Hey folks, I've had something odd happen and I was hoping to get a little (hopefully serious) input from those of you who may know something about such things. The gist: 2010, then-wife declares 'It's over, I'm leaving.' Ok, yeah, sucked, but it was what it was. Anyway, my mother had died shortly before that, and had left a decent little sum. Not trusting the then-wife to not go into our bank account and clean it out before leaving, I went to the bank the next day and moved money around, and changed all the passwords and access on the joint account, making it so that she could no longer access it directly. She understood that and didn't complain. While technically it was a 'joint account', she very purposely no longer had access to it. Now fast-forward to this summer. I noticed that suddenly when I logged into my bank account, I suddenly had access to another account in addition to my own. It dawned on me that my login into my BofA account now showed me my own checking account, AND now it was also showing me separate account belonging to HER. If I had wanted to, I could have accessed her funds. I did not, I have not touched it, but what upsets me is that I am concerned that that means she also would now possibly have access to MINE. I suspect that since the only thing I couldn't change on the account back in 2010 was the email address (because it was her email on it, and I myself was not authorized to change the email), that she must have gone to BofA recently and opened an account, and rather than setting up an entirely new account for her, BofA just stuck her back onto the old one she had been associated with years ago. Now to me this seems like financial malpractice of a very high order, and I am not sure what to do - I have a gut feeling I should talk to a lawyer; after all BofA just gave her access to an account she should absolutely not have had access to, exposing my funds to an unauthorized person. But then again, maybe they will say that her name was still on it, and it's not their fault, I don't know. Bottom line is, this is a really annoying pile of manure I absolutely need to get straightened out, but I don't want to just let BofA off the hook if they have royally screwed up, I am incredibly pissed about this. Anyway, just figured there may be one or two of you out there who would know about such things.. Is this a 'Get a lawyer!' situation, or a 'Just go rip BofA a new one!' situation? thanks guys.
My first thought would be to move money to another bank and close the account to limit current risk. Lawyer up if you want, but my first thought is get your money safe and cut ties with an account that someone else may have access before this becomes a potential bigger issue.
Is the account in question still a joint account? If so, go create a new, non-joint account and move the money from one to the other.
Agree with advice so far. If you and your wife have not (yet) done anything unethical with one another's money, then you can solve it unilaterally by taking your money to a different bank. You might also want to tell the ex-wife about the situation so she doesn't accuse you of doing anything underhanded when she finds out on her own later. It also might just be a matter of calling their customer support and explaining that these accounts need to be separated. But if it is her email account on the bank account, you might need to collaborate with her to get it all sorted. I think just about the last thing you want to do is pay legal fees to go after one of the largest financial institutions in the world.
Use my bank inside greeenspoints Wal-Mart, first convenience bank. They make it really hard for anyone to withdraw their own money.
I'm not a lawyer, but I'm not sure what you would sue over since you haven't lost anything. A lawsuit will cost you more money than it will them. Just close your account and go to a credit union. Or if you have some money, put it in ETrade or another discount brokerage account. They are don't nickle and dime you like the mega banks do, and its easier to invest your money.
Sounds like you just changed the passwords and such so she couldn't get into the account, but she was technically still on the account (especially since it was her e-mail)? If that's the case, you should just open a new account and leave that one as is. Use your e-mail and make it under your name only. I honestly don't know that the bank did nothing wrong if the account still has her name and e-mail on it. You may have changed passwords so she couldn't be on it, but unless you tell the bank it is no longer joint and its mine, I can't imagine where they made a mistake. In the end, it is probably your mistake, and you should have gotten your own account in the first place.
You don't have any damages -- have not lost any money -- so I would forget about a lawsuit. It will cost more than you'd ever get, which is likely nothing. I thought this was going to be a question on that separate property inheritance, but I imagine that issue is long gone now. Move banks, or explain to them the situation and have them separate accounts. EDIT: You never mentioned if you severed the joint account into being just yours from the divorce decree?
I actually had a similar situation with Chase bank. I'm one of the names on one of my family member's account because they are elderly and they wanted to make sure bills could get paid or what have you in the event they became ill. I recently signed up for a credit card with Chase bank and when I registered online they showed access to both accounts. If I were you I'd simply close the one account and open another or at least remove her name from your own account. As long as her name is on your account she would have access.
