Dear Editor:
Watch out for your parents!
Who would give a 92-year-old with a negative balance in her bank account a $5,000 line of credit? Especially when the only income showing in her account is Canada CPP and Canada OAS. How did they suppose she could pay it back?
I receive a call from my mother recently. She was concerned that maybe she signed something she shouldn’t have. I asked her where did she sign this paper? After my mother tells me it was at the bank, I start to relax a little. How much trouble could she get in at a bank?
Then I learn it was a $5,000 line of credit at 8.24%. But why would my mother need this? She doesn’t spend that much.
Because I have joint ownership on the account, I immediately looked at her recent transactions. The bank, with my mother’s permission, moved $1,800 into someone else’s account. Even though I am joint owner on the account, the bank won’t tell me who they moved the money to. According to the bank manager it would violate some privacy law to tell me.
The bottom line here is: who would give a 92-year-old with a negative balance in their bank account and with no ability to pay it back a $5,000 line of credit?
Isn’t that crazy?
Joyce Reimer,
Elora