National City Bank Complaint - Free at their discretion???? - on-line banking/free checking

Posted by tander on 2006-02-23:

Good review, that's pretty pathetic of a bank to do that!

Posted by Ponie on 2006-02-26:

Darlene, did you go to the branch where you have your account? I've been with National City for years and have always received good service from them. In fact, one time I did a really dumb thing. I was buying a 6-mo. old car. Owner owed something like $21,000 on it and I had to have a certified (or was it cashier's) check in the exact amount before I could take possession. I withdrew a little more than the required amount from a mutual fund. Day I received the check, went to my branch to handle the transaction, never thinking of the fact that the fund check had to clear before I could do this. The branch manager explained to me why she couldn't do this. After a few phone calls (and she probably felt sorry for this imbecile before her who was practically in tears), my transaction was completed and I drove away in my Mustang convertible a couple of hours later. She properly admonished me for not calling the bank ahead of time and let me know she was putting her job on the line. I've never done anything so dumb again. I think if you had talked to your branch manager, this snafu could have been straightened out.

Posted by darlene on 2006-02-27:

I too have been with them for years. The branch that put the hold on the check nor the branch that I opened my account with would fix the problem. My new mortgage is in the works. Joining a credit union down the street.

Posted by justice man on 2008-03-18:

darlene, sorry about your bad experience with national city. My experience with them has been horible. They are absolutely the worst bank and the customer service is horrible. They have ruined my credit through bank fraud and they refuse to fix the problem or help in anyway.

Posted by billmcintee on 2008-07-09:

well...here's my point of view concerning National S**tty...I had planned a free check by phone for my credit card company to take a payment out of my checking on the 30th of June...on the 30th of June, as expected, my cc company presented the check to the bank...now mind you, I had over $300.00 available for this $84.00 check...on the 1st of July, I had recieved my daily balance by email and found that my balance had gone from $300.00 to $70.00...I naturally assumed, "Ok, well looks like they (my credit card company) got their money...fair enough" and I figured that some of my pending items had gone through as well to bring my balance down so low...WRONG...National S**tty had held this check for two days before it posted to my account...in the meantime, I am under assumption that I still had $70 bucks in my account, I have a day left to get my paycheck, so I can get a couple things I still needed...now naturally, if I go in there and present a check at the front, it is taken out of my account right then and there, or if I deposit some money, it is posted after midnight on that business day...well, now, on July 2nd, I have an $84 check coming out of a $70.00 balance, which unbeknownst to me, was also affecting three other transactions that I had put through that didn't add up to the $70.00 that were now in overdraft...$112.00 in overdraft fees...a week an a half prior to this, I was assessed FIVE more overdrafts because my balance never displayed as negative, so I never had a chance to get the money in there to "right" the issue...warning to all...National City's system is programmed to subtract pending items against a running balance, but in reality, it get's subtracted AFTER the running balance, so you are never really shown whether you have a negative balance or not...if you really want to see this in action, take a screenshot of your online statement and take note of the items up in the green area...they will display like they are getting subtracted from your account already...then wait a couple of days and look at your statement when those items clear and then compare it...I have been with National City for a couple of years now and have finally gotten fed-up with this...I have been assessed 8 overdrafts in a period of 2 and a half weeks at $34 a piece...I am furious at this and all I end up doing is arguing with the customer service over this...they had no reason to hold that check for two business days as there was more than enough money to cover this when the check was presented for payment...now, I have a couple items of proof that customer service screwed up on things, but I don't know if I have the strength to pursue this anymore...I keep hearing from customer service that I should keep a register or keep track of my transactions...well, I counted on the online banking system to do that for me and I am finding more and more that their system is foul...as soon as my present pendings clear...I'm getting the HELL out of that bank and not turning back...