Santander Branches to close

[sprunt]

Now, in this online world, there may be nothing "physical" in your house to tell your next of kin that you have a Monzo account, so they may never know, and your beneficiaries may never get that money - eventually the bank would close the account and put the funds into a "frozen"/suspense account which would languish potentially for decades

...

Your next of kin or executor can't be contacting every potential financial institution - there are hundreds of them!

I can't help thinking there should be a system whereby a list of deceased persons is maintained and financial institutions regularly - I don't think it would need to be any more than monthly - check this against their client list. I don't think it would be especially onerous for the financial institution to implement this, speaking as a software developer working for a financial institution.

 

[Typhoon]

I can't help thinking there should be a system whereby a list of deceased persons is maintained and financial institutions regularly - I don't think it would need to be any more than monthly - check this against their client list. I don't think it would be especially onerous for the financial institution to implement this, speaking as a software developer working for a financial institution.

You and I might think it is a good idea (and I do) but I fear that banks won't as they make money on dormant accounts (which inevitably pay low, if any, interest). The government also has a vested interest in the status quo as it kindly gives the funds to 'good causes'. You can get the money back but it can be time consuming to do so as I found to my cost.

 

[radamfi]

This is something I've never considered. I have an account with a high street bank and an online only account. I have never thought about how my relatives might get the money out of my Monzo account (I certainly don't have a Will) if I were to die tragically in the near future (hopefully very unlikely, but...).

Does anything after your death matter?

 

[Typhoon]

Best thing to do is make sure you write a will and with it, keep a full list of your assets - obviously not security-related issues like account numbers or passwords, but at least a list of bank accounts, insurance policies etc giving name of the financial institution - they can trace your details but your next of kin need to be able to tell them that you have funds with them. Your next of kin or executor can't be contacting every potential financial institution - there are hundreds of them!

The problem with this is that we are encouraged to switch providers/ have maturing accounts or policies. I am afraid it is why I keep paper versions of important documents (even if I have to print them out). You are right the executor can no longer contact all institutions - when I was growing up it was easy, you dealt with 3 or 4 institutions at most, and some of them even visited you.

 

[Starmill]

Does anything after your death matter?

It don't to me, naturally! But if I do die with any assets (looking unlikely...) I can gain satisfaction, while I'm still alive, from knowing they'll go somewhere of use I suppose. A bit of a meta question though because if I never thought about it while alive...

It's a fascinating question what happens to assets held by a bank that belong to someoe who dies and which then go unclaimed.

 

[Typhoon]

It's a fascinating question what happens to assets held by a bank that belong to someoe who dies and which then go unclaimed.

Under the Dormant Bank and Building Societies Act of 2008 funds are transferred to Reclaim Fund Limited if the account has not been touched for 15 years. This is then distributed to 'good causes'. In the period before it is transferred, the bank will treat it like any other deposit. I believe the bank has to try to contact you. Prior to 2008 banks just kept it. You can get the money if you are a beneficiary but, in my experience, they don't make it easy.

Details at https://www.reclaimfund.co.uk

 

[whhistle]

https://www.lloydsbank.com/current-accounts/all-accounts/club-lloyds.asp

Ahh, of course... I was thinking of something slightly different. Apologies.
Not that I'd see why anyone would choose that option.
Gormet Food Society gets you "up to 40%" off cinema tickets, plus the main draw of money off food bills.

 

[whhistle]

Standards for all do usually increase but for those higher in the food chain the increase is much larger (at the expense of those lower down the food chain with little or no choice or fewer options In our grasp)

In what business is this not true though?

 

[whhistle]

You, and others, keep on about wasting time or saving time but tell me what do you do with the extra 30 seconds, or 30 minutes you have saved? How does the saved time enhance your life, your living standards?

It's not 30 seconds though.
It's the decision on whether I should drive into town, then find somewhere free to park and walk a bit, or pay the £2 to park a bit closer. Driving means I am paying more for petrol, causing more pollution, not excercising.
If not driving, it's a 15 minute walk (so that's 30 mins). Then a wait in the queue (potentially 5 mins). Then having to pay in the cheque (again, 5 mins maybe). That's 40 mins.

I accept your point of view, completely.
But you have no right to moan when the world is moving on and you are choosing not to.
In the end, you will have to move with the times.
Just like those people who didn't like HD TV. Now they have next to no choice. Just like a few years back, you had no choice but to have 3D included with your TV set.
The choice of having a windy round phone is limited. It'll work, but you won't be able to use any services that need you to "push" a button.

So many things where society has moved on.

 

[underbank]

Does anything after your death matter?

Depends whether you have any assets and whether you have any family or friends or good causes you support. We've given a great deal of thought to our wills as we have moderate wealth (still under the IHT threshold) but no family (other than our son) who we'd want it to go to. So, obviously, if he survives us, he gets the lot, but if he doesn't, we're leaving our estate to a variety of small local charities/good causes that we believe in and who would really benefit from our legacies. We are very clear that we don't want our money to go to distant relatives, big charities or HMRC/Treasury.

 

[underbank]

You, and others, keep on about wasting time or saving time but tell me what do you do with the extra 30 seconds, or 30 minutes you have saved? How does the saved time enhance your life, your living standards?

I can understand your point, and presumably you work in a city where there are banks etc you can pop into easily during your lunch break or before/after work, or your own circumstances mean you go into the city regularly for shopping or pleasure. That's fine, it works for you.

Lots of people don't go into cities anymore, whether to work or for shopping or leisure. They work in out of town retail/business parks, they shop online or out of town, they go to out of town cinemas etc. Going into town, just to go to a bank makes no sense - it's not just a few second or a few minutes - the whole trip could be an hour or two, adding to congestion, adding to pollution, costly due to fuel/parking or excessive public transport (they wouldn't have a season ticket so are paying the day rate which is usually extortionate).

Last week was the first time in probably 3 or 4 years that I went into my own town centre. I "usually" go into the nearest city centre, which is about a mile further away in the opposite direction, but that's mostly just for the dentist or optician and maybe only once every 3/4 months. I didn't see anything at all in the town centre that would attract me back there - yes, there's branches of both my personal banks (Halifax and Santander) but I didn't go into them a decade or two ago to open the accounts and never set foot in them since, so I don't think I need to start now! I nipped into a travel agent for some cruise brochures, but the staff had less of a clue about them than I already had due to researching online, so I won't be going back to book there as they can offer me nothing I can't do myself. Good range of charity shops and bookies though!!!

 

[DarloRich]

This is something I've never considered. I have an account with a high street bank and an online only account. I have never thought about how my relatives might get the money out of my Monzo account (I certainly don't have a Will) if I were to die tragically in the near future (hopefully very unlikely, but...).

Your relatives ( I suspect this to be your parents) would deal with your estate under the intestacy rules. They would apply for a grant of representation if required. This happens on a daily basis.