Letter from RBS demanding money – even from the grave!

Below is a letter received by one of our members from RBS although it is addressed to his late wife. It is demanding money and a substantial amount of personal and confidential information. I imagine the bank will say the author of the letter was unaware that the lady in question died five years ago of breast cancer – but the crucial point here is that RBS were fully aware Mrs Granville died and they have known for five years!

​I think it's probably the case that most letter from GRG are unwelcome let alone one to a deceased partner but aside from the distressing fact the letter has been sent, there are other things in this letter that are worrying. For example, the way it is worded and the bit that says “Please supply your proposals accompanied by a full statement of your current personal financial position....” implies the lady in question HAS to supply the information requested. In this instance the bank will be waiting a very long time for their information but I would ask what right the bank has to this information?

Two of our advisers have now confirmed that, while the bank can of course ask for  this information, you are not obliged to send it and, in the event there could be legal proceedings at a future date, it could be very detrimental to volunteer such information. I know most of our members are now very on the ball about such things but it's reasonable to suppose thousands of people receiving such a request would go ahead and send what the banks ask for and potentially they'd be damaging their own case. The only way a bank would be entitled to the information requested in the letter below is if a Judge ordered the customer to disclose it.

My final point and it's totally hypothetical as it doesn't apply to this case – but, if a bank sends a letter to someone who they know has died, demanding money and stating how much interest is accruing and the person receiving the letter (for obvious reasons) doesn't reply, how many years is this interest likely to go on accruing? There's a thought. I'm not saying banks do this – I have no idea – but if they were, this would be a very lucrative way of making money out of customers even after they've died. Just saying!
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Many thanks to James Glanville for sharing this with us – we've heard lots about 'ambulance chasers' but 'coffin chasers' is a new one. Yet again, shame on you RBS.