Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Tales from the Trenches: Helping themselves.

When checking the bank accounts this AM, I noticed a debit of $500.00 that I did not authorize. Since it was on the same day as Hubs purchase of the boat trailer, I asked him for details. He had no idea and that sent me off to phoning the bank. The bank rep was very kind and hated to tell me that the withdrawal was from Social Security regarding benefits from someone that I knew who died. My aunt had me close out her account to avoid Social Security problems and instead, it cost me money. The deposit account was closed, so they went to the next best account with my social on it-- the account that Hubs and I share. Her money deposited just a few hours after her death, but because there was a few hours difference and the bank neglected to tell me that a deposit had occurred from Social Security on that same day of account closing, they helped themselves to my personal account with my husband to retrieve their funds. Nice. My aunt was determined I would flip her account upon her death to be certain fraud and additional deposits wouldn't occur and in doing so, I may be eating that $500. in the end if someone else files against that account regarding her estate. Super.

This is post 2 of the day. Keep reading!

2 comments:

Rach said...

Oooooh, Amy. Oh, this sucks. So badly. I'm SO SO SO SO SO sorry.

Wow. Just wow.

Bailey's Leaf said...

Pardon the now-corrected crappy typos. I was irked and typed the post on my Kindle while I was at lunch. ARGH!

Crappy. Yup. I was shocked. There was nothing on the online statement other than to say "preauthorized debit." Um, I don't think so. I mean, sure-- I would have given their money back. What I talked to the bank representative about was that I was fortunate to have the $500. in my account in a way that won't prevent me from paying my house payment. Many others out there aren't quite so fortunate. I apologized to her for having to deal with such calls. "Ma'am, this happens all the time." A warning would have been nice. Hubs and I were afraid that we were victims of identity theft. Being thrilled that wasn't it, we were almost relieved that Social Security helped themselves. That, my friends, is very sad.