Help a Reader: CDs at a Defunct Bank
Tip It!A reader named Tony wrote it with the following question:
My grandmother found among her papers a certificate of deposit (CD) from 1984, with a 9.5%(!) interest rate. The bank, of course, is no longer around. Is there any way to find out how to claim this? What would you do?
Short of trying to figure out if the bank has been bought by someone else, I’m afraid that I don’t have a good answer for him. What if the bank went out of business? Is there a statute of limitations on FDIC insurance? How would one go about trying to get their money back? I’m not sure. I therefore thought that I’d throw this out there so you guys can take a whack at it. If you have any suggestions as to how to proceed, please post them in the comments.
Published on January 17th, 2008 - 10 Comments
Filed under: Banking, Money Q&A
About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!
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10 Responses to “Help a Reader: CDs at a Defunct Bank”
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January 17th, 2008 at 10:01 am
My state, Iowa, has a website you can go to to check for unclaimed money.
http://www.greatiowatreasurehunt.com/
I know that other states have this as well, so possibly the state where Tony’s grandma purchased the CD has one. That’s where I would start.
January 17th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Seth has it right your best bet is the state’s unclaimed money website. You can also check the federal site at http://www2.fdic.gov/funds/index.asp
I would call a bank in the state or a government office instead of jumping on Google for the answer. The last thing you want to do is fall for some fishing website.
January 17th, 2008 at 10:49 am
to answer your question, check with the bank that bought the other bank out, but more then likely, your grandmother has money sitting in her state treasures office. So I would start there, she should contact the state treasures office.
———
nickel -
You have been tagged on my blog.
January 17th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Are they sure CD was still in effect when the bank went under? The question doesn’t say, but what if it was a 20 year CD in 1984, it may have simply matured and gone into a savings or checking account in 2004. And I would be surprised if that is the case.
There are a lot of variables in this. Was the money still in the CD when the bank closed or was bought? It doesn’t say what the term was on the CD or whether it subsequently kept renewing, etc. When did this even take place?
Either way, if it was with the bank in some form, CD, savings, checking, etc then search FDIC. But it could be a case of the CD maturing over a decade or two ago, and the money had since been moved elsewhere and forgotten about.
January 17th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
I agree with all of the above: If the money was unclaimed, check your states unclaimed funds website.
But as Jeremy points out – Just because she found the actual certificate, does not mean the CD was still there when the bank went under. The maximum term for CDs at most banks is 60 months. Was the bank still in operation in 1989? More than likely she transfered it to another bank at maturity or cashed it out.
January 18th, 2008 at 9:28 am
J.D. made a post about missing money on his blog. I would suggest looking through the links there. If nothing pops up, I’d try to get in touch with someone with the Federal Reserve to try to track down what happened to the bank.
January 18th, 2008 at 9:28 am
I forgot to link it:
http://www.getrichslowly.org/b.....-property/
January 19th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
when my C.U. went under they sent a check w/out doiong nething she may have alreaady been paid
September 22nd, 2008 at 2:44 am
avmrf
November 7th, 2009 at 6:00 am
To whom it may concern:
I have an Aunt that passed away sometime ago and left several CD’s for her childrens. Who do I need to contact first to find out about these CD’s? I don’t where to start.
Regards,
Eugene