Olathe couple denied thousands from retirement account after bank changes hands
OLATHE, Kan. (KCTV) - At some point in our adult lives, we all begin saving for retirement. Financial experts say – the earlier the better.
One Olathe couple did exactly that, but now that it’s time to cash out their savings, it’s not going as planned.
Forty-two years ago, a young Roy Holliday said he made an initial investment toward retirement.
“$1,500 probably doesn’t sound like a lot of money today, but it was to us then,” he said. “And it was the first substantial effort I made in a retirement program for my wife and myself.”
He used that $1,500 to buy an Individual Retirement Account Certificate Deposit (IRA CD) at Patrons State Bank & Trust of Olathe on June 11, 1981. An IRA CD is a lower-risk retirement account.
Fast forward to 2024. Roy thought his $1,500, at 12% interest, had grown to more than $200,000. It was time to cash it out.
“My wife has had some physical problems,” he said. “We’ve been looking to make some modifications to our home for her limited mobility.”
So Roy went to the bank, now owned by Bank of America. A bank worker said there was no record of Holliday’s IRA CD and he should contact the abandoned property department with the State of Kansas.
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Roy contacted the state, but was also told it had no record of the bank abandoning his investment.
He returned to Bank of America. Roy said the bank went as far as to tell Roy to file a lawsuit. That’s exactly what he did.
Couple sues over missing IRA CD account by heidikctv5 on Scribd
The bank filed a countersuit denying Roy that his money didn’t exist.
Bank of America Lawsuit by heidikctv5 on Scribd
“They‘ve chosen to take the position that they can’t find it, can‘t do anything about it, and are forcing Mr. Holliday to go to court,” David Adams, Holliday’s attorney, said.
And until then, Roy’s money is stuck.
“We have the original certificate,” Holliday said. “They’ve acknowledged it’s valid, they’ve acknowledged it was issued, they’ve acknowledged I paid the money for it and that they had a contractual agreement – yet they refuse to pay me.”
Adams said in all his years as an attorney, he had never heard of anything like this.
A request for comment from Bank of America has not been returned.
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