Complain about a product or service

National City Bank

Oasis of Monroe, MI December 15, 2009

I have a business account with this bank. It has been a smooth ride till last 2 years from when they have started adding fees left and right. Its becoming more and more difficult to survive when we are trying very hard to make ends meet here.

First For eg: I was told about over draft protection through Visa account by their rep, I thought it was a good idea to not let any checks bounce and have a good reputation. But from last month i.e Oct 09, they have started charging us 4% for every transaction from this account. For eg. I transferred 5000.00 from this account and I was charged 200. I was surprised to see this type of fees 4 times since Oct. I called them and they told they had sent us a letter stating this change, I don't recall this letter. And they have refused to pay me back this money, I told them it would cost me less to have a check bounce than have this overdraft account. Thought you must know.

Second, They have another very creative way to force fees on us. This case is of NSF funds. For eg: If I have 3000.00 left in the bank and I had 4 check to come out in the order of 10, 20, 30 and 3000. what they do is they first apply the 3000.00 check and then charge an NSF of 34.00 for each of the remaining 3 checks, if they followed the order I would only have 1 NSF for the 3000 check. We had to go thru this a number of times in the last 2-3 years. This is not fair. Our business is in a better position now and hence have got the time to write about this, but banks should be fined for this practice. It hurts small business like us and we don't have the time to call customer service to sort these problems out.

Angel of Geneva, IL December 14, 2009

I gym membership was charged even after I sent a formal cancellation letter. This pending charge caused me to go negative even though it wasn't cleared to the account. This was Monday 12/07/09. Well all my other bill payments & charges came in so for each one they cleared I was charged an overdraft of 36 for a total of eight times.

After hours of phone calls trying to straighten this out, I was told if the merchant reversed their charge every one of me fees would be removed. On Thursday the 10th once the merchant charge actually cleared & posted I was able to dispute the charge.

I check Saturday morning & the merchant credited me back so I called the bank to see about those fees coming off. This is where I was told by every person that no its not the banks fault so they wont remove the charges. What?! Every person I spoke to prior told me yes. The bank told me to go into my local branch. I did. They didn't even want to listen to what happened, they wrote my name, account # & cell on a post it to give to the branch manager. It was the managers discretion to credit me back.

How are they going to make an informed decision if you don't hear what happened? I was told if it makes me feel better I can write out the situation & she will give that along w/ the post it to the manager. I let the personal banker know that once this was all cleared I would be closing my account. I called the banks customer service line again & was told again to go into the branch. I explained how rude they were & was told as a courtesy they would remove 2 out of 8 fees but to seek reimbursement from the merchant who was at fault.

I fired off an email to the merchant saying if they didn't refund the fees I would take them to small claims court. I received a phone call almost immediately from them saying they'd call me Monday the 14th to straighten this out & they would credit me if they did see they were at fault.

So here we are Monday the 14th & I just called my dispute followup line. Where oddly enough I was told they would refund all the overdraft fees. Shes told me she did it just then w/ me on the line. She checked to make sure it worked & said opps she refunded them all twice so she fixed it.

Well all the fees are still showing on my online banking so I don't know when they will go away exactly. I will check once an hour all day & probably call at lunch asking exactly when they will be taken off my online banking. Ive already submitted for my direct deposit to be changed so when this is cleared I will be going back to my old bank. I'm nervous that even though I was told they would remove the fees that it will be a run around again.

As a result of all these fees I am late in paying my rent, a scheduled online bill was declined & fee from that bill has to be paid, I may not be able to pay for my dentist trip this week unless those fees are credited back, the one Christmas gift I had to get may not be purchased. Thanks so much National City for screwing over the little guy who lives paycheck to paycheck at the holiday.

James of Strongsville, OH December 7, 2009

On 11-16-09 I received a letter in the mail and an email offering me a credit card. The offer said I was pre-approved and included an authorization no. I filled out the pre-approved certificate and returned it. On 11-23-09 I received a letter telling me that my request was not approved. Three reasons were given for the denial none of which occurred after the pre-approved offer. If I was not eligible for the card I should not have been pre-approved. There were no conditions stated in the letter or email, it only said I was approved.

nicole of monroe, MI November 10, 2009

I was charged continous insufficient funds fees, contin. overdraft fees every few hours everyday by National city, and there was fraud on my account that helped result in this mess. I have been taken advantage of in excees of 600.00 by them in less than a two week time frame.

Carol of Fishers, IN November 2, 2009

Same thing as I've read many times on this website..only we've been a National City customer for 30 years...and in the last week we deposited a check that apparently didn't "clear" before their dealine..although on my STATEMENT it showed up before any "withdrawal transactions"... left us in the red of 102.00....called and talked to Tonya who was definitely reading from their script...."felt my frustration..blah blah blah...CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN!!!!" ws her advice....unbelievable! They did refund 1 overdraft charge,after I brought it up and she said "well if that's what you're asking"! after 1/2 hour...no what I was asking was WTF are you trying to pull off.... but they should have refunded all 3!!!! Yes 3!!!! Granted....I may be going through a spell when my finances are not the best..but I always cover my expenses and pay my bills on time...they will wish they had done business differently in the future....

A of Columbus, OH October 24, 2009

Wow....every posting here reflects what happened to me so well that it is uncanny. With a banking holiday on Columbus Day, my regular posting of deposited items was delayed by a day causing a regular payment against the account to create a negative of 2.65. After the negative and their 34, two more items were presented, paid and charged. I phoned the bank manager. She said, "Oh, no problem, we will refund these overdraft fees for you. That comes to 112 dollars. I'll do that right away". "Right away" came and went. I checked every hour for three hours then called again. "Oh, we are not going to refund the overdraft fees to you. It was a misunderstanding"....WHAT?

