Buckeye State Bank

I first learned about Buckeye State Bank [at 1885 Northwest Blvd. in the "Fifth by Northwest" neighborhood of Columbus] on 8-25-2023 while I had been attending the Egyptian Festival at St. Mary Coptic Orthodox Church in the "Lincoln Village" neighborhood of Columbus.

While looking around the "outside" portion of the Egyptian Festival [in the church's parking lot], I visited the Buckeye State Bank tent for several minutes and learned that they are located less than two miles from where I live.

I did a Google search at that moment and learned that that branch of Buckeye State Bank is two buildings northwest of the Chocolate Café where I have eaten several times over the years.

The woman staffing the tent told me that they would be having a food truck [from Holy Crepes] in their parking lot the following week.

I returned to Buckeye State Bank on 9-1-2023; there had indeed been a food truck in their parking lot. I had previously been given a coupon for a free meal that day; I had also been given my first piggy bank in several decades.

I visited the food truck, ordered my food, and then waited for my food to be prepared.

I was then allowed to go inside of the bank to eat my food, while sitting down in a customer waiting area near the front door, rather than having to stand up in the parking lot while eating my food [as I had been expecting].

Being allowed to sit down while eating my food had been, in and of itself, a great level of customer service from Buckeye State Bank.

Our Banker Travis at First City Bank came through for us at an important time in our business. My wife and I had a vision for our company, and needed to purchase a warehouse and equipment to make it a reality. He and the team at FCB listened to us and understood what we wanted to do. They helped us make the transition from a work at home side-job, to a leading edge e-commerce distribution company.

In the years since, First City Bank has been a partner in our business growth, and we’ve flourished, due in no small part to this partnership. They helped set us on the path that led to us being included on the Columbus Fast 50 list for the last four consecutive years, and we anticipate a fifth.

We’re now ready for a new warehouse, and are under contract for a facility almost five times the size of our current location. Travis and FCB came through for us again.

If your business needs to expand, and your bank treats you like a hindrance, I’d strongly suggest that you give First City Bank a call.

Charlie Morrison, MCR Medical Supply

I have been banking at First City Bank since 2002. It is by far the best banking experience you can ask for. It is a single location, staffed with exceptional people and the most helpful team of dedicated employees. If you want a great customer experience, open an account at First City.

These employees welcome me by name every time I stop in. It’s like I am family.

Travis and his staff are first rate. Personal and fast customer service.

Very friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. Any issue is resolved with one phone call.

Great people and very friendly. Highly recommended.

Excellent customer service!

Buckeye State Bank recently took over and it's awful.
First, none of the details were transferred between systems when Buckeye took over. Bill pay info wasn't preserved.

My account balance is not right. I have no idea how much money I have because the bill pay system doesn't adjust the available amount at the time of the bill payment. There is no obvious record of the outstanding checks!
Wth?
If the bank isn't going to maintain a online checkbook with a balance which takes into account outstanding checks, then why even have an online bill payment system?
The old bank's software tracked this information.

The online portal for this bank is terrible. It looks like a bad MySpace page. It's always popping up windows and redirecting instead of operating in the current screen.

I'm closing my account and going back to Huntington or Chase.
There are no words for how angry I am with these people.

Although the employees are friendly and helpful, my experience with this bank has been horrendous and costly to my company. I have worked with 7 different banks For commercial real estate loans and none of the other banks have engaged in some of the bait and switch tactics that first city has engaged in. For instance, Requiring extra collateral (another property) several days before closing, or requiring ridiculously non-proportional pay-offs to release liens from property used as cross collateral or under blanket loans. First city on multiple occasions has taken properties as extra collateral, promised that they would release the lien after a year or so, and when I follow up they want Absurdly high pay-offs to release a lien on properties that NO MONEY was loaned on to begin with! absurd! I am incredibly under leveraged as a result of this which limits my ability to grow.