Complaints are stacking up against some of the nation's biggest banks from Washington customers alleging the companies are refusing to honor their families' investments. The customers say they set aside their savings decades ago, only to be told there is no record of the money.
A group of customers filed a lawsuit, Thursday, the latest in a series of legal actions.
“They figured I would just go away, but I didn't. I'm still here,” said Maria Sagisi Geiss, one of 18 people who are suing Bank of America, Key Bank, and U.S. Bank.
She and others share a similar frustrating story. They went into a bank and tried to cash out investments from the 1980s, only to hear the same response.
“They said, ‘well, we can't find any record of it,’” said Martha Salinas, whose family has been trying in vain to collect money a deceased relative saved as an emergency cushion.
Each of the plaintiffs owns one or more bank bills, which are basically CDs, that earned between 7 and 14 percent interest annually. Some invested $100 while others put away thousands, which today could help buy a new car or pay off a mortgage. But now they say banks are telling them those investments are worthless.
“It makes us pretty angry and disgusted with them. What security? There's no security. Why did they sell it?” Salinas said during a Thursday press conference.
The lawsuit is a last-ditch effort to get their savings.
“The one job a bank has is to keep a record of your money,” said Eric Harrison, an attorney representing the group.
The bills were initially issued by Rainier Bank and Seafirst Bank, long defunct regional banks acquired by the financial giants named in the federal lawsuit.
A different group of Washington customers with the same problem settled with Bank of America last year. They were, in some cases, seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“There are literally thousands of these out there circulating in and around Washington,” Harrison said.
None of the banks named in the lawsuit would comment, Thursday.
The State of Washington has little to no authority over big nationwide banks.
The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, which provides regulatory oversight for the state’s financial service providers, says it passes consumer complaints on to the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, within the Treasury Department.