A mum says she was left struggling without money for weeks after her bank accidentally registered her dead.
30-year-old Natalie Holdsworth was mistaken for her deceased nan, Eileen Mcvoy, prompting her bank to close her account.
The mum-of-three had been taking care of her nan, whose pension payments were going into Natalies account every month.
But when Ms McEvoy passed away on May 1, 2021, her bank, Halifax, thought it was Natalie who had died.
Natalie told The Sun that she realised the error from the bank on May 17 when her card didn't work at the cash machine at her local Tesco.
“I rang the bank straight away and it asked me to enter my sort code account number and all of that," she said.
“All of a sudden I heard a ringtone. This lady answered the phone and she was like ‘Hi you're through to the bereavement line’.
“I told her who I was and then she said ‘oh I’ve got it down that you passed away on May first’.”
Natalie spent three hours on the phone to bank staff where she tried to explain that it was in fact her nan who had passed away.
Staff then told her that her account would be back up and running - but Natalie claims it took weeks for her new card to arrive and be set up.
Natalie had to get an emergency loan for the council - and had to rely on borrowing from family and friends - to get by.
She also needed to borrow money to help pay the funeral directors for her nan's funeral.
After getting her account back, Natalie tried to seek compensation from Halifax for the distress they caused her - and was offered just £11.
She explained: “When I pushed then he said he could offer me £73.
“I said no that's still not cutting it. I’m not happy with what they had done to me."
Natalie's case was reviewed twice by the Financial Ombudsman and she was paid £1,289 in compensation as a result.
But Natalie believes the amount is still not good enough - and says she now can't take out anything on credit as a result.
A Halifax spokesperson: “We were very sorry to hear of Miss Holdsworth’s loss and understand the distress and inconvenience the issue with her account will have caused at such a difficult time.
"When Miss Holdsworth contacted us, we immediately removed the block and issued a new card which arrived in less than a week, and agreed to cover any costs incurred.
"We also made an additional payment in recognition of her experience.”
