Consumer complaint received 2020-12-21
Product: Checking or savings account — CD (Certificate of Deposit)
Issue: Managing an account — Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed
Company: PNC Bank N.A. (NY)

On XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted PNC Bank where my elderly father had a CD. I have legal power of attorney for my father as of XXXX and have dealt with many financial institutions since on his behalf since XX/XX/XXXX when he was diagnosed with XXXX XXXX and became unable to handle his own affairs. I called PNC bank to determine how to proceed in order to disburse the funds from this CD so I could add them to a trust account we establish in XX/XX/XXXX XXXX for which I am one of 2 legal trustees ) to fund my father 's health care costs. My father was admitted to a XXXX facility on XX/XX/XXXX and has remained there since then. He will never return home and is legally incompetent to make any financial decisions due to the severity of his XXXX and congestive XXXX XXXX. He also survived a bout of XXXX a month after he entered the XXXX home. The PNC rep gave me an address to which I needed to mail a copy of my POA, which I did on XX/XX/XXXX. They said they could not speak with me about any aspects of this CD until they had received the POA and it had been added to my father 's account. When I mailed in the POA, I provided all of my contact information and asked them to let me know when everything was ready. Nothing happened. I spoke with a PNC rep on XX/XX/XXXX. The POA had not yet been added to my father 's account, and I was told a penalty would apply if we withdrew the funds early. I was told I could do anything a legal owner of the CD would do after my name was added to the account. On XX/XX/XXXX, I spoke with a PNC rep again. The POA still had not been added to the account. She said additional paperwork was needed, and it had been mailed to me. I asked to speak to a manager and she said one would call me. This never happened. On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent in additional requested paperwork to PNC bank at yet a different address. Apparently many departments had to review my POA in order for me to be added to the account. My sister ( the other POA holder ) and I had been discussing this matter all along with our elder care attorney who set up the trust and has been our advisor throughout our months of dealing with my father 's financial affairs. Since we had received no response from PNC by the end of XXXX, we requested that he help us prepare a letter to send to PNC along with an affidavit certifying that the POA was a legal document still in effect and an additional copy of the POA in which every page was notarized. In this letter, I requested that the legal address for the account be changed to my mailing address ( since my father is now a resident of a XXXX home ) and a formal request to surrender the CD ( with its account number ), with a check issued made payable to my father and sent to my address. Finally, on XX/XX/XXXX, the check was issued and sent to me. 

As I mentioned above, I have been dealing with my father 's financial affairs for months. During the time I have had to interact with at least two other banks and numerous other financial institutions. None of the other banks treated me with such disregard for the urgency of the situation -- an elderly father with XXXX, in a XXXX home, with XXXX, who needed all of his assets liquidated ASAP in order to pay his many medical bills. I did eventually get the check, but I decided to still complain because I believe that my father and I were treated with total disrespect and disregard for the seriousness of the situation. I am especially aggrieved because PNC bought the local bank in my hometown where my parents had banked ALL of their adult lives and where I had my first savings account as a child. We deserve better.