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Bank Gives Account Info to Estranged Wife
Last year my wife and I separated. She has been off my account since June. I just found out the other day that she has been doing telephone inquiries on my account. She has been asking me to lend her some money. I told her I don't have any, that I have just enough for my own bills. I changed my password for my account, but I didn't think it would be a problem until she told me what my balance was and said she went into it. It has been eight months since she's been off account. Isn't it illegal to go into someone else's account without permission? What actions can be taken, because I am beside myself. So far the bank has only made a memo on my account for her name and inquiries, but can anything else be done? I have also saved the texts and messages from her saying what she did, and that she knew what I had in the account.
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 The bank acted improperly when it provided information on the account after your wife was no longer an account owner. Problems like this, and others, are strong arguments for our recommendation that accounts be closed rather than changed when dropping a joint owner. On the other hand, if your wife was only (at one time) a signer on your account and not an owner, it would have made sense for the bank to keep the account open, but it should have done a better job of flagging the account to ensure no one other than you had access to information.
Ask the bank to transfer your funds into a new account to better ensure that your wife won't be able to pry into your confidential information in the future. As to whether your wife broke any laws with her actions, speak with law enforcement or an attorney.
Published on BankingQuestions.com 3/30/10
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