As an interesting PostScript to this whole sorry affair, I finally decided that ANZ was too useless for words and so I resolved to look elsewhere for an Estate Account, having experienced such a long, drawn out process with ANZ.
I went to the Great Southern Bank where my Estate application was made at one sitting and the account opened within one week. Not only that but they pay more interest with no conditions attached. You can even walk in off the street to do your banking in contrast to the ANZ who wonât talk to you without an appointment unless itâs a simple transaction.
The big banks have lost sight of what used to be an expectation of prompt and efficient service.
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When my husband died in 1999, and we were separated, and had banked with different banks for years, I had a similar experience with his bank [one of the Big 4, but not ANZ], when I went to his branch, in the days when banks had branches, to notify them of his death.
The branch staff were âhelpfulâ, and sympathetic, but when it came to the point, it turned out that they had done things which were not in accordance with that bankâs policies, and had actually given me some woefully inadequate, and in part, wrong, advice!
It wasnât till I rang the âDeceased Estatesâ department, at their Head Office, that I actually got useful and correct advice. The branch staff were apparently less than well-trained in these matters, and it turned out that the person I was dealing with, although a long-standing member of staff, didnât actually know that there was a Deceased Estates Dept within the HO of the bank!!
One of the branchâs better efforts was that with one account which I could do something with before Probate was granted, I had suggested, and had filled out the appropriate forms etc, for some of the money to be sent to each of my childrenâs bank accounts, and the rest to mine. Some idiot only looked at the first [of three] forms, and put the WHOLE of the money into one of the kids School Bank Account, which wasnât even one of the accounts specified!!
It wasnât till I got on to the Deceased Estates Dept that the whole thing got sorted, and the nonsense done by the branch staff member was undone, and the whole thing fixed, with a minimum of fuss, and pretty promptly too! A couple of things couldnât happen till Probate came through, which was fair enough, and as soon as it did, I sent the Probate documents to the person in the Deceased Estates Dept, and the whole thing was sorted within days!!
I suggest you contact the Deceased Estates Dept direct, and get the name of the person with whom you make contact, and explain the situation, and find out from someone who does actually know what really needs to be done. Branch staff, and these days, websites, do NOT give you the full information regarding what may be the situation with your particular circumstances, and you need proper advice and information from someone who knows what they are doing, and what legally needs to be done!
Dealing with deceased estates is a highly frustrating activity, and getting incomplete or incorrect advice seems to be the order of the day, unless somehow you can winkle out the right person or people to deal with! Sympathies, and good luck with the rest of it!!
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Excellent addition @KarenS
Most if not all financial companies have one as a full department while small companies may present it as specialist staff (eg a âdepartmentâ of 1 or 2 available on schedules).
Anyone having to deal with an estate should know they exist and are usually a âone stop shopâ for getting it done from information through action. In contrast branch staff are focused on routine day-to-day matters, selling products and trying to resolve minor issues to justify their offices staying alive.
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Fortunately, my new Estate Account with Great Southern is up and running and Iâm about to close all my ANZ accounts. Sometimes bigger isnât better and the smaller banks still have good old-fashioned service and easy access. Often the way when you deal with bigger entities - they lose sight of the most fundamental aspect of any business - good customer service.
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I worked for a large membership organisation - they did not want their customers to know about the specialised Customer Relations Dept so it was not publicised. Sounds as if these Deceased Estates Depts are in the same bucket???
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My rule in dealing with large organisations: if youâre not getting anywhere, stay polite at all times, take notes, and escalate appropriately. Write any emails as if a judge will read them - i.e. donât show anger, show that you know what you want, and you know that itâs reasonable.
I recently received a small value cheque in the name of my late motherâs estate resulting from an computer error discovered long after the event. I was the executor handling finances. The estate was finally settled in 2015, with proceeds distributed and bank accounts closed. I took it into the branch, and they allowed it to be deposited into my personal account, after checking the closed estate account documents to verify that I was legitimately executor. If I had changed banks in the mean time, I would have simpy binned the cheque - too much trouble.
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Ah but will they recognise your legal authority to do so? 
In heavily regulated industries like finance and telecommunications, customer service comes second to following a maze of government legislation and regulations.
In the event of death you probably do want to make sure that the bank is crossing and dotting.
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I totally agree that safeguards and regulations must be followed, but here we have two banks doing the same thing - one took 2 months and one took 7 days!
Iâve just been on the 'phone trying to close my accounts, but even that is problematic. They canât close the account because I havenât transferred the money out of it. I canât transfer the money out because itâs more than their maximum daily limit. They wonât increase the daily limit and will only transfer the money if I pay them. All of this designed to place obstacles in my way.
By way of contrast, I just transferred a much larger sum between two other banks, and it was just a quick 'phone call and it was all done.
