This is for other people that may have their banks closed by the FDIC and taken over by another bank. I had been banking at Tier One bank, formally First federal Lincoln, for over 15 years. On Friday June 4th there was a scroll on the t.v. at around 7pm saying "breaking news" Tier One bank closed by the FDIC that was all the info on the scroll but by the 10pm news they had more info saying Great Western Bank had taken over and would be business as usual for Tier One bank customers, so I waited to get more info sent to me and did not panic. Fast forward to Monday June 14th I received a letter from Great Western Bank welcoming me. Then Tuesday the 15th I received something from Tier One wanting me to buy insurance from them. Now I am puzzled so I look for a number to call Great Western Bank, closest branch is 3 hours away, and could not find one on its website or mailing from them. So I called the FDIC to get a number the person I talked to said that they dont have a number but the insurance offer was probably already in the works before the take over so just disregard it. OK. Then on The 17th of June received a mailing from Great Western Bank saying they are changing some of the stuff on my account. The letter was a generic letter probably to everyone and the only thing that might even impact me is their overdraft coverage, which had been changed to a case by case basis when previously my overdrafts where covered for a $30 fee. Then Monday June 21 I get a letter from Tier One saying in August they will be changing the debit card overcharge but no other changes. So which is it? GWB overdraft case by case or Tier One only change debit.

This may sound confusing but this is actually where the problems start. I decide to call the phone number listed on my bank statement to find out what was going on, which is a number I have used before for customer assistance. When I called with my questions, they answered GREAT WESTERN BANK the lady on the other end kept talking around my questions and kept saying I had to go into a local branch, I explained that there isnt on around me she repeated I have to go to a local branch, I then said calmly no cursing or raised voice I even laughed "this is kinda what the problem is I have been a customer since it was FFL and have never had to go to a local branch" she angrily said "I dont want to listen to you say stuff like that" and hung up on me. Now I am angry and called back a different lady answered and since she was not the one that hung up on me I calmly expressed my displeasure and wanted a supervisor. She apologized and said there wasnt a supervisor. So I waited a little while called back and immediately asked for a supervisor and this lady said there wasnt one, now maybe there was but they were busy but I found out in a bit that there wasnt one at that time. So I explained my story and questions to a 3rd person now who gave me GWB customer service number. So I called that number waited on hold for a while then someone came on and I explained my story for the 4th time. This lady apologized but said that GWB does not have the rcords yet so she could not help me. So if GWB customer service could not help then why was I given that phone number? But she did try to connect me with the supervisor over that group then came back on the line and said I guess you are right there is not a supervisor. Now I just want to close my accounts but dont even know who to talk to or what to do so I then called FDIC again, only reason I have called them at all is in mailings it said repeatedly any questions call FDIC, and the very nice guy I talked to said that Tier one failed on June 4th and GWB took over and transaction was complete June 7th. He then said DO NOT let GWB tell me they dont have my records yet and he gave me the only number he could find. I called it and it was after hours so I left a message.
Should be done I would think. Guess again.

The next day, today Tuesday June 25th, GWB called me this morning so I explained to this lady everything. She apologized and said "we can take care of this" let me transfer you to the right area. let me re-emphasize they called me and said they could take care of this. I got transfered and the lady on the other end said "we cant do that" I said then why was I called saying you can and the answer I got was well maybe GWB could but WE are still Tier one and thats not how we do business. I said it was GWB that called me not Tier one and this lady said I cant help you. So I again talked to FDIC person I talked to said have had several complaints on this bank takeover filled out a complaint form over the phone and then transferred me to someone that I though said they were Federal Reserve. I explained again what was going on and this time the lady asked to put me on hold and said she WOULD get someone. About 5 minutes later a woman got on there said GWB I said I have already been through this and only Tier one says they have access she told me she is a supervisor of what was Tier one headquarters and that even though they are still GWB they are also Tier One. So I explained my story again and said if you dont believe me do a 3 way call with FDIC or GWB and a magical voice came over the line "there is no reason sir, I am still here" it was the lady from fed reserve. YES!!! Attitudes were totally different now and it was explained that yes they were GWB but the complete transaction will not be done until August so if i was being told one thing by GWB they apologize but they were never informed to change how they did their customer call ins or account cancellations. After it was all done the magic voice asked if my situation was resolve and I said it was she the told the GWB/Tier one supervisor she would like to have a word with her and both ladys wished me well and disconnected from me. I dont know what was said but I wish I was able to hear the conversation.

I hopefully did get this resolved by closing my account but i question why if it is a GWB why do they allow things to be done the Tier One way which obviously failed.

The next day, today June