What to do when a Yotta account holder dies
Report the death to Yotta's Customer Support at 1-844-945-3449
Yotta is no longer operatingNo longer operating, effective May 2024
Yotta's savings and debit accounts stopped working in May 2024, when Evolve Bank & Trust halted payment processing for Synapse Brokerage, the firm that held Yotta customer accounts. Yotta now offers sweepstakes games, not deposit accounts, and there is no successor deposit institution. Balances are returned by the partner banks that hold the funds, and the CFPB has set aside Civil Penalty Fund money for consumers harmed in the Synapse bankruptcy.
When an account holder at Yotta passes away, the next step depends on how the accounts were set up. Accounts with beneficiary designations or trust ownership transfer outside of probate. Accounts titled solely in the deceased's name require the estate's legal representative to work with Yotta's Customer Support (1-844-945-3449) to access and distribute the funds.
Before contacting Yotta, have the account holder's full name, date of birth, and any available account numbers ready.
Death claim process
The death claim process at Yotta works as follows:
Filing a claim
- Evolve calculates each Synapse Brokerage end user's balance and pays out the funds it holds through reconciliationbyevolve.com.
- An end user logs in there with a Claimant ID and the last four digits of their SSN.
- Evolve's reconciliation call center is 877-873-0008, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT, Monday through Friday.
- Evolve's figures can be appealed through the appeal page on reconciliationbyevolve.com.
Required Documents
- Written notice of the death, from the estate representative or a survivorThe Synapse Brokerage customer agreement requires it to be given to the broker.
- Papers and inheritance or estate tax waivers, if the broker asks for them
- Additional documentation to confirm a claim on the account, if the bank asks for it
What happens to each kind of account1
- Payable-on-death account
Yotta's account agreement does not allow payable-on-death or in-trust-for titling.1
Accounts handled elsewhere2
- Synapse Brokerage LLC
Held Yotta customer accounts from October 2023 and takes written notice of a death2, 3
- Evolve Bank & Trust
Calculates each Synapse Brokerage end user's balance and pays out the funds it holds4
Phone: 1-877-873-0008
Hours: Monday-Friday 8:00 AM-5:00 PM CT
What Yotta provides to the estate1
- Statement copies
Yotta sends California customers who had a positive cash balance on May 17, 2024 their May 2024 account statement. Questions about that statement go to support@withyotta.com.5
What Yotta's agreement and guidance say3
- Telling the institution
The Synapse Brokerage customer agreement says that on the account holder's death "the representative of Your estate or the survivor or survivors shall immediately give the Broker written notice thereof".2
- What it does when notified
The broker may require papers and inheritance or estate tax waivers, and may keep part of the account or restrict transactions in it, before or after it receives notice. It may close the account without waiting for a personal representative to be appointed.2
- Payments after the death
Evolve Bank & Trust may keep processing transactions on the account until it is notified of the death, and may pay transactions made on or before the date of death for up to ten days afterward.1
Not in Yotta's published guidance1
- A procedure for reporting a death
Sources5
- 1.Deposit Agreement (Evolve Bank & Trust / Synapse Consumer Interest Checking Account Agreement), Last Revised: May 2023
- 2.Synapse Brokerage LLC Customer Agreement
- 3.Yotta payment processing updates (status page)
- 4.Evolve Bank & Trust media release on returning Synapse Brokerage end-user funds
- 5.Yotta California notice
Yotta's Customer Support can be reached by phone at 1-844-945-3449 and email at support@withyotta.com for questions throughout the claims process.
Sources
Show 2 more sourcesShow fewer sources
Data sourced from Yotta primary sources (14 pages reviewed). How we research.
Yotta death claims support
Customer Support
Phone
Evolve Bank & Trust reconciliation call center
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Federal Reserve (complaints about Evolve Bank & Trust)
Website
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