What to do when a TruWest CU account holder dies

Under Section 2, the interest in an individual account passes, subject to applicable law, to the owner's estate or to the payable-on-death or account trust beneficiary.¹

Under Section 3, a joint account includes rights of survivorship unless the Account Card or online application states otherwise, so the balance passes to the surviving owners.¹

Without survivorship, the deceased owner's interest in a joint account passes to the estate.¹

Under Section 5, the account is payable, when the last owner dies, to the named and surviving beneficiaries. When more than one survives, they take equal shares without survivorship unless state law or a documented TruWest arrangement provides otherwise.¹

An IRA passes under its separate IRA beneficiary designation, not under Section 5 of the Membership & Account Agreement.¹

Section 5 does not apply to an account held in the name of a trust created by a trust agreement.¹

TruWest's TruCourtesy Pay overdraft program is not available on an account maintained on behalf of a deceased member or the member's estate.¹

At its option, TruWest may end a savings certificate early without the early withdrawal penalty when any certificate owner dies.²

TruWest's Consumer Credit Card Agreement makes the cardholder's death a default.³

Section 33 of the Membership & Account Agreement lets TruWest honor transfer orders, withdrawals, deposits and other transactions until it knows of the member's death.¹

Even after it knows of the death, TruWest may keep paying checks and honoring other payment or transfer orders on the account for ten days after the death, unless a person claiming an interest in the account instructs it to stop payment.¹

Under Section 22, if the member owed TruWest money as a borrower, guarantor, endorser or otherwise, TruWest has a statutory lien on the funds in any account in which the member had an ownership interest, regardless of the source of the funds, unless prohibited by law.¹

Under Section 3, a surviving joint owner's interest is subject to the statutory lien for the deceased owner's obligations, even if the surviving owner did not consent to it.¹

The Consumer Credit Card Agreement gives TruWest a security interest in the cardholder's individual and joint share and deposit accounts (other than IRAs), which it may apply to the card balance on default.³

Under Section 33, to the extent permitted by law, TruWest may require anyone claiming funds from a deceased owner's account to indemnify it for losses it sustains by honoring that claim. The agreement binds the heirs and legal representatives of any account owner.¹

Under Section 3, if TruWest receives written notice of a dispute between owners, it may suspend the account and require a court order or the written consent of all owners before acting.¹

The Rate and Fee Schedule charges $30.00 for a stop payment on a check or ACH and $30.00 for an electronic payment stop payment.⁴

An inactive membership is charged $5.00 per month after 24 consecutive months with no activity. An account presumed abandoned under state law is remitted to the state, after which the funds are reclaimed from the state agency; the unclaimed property processing fee is $50.00.^{1, 4}