Virginia Beach woman struggles with bank to close dead relative's account

[The Straight Story]

Virginia Beach woman struggles with bank to close dead relative's account

A Virginia Beach woman has tried for months to get a bank to close her deceased mother's bank account - but all she's gotten is fines.
....

The 88-year-old left behind a checking account with a little less than $40.

"And they said, 'Well, we can't close it - we need a death certificate.' So, I went home, got the death certificate, gave it to them," Smith explained.

But that wasn't enough. Smith was asked to bring the executor of the account to sign off on it.

"Came home, got my husband to take off work, he is the executor. They say, 'We still can't close the account'," Smith said.

Next she had to bring in her father-in-law's death certificate. He passed away 15 years ago.

In the meantime the first of two bank statements showed up.

"It's called a maintenance fee!"

A fee of $7 was deducted from the deceased's dwindling account because the account did not have a $100 minimum balance.

Finally, a bank representative gave Smith a letter, promising resolution within days.

Instead, another statement came in the mail.

http://www.wtkr.com/news/wtkr-bank-close-account-vb,0,5232621.story

[leftofcool]

1. Typical bank crap!

[woodsprite]

2. Sounds like she needs to put an ad in the classifieds that says

she is not responsible for any bills incurred on X account from X bank.

[pipi_k]

10. I'm thinking more along the lines of

writing a letter to the newspaper for the Editorial page, then contacting one of those Consumer Help people who often work for local TV stations.

This stuff happens because people are reluctant to "make waves" or get people in trouble or fired.

I say bullshit to that.

When we, the little people, are up against companies, banks, etc., that walk all over us, we can't just sit around and suck it up.

[katmondoo]

3. This applies to a savings account too.

It is best to have another name on your account. Son or daughter, someone you can trust.

[arcadian]

4. Bad PR for the bank.

was it really worth the $40 they are queexing from this dead woman's account?

[Bitwit1234]

5. Banks aren't the only ones who spew crap

My mother passed away in December. We cleaned out her apartment and notified the rental agency that she had died and we were vacating the apartment. They told us since she did not give prior 30 day notice she owned the next months rent.

Now how could she notify them, when she didn't know she would have a heart attack and pass away. We had to pay the month's rent. But in the meantime they rented the apartment for a half month and wouldn't refund the money. Plus she had just installed new carpet on the living and dining area.... They wouldn't let us remove that either.

[LeftyMom]

7. Carpet is a fixture. You can't remove anything that's permanently installed in the unit.

That's standard to any rental agreement I've ever heard of.

[Dorian Gray]

8. You shoudn't have paid

she had passed away (so sorry about that), and I don't believe you are responsible for her bills. Unless they had direct deposit set up, I don't think there was anything they could do. I guess they could try to sue her estate, but since she had passed away, I doubt the judge would have given them the money.

But, just like everything else, it's so frustrating to deal with these things and almost easier to give them the money just so you don't have to deal with the letters, the calls, the fighting, etc after the passing of a loved one.

[Dorian Gray]

6. So frustrating.

I hate this red tape bullshit.

[Blue_Tires]

9. someone should keep a stockpile of these stories around

the next time Wall Street is in trouble and wants a blank check from the taxpayers...

[TNDemo]

11. It took me eight years to close an account worth a quarter with AmSouth.

Seriously. I have the box of certified letters, statements, etc. I have no idea how much money they spent on postage. They would start charging a service fee and overdraw from time to time. After eight years I finally copied all my certified letters requesting it to be closed and sent it to the CEO. That finally got it closed.

[AndyA]

12. Bank of America. Why am I not surprised?

Oh, perhaps it's because they've always been a problem. I've never willingly had an account with them, but they keep buying up other banks so I inherit BoA. I close/move accounts ASAP when that happens, because I know there will be problems ahead.

I can imagine how outraged these people must feel.