First Midwest Bank In Highland IN

I have been waiting for a while to write this review. I never wrote a review before, but I think people need to know how they treat customers.

FMB took over Peotone Bank and Trust (PBT) a few years ago because it went bankrupt. Obviously PBT loaned to a lot of farmers and people in the Peotone area. We were told that they did not want to renew our loan because it was a farm loan (we are a boarding stable). The first question is why did they take over PBT in the first place if they cannot handle the type of loans that PBT had? They asked us to pay one of their appraisers over $3000 to appraise our property just for one year extension loan. We found appraisers that would do it for less but it would not be acceptable for them. Anyway we finally had luck and found First Farm Credit Services who were willing to renew our loan at an excellent rate and for a lower appraisal fee ($150).

In addition they paid the property taxes on our house instead of the farm from our farm escrow account, not once but twice! Also, they miscalculated the monthly payment on our escrow account which means that after 1 year we had to send a big sum of money to fill the gap. A calculation that a fifth grader can do! I also sent additional money to our escrow account which never ended up there but to the principal account (how hard it is to read on the return slip "money for escrow account"?

If we would not have been able to refinance our loan with First Farm Credit Services, we would have lost our business for sure. We are running a successful business, so I am not sure what is the issue with them? If they cannot loan to people like us, how can they loan to people who really struggle and need to refinance. Instead they try to put your head down in the water as deep as they can. Shame on them!