Yes, your bank may discontinue mailing out the account statements for both customers. You are not required to continue mailing periodic statements when they repeatedly are being returned as undeliverable. In fact, it is advisable to discontinue mailing periodic statements to a customer that you know or believe is dead or to an address that you know is incorrect, in order to prevent the statements containing personal financial information from falling into the wrong hands.
You should retain copies of all subsequent account statements for both customers until an executor, administrator, trustee or other appropriate representative of the deceased customer requests the information. In addition, for the customer whose death is unconfirmed, we recommend monitoring that customer’s account for other activities, such as debit card transactions, which could be fraudulent. The Interagency Guidelines on Identity Theft Detection, Prevention, and Mitigation note that a pattern of returned mail could be a red flag for fraudulent activity.
We also note that under the Uniform Commercial Code, customers have a duty to report unauthorized transactions with reasonable promptness, which is measured from the time that your institution “sends or makes available” an account statement to the customer. For this reason, some deposit account agreements provide that when a customer’s mail is returned as undeliverable, the bank will discontinue mailing statements and will consider statements to be “made available” to the customer on the day that the account statement is generated.
For resources related to our guidance, please see:
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Illinois Banking Act, 205 ILCS 5/48.1(a)(2) (Customer information protected by the Illinois Banking Act’s privacy requirements includes “a statement, ledger card or other record on any deposit or account, which shows each transaction in or with respect to that account.”)
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Regulation P, 12 CFR 1016.3(q)(2)(i) (Customer information protected by Regulation P’s privacy requirements includes “(B) Account balance information, payment history . . . (C) The fact that an individual is or has been one of your customers . . . .”)
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Regulation V, Appendix J Interagency Guidelines on Identity Theft Detection, Prevention, and Mitigation (“23. Mail sent to the customer is returned repeatedly as undeliverable although transactions continue to be conducted in connection with the customer's covered account.”)
- Illinois UCC, 810 ILCS 5/4-406(c) (If a bank sends or makes available a statement of account or items . . . the customer must exercise reasonable promptness in examining the statement or the items to determine whether any payment was not authorized. . . )