Posted on 07/27/2016 9:33:25 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Craig Haskell says his grandmother saved everything.
So, even though she died in 1998, he just recently found something of hers in a safe deposit box: a certificate of deposit from 1997.
"I just took it out and I looked at it and said, 'Oh my god. That’s $32,000,'" he explained. The paper reads $32,308.97, to be exact, with Haskell's name on it.
But when he tried to cash the CD, Wells Fargo denied him.
"She’s gone now; I have the death certificate to prove it," Haskell said. "My name’s on the check. And Wells Fargo can’t tell me what happened to the money."
To find out why, Haskell contacted us. And we contacted Wells Fargo on his behalf. The bank said it would investigate and send him a letter. Haskell later shared it with us.
One sentence reads, "A review of Wells Fargo’s records show the CD is no longer open." The very next sentence says, "Wells Fargo cannot find any record regarding the closure of the CD." Haskell is confused.
Perhaps Grandma Norma cashed the $32,000. Or, maybe she let it roll over.
Either way, he believes Wells Fargo should prove it.
"There’s got to be accountability for where the money went," he said.
To Wells Fargo, the piece of paper in Haskell’s hands that reads "certificate of deposit" is a receipt, not a CD.
"The fact that a family member may find an old paper receipt showing a person had a certificate of deposit with Wells Fargo does not mean the certificate of deposit is still open," a bank spokesman said in a statement.
Haskell still has questions.
"There’s got to be something, somewhere that ties to this number," he said, pointing to the information printed on the CD.
Actually, Wells Fargo says no.
It’s not required to keep a paper trail for a 19-year old CD because state law requires banks to keep records for only seven years.
A spokesman told us that dormant or abandoned CDs are supposed to be transferred to the state’s unclaimed property repository, and Wells Fargo found "no record" that it shifted Norma's money. Therefore, Haskell can't cash his CD.
So, where did Norma Ivanovich’s $32,000 go? It’s a mystery.
Haskell says the puzzle of his grandma’s savings is a call for better bank records.
"It’s the principle," he said. "There’s something written out on an official document from Wells Fargo with my name on it, with my grandmother’s name on it. And they have no record of it."
If you put money into a CD, keep the paperwork. And remember that banks might only keep records seven years. \ Also, ask your bank what they’ll do if you forget about a CD or leave it dormant.
You just don’t get it the just don give a damn! 32,000.00 went to someone bounas and having that come out is far more damaging, Not that they give a rats behind what the public think of them because they don’t. only Government agencies care less what the public thinks of them than banks. It has been proven time and time again. I must assume you have a bank or two as clients and don’t want them to know.
All ...um ... Righty then.
Reminds me of a pal of mine who’s granny passed. The family was at the house after the funeral and somebody had picked up a book of interest and thumbed through it. Found a few hundred-dollar bills in it. The family spent the next couple days going over that house and ended up with several thousand in currency.
And thus I haven’t had a bank account in 10 years. Do taxes through HR Block so they give me a debit/credit card that I can have direct deposit go through and pay all my bills.
I won’t be a party to people throwing up obstacles to me accessing my money. Big banks are big business and spy on people for the government to boot.
It would be the smart thing for Wells Fargo to do, but you don’t know banks. They will never do it. Never.
I know because I had a bank steal almost $5,000 from me. The bank is called Pacific Premier Bank (formerly Life Bank). They are still in business to this day.
I won’t go into the details but they basically let someone else come into the bank, sign the withdrawal ticket with their own name, and leave the bank with a check. It was an obvious mistake. They refused to give me my money.
Wells Fargo is also a terrible bank. We had a client whose father was quite wealthy. When he died he had set up Wells Fargo to handle the estate. They sucked and continue to suck millions of dollars from that estate every year.
When they find out I’m not from Staten Island, they’ll know I am not a criminal.
ROFL!
Oh, I know full well WF is a bad bank. What I’ve been trying to say is this particular incident made it to NBC Bay Area, which is a pretty big news station there. As a marketer, I’d be giving the guy his money and making a joyous occasion out of it for the cameras, with a lot of gushing interviews and lovely happy happy tellers all around.
If WF wants to pass up this golden goodwill opportunity to stubbornly play the Grinch, well, that would be pretty typical of them.
If they suspect you of tax fraud, the IRS can go back on you 10 years, and they will have the records to do it.
