You open the box today and find a bank passbook, but it is for a bank account you don’t remember. That might be a little too old for some readers. Maybe a bank statement is a better metaphor.
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 itself by either killing the account with service charges or simply marking it as inactive and then taking the assets after a suitable period.
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 access them, they could attempt to work from that account’s “goodwill” 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
- Advent it Begins Again!
- Day 1: Running Shoes
- Day 2: TFSA
- Day 3: A Safety Deposit Box
- Day 4: What is in your Safety Deposit Box?
- Day 5: Your Will in a box
- Day 6: A Credit Card Bill
- Day 7: A Pointing Finger (Points)
- Day 8: A Lamb
- Day 9: Your Child’s Diploma
- Day 10: A Cane
- Day 11: A Home Inventory List
- Day 12: A Bank Passbook
- Day 13 (new) A Puzzle Piece or Day 13: A Pair of Tiny Shoes (budgeting)
- Day 14: A Stock Certificate for ACME Buggy Whips
- Day 15: A Kettle (Charity)
- Day 16: A Coffin
- Day 17: A Scroll of Household Fix Ups
- Day 18: A QR Code -or- Day 18: A Wii Fit
- Day 19: A Library Card
- Day 20: A House Plan
- Day 21: A Feather
- Day 22: DVD of the Shawshank Redemption
- Day 23: A Tuning Fork
- Day 24: A Happy Face
- Day 25: Merry Christmas
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.)
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 ]
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