PITTSBURGH -June 14, 2005-National City has announced that the Customer Service Call Center of its affiliate National City Home Loan Services has been awarded the prestigious BenchmarkPortal certification. The Call Center is located on Boyce Road in Upper St. Clair. The BenchmarkPortal recognition is given in conjunction with Purdue University’s Center for Customer-Driven Quality. BenchmarkPortal collects data from more than 20,000 call centers worldwide and selects those that are in the top 10 percent to be classified as “Centers of Excellence.” The certification means that the Home Loan Services Customer Service Call Center is now judged to be a “Center of Excellence.”

The Customer Service Call Center at Home Loan Services handles inbound customer calls. Home Loan Services was awarded the BenchmarkPortal certification following a rigorous audit that compared its call center data against the best practices of a peer group of comparable centers. The audit measured a variety of metrics, including number of calls received by inbound customer service representatives, abandonment rate, average speed to answer, quality control measurements, and recruiting and training of representatives. In addition, auditors interviewed many employees regarding their work environment and the call center’s culture and philosophy.

Dru Phelps, vice president at BenchmarkPortal said, “In our discovery, we found the National City Call Center had implemented an Agent philosophy of ‘do what’s right for the customer.’ By proper staffing, the Center was able to have low caller queues, thus having a low call abandonment. This kind of management philosophy, of course, delights customers who can easily recognize a ‘center of excellence.’”

“I am extremely proud of our Call Center staff for receiving this certification,” noted Nanette Stevens, general manager of Home Loan Services. “I was most impressed with how well we compared with our peer group as well as the positive comments from our employees about Home Loan Services and our culture. This certification exemplifies our commitment to excellent customer service.”

“Our Call Center has worked very diligently to achieve this certification. I am very proud of this team and their dedication and professionalism. This award proves we are a service leader,” said Sharon Schwan, manager, Customer Service Department, National City Home Loan Services.
Other companies that have received the Certified Center of Excellence distinction include Microsoft, Merrill Lynch, Dell Computers, National City Mortgage Company and Bank of America.

About BenchmarkPortal
BenchmarkPortal is the custodian of the Purdue University Center for Customer-Driven Quality database of contact center metrics, the largest in the world. It provides reports, products and services for contact centers in the areas of operational metrics, customer satisfaction measurement and agent satisfaction measurement. In 2005, BenchmarkPortal, Inc. received U.S. Patent #6,877,034 for its unique methodology of call center performance evaluation through metric gap analysis. BenchmarkPortal’s Web site can be found at: www.BenchmarkPortal.com..

For additional information contact:
Susan Hampton
Corporate Communications
BenchmarkPortal, Inc.
(805) 614-0123 ext. 36
SusanHampton@BenchmarkPortal.com

About National City Home Loan Services
National City Home Loan Services (HLS) is a wholly owned subsidiary of National City Corporation through National City Bank of Indiana. HLS is a full-service non-conforming mortgage servicing company headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with an off-site call center in Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania. HLS employs a total workforce of 400+. The company services non-conforming mortgage loans originated by First Franklin Financial Corporation and NationPoint and second mortgage loans originated by National Home Equity.

About National City
National City Corporation (NYSE: NCC), headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, is one of the nation’s largest financial holding companies. The company operates through an extensive banking network primarily in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri and Pennsylvania, and also serves customers in selected markets nationally. Its core businesses include commercial and retail banking, mortgage financing and servicing, consumer finance and asset management. For more information about National City, visit the company’s Web site at NationalCity.com.