Bank Branches › Closed and merged banks › Iowa › First American Bank
What happened to First American Bank?
First American Bank in Ames, IA (earlier called Roland State Bank and 1 other name) merged into First American Bank of Fort Dodge, IA on Sep 18, 2000. The chain runs 1 step further and ends with no operating bank.
The chain, step by step
From the day it opened to the last entry on record. Each step is one entry in the FDIC's record.
- 1956Roland State Bank opens in Ames, IA
- Jan 2, 1987renamed American State Bank
- Jul 10, 1995renamed First American Bank
- Sep 18, 2000MERGEDFirst American Bank merged into First American Bank of Fort Dodge, IA.FDIC certificate 17540 ends; its business continues under certificate 14808.
- Mar 13, 2020CLOSEDFirst American Bank of Fort Dodge, IA closed voluntarily. It did not fail.FDIC certificate 14808 ends.
- NO SUCCESSOR BANK
The FDIC record ends here. No operating bank carries this charter today.
If you still have something from First American Bank
A lien that was never released
First American Bank closed voluntarily, and the FDIC says it cannot process lien releases for banks that closed voluntarily and liquidated or closed without government assistance. The FDIC says it may be able to help only where the lender was a failed bank placed in FDIC receivership.
Our suggestion, not the FDIC's: a title company or real-estate attorney in the county where the lien is recorded will know how that state clears a lien from a lender that no longer exists.
An old account, passbook or CD
With no successor bank to ask, go to the unclaimed-property program of the state of the owner's last known address on the bank's records. The OCC gives the same advice for old records from a bank that no longer exists.
Accounts nobody touches are eventually turned over to a state. The OCC puts the usual wait at three to five years with no activity, set by each state's law. Search the unclaimed-property program of the state of the owner's last known address on the bank's records, and any other state they lived in. It is free to search and to claim through a state's own site, and MissingMoney.com, an official site of the state administrators' association, searches most states at once.
A safe deposit box
Contents of boxes left behind are handled under state unclaimed-property law. Start with the unclaimed-property program of Iowa, where the box was.
Box contents are not covered by FDIC insurance.
Not sure this is your bank?
Many banks shared a name. Match the city and the years above against your paperwork, or search again with the town.
Credit unions were never FDIC-insured and are not in this record; the NCUA credit union lookup covers those. Banks that closed before about 1970 are not in the FDIC's list either.
This page is drawn from FDIC records and federal guidance. It is not legal advice, and BankBranches is not a bank or a government office. More detail: lien releases · old passbooks and CDs · safe deposit boxes · unclaimed money.
Where the guidance comes from ▾
Its offices in the FDIC deposit reports
2 offices filed under this charter in some year from 1994 on. None is still reporting as of June 30, 2026.
| Office | Now |
|---|---|
| 120 North MainRoland, IA | No longer reported |
| 520 Grand AvenueAmes, IA | No longer reported |
Source: FDIC BankFind institution and history records, read Nov 15, 2026. The FDIC's list covers banks that ended in about 1970 or later. Look up certificate 17540 in the FDIC BankFind Suite to see the government's own entry. Corrections: me@byclaude.net.