Is FNBO Direct a Scam?
Posted by Best Bank Rates under [ Savings ] on May 3, 2007I’ve been contacted by a few people questioning the legitimacy of FNBO Direct. I wrote previously about FNBO Direct’s 6.0% high yield savings account promotion as well as their initial 5.25% savings account rate. On their website, they claim: “First National Bank is a subsidiary of First National of Nebraska, a multi-state holding company located in the heart of downtown Omaha. FNBO Direct is a part of the First National Bank family.” However, before you drop thousands of dollars, it would be nice to get a confirmation, right?
No worries. I found this post over at BankDealsBlog.com that confirms FNBO’s legitimacy. One of the main concerns was that FNBODirect.com domain name wasn’t listed in the FDIC database. It seems that many banks don’t like to advertise their online divisions, because banks tend to offer much higher rates online than they do in brick and mortar locations. As a result, they oftentimes don’t place direct links from the main bank’s homepage to the online bank site. However, Banking Guy over at BankDealsBlog.com has confirmed the authenticity of FNBO direct through several methods.
So now you can go ahead and save your money at a high interest rate with a peace of mind.
2.25% Money Market Bonus Rate at EverBank
APY Savings Account at Ally (2/15/2010)
1.16% APY with WTDirect Savings Account
5% Cashback Rewards with Discover More 
38 Comments on “Is FNBO Direct a Scam?”
Dear P. Banker,
From your response, “One of the main concerns was that FNBODirect.com domain name wasn’t listed in the FDIC database”, so does that mean it’s NOT FDIC insured?
Thank-you for your response!
T.
Nope! It just means that the database hadn’t been updated yet. FNBO Direct is completely legitimate.
I also found this at the FDIC website:
Some banks maintain “virtual” branches or divisions that allow depositors to open and transact business on deposit accounts over the Internet. Often these “virtual” branches or divisions operate under a different name than the bank uses for its traditional branches, but they are all part of the same bank. In this situation, deposit accounts held at the “virtual” branches or divisions of a bank are aggregated with any deposit accounts a customer may have at the traditional retail branches of the same bank before applying the insurance limit.
If you value your privacy I would not go with FNBO. Here is an excerpt from their privacy policy.
What personal information can we disclose to nonaffiliated third parties?
We may disclose personal information about you to nonaffiliated third parties as permitted by law. This may include all of the personal information we collect about you. For example, we may disclose information to payment processors, check printing companies, and appraisal companies to complete transactions that you request.
We may disclose all of the personal information we collect, as described above, to companies that perform marketing services on our behalf or to other financial institutions with whom we have joint marketing agreements. These nonaffiliated third parties are responsible for treating your personal information as confidential.
6% is tempting but I have to say no thanks.
Thanks for the comment! I’ll definitely let the readers know about this.
Another problem I’ve found with this site is their security certificate,either it’s expired or they don’t have one. Try as I may,I haven’t been able to set up an account with them because of this. This bothers me because I pay all my bills & do most of my banking online. I’ve never had a problem with any other bank or credit card website. I think I’ll keep looking.
Perhaps they have been overloaded by the demand? Anyone else having problems with this?
I recently rec’d an email asking to send personal information i.e. At FNBO Direct, your privacy and security are extremely important to us. In order for us to continue to maintain the highest level of security and protecting you from identity theft, we are asking our FNBO Direct account holders to provide us with the following information (alternative A or B):
Alternative A: a voided check from your funding bank account showing your name
Alternative B: a copy of a statement from your funding account AND a copy of your driver’s license, passport, or valid state ID
Is legit?
FNBO Direct has an excellent rate matched by no other. My only gripe on them is that they strictly communicate online, which is understandable – they also send your account number via email. Though it’s one-time only, that could be more than enough for a identity thief.
FYI folks! Major disappointment and I have called to provide feedback to supervisor which doesn’t seem to care.
After the 2week process of applying online, attaining verification of deposits, linking my accounts, and transferring my funds over. I receive a email from FNBO to provide ‘additional’ validation. It was ridiculous as it’s asking for either a voided check from the funding accounts (hello? they rec’d the verification of deposits already). If you can’t provide a void check (which most of us have online savings from Hsbc or ING).. Then you’ll need to provide your bank statement ‘and’ a valid ID/Passport.
IF they had stated this upfront, I would have never signed up. What’s frustrating is the fact they approved my account & linked my funds & moved my money… Then sends me an email stating this additional validation. RIDICULOUS!!!
