I am an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation located at New Town, North Dakota. My family has been here before New Town began, when New Town was established and is well known to be within Indian Reservation Boundaries. This means, minorities to be included in all businesses that are conducted on the Indian Reservation. Mean while look at what is going on today...Huge Oil Business!!! Development!!! & People investing their money.
But, when you have a greedy banker who is constantly raising his product prices, who pulls the strings of his puppets (employees) especially to limit and not allow the fair business practices of conducting loans then you would think no one would participate in doing business there anymore. Native American Indians who have had stable banking transactions in everyway for long terms have had problems with this bank by not being allowed to finance property, automobiles, and other means. Many other banks work with their customers for stronger business relationships to occur and award their customers with gradually bigger better loan transactions & such.
Not Lakeside State Bank, I have witnessed today the bank owner Gary Peterson become annoyed with my mother for appearing in his office for his promised assistance on a loan she had requested from his a couple of days earlier and it was a loan that he had her do a lot of running for to provide documents. Gary told her he could not help her and sent her out of his office before she could completely enter to see his loan officer. My mother was recently sent by a loan officer to talk to the owner Gary before this day to get approved for an amount requested that was under $10, 000.
The loan officer she was sent to by Gary was Lonnie Hagen who tried to actually hide around the corner of his office to not be seen by my mother. Another worker advised my mother that he was in his office, but before the worker got up to point him out he went behind his desk embarrassed for hiding. Soon, he would not let my mother talk and began to shake his finger in her face almost cussing profanity to her for asking why it was that since she has not defaulted on any loans nor has she ever missed a payment why she is not allow to finance through the Lakeside State Bank.
My mother has been with Lakeside State Bank since she was a child and her father was a New Town City Police Officer. Lonnie the loan officer told her that she should just cool it and that she was only allowed the usual $1, 000 dollar limit to make a loan. Also he shook his finger at her vigorously stating aloud that he had done more than his part on helping her in loans by allowing her to go over the $1, 000 dollar amount by one to two hundred more which is more than "the others".
My mother replied that she was asking about the bank in a whole and that she was not gearing it towards him, because she was asked by numerous other businesses and banks that she finances with why Lakeside State Bank never allows her to finance through them in being that she has an excellent history with them with loans and paying on time till completed.
Lonnie looked towards Gary's door and as my mother got up to leave I looked back to see Gary sit at his desk right away to get on the phone to act like he was really busy. I noticed this, so on the way out I told Gary aloud, "I hope you are happy with the way you are treating the Native Americans. It has led to your loan officer over there shouting and acting hostile towards my mother I do not think you are a good person for this. I do not appreciate you allowing a hostile environment towards us, you said you would help my mother and now you are acting really busy while shoving her out of your office denying the assistance you said you would personally provide her. I will make it known to all about what you think about the minorities and how you treat them."
The reason why I believe that this is ongoing is because my grandmother has banked with Lakeside State Bank since it opened, she was a stable worker who retired at least three times and the last time was at age 80 years old. Never once was she ever allowed to finance through Lakeside State Bank regardless of her constant excellent history in bank transactions in loans, stable income coming in as to the same as my mother, but they both had to go to other financial banks for financing.
My younger sister also is a stable worker who had even more money in her savings of about $47, 000 plus direct deposit weekly and a debit card by the Lakeside State Bank. When she confronted the owner Gary about her dissatisfaction of how she was being treated by his bank tellers he told her to take all her money and leave while shouting at her, he stated to her pointing out that he did not need her business.
I mean that is going to far there and it would seem like the Peterson's would have realized by now that they do own a bank in the middle of an Indian Reservation and if it is that bad to provide the same customer service to us, the same fair business practices and the same personal business interest of the majority of the people who are the Native Americans then why doesn't he post it on his door so it would prevent all minorities from being treated poorly in the manners I had just described above.
The bank was built in 1952 and the Peterson's took full control of it in 1968, I think they would at least have the dignity or respect as a local bank would for its loyal customers. To help comment on this racial degrading treatment for all minorities who encounter these acts go to: http://www.lakesidestatebank.com/ and let them know what you think about their business. They have a comment section and I feel it is time for them to realize that we live in a diverse nation also that it is time for them to grow up. We are not in a stereo type based country anymore.