As I noted in an earlier diary I have been emersed in trying to untangle the rather random financial affairs of my recently deceased Mother-in-Law. This has provided a powerful lesson in how very insane the rules and regulations imposed by financial institutions can become.
I have dealt with a host of banking institutions my MIL used to squirrel away chunks of money in a system known only to herself. I think I may have found them all...maybe. But the Dear Woman, lacking any specific plan or long term strategy, set up so many different accounts using such a variety of instruments, that we can't be sure, yet.
Without exception, Bank of America, First Citizens, and several smaller local banks, have been helpful, thoughtful and rational in assisting me. The major exception has been Wachovia Bank.
In 2002,during the height of the recent banking upheavels, Wachovia Bank, headquartered in Winston-Salem, NC
flirted with Atlanta-based SunTrust, then opted to marry a longtime Tar Heel rival, Charlotte-based First Union.
A nasty take-over battle ensued.
First Union, of course, won the fight, and the merged bank -- called Wachovia but [now] based in Charlotte, NC -- is the country's fourth-largest, with $325.9 billion in assets.
In my dealings with Wachovia Bank I have encountered an unbridgeable wall of ignorance, stupidity, and rigidity that makes my blood boil.
I understand why laws were passed in the mid-90's to stop the Banking wing from interacting with the Investor wing of the same institution. It kept the institution from abusing clients by churning money from FDIC accounts to more risky stocks, with little or no input from the depositor. It was long overdue reform initiated by the Wall Street broker scandels. Someone finally figured out that Greed is NOT Good, for everyone.
Wachovia was one of the banks caught up in the scandel, and they have taken measures so absurd to avoid the problem that it boggles the mind.
When an investor sets up an IRA, or other accounts, with Wachovia, they are assigned a financial advisor. That advisor is the only one who can provide any information about the account.
I have been trying for 9 weeks, today, to get the Financial Advisor who managed my MIL's Wachovia affairs to return a phone call! She is never in the office. No one seems to ever know when she will return. Messages are not responded to, requests for e-mail contact have not been acknowledged, and even the Branch Manager of the banking side can not get a response to his requests for help.
We have been told that, "The Patriot Act forbids disclosing any information about this account to anyone but the Principal." They then add, "And I couldn't tell you anyway because the information is secured against anyone but the Financial Advisor." This is the "missing in action" Financial Advisor, who can't be bothered to return calls...
When a copy of the Death Certificate, and an Enduring Power of Attorney is provided, we have been asked if my Alzheimer's riddled Father-in-Law can provide PROOF that these are really his wishes, in direct violation of North Carolina law.
Then the final insult rose to the top of the pile of documents we have been massaging for the past 2 months. The 1099 detailed statement from the financial sector of Wachovia Bank produced 19 pages of stock churning, producing a before tax profit on the entire package of 3.4% for the 2006 tax year.
Wachovia Bank has set up a system of financial management that permits them to sequester the funds of an elderly couple (in their late 80's), disregard the death of one of the principals of that account, withhold an accounting to the surviving member and joint holder of the funds, refuse to recognize a recorded and certified Power of Attorney at any of 3 separate branch banks, even when the Branch Manager tries to intervene, and places this whole evil stew completely under the control of the "Missing Financial Advisor."
This is an intensly personal diary, brimming with my frustration, anger, and sheer baffelment at the arrogance and stupidity of this particular system. That anger is intensified when I consider the extraordinary helpful actions of every other financial institution with which we have dealt, and there have been a slew of them.
I am writing this to warn you against any dealings with the Financial Planning sector of Wachovia Bank. And, to warn Wachovia Bank that a letter to the Attorney General of North Carolina will be in the mail, shortly. I do not know of a better place to post the nefarious and confusing machinations of an institution that takes your money and locks it down, without apparent recourse.
We are not dealing with a huge sum of money here. A few hundred thousand, at most. But it represents a portion of the savings of a life time, and a plan for health care when full time care is required. But not if Wachovia has their way. They are apparently intending to keep the funds, without any control by the Principals, indefinately.
Nice job if you can get it!