Deceased Accounts

hondaguy01

Here is something i have just experienced recently. As an executor of a will , I recently closed all of the deceased accounts ( so i thought) . To my surprise the bank informs me (BOI) that they cannot do a search across multiple branches for the persons other accounts. So if you fail to know all the account numbers you cant close these accounts and the money remains in the vaults of the bank. This leads me to believe that the banks must be holding many millions of euros from deceased accounts, and you and me will never see sight nor sign of this money. Has anyone else experienced this and what can we do to force the bank to change their regulations.....................:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

unclebill98

Not sure that's correct. A bank can look under name, address and dob. A search would take into account the whole country and they would normally have a head office dept look after deceased accounts.

Also, after a period of time an account goes dormant. This money is then transferred to the government, so direct your campaign towards them not the banks.

hondaguy01

I am not making this up, this is actually what the bank are telling me now, including the fact that they have some how lost all the legal documents i have sent to them.....this is currently an ongoing situation. And how many other people have had the same experience....

unclebill98

Well maybe someone else can give you and in site into boi when it comes to this. I'd be making sure they follow their complaints procedure. If your not happy with the outcome then take it further.

Seems stupid that their system can not do a cross country search on the information you provided.

broker2008

Yes that was my experience too with BOI, could only do a search by branch.

Write to Deceased Accounts Unit, Branch Support Centre, Cabinteely, Dublin 18 with as much inforamtion as possible. They will require a copy of the will, to prove that you are the executor, a certified copy of the death certificate and unless it is a small amount will require probate.

Each institution have different computer systems and different ways of trawling through their records eg a search with one institution by surname and date of birth could unearth a result where another may require surname, christian name and date of birth. I know of one insitution that do searches by addresses also.

unclebill98

I find it hard to believe with strict money laundering rules that the search options are so limited.

broker2008

unclebill98 wrote: »

I find it hard to believe with strict money laundering rules that the search options are so limited.

I agree, I wouldn't be surprised if it was laziness on behalf of the branch maybe a BOI employee can shed some light.

Formal shorts

http://personalbanking.bankofireland.com/fs/doc/wysiwyg/bereavement-final.pdf

Very first page under "Let's talk"

"If you need to settle the banking affairs of one of our
customers who has passed away, we’ll do our best to take
you through matters as clearly and sensitively as possible.
We will start by arranging a meeting with you to give you
some of the helpful and practical information that you may
need when dealing with us. And we will search for all the

accounts and products the deceased person held with us."

Of course they can do it. It may be the case that their customer estates section has to take it forward though...is there any chance the person you were dealing with meant to say they could not do it personally?

hondaguy01

I have read this booklet, and I can see what it states, but in fact what is being said to me is the totally the opposite. So who here is correct, I can only state from my experience that in fact some employees of the bank( including 1 manager, their online customer service and 2 bank representatives) are telling me. This lends me to believe either many employees are unaware of the bank policies and procedures or they have not been trained sufficiently to do their jobs. I am sure that I am not the only one who has experienced this.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I had to do all this last year and we had no problem with AIB searching for accounts. Having a decent solicitor helped, I'm sure, but it was very speedy and painless.

Formal shorts

hondaguy01 wrote: »

I have read this booklet, and I can see what it states, but in fact what is being said to me is the totally the opposite. So who here is correct, I can only state from my experience that in fact some employees of the bank( including 1 manager, their online customer service and 2 bank representatives) are telling me. This lends me to believe either many employees are unaware of the bank policies and procedures or they have not been trained sufficiently to do their jobs. I am sure that I am not the only one who has experienced this.

After speaking to someone who works for BOI, a far as they are aware they can check for certain savings account through their "deposit link" system. For other accounts, it could come down to manually checking each of their 300 odd branches. However, you are entitled to get them to do that, despite how much they might not thank you for it!

Quite astounding actually, I was very surprised to hear it. Very outdated system. If they are unwilling to help, make a formal complaint.

hondaguy01

I think we need to focus on the bigger picture here, and what i mean by that is there are approximately 30,000 deaths per annum here in the republic, and if only 1/3 of them have BOI accounts , and a 1/3 of them have multiple accounts . And if you assume that each of these accounts has only 1,000 euro in them which the bank doesnt return to the estate that equates to nearly 3.5 million per annum. I am in no doubt that this size of an error is actually going on within the bank , it is in their interest now not to go handing out money......:eek:..
Maybe the central bank needs to take note of this fact...another banking error..allbeit the working man is bailing the banks out yet again..

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Sweet lord! What a lot of assumptions. What if 1/4 had multiple accounts with an average of €200 in each? - comes to a lot less. You can't just make it up as you go along.

From my own experience over the past 6 years I was involved with executor affairs on 4 estates. 2 had multiple accounts and the total of the secondary accounts was only €1200 for them both (avg 600). The other 2 did not have multiple accounts.

In addition, you also assume that the 10,000 multiple accounts were unknown to the executors and that is certainly unlikely. Some certainly may be unknown but most multiple accounts are known and accounted for in the will.

hondaguy01

I think you are missing the point here , it doesnt matter whether it 3 million or 30,000 which is left in deceased acccounts . The point is the bank does not cross search its branches , for accounts (deceased or perhaps others ) against the information you provide for them . Where in this day and age many people have worked and lived in many diffeent parts of this country, changing jobs and opening new accounts ,tells me that are multiple unaccounted for, deceased accounts with money in them , which BOI is holding onto.

hondaguy01

Here is an update to the above , I finally have agreement from Financial services ombudsman on the above issue . I cant wait for the final outcome . Kick the bank in the balls...............