Dead ‘unacceptable’
Grieving relatives are being hit with big funeral bills to bury their loved ones, as a bank fails to cope with the death rate. By Tom Pullar-Strecker
Bereaved families are facing bills of thousands of dollars to pay for the funerals of loved ones, because of a hold up at the country’s largest bank.
ANZ bank has been playing an apology on its 0800 helpline for deceased estates, saying it is taking up to 30 working days to process requests to release money from the accounts of people who have died because of ‘‘high volumes’’.
But the delay did not impress Palmerston North academic Cory Matthew, who said he waited nearly two months for assistance from ANZ to wind up his mother’s affairs after her death late in August.
Matthew said ANZ’s issues meant he had to pay funeral costs of $8500 out of his own pocket to avoid a late payment fee.
That was despite a recorded message on ANZ’s 0800 deceased estates number that funeral payments would be paid on or before the due date.
‘‘I did happen to have that sitting around, but it is more I don’t think it is very professional of them,’’ Matthew said.
He said he assumed hundreds of families would be in the same boat.
Matthew had obtained probate from Hamilton High Court following his mother’s death two months ago, but his lawyers were unable to do anything until Wednesday because of the delays at the bank, he said.
A spokeswoman for the Public Trust said the organisation, which helps people sort out personal affairs after a death, had also been affected by the problem at ANZ.
‘‘We can confirm that we have been experiencing some delays with ANZ. We understand there are steps being taken to improve processing times, and these are primarily due to resourcing issues and system changes,’’ she said.
Statistics New Zealand spokesman James Weir said deaths tended to spike in the September quarter, and the number of people dying each year was increasing as the country’s population grew and aged.
But the department didn’t have recent statistics that might show if there had been an unusual number of bank customers dying in the past few months that would explain ANZ’s ‘‘high volumes’’.
Matthew’s mother, who ironically once worked for ANZ, would have been unimpressed, he believed.
‘‘During the war, when there was threat of a Japanese invasion she was employed in Stratford, and her job was to ride on the lorry with the bank securities and she had a Molotov cocktail to destroy the banknotes so the Japanese wouldn’t get them.
‘‘She’d be a bit shocked to find they couldn’t sort things out after she was gone.’’
ANZ contacted his lawyers and sent them the forms they needed on Wednesday.
ANZ spokesman Stefan Herrick acknowledged the delays were ‘‘unacceptable’’ but said the bank was starting to get on top of its backlog.
‘‘We have put in extra resource and new processes. I think in a few weeks things should hopefully be pretty much back to normal,’’ he said.
Research published by the Public Trust last month, found people who had been appointed executors of wills spent an average of 50 hours winding up estates and knew little beforehand about what they would need to do.
Unexpected tasks could include applying for probate, finding beneficiaries, filing tax returns, rehoming pets, resolving disputes between beneficiaries and advertising for creditors.
‘‘Many don’t know they have a legal responsibility to manage the distribution of the estate, ensuring everything is finalised in accordance with the will – even less realise they’re personally liable and in a worst case scenario could be sued if things don’t go to plan,’’ said manager Matt Sale.
SOME FINAL DUTIES
Apply to a High Court for probate or to administer the estate, if the deceased had assets worth more than $15,000
Contact Inland Revenue if they had had a Kiwisaver account, ran a business, paid a student loan or paid or received child support
File a final tax return for the person who has died
File an estate return if income is still being received by the estate. Source: Govt.nz