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Home >> Scams/Fraud
Account Is Missing
Where would a person look to find the account number of an account that the bank keeps saying they do not have? Can the I.R.S. provide information of earnings on an account? Which department in the I.R.S would I contact to find out about interest earned on an account?
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 We're afraid you won't have any luck with the IRS. It won't provide information to anyone that doesn't have a right to access, and it doesn't have access to banks' account records in such a way as to be able to get information on the account. If you at one time had an account with a bank, and it now seems to have disappeared, here are a couple of explanations with which we're familiar.
One possibility is that the institution didn't have contact you for an extended period of time, and wasn't able to contact you. State laws require that, after specific periods of time without contact, and after failed attempts to contact the depositor, banks must surrender bank deposits as "abandoned property" to the state. You might contact the abandoned property department of the state treasurer's office. The bank would have sent abandoned property either to the last state you lived in according to their records, or to the state where the bank's home office is located. Another possibility is that fees eroded the balance of the account until it closed out. If you are simply on a hunt for an account that you think should be in a certain bank, based on information from someone else, we can only suggest that you try to get more information about the account from your source.
One final thought: on the chance that you're searching for an account that a deceased person at one time said he or she had "put your name on," that account could legitimately be gone. Individuals can "tag" accounts to be payable on the owner's death to specific beneficiaries, using either a "payable on death" (POD) or Totten Trust designation. However, "tagging" an account in such a way is totally revocable. The individual can change the beneficiary at any time without notice, or revoke the designation of the account altogether, or close it out. In such a case, the bank may not be able to provide you with any information.
Published on BankingQuestions.com 12/11/06
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