National City Bank complaint. Polish-client experience.

If you are a Polish person who lives in the US (especially in Chicago area), here is some piece of advice to you that you will thank me for.

If you had an account with MidAmerica Bank you should now be aware the bank was bought by National City bank (nationalcity.com). Now they try to act as if they are the same bank and offer the same quality service.

MAKE NO MISTAKE - the people from the National City Bank are morons and if you value your money do not ever deal with the morons! Here is what happened:

I sent a relative who lives in another state a check over a week ago (close to 10 days now). He has not received it yet so he contacted me. We concluded someone could have stolen the mail so I decided to call National City bank to find out if maybe the check was cashed or what is going on with it. I was afraid someone could be trying to cash the check and commit fraudulent transaction. So I called their customer service number as listed on their website: (888) 622-4932. I got connected with a representative. She asked me about my name and my social security number. It went smoothly. But then she wanted to know my phone number on the account. Since I opened this account a few years ago, the phone number in their file was probably old. But I still remembered it and provided. She said - sorry, but the number is wrong. Then I said, not possible, but here are two other numbers. She claimed they were wrong again, even though it was impossible since in my life in Chicago area I only used these three phone numbers. Then she asked me about the branch I opened my account with. I told her that it was on Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago. I don't know why she asked me that because she sighed like an idiot and moved on to the next question which was "Can you tell me last deposits you made on this account"? I told her it's hard to remember, but I have it in my papers. So I checked my papers and told her "OK, I have my last statement from Oct 1 to Oct 31 - which day do you need?" She replied that "sorry, but we don't have such an OLD information in our system. I will need your three most recent transactions."

I told her "What? Today is December 5 and I only receive your monthly statement, you haven't sent me the statement from November yet. Is for your system 30+ days too old?" She shrugged and didn't know what to say. Banking system that only keeps information for 30 days is good for kids, maybe.

I need to mention I talked to two different customer service people. After my first call I took my time to gather all information I had and called again. With the second person there was the same story - they cannot find any information from the former bank. And they won't help me with that - even if I told them I strongly suspect banking fraud. But they don't care, they prefer to follow their stupid agenda even though they have no actual information they could verify it!

All in all, it appears that the transfer from MidAmerica bank to National City bank was a total failure. From what I can tell they did not manage to transfer any information other than the account number. If you are a former MidAmerica bank customer, I suggest you to run away and open a new account in a serious bank. If you have a problem like I did, all your social security numbers, phone numbers, former addresses, maiden names, etc. are for NOTHING because they failed to put it in their system! You are like a man who wants to get a social security benefit without an ability to prove you actually have a social security number!

One more thing - this is a joke like they try to get POLISH clients and they don't even have a Polish customer service people! All they have is an interpreter (you have to wait for her a few minutes to show up) and then when you talk in Polish she would translate it into English. I imagine they only have one Polish interpreter per location so you can bet to wait for a Polish speaking persons for an hour sometimes. In the former MidAmerica bank there were many Polish speaking customer people available. NationalCity is cutting cost and firing Polish people, but they still want Polish people money!

Now I recall how active they are when they advertise on the Polish Radio in Chicago or Polish magazines. They tell you that "National City is your, Polish bank. It's as safe, still "Polish", and as great as never." But they forget to tell you that "National City's banking system is as screwed up as it can be and you can only bet your luck to have money safe with us. And we fired most of the Polish personnel to have the positions filled with American staff who cannot assist its clients with as simple thing as checking if a check was cashed or not. But we do appreciate your business."

And if I mentioned National City's banking fees went up compared to what MidAmerica offered, I would be accused of being too biased.

So, Polonia and Polish people in the USA, let's not give up our rights to a high quality POLISH and NON-MORONIC banking service and try other options than National City Bank. Unless you want to hear a receiver hang-up sound of a National City customer service person who is not willing nor able to help you.

no worries mate, they are being bought out by NBP anyway.

they did rob me at least $100 a few years back with some funky bs so they can go to hell.

i love huntington bank. their customer service is A+ and the features of their website rock. check them out.

Are they available outside of the USA?


I'm sorry for your banking experience. It's not any better elsewhere in the world, believe me.

In the UK I got a bank account with Lloyds some years ago. They took over TSB so it became Lloyds TSB. I can cope with that. The Halifax and Bank of Scotland merged to become HBOS a few years ago, fine. Now Lloyds TSB takes over HBOS and in Scotland (where I am now) the bank will become known Bank of Scotland. So now I will be Bank of Scotland customer. But hang on, I am a Lloyds customer, I never was a Bank of Scotland customer before so how am I suddenly now? I already contacted another bank about moving my account.

Advice: Take everything out your bank and put it under your floorboards.

they are a midwestern usa bank but one could probably use them from abroad. i really don't ever need to go in. i use my visa/atm/check card for everything. i pay all my bills through their website an have my pay directly deposited.


no, don't do that. transform your cash into precious metals and then bury those somewhere. :D

You could have checked it on line yourself to see if it posted to the account. Right? Who wants to call 800 number nowadays? You may end in Mubai for what I know - and they don't budge.


Quite a normal practice. How would she/he know who is calling?
It is your responsibility to notify the bank about any changes in your profile..i.e. address, phone number etc.
Would you like the bank to tell ALL your information to anybody who calls and without any proper identification? I don't think so.


Yes and no. The service person can access only 30-45 days of account activity(depends on the bank). The rest is on your statement faithfully sent to you monthly. Check it yourself or bank on line, you can spot any potential post which is not yours and dispute it promptly.

You see, the system would be very slow and non responsive if the bank kept a year of data on each and every customer...it's just a simple business practice - everywhere.

