AboutJim Meadows Expertise I can respond to most questions concerning consumer and business relationships with US financial institutions. My expertise touches on deposit and loan issues and particularly on strategies to navigate through bank policies personell and practices. I have a degree in Economics, attended law school, Graduate Shool of Banking, and Commercial Lending and Compliance Schools.
Experience I have twenty years experience as a bank CEO. Most of those years were spent operating a bank focused primarly on serving consumer/retail needs. I helped pioneer deposit and loan products for low/moderate income individuals. I currently serve on multiple bank boards and am Chairman of a Commercial Bank in Atlanta.
Question My elderly aunt recently died. Her heirs, myself included, suspect we are missing some of her bank records. How do we search for her POD (Totten Trust) CDs at the various local banks that she might have opened accounts at because of their potentially convenient locations nearby her residence? How do we make a formal inquiry to each of these banks to search their records to determine if she had any accounts at each and if they have any POD CDs that are payable to any of her designated beneficiaries or to the proportionate probate heirs listed in her “Last Will and Testament”, i.e. if there were accounts or CDs without a designated POD beneficiary? Also, is there a standard formal form for making this or these (POD and non-POD accounts information) inquiries that can be used at the multiple banks to simplify the process and save time? Thank your for your help with this.
PS – Additional question: Is there a Federal Reserve Bank department or other Federal agency that has established a national clearing house that possesses a national database for even broader geographical scope searches of this nature?
Answer Jack, your probate lawyer might give you better advice but I would think that a letter to any suspect banks accompanied by evidence of your interest in your aunt's estate would suffice. I don't think the letter need be as detailed as your question, only ask if your aunt has any interest in a deposit account. If the bank responds to the positive, you can dig deeper. No there is no national data base of customer accounts. As an abundance of precaution you should check your aunts state for escheated (unclaimed accounts. This can be done on the web. Jim
