Bank closed my checking account ...

[LOL!]

... I guess for no activity. They said they must've sent me a letter telling me they were going to do this, but I have no record of that.

When I inquired about my missing checking account recently (it had simply disappeared from my online login with the financial institution), they said, "We have no record that you ever had a checking account with us."

That was pretty funny, so I gave them my checking account number. They then said, "Yes, you opened that account, but we have no record that we closed it. Please check unclaimed property in your state."

It is amazing to me that in this day and age of computers and databases that they are clueless about what happened to my checking account.

 

[Free To Canoe]

Got to keep your eye on every dang thing these days!
Doesn't sound like very good customer service. I had a better response from the garbage disposal mfg people.

 

[Mulligan]

I read an article a few weeks ago, about banks closing accounts that have no activity in X amount of years and turning over to state as unclaimed property. They are supposed to make an effort to contact you. I have an account that has about $15k in it in CDs about 300 miles away that I have not had any activity on in over 15 years since I moved. The CDs keep rolling over. I called to make sure everything is OK a few weeks ago and it still is, so I will just let it stay. Why? Because I will always have it as back up, money, because it would take too much effort to go get it, just to spend it.

 

[easysurfer]

Sounds a little scary that they are that clueless.

My bank would just be hush hush and then keep on tacking on minimum balance fees and hold the outstanding balance as hostage for me to pay be I wanted to close it.

 

[Live And Learn]

I read an article a few weeks ago, about banks closing accounts that have no activity in X amount of years and turning over to state as unclaimed property. They are supposed to make an effort to contact you. I have an account that has about $15k in it in CDs about 300 miles away that I have not had any activity on in over 15 years since I moved. The CDs keep rolling over. I called to make sure everything is OK a few weeks ago and it still is, so I will just let it stay. Why? Because I will always have it as back up, money, because it would take too much effort to go get it, just to spend it.

Turning over the funds after many years of inactivity is a federal regulation. Not sure if credit unions are subject to the same rules. Not sure why your rollovers lasted that long - are they in an IRA ?

 

[Texas Proud]

Turning over the funds after many years of inactivity is a federal regulation. Not sure if credit unions are subject to the same rules. Not sure why your rollovers lasted that long - are they in an IRA ?

I think it is a state regulation.... not federal... and different states have different rules... and guess what, states argue over who should get the money...

 

[Mulligan]

Turning over the funds after many years of inactivity is a federal regulation. Not sure if credit unions are subject to the same rules. Not sure why your rollovers lasted that long - are they in an IRA ?

I cant say I trust my memory, but I think Texas Proud is correct on state law, because I think the article referred to no universal set amount of time. It is a credit union and its about 50/50 split on Roth CD and a couple small CDs. They are on 3 year intervals and just continue to roll over. I was moving from the area and thought I would eventually get around to closing it, but instead I moved even farther away. They send me an end of the year statement and a note when one is about to expire, and just roll it over again. I had never communicated with them other than to give them a new mailing address when I moved, but the last one was 10 years ago. The article made me nervous so I called. The article did say you wont lose the money, but you do have to claim it from the state to get it back.

 

[kaneohe]

I had a credit union tack on a non-activity nuisance fee once. I just had
a share account and a HSA w/ them. After they agreed to reverse the non-activity fee, they agreed to accept a phone call from me annually as a
substitute for activity. Now I do it w/ 2 different credit unions .
So far, so good...............

 

[growing_older]

You have an online login with the financial institution? You have other accounts there? Formerly linked to your online login?

I would be outraged if a financial institution vanished one of my accounts, while still maintaining others. They cannot possibly believe that they have not been in contact with me. They have activity on some of the accounts and they are all tied together. Someone should have a lot of explaining to do.

 

[MichaelB]

... I guess for no activity. They said they must've sent me a letter telling me they were going to do this, but I have no record of that.

When I inquired about my missing checking account recently (it had simply disappeared from my online login with the financial institution), they said, "We have no record that you ever had a checking account with us."

That was pretty funny, so I gave them my checking account number. They then said, "Yes, you opened that account, but we have no record that we closed it. Please check unclaimed property in your state."

It is amazing to me that in this day and age of computers and databases that they are clueless about what happened to my checking account.

Banks are many things but not clueless. A teller might not see a record, but it is there, carefully preserved and easily accessed. This was done with clear purpose, even of they do not share that with you.

 

[frank]

I think MichaelB is right there is an underlying purpose for what they are doing at your bank. Plus why would they want all those pesky no active accounts around when they can get their money from the fed for next to nothing?

 

[Texas Proud]

Banks are many things but not clueless. A teller might not see a record, but it is there, carefully preserved and easily accessed. This was done with clear purpose, even of they do not share that with you.

Yes, the information is there.... by law they must keep it for 7 years.... even if the bank is bought by someone else, they must keep the old bank info....

You just need to get past the teller and to the cashier to get things done...


I am not sure if this has changed with all the new laws over the past decade, but if someone wrote you a check and put 'Cash' down instead of your name, you could take it to the bank and actually get cash without endorsing the check. Most tellers will want ID and for you to endorse the back of the check. It is (was) not true... I remember talking to the cashier of a bank and he said he had to tell that to a number of tellers when the customer complained....

 

[nwsteve]

Regarding inactive accounts and having deposits turned over to State, we had a thread on this site I believe that discussed safe deposit boxes being closed and contents sent to State. While the dollar value might be recoverable, all the personal stuff and records had been dumped by the bank. In that example, bank's defense was there was not a visit to the safe deposit book in over a year(?) so they deemed the safe deposit box as abandoned (probably one of those "free" boxes available back in the "olden" days.
Any rate, we make a point to visit our boxes a minimum of once a year to be clear the box is in use. It also helps I guess that box is no longer free, and we pay an annual fee.
Nwsteve

 

[FinanceDude]

That's why they call it a "bank", they "BANK" on everyone being a clueless idiot and do what they want..............

 

[LOL!]

BTW, this was no run-of-mill bank, this was USAA.

 

[GrayHare]

What counts as "activity" seems to vary by institution. I'd not touched one small savings account for years, but the bank told me they considered it active because they were periodically posting (a few cents of) interest to it.

 

[Nords]

BTW, this was no run-of-mill bank, this was USAA.

Ouch!

Let me know how they make it right. And if they make it more wrong, let me know how you'd like it to read in the blog.