How to trace Bank Account?

RonMexico

Not sure if this is the right place to ask this but here goes. My grandfather died a while back and after his death it came to light that he opened his first bank account ten years before his death. When he died he was in his eighties. He worked all his life and by all accounts was considered a wealthy man. He didn't drink or smoke and was very careful with his money. Several family members recall seeing wads and wads of notes in his wardrobe and the amount of money in his bank account would indicate that he did indeed have money. Now here is the odd part. The only money evidently left by him was the money in that bank account which was supposedly his first bank account. However it was widely known that he visited another bank every week for as long as he was working (40+ years).That bank has since closed and have indicated that they he did not have an account there. It seems that his money has vanished or that he had an account somewhere that nobody knew about.

Is there any way to try and trace his money or find out about other bank accounts?

Hobart

It may lead to nothing, but I would contact the financial Services Ombudsman. Details here => http://www.financialombudsman.ie/ . Traditionally he only deals with cases whereby a specific complaint needs to be made, but they may point you in the general direction.

Again, this is probably not much help, but http://www.mylostaccount.org.uk/ run a service in the UK for these things. They have a contacts page, and they may know of a similar service in Ireland.

RonMexico

Cheers for that!

Victor

Was the account in his name?

Stirling

Just wondering have you consulted his solicitor? Some clients will reveal the location, if not the details, of their bank accounts to their solicitors to allow for certain expenses such as the funeral or simply to allow for easy distribution to the beneficiaries. You've probably already done this but if not it might be a worth a shot

RonMexico

Stirling wrote: »

Just wondering have you consulted his solicitor? Some clients will reveal the location, if not the details, of their bank accounts to their solicitors to allow for certain expenses such as the funeral or simply to allow for easy distribution to the beneficiaries. You've probably already done this but if not it might be a worth a shot

Yeah done that. Apparently he only opened his first bank account ten years before he died. Which by all accounts is simply untrue. What was he going into the other bank for, a fish and chip? We are wondering did he have an account in another name or something? If there was a quick way to search all known banks in Ireland it would be handy. It was common knowledge that he had money when nobody in the community had it, in fact many of his old neighbours used to go to him for loans in tough times. For a man that worked and saved all his life it is strange that his money seems to have vanished. My grandmother worked too and had a pension and he looked after that too. Again - vanished into thin air. The whole family and people that knew him are baffled. He had a great memory right up until the end, but one thing nobody could draw him on was his money. Whenever he was asked about it the reply was - "I couldn't tell you.":rolleyes:

DonalN

interesting story. So maybe you actually CAN 'take it with you' after all!!

johnnyskeleton

RonMexico wrote: »

If there was a quick way to search all known banks in Ireland it would be handy.

While I understand that your concerns are genuine, such a facility is not possible. Banks can only disclose information on their customers to the customer themselves, to the gardai or other banks in very specific circumstances, or to the personal representatives of a deceased person.

While I don't want to make any comment on your original post (because advice cannot be given on this forum), if a person had a bank account they would probably receive statements from the bank.