What’s odd is that verify the depoisit online is proof that this is your account. I believe they want to see how much $$ you have in the other accounts for marketing purpose. MOst banks (ie. HSBC) would ask for utility bill or something other than your funding account statements. It was strange and the supervisor was just agreeing with me about their strict security policy. However, would not resolve or try to save the account.
Also, you may cancel out without anytime.. without any penalty or fee.
I would contact consumer internet affairs to complain so they could Flag FNBO if they aren’t as secured as they have stated.
I hope this helps…
I contacted FDIC to verify certificate (see email response below)
If you have signed up with FNBO.. you should call the parent company to see if they are affiliated also to provide feedback if you’re experiencing the same as me. I couldn’t get a rep so if anyone finds the answer.. I’d appreciate it.
Thank you for contacting the FDIC regarding insurance status on FNBO Direct. Its website indicates it is a part of First National Bank of Omaha. The FDIC does not list the name/address of internet branches or subsidiaries of financial institutions since they change names quite frequently, therefore, we are unable to verify whether FNBO Direct is indeed a subsidiary of First National Bank of Omaha. We can confirm however, that First national Bank of Omaha is insured by the FDIC under certificate #5452. The only official website provided to the FDIC by First National Bank of Omaha is: http://www.firstnational.com. You may contact this website for information regarding FNBO Direct.
We hope this information is helpful.
Sincerely,
\
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Division of Supervision and Consumer Protection
550 17th St, N.W.
Washington, DC 20429
wow, thanks for this information on fnbo direct’s policies!
FYI again.. I contact FNBO to cancel my account since I don’t feel comfortable send verification via fax (which my goodness.. is a 402 area code. you figure they would provide atleast an 800#). Request the funds to be returned to the same accounts it was pulled from since they are so “SECURITY CONSCIOUS”. Which the email states if I don’t validate in 30days.. they will return the funds… FYI, it doesn’t state how…
Anyways, the rep said they can’t return it ACH but via US 1st class mail — a cashier’s check. I don’t know but this smells like they are playing with the float!!! I’m just floored by how it’s being handled! Which means I lose more daily interest. I am awaiting for my check!!
So again.. it’s really not worth 6% with all the numerous comments going around with security and holding your funds. They say it’s standard procedures, but there are other ways to verify. Again, This should have been stated upfront BEFORE approving your account. It’s quite peculiar as their privacy policy isn’t as stringent & ’security’ is.. I think this is a hit for sniffing out data and marketing purpose.
Good one FNBO.. but I will continue to spread the word with all the nightmare!!!
Great post thanks, since I was about to transfer my $$$ to those people.
MORE UPDATES — Cancelling your account & getting your funds back… A BIG PAIN..& I am still unable to get my money out.. For those who are as FRUSTRATED as I am.. beware: (read my blogs above)…
7/10/07
1. Customer service (email  delay in response…. 3-4days to say, they have fwd my request to the proper dept.. and someone will be in contact.. ‘I am still waiting’)
Therefore, I’ve spoke to 4 people so far and have said they will execute my request.. and a cashier’s check will be mailed to me..
1st week, no check..
I called again.. Rep 2 said, they will execute (minor delay)..
2nd week, no check..
I email support from my acct to status .. no response so finally AGAIN called to find out.
Now, FNBO is saying..in order to mail me a cashier’s check I will need to submit my driver’s license & letter to cancel the account. I don’t know if they are just yanking my chain or PLAYING with the FLOAT.
I suggest ALL to report them to IRS  for a major audit. Delay in posting and all that is illegal. I have a feeling there will be a huge news on FNBO being audit. & they will have a huge fine. Hopefully some lawyer will take this case & I will be there for a settlement. It’s really awful how FNBO is just playing it…
Beware.. and good luck pulling your funds out!!! I am still trying.. as for customer service follow through.. NOTHING.. No email, no call back, when I call to find out.. I’m on HOLD for 45mins +.. .. AUGH!!!!
I tried to open an savings account yesterday and was surprised to find that they asked for my online userId/password from my funding account so that they could do an online verification that I own that particular account. I shouldn’t have but I reluctantly entered that info. The next page said they could not verify the account and would have to try the manual verification (verify deposit amounts). That is strnage because I was able to access my funding acc.
I am scared now, I have already changed my pwd. Hope they don’t store that information. This is shady, I am on second thoughts. Fortunately I have not transfered funds yet. Do I have to or can I just ask them to close the acc without transfering any funds?
