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Q&A » Consumer rights
My father received a letter from a well-know financial institution today saying thanks for opening your new ISA account with us. The amount in the ISA was over £8000. He doesn't know anything about the account, but the letter is written to him at his home address. What should he do?
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212He should return the letter with a reply stating that the account is not his.
No point withdrawing it as he'll become a criminal and will only have to repay the money if he spends it.
However before you do that ... how old is he ... how certain are you ... is it at all possible he has dementia ... do you think it is possible he could have had the money in the first place to do this with ... ask him to check his other accounts.
He could have done this and completely forgotten about it in a very short space of time.
Posted on 09 August 2010 |
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83Most likely explanation is that you father's account was being looked at for some reason by the bank (he had rung or written and someone was dealing with his query/request/whatever). Then that person went onto the next bit of work on their desk of opening an ISA for someone - but forgot to shut down your dad's details. As a result they have put someone's ISA cash in your dad's name. Someone will start shouting for their cash/ISA details very soon so best to just notify the bank of the issue and let them sort it.
I would check up on the whole thing in a couple of months and see that there is no impact to your dad's bank or tax records. Maybe he will want to open an ISA and not be able to due to this error. If that happens then the bank should be held responsible.
But the simple answer is - no your dad can't keep the money.
Posted on 10 August 2010 | Love 0 loves
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