I was apalled and stunned. I said as much. Then this manger said she would refund one of the fees. Then put me on hold. Then came back and said she would refund two of them "very soon". Another two hours passed. I phoned again. "Well, I will make the refunds to your account by the end of the business day". Knowing now that I could not believe a word this person said I told her that I would be calling every 30 minutes to check. Five minutes later, the refund of two of the fees had been made.

I was lied to and humiliated by this bank in this situation. I had had an account with them for 7 years. My mother was a teller with their predecessor, BancOhio. I even knew the family that founded the blasted bank, the Wrights. I waited for every item out to clear. I took my cards and went to that branch to close the account. Here's what I told them when they asked if there was a reason why I was closing my account.

"Having an account with your bank means that I am in business with your bank. I was lied to by your bank and I do not do business with dishonest people. I am a business person and when I give my word, I keep my word. Even if that means cost to me. My word is very important to me and it is important that I be able to rely upon the word of those with whom I do business. Now your profit and loss department for this branch had gained and extra 34 this month by doing this to me and with that perhaps you can have a few extra pizzas at your next meeting, but you will never have the opportunity to do business with me again nor earn any benefits from my money.

Keeping an account with you after what your bank put me through would constitute tacit approval of lying, which I absolutely will not do." Suddenly, I had their attention. "Let me look at the account. Oh, I can refund that remaining overdraft charge for you. Will you stay with us as a customer". "No, I replied. I would like for you to refund the overdraft fee and to close my account immediately." Which I did.

I will never do business with whatever sort of new world order lying monster this place has become. She kept trying to sweet talk me and refer to the "misunderstanding" to which I retorted "I wish that I could say that what happened to me was a misunderstanding. That's a much nicer word and I would feel better about what happened to me if that were the case. Unfortunately what happened to me is that I was LIED to".

I got all of my overdrafts back and they'll never have the chance to fleece me again.

David of Bloomington, IN October 16, 2009

Yet another overdraft charge horror story. I should mention I moved to a town where there are no National City branches, but kept the account open because my insurance payment was automatically deducted from there. So, knowing there was a 133.10 charge coming up, on the evening of September 30th, I deposited 140 into my checking account bringing the balance up to 147.27.

I logged in to my account online this morning (10/16) for the first time since then and discovered I apparently owe them over a 109. The account on 10/01 shows first a deposit of 140 bringing the balance up as expected. Then its the charge of 133.10 bringing the balance down to 14.17.

And the charge after that is an Overdraft charge. Then a few days later, it's the "continuous overdraft" charge where they take 8 every day from your balance. You'd think they'd email you or call you if your account is overdrawn. But that's not bank policy. They mail you a statement. A statement I've yet to receive. Considering the amount of junk mail I receive, I may have tossed it out with all the other flyers and ads. Though considering their customer service and bank policy, I can't help but wonder if they really did send something out.

The only thing overdrawn was the overdraft charge. After discussing the situation with an online specialist, I found out that when you deposit at an ATM, you only have 100 of that deposit available the first day. The rest is available the next. So even though my account balance was in the positive, apparently 40 of the deposit on the 30th was not available. This is not the policy of an institution with any concern for customers or service. This is cold-hearted business practice leeching and sucking anywhere they can. And since I didn't think to check my account until today they legally stole 124 from me.

I've closed my accounts and know that there's nothing I can do. Other than warn people about the kind of bank National City is.

Melanie of Lincoln Park, MI October 16, 2009

I went negative in our account 4.00 on Monday (due to 4 ATM fee I was not expecting) and was told if I made a deposit same day, I would not get charged NSF fees. So I had my husband rush to bank after I got some money to deposit 157. He got there 10 minutes late and I told him to deposit through ATM (cash) so it was the same day. Woke up in the morning to find they took out 68 in fees. Called and was told ATM doesn't count as same day. So, National City went on to charge 34 seven times and keep me negative. I called branch and manager removed one fee. Called headquarters and after arguing about the fact that it is Same Day and I have receipt to prove it...even if they have loop-holes- they wouldn't refund even the original 70.

Tamera of Corbin, KY October 15, 2009

my son's checking acct was neg 17 on Tuesday(10/13/09) when I checked online banking that evening so I immediately t/f 22 into his account. Thursday morning I checked online and his acct was charged 36 x7= 252 in overdraft fees. He is an 18 yr old full time student at EKU and works PT and this was the first time he's ever been in the negative. We went to the branch to rectify the situation and I got nowhere except that they'd take off 2 of the charges as a courtesy.

Well his atoumatic deposit from work went in his acct Thur. as well, a total of 157 and that left him in the neg still 90. She refused to do any more but refered me to the call center instead, I called from the parking lot and was told I shouldn't have even called them at all..it's the branches decision to rectify the situation. At this point I continued to try to get somewhere with them by asking a slew of questions on what we could do & he could not come up with that kind of money..I was told the same thing over and over and she wouldn't let me speak to anyone else at all and after 30 minutes of going in circles, she hung up on me! WOW! What else can I say or do?

Keith of Erie, PA October 15, 2009

I keep getting hit with 34.00 overdraft charges. Just this week I was charged 12 Overdraft charges totaling 408.oo Even after my girlfriend deposited 620.00 Tuesday Oct.13th.2009, my current balance is -695.00 (minus) The bank automatically just takes the money out.

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