Republic Bank & Trust (OK)

Republic Bank & Trust Of Norman Oklahoma Blocks All Customers From Doing Business With All Companies In California And Florida

I began using Republic Bank & Trust of Norman Oklahoma since moving to Norman in May 2008. It was an excellent bank with no problems until this year 2013.

First, RB&T forced all of its customers to switch from VISA to MasterCard. I wasn't too concerned about that.

Then, RB&T began blocking all debit card transactions by all customers with all companies in California and Florida. I found out on 6 May 2013 when I tried to buy more airtime for my cellphone with TracFone, located in Florida, a good company I've done business with since August 2008. RB&T blocked the purchase. Why? I had plenty of money in my account to cover the purchase, so that wasn't the problem.

Reply to my inquiry : "I am showing that the transaction you attempted to purchase airtime was being run through Florida. Unfortunately, due to a high amount of fraud recently, transactions in that state has been temporarily blocked."

Then, more information a week later on 13 May 2013 from the bank operations manager : "I would like to explain more detail regarding the blocked states, which is Florida and California. When Republic Bank & Trust started detecting the overwhelming amount of fraud in both states, to protect our customers and attempt to stop anymore fraud we blocked both states. We sent letters to customers that we discovered compromised cards with, explaining that we will need to close their cards. The letter indicates that a new card has been ordered and that they would be receiving and that we would need to close the compromised card within 10 days. As soon as we get all compromised cards close we will be able to remove the block states. I know this did not help with your purchase, but we can accommodate very quickly for your card to purchase in any block state when needed. We have removed the block for Florida and California on your card."

Too late. I had to open a new account at Arvest Bank, get a debit card from them, which turned out to be a VISA card, to then pay TracFone to keep my cellphone service. I'll be closing my RB&T account on or before 3 June 2013.

It was wrong for RB&T to block all customers, and to block all companies in California and Florida, because it hurts good customers and good companies. It appears to be a paranoid overreaction, overkill, to an apparent security problem. Did the bank go too far? Could it be "interfering with interstate commerce" as a federal crime? I've reported this to the FBI and the FDIC, as well as Florida Governor Scott. I don't know yet if they are going to investigate. Arvest Bank officers have never heard of anything like this being done before. Some banks do block specific debit cards for specific security problems on a case-by-case basis to protect those customers, but not blocking all customers for all companies in whole states. It's absurd. I can no longer trust RB&T to not block transactions, so because of that RB&T has just lost a customer.