In 1984 a relative went to his local bank and opened an IRA and deposited it into an automatically renewing Certificate of Deposit. He has the paperwork stating this and he received IRA statements from 1986-1989. After 1989 he no longer received statements. The bank changed hands 2 times since he purchased the CD. When he went to withdraw the CD several months ago he was told that no record existed. They had no record that anything ever transpired. He has been repeatedly told that they don't keep records longer than 7 years and the IRS told him the same thing. The state's unclaimed property also has no record of this account. This is an elderly man who trusted his savings to a bank and they have lost his money and say "you have to prove we lost this." He trusted the bank when he opened the account, they lost the money.
Shouldn't the bank be the one that has to have proof they withdrew it? What can we do to get his money back?

Have you contacted your state's unclaimed property division?

Yeah sounds like the account went dormant and then escheat. He should have received notification of this. Our bank will send out a simple form and all the customer needs to do is sign and return it. Basically so we know they are still alive if there is no activity on the account for a long time.

When he went to withdraw the CD several months ago he was told that no record existed. So you are telling me he is just finding this out 15 years later? He gets statements for 5 years, then nothing for 15 and he thinks he still has money there?

Sounds like someone is trying to get something for nothing. The bank doesn't owe him a penny!

Yeah, I didn't quite understand that either. He knew that he quit getting statements after 1989. Why wouldn't he say something THEN?

Why be so critical? This person is just asking for advice to help a friend/relative.

You may be elderly someday yourself.

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You may be elderly someday yourself.

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I can only hope...Anyway, try the state unclaimned property division. In Louisiana, it is run by the state treasurer's office. I'm sure it changes by state.

Did you really read the questioners post--they said they had contacted their state's unclaimed property department to find they did not have any record of the money.

Unfortunately, things in the banking world have changed considerably since this gentleman opening the CD account. After decades of relative stability, banks have changed hands, some several times. States have passed and begun enforcing unclaimed property laws. Recordkeeping practices have changed, so that previous practices that might have allowed decades of records to accumulate have been honed down to retention based on legal requirements only, as space has become more expensive.

Unhappily, some of our elders have lost touch with some of their long-term assets because of these changes. I don't know whether this gentleman will be able to determine the fate of his money. But the lesson here is for family members -- where we are fortunate enough to have them -- need to know where our accounts are and to be aware of what's going on with them. We need to be proactive when mergers and acquisitions take place, to assure ourselves of the transition of our funds from one bank to the next. We need to question our bankers when something changes -- as in statements going missing.