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TickleMePink · Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 6:48 am

About two months ago my mother came to me and wanted to know why National City Bank took a considerable amount of money out of her checking account for a credit card payment that was not hers. I told her that I had a line of credit with NCB and that possibly they took the money out of her account instead of mine. Well . . .apparently I started WWIII calling customer service and asking them questions about why this was allowed to happen. Calling customer service at NCB and asking them anything really hard is a total waste of time. I asked to speak to the CEO of the company and finally they got the message that I wasn't getting off the phone until someone was willing to admit they made a mistake or . . . were they just trying to get MY attention.
Well, this went on for about a week - no one wanted to help me. Finally I spoke to someone who said they could not give me their whole name - just their first name. Wow. You have all my personal financial informtion, you're harassing my mother and I'm not allowed to know your whole name for reference. How many "Tom, Dick, and Harry's" do you have working there that might have the same last name????? Unbelievable.
Well. To make a long and boring story short, I was finally able to get the charge reversed and get my mother her money back, however, the real issue here is the emotional tug of war that went on. If National City wanted to get my attention, all they had to do was call me - not harass my extended family members. And - if you can believe this, the man in the collections department told me they did this purposely because they knew I would call them. What kind of business ethics is this? Yes, I am admitting that my account with NCB is in serious arrears and the guy in collections told me that if I didn't make a payment in 8 days (I wonder where he made up that number) that NCB's lawyers would be "ruthless" . . . . okay, and? Like what ya'll did to my mother wasn't "ruthless" already.
My question is this: Do I or my mother have any recourse against NCB for their unethical way of trying to get a hold of me? This is not the first time they have done this to me. About six months ago, a woman called my answering machine and left a message for my mother. When I called her back and asked her why she did this - there was dead silence on the other side of the phone. I told her that my mother had nothing to do with my business and that the only way she could have found out my mother's name and phone number was to have been poking around in places she wasn't supposed to be poking around in. Again, there was dead silence on the other end of the line. She couldn't answer any of my questions after that. I got, uh, well, ummm, well, you are linked to this acct., blah, blah, blah. I told her that the conversation was over and not to bother my extended family member again. Of course I know better now.
Sorry this is so long but your guidance is appreciated. Thank you.

Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 7:03 am

just a hint how idiotic NCB is.they were my bank when all the PDL mess happened.at first they helped put a hard block on my acct,never told me despite a written confirmation of the block that they would charge 10.00 per day continous OD fees.they also hire allied interstate to collect.fitting,i hope jcemt or skydiver can give you some direction.i steer people away from national city.in fact there are some branches closing in illinois.good.

Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 8:23 am

TickleMePink · Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 7:11 am

No, my mother has never co-signed anything for me. She has nothing to do w/my business entity that is one of those statistics of the failing real estate market.
Another long and emotional story itself.

Thank you.

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 11:46 am

TickleMePink, I would be absolutely furious too if I were you.

If she were a cosigner, I'm sure they could go after her for whatever you didn't pay; however, a reference is just that, a reference. She has no legal obligation to any of your debts, she is just someone they can call for contact information if the contact information they have for you is incorrect.

Is NCB a bank or collection agency? From your original post, it seems to me it is a bank, therefore you are dealing with collections from an OC (original creditor). If that is the case, the FDCPA will not do much good against them.

That said, check your state's laws concerning the regulation of OC's and they might be of some help to you. What state are you located in? From what I have read, you really need to pursue them for debt collection violations, if there are any laws in your state that cover this type of behavior.

Now as for them taking money from your Mother's account, some banks have what they call "right of offset" in their lending contracts. Meaning, if you default on a loan you have with them, yet have a very sizable bank account with them, they will seize whatever they can get from that bank account in order to satisfy the loan. Your mother's bank account, however, can not be used for "right of offset" if she is not the borrower, co-borrower, or co-signer of the defaulted financial obligation/loan. When they took the money from her account, knowing she was not obligated for the loan they did something that if it was not illegal, was certainly unethical. The fact the man you spoke with said they knowingly did that just to get your attention would have made me go "medieval on his @$$". Don't know how old your mother may be, if she's retired, or what her financial situation is but she might be just getting by as it is and doesn't need some @$$-clowns from her bank screwing around with her money just to get your attention!

My suggestion would be to look for another bank! I don't know if that is an option for you, personally, I would do it just as soon as I could. If they are behaving like the Mafia and trying to extort money from you by screwing around with your mother's bank account, then I certainly would not want to do business with them. And your Mother might seriously consider that too.

Just my opinion.

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 12:42 pm

Hi ticklemepink, I'm not sure but I would have to think that is illegal. How did they get your Mother's banking details to debit her account? I'm sure others on here will be of more help of letting you know for sure if what they did was illegal, but I don't see how it couldn't be. When it had nothing to do with your mother's bank account. I would for sure look into taking legal action against them.

Johnita

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 11:48 am

It's quite puzzling how they would be able to do that. The question of her being a cosigner has already been eliminated. Did you appear as an authorized user on her bank account? If not then they would have had to obtain the funds through some other means, most likely pretext calling your mother's bank or some other felonious means.

TickleMePink · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 11:53 am

National City Bank (NCB) is a bank in the state of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio (I believe) and they are in serious financial disorder - probably from doing things they weren't supposed to be doing (remind you of Countrywide) (Oh the stories I could tell you about my experience with Countrywide).

Alas we found out that because I was on my mother's cking acct. for convenience only (in case a situation arose that she was not able to take care of her own finances, I could write checks for her). So, NCB figured, "Oh well . . . . let's suck her mother dry and do things we probably shouldn't be doing, but hey, we're a big bank, we have high-priced lawyers, and if they try to do anything against us, we'll sue them anyway". Am I right???

I contacted the PA Dept of Banking and I was referred to another agency with whom I could express my unhappiness so I filed the complaint and I actually need to follow up on that.

Ya'll have been very nice on this forum and I thank you for that.

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