From: David Rochberg <rochberg+@cs.cmu.edu>
To: bovik@glenkinchie.pdl.cs.cmu.edu
Subject: Bank Anti-Recommendation:  National City
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 1997 18:03:24 -0400
Sender: David_Rochberg@glenkinchie.pdl.cs.cmu.edu

I've been having a lot of trouble with National City bank.  I'm a
month into attempt number 3 to get them to send me a replacement ATM
card.  (They claim that getting a card should take 7-10 days optimally
and 21 days worst case).

Attempt #1 :  I apply for a card.  When it doesn't arrive within the
  specified time, I ask why.  National City has lost all record of my
  application.  When I find out that it will take a while to get a new
  card, I give up and open an account elsewhere (At Dollar bank.
  They're quite reasonable.)

Fast forward a year.  I've moved, and National City has started
surcharging for "foreign" ATM cards.  I decide to try again.

Attempt #2 : I file a change-of-address and ask for a new card.  Card
  doesn't arrive.  I ask why, and find out that they lost the
  change-of-address.  I ask them to cancel the old card (since it was
  going to the wrong address) and immediately begin:

Attempt #3:  I file another change-of-address and ask again for a new
  card.    I stop by the next day to confirm that the
  change-of-address has taken hold.

A week after attempt #3, a card arrived.  It was the card from attempt
#2.  Despite National City's promise to cancel the second card, the
card worked once in an ATM before their records finally caught up and
disabled the card.  I believe that this put my money at risk.

It's been nearly a month since I started attempt #3, and the assistant
manager at their Shadyside Branch tells me that my new card should
arrive Real Soon Now.  When I pointed out that many banks could issue
cards in a few days, or even on the spot, she explained that with all
the buyouts (Equibank was bought by Integra was bought by National
City), their card-issuing system had gotten slower.  When I suggested
that this might be something that the bank should fix, she was polite,
but didn't suggest that this was in the bank's plans.

So, National City has a broken system for sending out ATM cards, and
they're not making any effort to fix it.  Avoid avoid avoid!

I filed a formal complaint with the Feds about attempt #2, since I
think it put my money at risk.  I've no idea whether it will fix
anything, but it made me feel a little bit better.  That relevant
regulatory body is:

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
Northeastern District 
1114 Avenue of the Americas 
Suite 3900 
ATTN:  Consumer Complaints 
New York, NY 10036-7780 

Their web pages:
  http://www.occ.treas.gov/
To file a complaint against a bank, you want their "Customer
Assistance" branch.  Looking at their web pages eventually leads you
to:
  http://www.occ.treas.gov/formcomp.htm

And they are "National City Bank of Pennsylvania" for the purposes of
the OCC.

			-david