I opened an account with them in the beginning of June and I did not have any problems opening my account. They did not ask for any additional information and I have very smoothly been able to transfer additional funds from my local bank to my FNBO direct account. Granted, I have not tried to withdraw any funds from the account but when I do I will let you know if I have any problems.
Santosh, if you look at the rest of this website there is a lot more information and review on FNBO direct. I believe I read you can leave the account open without funds. Caveat411 seems to having a very bad experience but from what I have read up on the account this doesnt seem to be the experience that most users have had. Again, the rest of this website has a lot of helpful information.
Santosh, if you read carefully, there are two different methods that they can verify your fund source with:
1. You provide login/password to your fund source to them (which no one should do, IMHO)
2. They deposit two
I believe FNBO is legit, but in my 2 weeks with them they really suck! I made quite a large deposit, and then was asked for the “additional verification” after the money was in the account. The e-mail sounded suspicious, and I e-mailed their customer service….twice. All I ever got back was an e-mail about how it would take a few additional business days because they were busy. My money is back safe and sound at HSBC. Not worth the trouble, and I just got a bad feeling about them.
sounds like they are being overloaded by the new accounts..
I got this email from them today (10 August). The subject was: “Due Dilligence 2nd Request”. I was baffled because I keep all of my banking emails, and this was absolutely the first email I got from them. The email requested that I provide various employment information, even though the website says that I will never get emails requestion information. Various other people who have received this email have called FNBO, and have been told that they are being too picky about the email stipulation!
Also, I looked on FNBOdirect.com and saw that emails from FNBO will ONLY come from one of two email addresses; the email I got was from email@email.fnbodirect.com, which is not one of the confirmed email addresses. I thought this might be a scam, so I tried calling FNBO. But repeated attempts to call got me cut off each time. When I tried the “open account” option on the phone, I was kept waiting for 20 minutes until I got tired of hearing the advertisement over and over and hung up. I immediately withdrew all my funds, and I hope that despite being told in the email that my assets are frozen, that it goes through.
This step by FNBO is so bizzare! I feel like I’m in the book 1984! Will they ask me for any political/charitable contributions I’ve made, or along that nature? I’m going back to ING or Emigrantdirect.
Yes, I also just got the exact same email requesting my employer info. I received the email about 2 hours ago. I also know that I never received a 1st request. Very strange. I tried calling, but have been on hold for over 20 minutes. I’m probably going to try again either later today, or this weekend. The email seems suspicious, but it also contains the last 4 digits of my account number. I hope their servers haven’t been hacked.
Just received this email:
Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2007 15:07:03 EDT
From: “FNBO Direct”
Subject: FNBO Direct Apology
To: XXXX
Re: FNBO Direct account number ending in XXXX
Dear XXX,
Please disregard the email sent on August 10, 2007, with the subject line: Due Diligence 2nd Request. This email was sent in error and we apologize for the confusion it has caused. If Due Diligence information is required, you will receive a follow-up email. Again we apologize for this inconvenience.
If you have any questions, please send an email to fulfillment@fnbodirect.com or call 877-370-3707. Please reference your FNBO Direct account number when you contact us.
Thank you for choosing FNBO Direct for your Online Savings Account.
Sincerely,
FNBO Direct Customer Service
I have a FNBO direct savings account and am very happy with it. It does seem a little sketchy for various reasons but they haven’t stolen any of my money yet!
It seem to be a scam after all. Try to get your money back.
After cutting the offered interest rate on their Savings account by about 16% last week FNBO Direct seems to have problems paying out deposits. Even after imposing tighter limits on how much customers can withdraw from their deposit accounts – 6 times a month up to 100k daily – confirmed transfer requests that adhere to the new restrictions get just canceled. Over the phone customer service supervisor Lisa (ex4947) tried to weasel around about “technical difficulties” and after consulting FNBO Direct manager Theresa Murthy claimed “Daily Limit” does not really mean “Daily” but a period of 3 to 6 business days. I’m sure NetBank and Savings & Loans customers recognize this familiar talk track. I wonder how long after the media breaks the story the Federal Reserve will step in?
I will not go so far as to call FNBO a scam, but I will say that my own experiences have left me with a feeling of no confidence, and I have closed my account with FNBO. I too tried to withdraw some of my money after the end of the 6% rate, and was stymied by these undisclosed limitations, as well as technical snafus. When I realized that these undisclosed rules made it impossible to withdraw my money on demand, but rather would have taken me several weeks to get it all out, I decided to close the account entirely. It took FNBO three days to affect a wire transfer out (at a $15 charge), and only after I had called several times, speaking to no fewer than 5 people, did they finally wire me my money. In my opinion, this bank is either operationally incompetent, or unwilling or unable to satisfy its obligations to depositors. I would not recommend them based upon my own experiences.
