First Midwest Bank
Money stolen out my kids' accounts! Ripoff

Don't trust your money to First Midwest Bank! I found out the hard way.

I've been a customer of First Midwest for over 10 years and have had checking accounts, savings accounts and loans with them. I even opened up bank accounts for both of my kids. And to protect them and their money, and because they were minors, specified two signatures needed for withdrawal. I didn't want my kids to get the money out, nor have their father, my ex-husband, get the money out.

So naturally, I was surprised when their father marched into the bank, unbeknownst to me, and withdrew $1,800 for the two accounts. He wanted the kids to bank at his bank, and plus have some control over their spending. I was really angry, but was afraid to "start trouble" at the bank where I knew everyone and (I foolishly thought) was "friendly."

Now I found out just how "friendly" the bank was when, on Thursday, I deposited a check for $800. I had checked the account that day and everything was fine with it, it wasn't overdrawn. But on Friday, when I checked the online banking, I saw that they had charged me $90 in fees for three checks that cleared after the bank had closed.

Apparently, they post the checks after the bank closes but can't post the deposits until the next day. They refused to waive the fees, in fact the people in the "customer service" call center (not even in the bank) were more interested in lecturing me on how to handle my checking account because I had an overdraft last October (I had signed up for an automatic transfer from my savings account prior to that but was told "it didn't go through") and they had "generously" waived the fees (all they did was save me the trouble of going up to the bank with my paperwork about the savings account transfer feature, which I had).

When I asked to talk to someone in charge, I was put on hold for 10 minutes before being told they weren't there. On top of that, they REFUSED to connect me to my branch, where I could talk to a personal banker.instead, I had to call back, pretend I wanted a loan and then, of course, they were only too glad to connect me to the branch.

The first person I talked to at the branch lied and told me the manager wasn't in - he'd be back Monday. I happen to know a financial guy at the bank, so I called back and talked to him. He told me the manager was sitting at his desk!!! I finally got to talk to this dufus who told me he'd "look into things." When he called me back, he told me that he was unwilling to do anything to help me.

Well, I work for a law firm downtown and know a lot of lawyers and I talked to one about the situation with my kids' accounts and he tells me that I have a claim against the bank for the missing money - I'm within the statute of limitations and it doesn't matter who took out the money or where it went, the point is that I DIDN'T TAKE IT OUT AND I WAS THE ONLY ONE AUTHORIZED TO DO SO!

So I call their legal department and get the voicemail of their lawyer. (That was a real issue in itself to get this goofy customer call center to give me that information) And, of course, I get lied to again by a receptionist who tells me the guy is at lunch. I call back a half hour later and "he's gone for the day." But I'm in the wrong department, anyway. I have to talk to their fraud division. An hour later, I'm REDIRECTED back to the branch BUT NO ONE WANTS TO GIVE ME THE NUMBER.

Fortunately, I wrote the numbers down that I called previously. Apparently, the branch manager was made aware of the situation with my kids' accounts by the woman in the fraud department and he promised to "look into it" with the personal banker with whom I opened up the accounts.

So I go into the bank tonight after work and talk to the banker and he tells me that it will take several days to find out if my story is correct (of course, since I'm such a deadbeat, I MUST be lying and trying to rip-off the bank) but IF I'm telling the truth, then I can FILE A POLICE REPORT!!!

WRONG! It's the bank's responsibility NOT THE POLICE to make sure that money withdrawn from the bank goes to whomever is entitled to withdraw it. This is a civil matter, they're trying to make it into a criminal matter. He asked me why I waited so long, I told him DOESN'T MATTER. I'm within the statute of limitations on it. He wanted to know what happened to the money I said DOESN'T MATTER. It could have gone into a trust account for the kids or spent on hookers in Vegas, the point is that they gave the money to someone who wasn't authorized to withdraw it.

Now I want the $1800 plus the interest on those accounts. And as for my checking account - it will stay there. But I won't incur anymore overdraft fees. And I won't order my checks from the bank either. Banks don't make money on checking accounts, they make money on the astronomical fees they charge businesses and customers for things like "internet banking" overdrafts, check charges, etc. And, of course, LOANS. Because they're demand deposit accounts, they can't use the funds in their reserves.

So keep your checking account at your rude bank, order your checks through a third party dealer, and get your auto loans and savings accounts at a bank that's been in business for more than, say, a year. And has people working in the bank that don't look like they've been recruited from a homeless shelter.

My bank didn't care about me at all - even though I cared about them and was a loyal customer for such a long time. They could have waived the fees and I would have been a happy customer. Now they have an angry, dissatisfied customer who wants her $1800.

Company: First Midwest Bank
Country: USA
State: Illinois
City: Tinley Park
Address: 167th Street & 80th Avenue
Phone: 7085328000

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