commoncents2000
nashville,#2Consumer Comment
Sun, November 13, 2011
This started out having my sympathies - and if that part of the story is true - my sympathies remain - especially for the innocent son.
However, this story seems wildly exagerrated at many times when explaining the banker's reactions. Being in the banking industry for over 22 years (at one of the larger banks - not SunTrust) - neither an assistant branch manager - nor a branch manager - has the power to make their own final decision on who can "legally" access funds. They can place a hold on "suspicious" funds or anything that could possibly be charged back for a wide variety of reasons. However the reports from previous consumers are absolutely correct - any deposit coming into an acct that is not payable to an owner on the acct is not considered "owned" funds by the acct holder. If the legal department approved the release of the funds - the asst manager/manager should release the hold. They do have the authority to close any banking relationship for any reason.
There does also seem to be more that you haven't told as well. It seems there were financial issues to begin with if rent was behind and your landlord was not willing to extend relief on your payment deadline due to your situation. I'm sorry for this to happen to ANYONE - but this is at the part where your complaint seems to become juvenile in the explanation.......
I cannot and do not believe that an assistant manager continually "laughed", "grinned" and "literally giggled" at you when discussing whether she could release the funds to you. I can see that you may have been extremely frustrated and probably (and maybe even understandably) difficult to work with. However - it still seems obvious your claim went overboard with the accusations. The bank would be required to research and obtain legal documents and it could take a while. That is very unfortunate for someone who may be in the position you say you were in - but to claim that a racist statement was made as well? C'mon........
I'm not saying racism on all behalfs does not exist - even blatant racism, unfortunately. But accusing a banking manager of saying "all you white people think.... blah blah blah" has continued to lose your credibility. Which is sad - because I do believe that you thought you had access to the funds. I do believe that you went to w/d the funds and were shocked, outraged and panicked when you were told you could not access them. I also believe it's possible that the assistant manager may have been a little rude, distant and unknowledgeable on how to handle the situation. I believe that she may have not followed up consistently and avoided your phone calls. That is what the story should have focused on - LACK of service - not accusations that will make for a more dramatic storyline.
This may make friends and family "oooh" and "ahhhh" but to most others it's a pathetic attempt to make a sad story more dramatic.
For your future - I hope your boy continues to get the guidance and education he deserves. This will only benefit you in the future as well. The less drama this young man has in his life from here on - the better.
brownsong
culpeper,#3General Comment
Mon, June 06, 2011
I read this with interest and was wondering if you could update. First, I would like to say to the the others, that it does say in the OP post that she and her boyfriend (I can't say fiancee, because it was obvious that after 16 years, their was no intention to marry) had a son together.
Also, getting married would have avoided all these problems. People think that marriage is just a pieve of paper, but it is much more. It protects the surviving spouse from horrors like this. If you were married, everything that was his would have become yours, even without a will.
I am sorry you had to go through this, but not having a will and not getting married made things mych worse for you than they had to be. I don't believe that being a common law husband has any real bearing. You have to really be married. He was not your husband or your fiancee, he was just your baby daddy. I truly hope you learned from this and good luck to you in the future.
Striderq
Columbia,#4General Comment
Tue, April 19, 2011
I've not worked at Suntrust but I have worked as customer service for a large bank. Here's what I see from your report.
Direct deposits ar for the individual named on them, in this case your fiance. Since his name is not on the account, there's bank specific policies that have to be followed to try to allow the deposit to be available into the account.You say Georgia laws states the return should go to the son. Was his name on the account or just yours? If the law allows your son to get the money, again there's a problem since the account is in your name.
As another poster asked: Have you been appointed executor of your fiance's estate? This is done by the court and it seems that this document could eliminate all the problem and allow you access to the money.
I understand the situation that you're facing but the bank has to protect itself by getting the required documents to allow you to access the money. This covers them in case someone else were to come forward and claim that they should be the beneficiary of the state.
It may seem that the manger is throwing roadblocks in your path to be vindictive but I don't think she would jeapordize her career to do this. I hope this works out for you. And my condolences for your and your son's loss.
Robert
Irvine,#5Consumer Comment
Tue, April 19, 2011
Having a return "Accepted" means nothing more than there were no obivous errors on the return. It has nothing to do with the Direct Deposit.
From what you wrote here you opened up an account to deposit your deceased (common law) husbands tax refund. But not for you for your son(that you had together?). Since the IRS only allows funds to be direct deposited into their account only. So it sounds like you probably raised some "red flags".
Are you the executor of the estate? If not why didn't the executor take care of this?
Now, I seriously doubt that a single employee at a branch has some personal vendetta against you that they would risk they job by not following the instructions of their legal department. If the legal department wanted the money released they would get it done. They would also fire the employee because they don't want to be held liable.
So there is probably a lot more to this story(if it is even true) than what you are not saying here.
Ashley
springfield,#6Consumer Comment
Tue, April 19, 2011
Are you the child's biological mother? You don't mention if you are anywhere in your story. Additionally, from reading a little on.georgia law, has the court designated you the conservator of the minor? It looks as if the court needs to designate you conservator and not just gaurdian in order to receive funds. Otherwise, from what I am reading, the fund need to be held in trust until the minor is 18. Also, have you gone to court requesting an affidavit to release the funds owed? Have you talked to a judge at all about his estate?