Consumer complaint received 2016-01-04
Product: Bank account or service — Other bank product/service
Issue: Deposits and withdrawals — 
Company: U.S. BANCORP (CO)

US Bank mishandled distributions from and disposition of the IRAs of my mother who died XX/XX/2015. They failed to respond to my numerous requests for resolution. A description of the problem is attached. 
This letter constitutes my formal request as personal representative of the estate of XXXX that the IRA minimum distribution of $ XXXX made by US Bank on XX/XX/2015 and deposited to USB checking account XXXX be reversed and redeposited to IRA # XXXXXX. Under IRS guidelines and common trust law, such distribution violated the terms of the underlying IRA agreement. It constituted an unauthorized distribution as ownership of the decedent 's XXXX IRAs transferred to her designated beneficiaries upon her death and neither beneficiary approved the distribution. In addition, the XX/XX/2015 distribution also violates the decedent 's IRA beneficiary designation since it pays $ XXXX to an account in the name of only XXXX of the designated beneficiaries, instead of paying equally to the XXXX designated beneficiaries. 

BACKGROUND : 1. XXXX died on XX/XX/2015. 
2. On XXXX XXXX 's date of death, she had XXXX IRAs with US Bank, IRA XXXX with a value of $ XXXX and IRA Account # XXXX with a value of $ XXXX. The designated beneficiaries for both accounts were her children, XXXX and XXXX. 
3. After reaching age XXXX, XXXX XXXX had set up an automatic withdrawal of her annual IRA required minimum distribution. 
4. On or about XX/XX/2015, I, XXXX, personally went to the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX US Bank and notified them of my mother 's death. 
5. On XXXX X, 2015, my brother, XXXX, and I went to US Bank and provided a copy of the death certificate of XXXX to US Bank, XXXX XXXX branch. 
6. During our XX/XX/XXXX visit to US Bank, XXXX and XXXX also discussed my mother 's IRAs with XXXX, a personal banker. XXXX called USB 's IRA department to notify them of my mother 's death and to assist him in preparing documentation to move my mother 's IRAs to my brother and I as beneficiaries. 
7. On XX/XX/2015, the unauthorized RMD distribution of $ XXXX referenced above was made from my mother 's IRA. 
8. Since XX/XX/XXXX, I have repeatedly been in contact with the XXXX XXXX branch office and US Bank customer service regarding this unauthorized transaction and the need to correct it. 
9. The Bank has refused to reverse the $ XXXX distribution. 

The reason US Bank has provided to me for their refusal to reverse the distribution - that the IRA department did not have knowledge of XXXX XXXX 's death until XX/XX/2015. I find this hard to believe. Staff at the USB XXXX XXXX branch have confirmed receipt of my mother 's death certificate XX/XX/2015. Branch staff has acknowledged contacting the IRA department about the death. Am I as a bank customer really required to notify each internal bank department of my mother 's death? Since US Bank is one corporation, the single notice of death provided on XX/XX/XXXX ought to be sufficient for the entire organization. In addition, I heard the XXXX XXXX branch employee speaking to the IRA department on XX/XX/XXXX. There is no excuse for their not noting the death on their records. 

When I asked US Bank about the social security number under which the XX/XX/XXXX distribution would be reported, I was told that it would be reported under XXXX XXXX 's SSN and that this was acceptable because a final Form XXXX would need to be filed on her behalf for 2015. Not only is this response inaccurate, but it encourages tax fraud since under IRS rules the final return of the decedent only includes income through the date of death, not income distributed in this case three and a half months after death and three months after US Bank had been notified of the death.