Corporate Bank Update

So I wound up taking my lunch hour that Thursday to visit the corporate bank branch location closest to my office in hopes of taking care of business. I took all my important documents with me in order to close my Grandmother’s account during that visit. After a long 20-25 minute wait in the sitting area, I am explaining my wishes to a female banker to close the account as my Grandmother’s legal guardian/power of attorney. After the longest 30 minutes of my life spent explaining my case and defending my Power of Attorney to their Legal Dept. (who was on the phone since obviously not one employee at that bank had the power to make any banking decisions on their own). One thing I did discover was that this account is actually a CD and not a savings or investment account. And yet, they still insisted that because there was no “activity” in the CD in the past 14 years, they declared it “abandoned”. I always thought that CD’s were left alone to mature and make money and that the only time a CD had “activity” was when the mature date rolled around and you either closed it or left it. These whack jobs at this bank kept trying to convince me that a CD should have money deposited or withdrawn from it to keep it an active account. Not the last time I checked! I finally escaped that hell after telling him to forget it and that I would take care of it elsewhere. What a waste of my lunchtime! So now I am planning my next step closing the CD… more later!

Corporate Banks Sucketh!

My Grandmother received a letter in our mailbox last week from a bank that she has an account with. I am not going to name the bank since it is not the original bank she opened the account with in 1995. It has been bought a few times since then... let's just say that is one of the bigger bank chains still around for now. I opened the letter and could not believe what I read! Now keep in mind that this letter is being issued to an 80 year old elderly woman... The letter starts reading and I quote:
"Dear _____ Customer: We value you as a customer at ______ and want to let you know that our records indicate your account appears inactive. Your account is considered inactive when there is no direct contact with you such as from non-automatic deposits and withdrawals or from utilizing online banking. If you would like to ensure your account remains active, please complete one of the following within 30 days of the date of this letter:

1) Log onto Online Banking and perform a transaction
2) Make any deposit or withdrawal on your account
3) Call Customer Service and speak to a rep

We apologize for any inconvenience they may cause. However, if we do not hear from you, your account could be considered abandoned by state law...... etc."

Are you kidding me? Do they honestly think that an 80 year old woman will just hop on her computer rig and log on to set up Online Banking? Or drive to the nearest branch location over 20 miles away to make a deposit or withdrawal? Abandoned account? What are they thinking? Most seniors in her position would probably attempt to read that letter and just throw it out. And then Mr. Greedy Big Bank will just say, "ok then, that money is mine!". Puh-leeze! What a crock! So now I have to go find to one of these bank branch locations and attempt to address the situation. As a matter of fact, I plan on closing the account all together. Mr. Big Bank can just kiss our grits! If we cannot have an account there and just leave the money to grow (or shrink in today's market) then forget them already! We can use the money for rent, bills, etc.
This just makes me wonder how many other elderly folks' accounts around the country are getting issued this same crappolla letter too and not addressing it due to age-influenced circumstances? Again, Mr. Greedy Big Bank- YOU SUCK!