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Beware of smartypig.com! Lawyers can compound a tragedy.
There is no right of survivorship on smartypig.com co-owner accounts. This is crazy. People do die. Accidents happen. Customers need to be able to give a co-owner the right to receive the money from our account in the event of our death or incapacity.
I was told over the phone that accounts could never be truly joint accounts because of the gift cards option when an account is closed--that a card couldn't be joint. But that could be easily solved at the time an account is opened by making co-owners with right of survivorship designate one person to put on the gift card when the account is closed if they choose to have their money put on a card rather than returned to them.
Who can afford to put any substantial sum of money into a smartypig.com account without right of survivorship? If the worst happens, whatever money you have will go to pay a lawyer to get your money out of smartypig.com while smartypig.com hangs on to your money for months or years. Guess that makes the people who established smartypig.com the really smart pigs.
Come on smartypig.com, do the right thing. Give us right of survivorship on our accounts so that lawyers do not compound a tragedy!
I was told over the phone that accounts could never be truly joint accounts because of the gift cards option when an account is closed--that a card couldn't be joint. But that could be easily solved at the time an account is opened by making co-owners with right of survivorship designate one person to put on the gift card when the account is closed if they choose to have their money put on a card rather than returned to them.
Who can afford to put any substantial sum of money into a smartypig.com account without right of survivorship? If the worst happens, whatever money you have will go to pay a lawyer to get your money out of smartypig.com while smartypig.com hangs on to your money for months or years. Guess that makes the people who established smartypig.com the really smart pigs.
Come on smartypig.com, do the right thing. Give us right of survivorship on our accounts so that lawyers do not compound a tragedy!
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Inappropriate?@Hap,
Thank you for your post and we do appreciate your feedback. Your post was passed on to the CFO of our banking partner, West Bank, and he has responded as follows:
“Because of online verification procedures, West Bank and SmartyPig made a policy decision that accounts would only have one owner. In addition, we made a policy decision to exclude a POD (pay on death) provision because each decedent’s account must be addressed on a case-by-case and state-by-state basis. SmartyPig and West Bank will work closely with the estate of any decedent to make sure the account is distributed in the proper legal manner on a timely basis.”
If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the SmartyPig Customer Support Team at 888-567-6278, or at support(at)smartypig(dot)com. Thanks, John2 Comments
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I understand your words, John, but I do not accept the reasoning--"case by case" and "state by state" and "proper legal manner on a timely basis" all add up to delays in distribution of funds and the probable involvement of lawyers in the midst of a tragedy.
No brick and mortar bank and very few reputable online banks take this slow & costly approach to dealing with the death or incapacity of a client, why should smartypig.com? After discovering that smartypig.com (a subsidiary of West Bank) did not allow for POD beneficiaries or true right of survivorship, I started researching online banks. I found that Discover Bank online (the banking side of Discover Card) has true joint accounts and POD beneficiaries. (Disclosure: I do NOT work for or benefit in any way by saying anything good about Discover Bank. I'm just looking for professional online banking that pays more interest than my local credit union but offers the same protections--true joint accounts, FDIC insured with a POD beneficiary provision.)
Discover Bank's interest rate is nearly as good as smartypig.com's for online savings, and it feels more like I am dealing with a real bank, rather than a cartoon bank. If smartypig.com wants to be taken seriously as a bank, they need to take their clients' needs and concerns seriously. Solve this problem and your deposits will increase. Refuse to solve it and your clients will "vote with their feet" and look elsewhere. I did! -
SmartyPig should have this feature. I feel less secure knowing that you don't. The online banks I've used allow me to simply add beneficiaries using their name, address, and DOB. West Bank of Iowa has this for their CDs*, and they're the same company!
* http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finan... -
Inappropriate?"West Bank of Iowa has this for their CDs*, and they're the same company"
Good point Nick, but I don't think smartypig.com is listening or cares.
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They've been quite responsive in the past, I'm not giving up hope :)
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Inappropriate?But this question was being asked over a year ago. http://getsatisfaction.com/smartypig/...
Still, I hope that you're right and they are going to make an announcement soon of a change of policy. Fingers crossed.
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Inappropriate?SmartyPig Users,
We have heard your suggestions and feedback asking for the ability to add a beneficiary to your SmartyPig account. We are working as quickly as we can with our banking partner to provide this benefit. Look for this enhancement in the upcoming months.
We will keep you posted on our progress. Thank you for your feedback and suggestions – we are listening!
Thanks,
John2 Comments Add a comment
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That's great! Thanks!
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Sounds like progress. Any idea how many months away this is?
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Inappropriate?This is a big concern of mine as well. PLEASE do not let this drag on; let's get this done ASAP. -
Inappropriate?The glaciers are melting faster than Smartypig is moving to add survivorship benefits.
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Inappropriate?SmartyPig Users,
We are pleased to announce we have added the ability to create a Payable on Death (POD) Account to your SmartyPig Profile. To add a POD account and assign a beneficiary to it, please log into your SmartyPig profile. On the left hand side of the screen, please click “Edit Profile”. Next to Payable On Death (POD) Beneficiary, please click “Add”. Next, enter in the information of your designated beneficiary and confirm the requirements of your beneficiary and click "Save". Please be sure to then click "Save Changes" on the Edit Profile page.
We are very excited to add this new feature for our users, and appreciate all the feedback and suggestions you have provided on this topic.
Thanks,
John
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