...I was checking my account online and noticed that the beneficiary of my CD was a complete stranger...
This reminded me of a similar thing that happened to me a few years ago. This was with a large brokerage house, with whom I still have several accounts and have been happy with otherwise.
One day, I logged into my accounts to check my stocks. As all my accounts were linked together, on one screen I could see the balances of my IRA, my Roth, my after-tax account, my children's Coverdells. But what the heck was
this account with some name that I never heard of? So, of course, I had to click there to open it up to "inspect". My, it was some woman's IRA account, over which I had full authority to buy and sell. How did that happen?
I was going to call the brokerage house the next day to ask, but was busy and forgot all about it until the next night, when I tried to log in. What do you know?
I could no longer log in.
Now, this of course got me more concerned than being given authority over a stranger's account!
So, I called their service desk the next day. The operator couldn't explain how that happened, but said he would
reset my password. OK! So, I was able to log in again, but
there was that woman's IRA account again. The operator looked on their computer, and said that was because I was given "custodian authority" over it. Of course, I said I did not know anything about it, and did not want it. He said he would look into it.
The 3rd night, I tried to log in. No can do!
My password failed again! This time, I got so upset I sent them an E-mail, explaining what happened and said that if this did not get resolved soon, I was going to transfer out all of my accounts, and would let the media know that perhaps somehow their computer system had been compromised.
This escalated the problem up to an "Account Recovery Specialist", who contacted me and explained the problem, and guaranteed that the problem had been fixed for real this time.
What transpired was that there was another man with a name similar to mine, who filed a form to get power of attorney for his wife's account. Somehow, some stupid clerks granted that right to me. And when the husband found out that he did not get access to the account, he called them, and they changed my account's password for him. And then, I called and regained control. Back and forth a couple of times, until this specialist pinpointed the problem.
Since things appeared to be fixed, I calmed down and went on my business. But it did not end there!
A few months later, I wanted to transfer some money to fund my IRA for the year, and as I was over 50, my contribution limit was higher than that for kiddos. But, but, but, their Web site would not let me.
So, I sent an E-mail to their service desk, saying that their software appeared to be out-of-date, hence did not recognize the higher limit for people of my age, due to a recent law.
The reply that I received said that their software was not at fault, and that the reason for denial was that I was not of the right age. He added that if I was really older than the age I first claimed when opening the account, I had to supply a copy of my birth certificate to prove it.
I then remembered about the identity mix-up earlier. Obviously, the other man was younger than me. And apparently, they did not correct all of my records.
So, I went ballistic again, and sent them another angry letter. I attached all the previous E-mail correspondence, and told them that my birthdate had not been changed ever since I was born, and they better fixed it for real this time.
Of course, they got apologetic again, and things seemed fine now, but who the hell really knows?
It takes a computer to really foul things up. No, it takes an idiotic fast-fingering data entry clerk to really, really foul things up. Sigh...
