Money stuck in Bank of America

[Nepal4me]

I haven't accessed my account in over 5 years.  I got an email stating if I don't contact them, my money will be dispersed.

 

I contacted them but could only answer 1 of 3 security questions.

I don't know my old telephone number from 20+ years ago.

I don't know my passport number from 7 passports ago.

I only knew the company I worked for and that was the only 1 of 3.

 

The lady was as helpful as she could be and suggested I try www.usa.gov/unclaimed-money 

That site has a lot of places to search for your unclaimed money but Bank of America wasn't one of them.

 

I don't have a lot of money there but it's probably $3-5K and I could use that cash.

 

I have no plans to travel to the US.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[tideout]

Security "fixes" have increased over the years and sometimes it's maddening. Unless you have a trusted relative in the US I think you're going to have difficulties. You might try to get a new or updated ATM card mailed to you? I have B of A and they've Fed Ex'd cards to me. You've still got more money in the Bank than a plane ticket would cost. 

[pgrahmm]

Do you have their banking online? Makes managing everything pretty easy....

I'm not sure if you can set it up if in a different country.....

 

You might check to see how much they've left you, it might not be worth the trouble....I had a daughter that passed in 2012....I went to the bank then & there was about $1500-$1700 left in the account , they were going to send it to my account and all paperwork was signed....

It never happened....I went back this year with all the paperwork.....It took 3 trips to the bank before it was settled....

 

Only problem was the banking charges & fees had dwindled the account down to $134.00....

 

The documented fact they had failed during the process before, to them, was a non factor....

[Jingthing]

I have had similar problems with a few banks. Less money at stake. Even if you could logon they have probably already blocked your external transfer power. If you want new online access in your current situation forget it.

I feel the only way you'll probably recover the money is to travel to a physical branch in the US to close the account. As it's enough money to pay for a trip you might consider that.

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[pgrahmm]

8 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

I have had similar problems with a few banks. Less money at stake. Even if you could logon they have probably already blocked your external transfer power. If you want new online access in your current situation forget it.

I feel the only way you'll probably recover the money is to travel to a physical branch in the US to close the account. As it's enough money to pay for a trip you might consider that.

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Note - there is a BofA banking center listed in Manila....I went there once - commercial business center only, they don't handle customers at that location = don't waste your time going there....

[ubonjoe]

1 hour ago, Nepal4me said:

The lady was as helpful as she could be and suggested I try www.usa.gov/unclaimed-money 

That link did gave me a 404 error but I was able to find a link to this site that allows you to it by state. https://www.unclaimed.org/

[NCC1701A]

bofa closed my account last month without warning. they said they don't have to explain why.  i am 20 year customer. I don't think they like me being in Thailand.

 

you can't believe the shit this caused me.

 

if you are with bofa you should close your account now. 

[pgrahmm]

21 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

bofa closed my account last month without warning. they said they don't have to explain why.  i am 20 year customer. I don't think they like me being in Thailand.

 

you can't believe the shit this caused me.

 

if you are with bofa you should close your account now. 

Was it active, or just sitting there... 

[NCC1701A]

active. logged in weekly and many transactions. i had just transferred $10k more in my account.

[GLewis]

2 hours ago, Nepal4me said:

I don't know my passport number from 7 passports ago.

  US passports are valid for 10 years. Until 3 years ago you could add pages.   How old are you?

[Nepal4me]

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

That link did gave me a 404 error but I was able to find a link to this site that allows you to it by state. https://www.unclaimed.org/

Thanks for that link. It doesnt seem to allow me to get to bank deposits taken away.

 

I had ebanking for many years at BoA but didnt log in since my last trip there so that won't work. 

[ubonjoe]

3 hours ago, Nepal4me said:

Thanks for that link. It doesnt seem to allow me to get to bank deposits taken away.

It might depend upon the state. It says property but that does include bank deposits.

I tried Texas where I lived before and found one from a credit union account I had over 30 years ago. Only $33 so not worth the effort.

[jay1980]

there is a bank of america office in Singapore

 

Bank of America Singapore Office13/F &16/F OUE Bayfront #14-01 50 Collyer Quay Telephone: +65 6239 3888

 

might be worth calling and finding if they could help??

[Pib]

 

Quote

 

The lady was as helpful as she could be and suggested I try www.usa.gov/unclaimed-money 

That site has a lot of places to search for your unclaimed money but Bank of America wasn't one of them.

 

When you go to above/below site there is a sublink which takes you to a site where you can search state-by-state.  You would look at the state residence you had on file with BoA.

https://www.usa.gov/unclaimed-money

 

That state-by-state weblink below is where you enter your name and your resident state.  Whatever address/state you had onfile with BoA is the state you would enter.  But even if you can't remember your exact address in a state I expect you do remember every state you have lived in/had an address in....and hopefully you name has never changed.   Anyway start the search with your first name, last name and state....it then gives you a list of unclaimed property like bank accounts of people with the name you entered, address the person on file when the bank/company sent the money to the Unclaimed Property Dept in a particular state....the state that matches up with the address you had on file with the bank and how to contact that state department.

http://missingmoney.com/

[taxout]

The cash will ultimately end up in a state Unclaimed Property Bureau, usually the state of your last address on record. But it can take some time for all this to happen. If BOA still has the money and hasn't closed the account and remitted the funds to a state office yet, it might be two years or more before it shows up there.

 

Note that when you claim money back from the state office, they usually want to see something old with that old address on it, like a phone bill. Seriously.

 

By the way, it's a good idea to check the unclaimed property sites of your old states of residence periodically. Things do show up.

 

 

[gk10002000]

Apparently and hopefully your money was not disbursed yet.  If the lady you spoke to was not able to help you, then you need to call back and insist on eleveation.  elevation is the common term used when the default working drones can not or will not do anything else.  You must get a manager or managers.  Getting ID verified when one is locked out can be tedious but there are provisions.  You may have to proved notarized copies and letters of your birth certificate, your USA Driver license or current passport.  I had a similar issue with Etrade once where they for some reason gave me crap about doubting who I was.  I had no absences or anything, they just were being difficult for some reason.  I eventually apparently by yelling loud enough on the phone got the matter closed as I was not going to go through a paper chase.  Just some ideas