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So how much is the charge to transfer all the account money out and end this saga with the bank? And move on.
Banks are in the business of making money. The good customer service applies when getting new business, or retaining existing customers.
Since you are determined to depart and go elsewhere you are dead to them. If you expect the bank to be pleased about it then dream on.
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I didnât wait in that queue to find out how much the fee was. I think it was around $25 last time I had this problem but that may be wrong. My point is that other banks I bank with donât have a fee and transfer it on the spot.
I donât for a moment expect to find myself on their Christmas card list, Iâm simply relaying my experiences - no dreaming involved.
And the point is be done with them and go to other banks. $25 fee is a very little to end things and move on.
Different types of accounts attract differing fees, as do the modes of transfer. I have to pay $25 for a wire while an EFT to a BSB+Account is free. One bank will let me transfer my account balance in one go, another limits me to $20K per day but will temporarily change that to $100K but not more (assuming I had that much with them).
I suspect that is per transfer, so if it took 4 days of transfers it would become $100⊠depending on the daily limit imposed and how large the balance is it could get up there. @boblorel, am I right or wrong?
While they seem all alike on the surface they can be a dogs breakfast if you are not a personal account (transaction/savings/card/TD) customer.
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Similar recent experience, including the ability to draw the funds as a bank cheque over the counter. Fee insignificant compared to the very significant funds being withdrawn. ANZ on the other hand have gone out of their way to not only close branches, but move from offering any face to face services. One would assume they donât care.
Hope they donât succeed in getting approval to take over SunCorp.
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There are a couple of points here. Firstly, I have indeed moved on and Iâm very happy with my restructuring as it has given me a much better banking experience overall. The bottom line is that I am a firm believer in customer service as a baseline to dealing with any organisation. When faced with better alternatives I move on, limiting the damage wherever possible.
As I am currently making multiple transactions I will naturally gravitate towards the bank which provides me with the best and easiest experience.
The other point is principle vs practice. $25 might be viewed as a minor amount, but it is $25 more than the banks who donât charge anything. If we all ignore these charges then we are effectively telling the bank that itâs OK when itâs not.
Itâs another reason to go with Industry Funds and smaller banks. Perhaps the last bastion of value for money. 
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Exactly. I donât mind acknowledging the fact that I am an old fart, and that I am resistant to having to do everything via an app. I prefer to pick up the 'phone and have a conversation without waiting an hour for someone to answer. I have wasted far too many hours using online messaging which is tedious and slow. I like to be able to walk into a bank and ask a question, rather than being told to make an appointment for another day.
It seems to have escaped the attention of those behind the scenes that the chronologically challenged have much of the money, and it might be prudent to attend to our needs rather than their own.
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The fact that a customer wants to close their account doesnât give the bank the right to make any further transactions difficult. They still have a duty of care, and therefore you have a right to expect professional service from them up to and including the account closing process.
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They donât deliberately go out of their way to make things difficult. They follow procedures to ensure security and compliance.
If a bank wants you as a customer, they can waive or reduce certain charges and fees. If a customer is going, and there is no keeping them, then why should they?
You may well be right. I can think of multiple reasons, but most apply to ânormalâ businesses. Australian banks are not ânormalâ, theyâre protected by government policy, so your comment probably explains what they do.
A ânormalâ business is subjected to competitive forces. If they lose an account customer (as opposed to a transactional customer), they normally want to minimise the relationship damage, and ideally leave open the possibility that the customer may return one day, or at least be less inclined to speak ill of them to others. Transactional businesses are more likely to follow the approach you outline, because thereâs really no relationship to protect.
The relationship between a bank and an account customer is not supposed to be purely transactional. Maybe thatâs the problem with Australian banks, and explains their proficiency in introducing loyalty charges such as account fees.
I think youâre dead right, and thatâs the whole problem in the changed relationship between banks and their clients. There is no real relationship any longer and it has become purely transactional. There is an increasing tendency to keep customers at armâs length and a conscious effort to limit any one-to-one interaction by forcing their clients to use apps or AI or other indirect communication. When I call a bank itâs because the specific circumstances of my enquiry have a level of complexity beyond the capacity of automated systems, but to interact with a human is becoming nigh impossible. Itâs one thing to provide electronic alternatives, some of which are excellent - but itâs another thing entirely to do so at the cost of readily accessible informed customer support.
You ask why they should bother providing a reasonable level of service to departing clients, and I would suggest that perhaps the client would not be voting with their feet if the level of service had been better in the first place! Even once a client has decided to move I would have thought that the reputational damage should be minimised rather than exacerbated. The only reason anyone here is reading negativity directed towards the ANZ is because of their poor performance, none of which would have been aired had that level of service been more acceptable.
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we have been waiting three months for ANZ to enact and still they have not. They asked for the released form three times and we provided it three times. That started in December and now almost March
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