What happened to Sterling Bank?

A lien that was never released

If a paid-off mortgage, home-equity line or car loan still shows Sterling Bank as lienholder, start with Fifth Third Bank, National Association. In a merger the surviving bank takes over the other bank's loans, so it is the bank to ask for a recordable lien release; if the loan was sold along the way, it can tell you to whom.

The FDIC says it cannot process lien releases for banks that merged or were acquired without government assistance, which is what the record shows here.

Record the release with the same county office that recorded the original mortgage or deed of trust.

An old account, passbook or CD

Ask Fifth Third Bank, National Association to search for the account under the name Sterling Bank. A passbook or certificate shows an account existed. It doesn't show the money is still there, and the OCC notes that federal rules require banks to keep most account records for five years.

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

Ask Fifth Third Bank, National Association which branch now holds boxes from the Sterling Bank office you used. The OCC says a box with no activity for three to five years (the period is set by state statute) is likely treated as dormant, and its contents may be turned over to the state's unclaimed-property program.

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.