new horizons in stupid error messages

[redbird]

I talked to someone at Amalgamated Bank this morning, who told me what I would need to do to take my mother's name off a joint account, then suggested that I set up online banking and then transfer the money to my account at another bank. Setting up online banking on their website was straightforward, and then it popped up a verification step involving sending a text to a cell phone associated with the account. Entirely reasonable, but my phone number isn't on the account.

I called back, and talked to another helpful person. She told me how to add the number: send her an email with "attn: Cheryl" as the subject line, giving them my current phone number and attaching a copy of my ID. I did that, and got an "undeliverable" message from Postmaster@[bank], saying I wasn't authorized to relay messages through the server. So I called back, again, and spoke to someone who told me that oh, yes, it does that, but it does deliver the messages. I got her to check, and they had received my email, but Why?

This still feels like significantly less hassle than sending them a copy of my ID, and an original death certificate. That has to be done by paper mail, not email, because they want an "original" death certificate, which she promised they'd return. (At the moment, those originals are in either New Orleans or London, I'm in Boston, and my brother is on vacation in Ireland.)

Comments

[used_songs]

I'm sorry everything is so complicated.

[redbird]

It is complicated, but nobody tried to convince me not to close the account, the way places like Comcast do.

[otter]

One more PITA taken care of. Sending original documents anywhere makes me so anxious until they are back in my hands.

[redbird]

This is the weird definition of "original" that means there can be two, three, ten, or more identical copies, each issued by the office responsible for the thing. A few years ago, the city of New York was happy to send me two replacement "original" birth certificates. (I got two because they charged for the first copy, and then a smaller fee for each additional copy ordered at the same time.)

When I was applying for German citizenship, I had to give them both an "original" birth certificate, and one notarized photocopy.

I don't know how many "original" copies of my mother's death certificate my brother ordered and paid for, but it was definitely more than one. The bank promised to mail it back to me, at least; some places keep them.

[carbonel]

My mother -- who had gone through this dance before with other relatives' death -- arranged to have twenty "original" death certificates made for herself. I think we used three, because most places were happy with a photo of the certificate, but I'm glad we had them. Also glad that my brother still had a death certificate for my father who had died seven years earlier, because that was needed to close out their joint bank account.

I kept telling myself that fraud turns out to be appallingly easy and common, and if this discouraged a crook, it was all to the good.