Probate row hits Abbey

From The Daily Express  -   25/07/2007

Set in the midst of a 1,000-acre country estate, it was once a magnificent house befitting its surroundings. But Fir Hill Manor has fallen into rack and ruin after lying empty for 40 years because the owner refuses to claim his inheritance.

ABBEY bank has been criticised by Your Money readers for the poor service it is providing to relatives of customers who have died this year.

Abbey handles about 5,000 deceased customers' accounts a month and says it should "ideally" take just 10 working days to close an account and pass money on to the late customer's estate. However, a number of Daily Express readers have reported a wait of up to three months for the funds. David Watts's late mother-in-law had investments of more than £100,000 with Abbey in a current account and a savings bond.

Staff in Mr Watts's local branch in Chelmsford, Essex, warned him their probate and bereavement centre in Bradford was "snowed under" and it could take up to six weeks to receive a cheque for the funds. He finally received the money two months later but no statement of account, so he still does not know if this is the right amount. Mr Watts phoned and wrote to Abbey several times to complain and received £100 as a gesture of goodwill. "They just wanted to fob me off so I would go away” he says. "They were extremely unhelpful and I think it's disgusting the way they handled it." His mother-in-law also had three accounts with Barclays and he received these funds within a week of handing in the documentation.

Another reader, who wishes to remain anonymous, is the sole beneficiary of an estate worth £150,000 from her late aunt. When her solicitor applied to Abbey for the release of the funds, she was told it would take 10 to 15 days. In the end, the process took 11 weeks. She says: "All we got from Abbey was excuses as to why it could not release the funds, including staff shortages, systems failures and so on.

"We submitted the paperwork on more than one occasion and wrote several letters of complaint. Frankly, the service was absolutely appalling. It seems Abbey is either totally incompetent or it has another agenda: to withhold cash to boost its commercial position." Abbey wrote our reader a letter of apology and has offered to reimburse her for any costs incurred because of the delay.

Vim Maru, director of service quality at Abbey, offers an explanation of why there is a large backlog of probate cases: "First, we had an increase in the number of deaths in the first half of this year, possibly due to the hot weather in March and April. Also, we lost people in our central probate department. We know it's not good enough that people are having to wait this long and this problem is being reviewed."

Maru says he expects normal service to be resumed by mid-September, but adds: "Many of the probate papers handed to us have errors, mainly because customers have done it themselves and not with the help of a solicitor." Emma Parker, from the Financial Ombudsman Service, says: "Clearly there is a cause for complaint if the service a bank offers is so far out of line with other banks.

"We would advise customers to contact their bank in the first instance. If the problem is not resolved within eight weeks, get in touch with us." Ombudsman: 0845 080 1800 or by internet at www.financialombudsman.org.uk

© 2007 Associated Newspapers. All rights reserved
Date: 25/07/2007
Publication: From The Daily Express