Bank refused to transfer my mother’s funeral cash

G.S.writes: When my mother died, I sold her premium bonds and transferred the money to her HSBC account so funds were in place for funeral expenses. My sister and I went to HSBC in Darlington to show staff her death certificate and close the account. We also took proof of our identity – driving licence, passport and utility bill – and signed a form to transfer the funds. A few days later, the money had not been transferred. It seems the premium bond proceeds had arrived, but HSBC said we would have to apply for a grant of probate unless we could prove where the money came from. I HAVE said it before and I shall say it again: banks seem unable to handle the death of a customer smoothly.

When they are grieving, families should be able to sort out finances with minimum fuss.

National Savings & Investments told you that all HSBC staff had to do was click on the credit in your mother’s account to see the money came from her premium bonds.

Not good enough. HSBC wanted it in writing from National Savings.

When it obliged, and your sister took the letter to HSBC, she found all the documents you had produced to prove your identity had disappeared from the bank’s systems.

You gave your sister copies, which she sent to HSBC’s bereavement department, but since then you have been going round in circles. Bereavement staff say the branch does not reply to queries, and you found you could not phone the branch, nor did it reply to emails.

When I contacted HSBC head office, I sensed its frustration.

Officials said they had tried hard to improve support to customers during life-changing events such as bereavement.

You should face no further problems. The bank has apologised and offered £125 for the inconvenience.