Widow faces final insult

By SARAH PENNELLS
Updated:

 

Dealing with a spouse or partner's financial affairs after they have died is difficult enough without a bank or insurance company making matters worse.

One widow who experienced a catalogue of blunders is Val Billings, 59. Her husband, Mel, died three years ago, but she still receives offers addressed to him from banks and credit card companies. Val, a teacher from Wolverhampton, says that when she told companies of her husband's death, replies were often impersonal and offensive.

She says: 'I had 20 copies of my husband's death certificate produced so I could tell all the companies I thought should know that he had died. Some sent a two-line unsigned letter in response while others returned the death certificate without even a compliment slip. It was upsetting. Worse than that, I received letters saying, 'We are sorry to hear of the death of your husband/wife/partnerî. They hadn't even crossed out the ones that did not apply.'

She was also horrified when a letter arrived addressed 'Dear Mr Billings deceased'.

Chris Rawlings of the British Bankers' Association says: 'Banks should be sensitive. We regret it if the industry has not served this customer well.'

But Val's experience is not isolated. Stuart Cliffe, chief executive of the National Association of Bank and Insurance Customers (NABIC), based in Newport, Gwent, says problems often emerge when a joint account holder dies and the bank freezes the account without explanation, denying the partner access to money.

He says: 'Banks can freeze accounts just at the time when the surviving spouse needs extra money to pay for things like the funeral, but they don't seem to take this on board.'

NABIC is calling for financial companies to set up departments specifically to deal with bereaved customers.

Christabel Hilliard, a welfare adviser for the bereavement charity Cruse, says: 'When someone close to you has died, you have to gear yourself up to phone the bank and be business-like. You can probably cope with explaining once, but having to do it over and over again can be difficult.'

Cruse wants banks to give their staff more training - a point that Val Billings agrees with.

She says: 'When I dealt with the banks, it felt as though I was the first person they had ever had contact with whose husband had died. That must change.'

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