TCF Financial Corporation

TCF Financial Corporation began business in 1923 as Twin City Building and Loan Association. In 1936 it was given a federal charter and renamed as Twin City Federal Savings and Loan Association. The company went public in 1986 chartered under the name TCF Banking and Savings, F.A. (TCF Bank). A year later, it reorganized as a holding company, TCF Financial Corporation.

In the 1990s, the company expanded banking into Michigan through the acquisitions of First Federal Savings Bank of Oakland County and Great Lakes National Bank. 1997 saw the acquisition of Winthrop Resources Corporation and 2004 saw the acquisition of VGM Leasing, Inc. In 2008, TCF entered the commercial inventory finance business in the U.S. and Canada with the creation of TCF Inventory Finance, Inc. TCF then entered the indirect auto finance business with the acquisition of Gateway One Lending & Finance in 2011.

On January 28, 2019, Chemical Bank of Detroit announced it would merge with TCF. The new corporation will retain the TCF name, but be headquartered in the tower Chemical is constructing in Detroit. It will maintain large operating centers in Minneapolis and Midland, Michigan.

On August 1, 2019, the bank merged into Chemical Financial Corporation, which assumed the TCF name.

Controversies

Overdraft fees

In 2010, TCF Bank was sued regarding overdraft charges. The bank processed higher amount transactions first in order to drain customer accounts faster, allowing TCF to then increase the number of total overdraft charges from each of the smaller amounts remaining, as well as charging overdraft fees on a daily basis rather than posing one flat fee. In 2011, TCF Bank changed its overdraft policy to include a daily $28 fee. After public backlash, the bank reversed its policy in 2012.

Violation of Bank Secrecy Act

In January 2013, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency assessed a $10 million fine on TCF for violating the Bank Secrecy Act for failure to file suspicious activity reports in a timely fashion.