Bank’s communication over unused account inadequate

Categories:

Bank accounts, Closing/Freezing accounts,

Summary:

Dee had been living overseas and had not made any transactions on her account for six years. In October 2020, the bank closed the account and transferred the $3,100 in it to the Inland Revenue Department as “unclaimed money” under the Unclaimed Money Act 1971. A month before the bank transferred the money, Dee rang the bank to update her contact details, and she complained that the bank failed to tell her during the call that it intended closing her account.

Published:

September 2025

Our investigation

We learned the bank sent Dee letters about the unused account and asked that she contact it by 31 August 2020. Dee’s contact details were out of date, so she did not receive the letters. The bank undoubtedly had grounds to regard the funds as unclaimed money, but it tried to contact her by only one method – postal mail. An email would have reached her. We considered the bank did not communicate clearly and effectively with her about the status of her account when she rang, or after she had updated her contact details. The process of sending the money to the Inland Revenue Department was not completed until 12 October, giving the bank ample time to halt the process.

After closing the account, the bank sent Dee a final statement, which she received, although she said she did not notice the account had been closed. She became aware it had been closed only in January 2025 when she rang the bank to update her contact details again. The inconvenience she suffered was therefore short-lived – from the time of that call in January till June when the Inland Revenue Department returned the money.

The bank offered $200 in recognition of the inconvenience she had suffered.