talk about being twisted

[didappointed]

My sister died on the 18th Feb. She had money in a cash ISA, and we also had our current account in joined names. I informed the Halifax of this, they immediately closed her ISA, but still left our accounts in both our names. I had to get an attorney to sign a declaration and take it back to the bank. They said is will be quite easy to transfer the money to me. It is the 9th April today and I called at the bank to see what happened to the money. They said it will take 1 month to complete the transaction.
My sister lost the interest the moment the account was closed and now I am losing interest again by having to wait until it gets transferred to me. Talk about being twisted by the banks.

[factor-fiction]

Sorry about your sister.
I'm not sure what the bank should have done about the ISA. If the bank still has the money I think they should pay some interest, but i don't know whether there are rules about this.
In terms of the current account I'm not sure what interest is being lost- won't it still be gaining interest just as it was before?
Is there an executor- are you sure you are entitled to all teh money in the account?
If it's in joint names though can't you withdraw cash?

[Skyline D]

Interest stops accruing on bank accounts at the date of death as I understand it. That is the law, not the bank so they aren't to blame for that..

The joint account is presumably still receiving the interest it always did.

[didappointed]

I am the executor and the only benefector of the will. When I mentioned about losing the interest on the ISA the clerk just smiled and said well, just one of those things. If you are desperate approach our bereavement department and we will speed things up. To me this means it is a condition imposed by the bank alone and just bad luck that you lose the interest. That is the Halifax for you.

[dzug]

Interest does NOT stop accruing from the date of death by law - it may be the bank's choice but I really doubt even that.

What does happen with an ISA is that the tax free status ceases by law on death - I wonder if you are getting it confused with this? And maybe the bank clerk too - they are not all all that knowledgable.

[Skyline D]

You are absolutely right dzug. Apologies all, I took a brainstorm there. I was getting myself confused with the fact that tax free interest stops on date of death (on any account, not just an ISA).

I imagine you are correct and that's what the bank clerk meant. I just looked up the rules on savings accounts and ISA's on the Halifax website and there's no suggestion on there of interest stopping. In fact it says this:
"25. What happens if you die?
If you die, and your account is not a joint
account, your personal representative can use
the account (even if the number of the account
changes), and close the account without losing
any interest for �early closure� (see condition
18.1). If your account is a joint account, see
condition 16.5."