No comments on any other information as I don't really know about the banks(s) you mentioned. It looks like their merger did not go smooth and that's too bad.

There are still plenty of good, solid banks left to bank with. We've got to keep our big buck somewhere safe, don't we? :)

The mattress isn't gonna do... all the dust mites will chow on it...y'know.eeek.


That's my boy, that's the way to do it. We all have computers...why waste your time on call service 'morons'?
I have to agree that calling 800 number is a not a good experience recently. I had my share of it with my carpet removal/dispute calls. Yikes. BUT I GOT MY VISA CREDITED BACK!!!! So I'm going shopping tomorrow.

online i can look at all info dating to the moment my account was opened. my present bank.


lol. you go girl.

I opened my account with the current bank in 1993...I don't think I can or want to look back that far. Why would I, anyway?

i hardly ever look at that stuff anyway but if i needed to, it's there.

ALL this information I provided correctly to them as they confirmed. But that was still not enough; they apparently have too much time to waste on nothing there.

first of all midamerica was bought by pnc bank about a month ago. Second is that they didn't fire polish employees, they left on their own because they couldn't meet the training requirements. National city increased pay to all employees by at least $2, that is pretty good. Given the que they asked u, if u can't answer basic security que then they'll suspect your the fraud. U can't remember your last 3 purchases? That's odd too.

All u had to do is call you local branch and put a stop payment on the check, while instead u got everyone and their mom involved. Simple situation turned difficult based on you, not the bank. Any other bank would do the same

Previously when I called Midamerica bank, there were a few Polish speaking persons willing and able to talk in Polish. Now it appears there is one Polish interpreter running around the cubicles and translating between English and Polish to those who demand it in Polish.

I ask why to increase pay if the service went from good to poor? Again, I'm talking from the viewpoint of a Polish customer, maybe for American customers their service is better. They gave them a raise, but then customers like myself and other customers pay higher fees. How nice of them.

I can't answer simple security questions? Get real, I had on my desk 31 amounts from October. But that was not good enough because their computer system cannot handle 35 days of data storage. Regardless that, they did not keep information I originally had with MidAmerica bank, like old phone numbers or addresses. I even told them the location of the bank where I opened an account, and that was for nothing.

You suggest stop payment on a check - if it was still Midamerica, it would not cost as much as $35 that National City offers! That's probably twice as much as it used to be with the old bank.

All in all, National City Bank has gone the typical American way of other American banks -- "Do not bother me, I know better, and I do what I'm told." With banks run by Polish staff you at least had a chance to resolve your problem using your mind, intelligence, and common sense. That's not the case any more with NationalCity.

It's so true MidAmerica bank was so good it was my favorite bank. After National City took it over it all went to crap. It seams they are lost and don't know what is going on, so I canceled all my accounts with them! Now I have Harris Bank and I like their Services for now! MidAmerica knew how to take care of their clients well National City doesn’t!!

That's exactly my point too....

I'd like to know why you need to speak to someone in Polish when you obviously complain very well in English. You pick on the fact that they "fired" all of the Polish employees. And you are the reason people born in this country can't find a job.

First of all you are a total IDIOT. I was a customer service representative for both MidAmerica Bank and National City Bank and then we were in the process of switching to PNC. National City still has the same regulations as MidAmerica Bank if you have ever called before when we were working as MidAmerica. It was still the same process of verification. Customer service representatives have to verify that information because our phone calls get recorded for quality. If you are rude and yelling for no reason because u can't verify what we have in our system. Then you should go hang your self because it's done for your own safety. If someone else called and didn't verify that information and we still gave them your account info, then you would be ****** and as you have stated one of your checks got lost in the mail. So if someone gets a hold of the check they are able to verify your account number and the routing number and the address and your name. If we were able to provide you information on your account with just that, then fraud would occur on a minute basis. People are absolutely not logical and should be more careful with the way they approach a problem. Since the rep wasn't able to identify you, then you should have taken your id and your ass to the branch and resolved the situation. Plus there is online banking as well as phone banking through the automated system. If you weren't so ignorant you would have done that and also known that the bank in that case can't really do much but place a stop payment which costs 32 bucks or close your account. If you check with any other financial institution they charge a lot more fees than Nat City. Nat City has way too many perks for ******** like you. Move to chase and I'm sure they will overwhelm you with fees. The best advice I can give you to avoid fees and have very low customer service is go to a Credit Union.

Former Nat City Employee

Also as for the polish speaking employees. I was one of them and went through all of the mergers including Midamerica to Nat City and then on it's way to PNC just quit because found a better job in December 2009. We received no raises for your information and as for the security questions. We were not able to verify anything that's on your last statement because due to security verification procedures if someone gets a hold of your statement they can verify that information as well, so therefore we verified the last recent transactions on the account that are not listed on your statement, but after that. Also as for why you called a bunch of times and no one would give you information. It is called a screen shot of your profile that's emailed to every customer service rep to not give you any information about your account. So therefore calling back wont do much. You have to go to the branch if you can't verify the correct info in one call.

close to metal pipes, to fool the metal detectors ;)
(platinum doubled in less than 2 years!)

Oil and gas managed to do the same in less than 12 months.

Silver is great and still off it's high, same goes for Platinum.

True..
We got some 1oz platinum coins and bars when it was below $800/oz. It's a great feeling to actually hold your investment in your hand! Then came a dilemma where to hide it. I felt like a Jew before a pogrom...

I know Platinum can still go higher, the only thing I still don't understand is why it dipped so low that last time.

Silver and platinum seem to follow oil much closer than gold. I have no clue why that is though. Maybe because the majority of gold out there is sitting in vaults and not being openly traded... not as much volatility.. Dunno.

National City is by far the worse bank I have ever dealt with.