Advent Day 12 : A Bank What?

by bigcajunman last updated on December 10, 2020

You open the box today and you find a bank passbook, but it is for a bank account you don’t remember.

Do you have dormant bank accounts or accounts you have forgotten about? Maybe it is time to shut them down (if they haven’t already been shut down) and try to get whatever money is in them back into your own hands. The banking industry takes that money for their own, by either killing the account with service charges, or simply marking the account as inactive and then taking the assets after a suitable period of time.

I had a group of accounts still open, that I have shut down in the past little while. I viewed them as a security risk as well, if someone could get access to them, they could attempt to work from that account’s “good will” and set up credit vehicles (in my name) and then I would be in trouble.

Shut down those old unused accounts, before the end of the year.

Personal Finance Advent Calendar

originally published on December 11, 2008 { 3 comments }

Monica December 11, 2008, 9:05 PM

Transit strike? Ugh. When we had one there was still service at rush hour (thank goodness!), but on the day I had to work until 9 p.m. I had to take a taxi home. (Luckily my workplace gave us vouchers.)

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DAvid December 11, 2008, 8:53 PM

C8j said:”The banking industry takes that money for their own, by either killing the account with service charges, or simply marking the account as inactive and then taking the assets after a suitable period of time.”

While they might run it dry due to service charges, they cannot ‘take the assets.’ This is regularly presented in the news, and I am surprised you missed it.

Any money deposited in a Canadian bank that has had no activity for 10 years or more is declared unclaimed. This includes deposits in the form of savings accounts, bank drafts, certified cheques, deposit receipts, money orders or travelers cheques. The Canadian Government maintains the balances and acts as a custodian on the owners behalf until they return to claim there money.
[ http://www.cuar.ca/faq.php ]

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Traciatim December 11, 2008, 8:29 AM

I was going to do some union bashing about the greedy unions and how they are destroying honest work, but i guess the forums over at CTV already covered everything.

http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20081209/OTT_Strike_081209/20081210?hub=Ottawa

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