This is a sad story of a good bank that went bad.
In the 70s First National Bank of Marin was a friendly small town bank in San Rafael, CA, north of San Francisco.in the mid-80s they decided to get into the more lucrative credit card business and set up shop in Las Vegas.
In the 90s I was trying to rebuild my credit and received a credit card offer from the bank. At the time, it sounded like a good deal... You send them $200 security deposit, and they offer you a card with a limit of up to $1,000.
The truth is that most people receive limits just above the amount of their security deposit - $250 or so. The fees the bank charged to issue the card ate up most of the line of credit, leaving one with no ability to charge much of anything, and plenty of profit for the bank.
I could live with that, as I wasn't looking for the charging capabilities, as much as I wanted to establish positive payment patterns.
What burned me is that they would look for any excuse to charge late fees. Statements were mailed late, but one was required to have the money to the bank several days before the next statement. One time it took two weeks for my payment to get from Northern California to Los Angeles, and I was soaked a late fee. They refused to refund the money.
If you wanted to make an immediate payment, they charged you $5.95 and the payment was not recorded for 24 hours. It cost $6.00 per month for this account.
Finally, when I closed the account I learned that the security deposit was non-interest bearing.
There are many good banks which will help one re-establish credit. Orchard Bank out of Portland, OR, is one of them. One doesn't need to do business with FNBM.
P.S. The Comptroller of Currency came down on this bank, as they should have, for deceptive business practices.
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