FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A Fort Pierce man called Contact 5 after he received a letter in the mail from his bank locking him out of his account because they thought he had passed away.
"Deceased client name right there," Glen Morrow told Contact 5, showing the paperwork he recently received.
Morrow is referencing a letter he received from Bank of America a few weeks ago, alerting his family that his account was locked because he was no longer alive.
He said he assumed this would be a simple fix.
"It's a mistake. It's a simple mistake. It's one phone call will take care of it," Morrow said. "That didn't happen."
Morrow said he tried calling customer service and showed up at his local branch in person.
"I was instructed that it's been placed in deceased mode, estates services, and I was redirected to that department," Morrow said. "And they said there's nothing anyone can do to change this. Once it's placed there, it has to follow its course."
A Bank of America representative who spoke with Contact 5 on Friday said it received an incorrect notification, which has now been resolved.
"Banks make mistakes all the time," Jordan Goodman, a business and finance expert, told Contact 5.
Goodman said whenever this happens, though, it should be a quick fix.
"The obvious, normal thing that somebody should do is go into the branch, say, 'Yes, I'm alive. Here's my passport. Here's my driver's license. You shouldn't close my account,'" Goodman said. "But it sounds like he's already done that."
After doing all those things, Morrow said, he reported the situation to Attorney General Ashley Moody's office.
"They said, 'Yeah, we can look into that,'" he said.
Morrow said that's when he learned his account should now be unlocked.
He can withdraw cash, but he's still trying to get a new card. He claims the bank sent his new card to his address in Canada, not the address in Fort Pierce.
"This is not over yet," Morrow said. "I went to buy gas last night and the card is still being declined. So, I'm calling them, thinking, 'Why would they send an American banking card to Canada where it can't be used?'"
Bank of America was not able to tell Contact 5 how it received the incorrect notification.
