. Great right? No, the nightmares have not stopped. I then initiate the second transfer back to UFB and everything seems fine, The transfer shows as “Pending.” Problems solved, right? Not so fast, they have a hold on the money from the second transfer from UFB. Four more days go by and I check on the transfer. The settle date for the transfer is supposed to be tomorrow, but this time I notice a “Hold” Fee of $35.00. Again, I call Brio and I am told that because I initiated the transfer before the 15 day hold Brio was going to recall the transfer and once the money was returned to them they would wave the $35.00 fee. Now think about this; the Brio System allowed the transfer to be processed, posted the transfer as pending, and then someone at the bank decided to refuse the transfer because of a “Hold” rule. Why does the Brio system accept such transfers? This bank has serious IT issues. When speaking to the Brio employee she mentioned that the second transfer back to Axos (UFB Direct) was completed but was not supposed to be completed.

NEGATIVE 5 STARS

Don't do it. Brio will massively tie up your funds and charge you high fees for it. Once they show ACH transfers inbound clear and funds available, if you try transferring any funds out, there are additional holds placed on the originally cleared funds, as well as the transfer holds, making your available balance negative. Then transfers will fail due to lacking "available" funds, which were available at the time of transfer. Each fee for this is $35 and they do retry failed transfers without checking if the funds are currently "available". Then they will likely flag your account, request additional verification documents, and the account will be suspended for who knows how long until they get around to processing these documents. There seems to be good potential for a class action lawsuit against this bank - Brio/Webster.