Bank customers beware

The other day, my mom, a customer for 30 odd years, went to the Royal Bank machine here in Iqaluit to take some money out of her account.

Her card would not work, therefore she went to the bank the next morning when they opened. The teller advised her that the account was on hold. When she asked why, their response was “you are deceased.”

Now her being an elderly Inuk, she did not understand what they meant, therefore the teller replied to her and stated “You are dead.” That was it, no help, no looking into it further, just “you’re dead.” The teller did not even offer to get advice from anyone else, such as supervisor.

Well, I called for the manager who authorizes these hold accounts, but unfortunately he or she was away on holidays so I talked to the corporate account manager to find out what happened to my mom’s account and her pay cheque.

Her pay cheque was returned to the employer again without confirming with her employer whether or not she is still living and working. I wanted to know who signed or authorized the closure of her account and, not surprisingly, he could not look that up.

So customer beware, the bank has authority to close your account without notifying the active customer, family member or employer. They, according to the account manager, can close accounts at any time by “word of mouth,” “newspaper” and not in writing – legally.

The account manager was kind enough to apologize for the inconvenience my mom had to endure.

Eegeesiak Family
Iqaluit