Granny probably thought she lost the certificate, filed an affidavit and got her money. It’s easy to try and blame the big banks, but bank employees generally get to know their customers and look after them. Unclaimed funds are reconciled in bank internal audits and turned over to the state after attempts to contact the customer.
In the UK, if an account is dormant for 15 years or more, the government takes the money. However, they keep a permanent record and if a valid claim is ever made then the owner will be reimbursed.
I remember the publicity about the Swiss bank accounts that had been dormant since the 1940’s and were presumed to be monies of Jews (and others) that had perished in the second world war. Fifty years on these banks still maintained the accounts but were sitting on the money. They were shamed into taking out advertisements around the world in an attempt to find the owners.
It seems our own banks and governments have less conscience when it comes to ‘their’ money.
“It’s easy to try and blame the big banks, but bank employees generally get to know their customers and look after them. Unclaimed funds are reconciled in bank internal audits and turned over to the state after attempts to contact the customer.”
Wells Fargo is absolutely the worst! They scheme to screw customers and will tell you outright lies regarding your accounts.
He waited 18 years to open a safe deposit box?
The paper the guy found was merely documentation that a certain type of account was created at the bank. Even though they call it a “certificate”, that piece of paper has no intrinsic value, like a stock certificate, a savings bond, or even a federal reserve note.
The person who found that piece of paper does not automatically own the funds in the account that the CD represents.
Ownership of the funds after someone dies is something that is resolved through a legal process, almost always requiring the services of a lawyer.
This all should have been resolved soon after Granny’s death. The fact that there was still a safe deposit box is troubling, unless that box wasn’t hers, but that of another living relative who may have put that piece of paper in their own box.
I used to have one of those boxes, it was a freebie that my bank gave me for having a certain level of funds on deposit. Every time I needed to access it, I had to sign in at the bank and they checked my signature against one they had on file.
If that was Granny’s box, why did they let someone else get access to it, even if he had the key?
The thing about old financial papers is that it’s easier to simply stash them somewhere rather than to actually make the decision as to whether its appropriate to discard them.
If in fact that CD wasn’t closed out as part of the estate disposal process, then the lawyer who was involved was incompetent, dishonest, or both. There must always be an inquiry with any banks involved whether there was a safe deposit box in the decedent’s name.
If I was the person who found that paper, I would now be trying to track down the records of the estate settlement to find out for sure whether the CD was closed out. With that information, there would be a legal basis to go after the bank.
At the closure of any estate, there is a detailed financial accounting of the assets, liabilities, and payments. That’s what he needs to see, and I’m betting that still exists somewhere.
And as an aside, it’s entirely possible that the original account wasn’t with Wells Fargo, but another bank that they absorbed.
When estate funds are doled out to the heirs, they just get a check. The check represents their share of the pooled funds of the decedent remaining after the expenses have been paid, and debts resolved. The check doesn’t tell them that the money came from a CD, a checking account, sale of real estate, physical property, or financial instruments.
Asking Granny’s children about the CD, as someone else suggested, might not be productive, unless any of them still have records from the estate.
Even if there was a will, even that might not be helpful unless it specifically mentioned the CD.
My feeling is that this guy is either chasing a phantom, and that CD was closed out long ago, maybe even before she died, or he is trying to work a scam.
For the record, though not a lawyer, I have been the court-appointed administrator of two estates, and know something about the process.
There's another possibility. There is a process for banks to turn over accounts to the closest heir, if that can be established. I'd think there's a soft spot between the bank and the money being transferred to the state.
I wouldn’t do business with them for the simple reason of what you find when you Bing/Google “Wells Fargo Money Transfers to Mexico....”
Is it a CD or a receipt for a CD? Article refers to both.
So, if I find a receipt for a 1973 Chevy Impala in grandma’s filing cabinet, can I go to the local Chevy dealership and demand the car? I don’t see the car in her backyard...the dealership must have it.
LOL. I’m just glad to see there’s something that will get FReepers riled up at a bank. Apparenlty mortgage fraud and bailouts aren’t enough.
“LOL. I’m just glad to see there’s something that will get FReepers riled up...”
Bad humor is my only defense now.
We are so scrued.
I'm not going to dispute your claim but most states are actually holding on to funds that belong to individuals due to the inability of whoever owed the monies to locate the person.
Each state has a website associated with the state treasury dept. where you can go to see if they are holding any monies belonging to you.
Here in Michigan I recovered $650 and I have absolutely no idea where it came from. I discovered the state was holding $1,100 for my niece and $350 for my BIL.........
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