What I think is a scam, and a highly deceptive practice — which is not limited to FNBO — is the advertisment of these accounts as “savings” accounts, without disclosing the complex transfer limitations which make it difficult to withdraw your money on demand. HSBC Direct plays this game as well.
Not sure about the fuss. I’ve been a long time First National of Omaha regular banking customer and have never had a problem. Setting up my FNBO account and making the deposit was a smooth transaction. I haven’t had any unusual requests for info, spam or anything else since. Seems to me most of the worries mentioned here are based merely on speculation. As for limiting withdrawals, well what do you expect – it’s a SAVINGS account. They need to have some control over the flow to stay in business. I don’t have any issues here.
I just opened a FBNO account the other day. My issue with them is they seem to be in the middle of upgrades (according to the customer service) so there’s been times I couldn’t get to the login page, and it wouldn’t accept my answers to my security questions.
I’ve called their customer service twice, on the weekend, and they were very good. There was no wait at all. The first time I called was my own fault because I totally misread an e-mail. Girl on the phone was nice and told me exactly how to log into my account for the first time.
Second time I called because the site wouldn’t accept my answer to the security questions. Somehow their website had my answers all messed up. For example, my Best Friend in Grade School was “Red Sox” and my Favorite Sports Team was “Joe” (Not my real answers, I used totally different questions). There mus have been an iterator offset that was incorrect during the application phase. But that got straightened out very easily.
I haven’t gotten any other e-mails requesting information from me so far, but it’s only been a couple of business days.
Seems strange, and seemed like a scam, because on their homepage they say it takes only a minute to open an account and start earning “MONEV” not money?!??!? How can I trust them with my hard earned money, if they can’t even spell “Money.”
I opened an account back in June or so. Had none of the problems mentioned above. I’ve also found it quite easy and quick to have my monev transferred back and forth to my linked accounts.
I also had occasion to talk to a telephone rep due to my locking myself out of the website! She was extremely friendly and courteous. And she spoke English! And was located in Omaha and not some foreign country. I was most impressed.
All the promises have been completely fulfilled and I must confess my complete satisfaction with this company.
My only concern is that I deposited money into the account and they returned to me monev!
I just opened an account with FNBO and Funded it in just the past week.
I checked them out first and found them to be legit.
Now I’ve been reading some of these negative posts.
I agree it was odd that I received a follow up email requesting my Driver license and Bank statement even after my account was approved and funded but, I do not totally agree with the complaints about FNBO being intrusive.
I mean, all this sign up and info is being done online.
With all the internet Hackers and Fraud that can happen I felt FNBO was just being positive about who is depositing money etc.
I did call them when it seemed a while after my money was taken from my account and did not show up in the FNBO account but, they explained that, after they take the money, it goes to their Main branch and then takes 3 days to show up in my FNBO account.
3 days later it was in my FNBO account.
Now I just opened it as I said so can’t say anything negative and hopefully will not have any bad experiences.
Anyway, just my thoughts and we’ll see how things go from here.
Not a scam, but shady at best. I wish I’d read these comments before I just opened my FNBO account a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, I only came here after deciding I’d had enough. Now I’ve got to close my account and probably go through even more hassle getting my money back.
I’m not sure what all the fuss is about. I opened an account a while ago and have had no problem with them. My only gripe is that it takes about a week for the online transfers to complete and so that can be a pain if you need to transfer money more quickly than that. Other than that, I have had absolutely no problem at all and have enjoyed their high interest rate.
Oh and for those that have a hassle getting their funds after closing their accounts, there is a smarter way. All you have to do is initiate a transfer of all your funds and then close the account after the transfer clears. There are no minimum account balances. Morans.
Morans? Well, some morons can’t spell, I guess
I have had my FNBO Direct Online account for a couple of months now with no problems. The customer service folks can be reached at any time and have always been very helpful and polite. FNBO stands for First National Bank of Omaha, and in my opinion, the midwest has a good record of folks who deal in honest, direct ways. With interest rates dropping, they still have managed to offer a rate higher than others.
I just opened up account with FNOB Direct Online. I haven’t had any trouble with them. Besides every bank in a America has something wrong with them. Somebody has complained on every bank that’s every been opened. So that’s life, chose what bank you want to go with. It’s not that serious!!!!