As mentioned in another thread, my dad had a stroke and I’ve taken over his finances. What I wanted to talk about was the vastly different experiences I had dealing with his banks. He had accounts spread across three of them: A local regional bank (with a dozen branches in one geographic area), a larger regional bank (with a hundred branches spread across a few states), and a national bank, a bank of America, you might say. Here’s what happened.
ROUND 1: I filled out the state’s generic “Power of Attorney for Property” form, got it notarized, and walked into a branch.
Local Regional: “Oh no, Bob had a stroke? We knew Bob! Let’s make a copy of those papers and put you on all his accounts.”
Large Regional: “We’ll send the papers to our lawyers.”
National: “We’ll also send the papers to our lawyers.”
ROUND 2: Rejection!
Large Regional: “Our lawyers say it’s not valid because it’s missing a name on this space in the middle of the paragraph.” Me: “The ellipses right here? Crap. I’ll be back.”
National: “Our lawyers reject it but don’t say why.” Me: “I think I know why, give me a week.”
ROUND 3: I came back with a new notarized PoA.
Large Regional branch manager: “That looks good enough to me, I’m going to add you to the account myself.”
National: “Our lawyers have rejected it again.” Me: “Why?” National: “They didn’t say.” Me: “They didn’t say? Then what the hell am I supposed to do?!” National: (Shrug) Me: “How can I close this account?” National: “I don’t know. Also, we’re now charging you $20 monthly fees for a low balance.”
THE END: Dad still didn’t remember his passwords, but his phone has them saved, so I did an online transfer out of the National account into the Local Regional account, which I had full access to. I then had to fly out to where my dad is, catch him on a good day, and call into the national bank so he could tell them over the phone to close his account. If the stroke had left him alive but non-verbal I have absolutely no idea if I’d ever have been able to liquidate the national account without hiring my own lawyer. I'm simplifying the story here as well; in real life dealing with the national bank took hours and hours of meetings and repeatedly going into the physical branch because the guy wouldn't return my calls or emails and walking into his office was the only way to make him actually respond to me.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Stick with local banks or credit unions! Emergencies happen, and the bigger the bank is, the more work it will be for those taking care of you.
