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So, the bank called me to remind me that I said my wife had died and I needed to take her off as the primary on the account. Because all of the bank security codes they text you to verify that you are indeed you were going to her phone. And stuff like that. Also, I want to close out her bank card because that seems ripe for fraud.
I've been reluctant to mess with the account because it's taken months of tedious working-my-way-through-phone-trees to figure out how various accounts were being paid out. I was assured on the phone that a high and mighty Bank Manager would be able to change me to the primary on the account, close her card and (this is key)
not change the account number.
The other issue I needed to deal with was that Jacqueline's bank account was being charged for her work Adobe license, which is something I guess she was getting reimbursed with through her paycheck. But since she's not getting a paycheck now Adobe has continued to charge us out $100+ a month for something that nobody is using. I tried to direct this issue back to her workplace and they tried but Adobe was unmotivated to stop charging because it was free money for them.
If you're thinking, "I bet David just went to the bank with JZ's death certificate and they sorted it all out without any complications," then you haven't been paying attention to my epic tale of bureaucratic woe, wherein every single simple step requires multiple attempts to accomplish.
Despite the assurances I got on the phone, the Bank Manager said there was no way he could change me to the primary on the account and keep the same account number.
"But the people I talked to said you could."
"They were wrong," he said with unnecessary emphasis.
"Okay, well, I don't want to do that now then because it's already been a fucking nightmare to track down all these autopays and I don't want to have to go through everything from Hulu to garbage pickup to PGE to our mortgage payments ad infinitum and change them to a new account number. So...can you just make my phone number the only one associated with the account for now, and my email?"
And that is how I temporarily resolved the immediate problem while punting the bigger issue downfield. Also, I was able to stop payment to Adobe through the Bank Manager but now I have to get reimbursed through UCSF for the 9 months of payments to date. Kinda adds up.
That is why every bullet point on the to-do list requires at least three attempts, multiple phone calls, waiting on hold and an in-person visit to change one little technical detail.
Side note: Nine months after Jacqueline retired (July 1st) I have still not received any of Jacqueline's pension payments. Though I am assured by Survivor Benefits Team that they do in fact have all the paperwork and it will take 30 business days to still process.
Sorry for being a pile of gripes. It's just a grind to still be doing all this shit so many months later.
Stuff that feels like it should be automatic (pension) or straightforward (changing me to the primary on a bank account) is not.
Such a pita, David.
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Yesterday was change my work main password day, so today is type in wrong password 8000x day.
Also? Day 2 of 3 of rain. So so much wanting to be in bed. It’s dark and dreary.
Super annoying, Hec. It is bad enough when you have to deal with one institution, but a whole list of them is overwhelming.
I'm working on my taxes today, really. And my son's too. Maybe the business, soon.
Oof, David. I'm sorry you have to deal with this.
Today's googling: how to handle clothes that were hit/next to Skunk [link] I'll be out to protest soon, and the police used it liberally in the past 48 hours - in the same protest. So I'm preparing in advance. We're basically surrounding the parliament in an Occupy style for several days so that they'll keep working on a hostage/ceasefire deal. They're supposed to have a break from Thursday until May. We're thinking that taking a break right now and normalize the war as it is now is past absurd. So protest it is.
Sorry about all the red tape, David. Banks seem determined to complicate and obstruct any attempt to modify their services to one's needs. My mom and I had the opposite of your problem after Dad's death—we added my name to her accounts for emergency purposes while removing Dad's, and despite her having been a customer with the same account number for five decades they apparently made *me* the primary and started sending alerts and notices to me rather than her. I guess they're still operating on the mid-1900s assumption that women can't be in charge of their own finances. For now I just gave Mom my online login info so she can monitor her own accounts and make changes—we're both worried that if we go in to correct their procedures it'll end up with neither of us getting notifications or being able to transfer funds.
I hope the protests have some response. The news seems to get more dire every day. Of course, we only get a tiny portion in our news of what is happening there.
I'm cautiously optimistic about the November elections in Florida because they have both marijuana and abortion on the ballot which should bring out voters. The more people that vote the better. They do everything they can to sabotage voting in the big cities, but I've found the hours in line to be a social event. The lines are much worse for early voting than same day.
I hope the protests are effective and safe, Shir.
Ugh, banks. I had the same thing with taking DH off my accounts at the credit union, even though the accounts were originally mine and we had just added him, they told me they would have to give me a new number which was really upsetting because I have had that account for so long and the number is short and it was my userid for online banking for a while so I have it memorized. Fortunately, they did eventually see reason and let me keep the account I had had for 40 years or so....but if they were a larger institution I am guessing that would have been harder. It was the DirecTV account that was actually the hardest because it was solely in his name and once I got past the "we have to speak to the person who owns the account" as being impossible they could not comprehend that my last name was different. So tiresome.
After Stephen died I mostly just left the accounts in his name because I didn't want to deal with the bureaucracy. I didn't even change my name on my Social Security account until several years after I remarried. I filed my taxes with my prior name for years. Just an unwillingness to do the work. Eventually, new accounts were opened and I changed my name.
