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Bank made major cock-up with my dads estate

9 replies

Oovavu · 29/07/2016 22:46

Dad died 5 years ago and his estate was sorted by a solicitor. I sold his house & invested a fair bit of money. It was a very stressful time as he'd been ill for a long time and there was only me & DH supporting him. I was in a bit of a fug. But I trusted everything had been done properly.

Completely out of the blue this morning I got a letter from one of the banks he had money in saying one of his savings accounts is still open with a substantial sum still in there. They sent me a form to fill in to verify I'm me and they'll transfer the money over to me. They still have all my details on record, copy of death certificate etc so I know I wasn't the one that cocked up by forgetting to inform them etc.

I was kind of in shock this morning but I rang them and they were super-nice, offering to cover any penalties incurred with HMRC etc. DH says they're being nice because they're probably shitting themselves about me potentially kicking off about lost interest over the 5 years. Do I just take what's owed or should I be kicking off a bit? Like I said, I feel a bit numb about it so I'm not really thinking clearly and not very sure what to do.

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Costacoffeeplease · 29/07/2016 22:54

Has the money not been accruing interest anyway?

Oovavu · 29/07/2016 22:59

Oh I guess so yes. Told you I'm not thinking straight. Blush Ignore me.

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Oovavu · 29/07/2016 22:59

Thank you btw Smile

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Costacoffeeplease · 29/07/2016 23:02

I think I'd like to know why the money hadn't been transferred at the time, and get an explanation and an apology - perhaps some compensation depending on what happened

hilbil21 · 29/07/2016 23:05

You're no worse off with this happening - you might get a little compensation but my thinking is the appropriate authorities would see their offer to pay any hmrc charges etc as adequate

NotCitrus · 29/07/2016 23:06

Could well be the account hadn't been on a list the solicitor had and no-one matched it up until someone started looking at dormant accounts and cross-referenced it.

I got a small inheritance a couple years after my granny died, and then about three years later got another cheque for a few quid from a pension ,y granddad had had that no-one had known about. Happens all the time.

You'll get the interest and they'll deal with HMRC paperwork - don't worry about it.

Oovavu · 29/07/2016 23:10

Yes and yes.
Thanks. I'm still thinking it's all a bit strange. Don't get me wrong - it's very welcome - it's just very unexpected.

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ineedamoreadultieradult · 29/07/2016 23:12

Sounds like a simple admin error where that savings account was not linked on their system to the ones your solicitor contacted them about so was overlooked. If it has any cost implications for you that it wasn't included in his estate to begin with then yes the bank should pay them but the account will have been gaining interest and you are not out of pocket.

Oovavu · 29/07/2016 23:15

Yep. Will just be thankful and get paperwork to them. Thanks

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