A retired Flint Township couple is still searching for their retirement money more than a year after ABC12 first told their story.
FLINT TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WJRT) – A retired Flint Township couple is still searching for their retirement money more than a year after ABC12 first told their story.
In 1986, James and Barbara Hollins deposited $2,000 each into two Certificate of Deposit accounts with Citizens Bank.
James worked for the city of Detroit, and Barbara retired after 33 years with Flint schools.
“I got the documents here; these are both documents when we opened up, and we gave Citizens $4,000 for the accounts,” James said.
The paperwork shows the CDs, the interest rate of 7.5%, and Citizens Commercial and Savings Bank at the top of the document. In 2013, Citizens became FirstMerit Bank, and Huntington Bankshares completed the acquisition of FirstMerit in 2016.
“Huntington’s explanation is, they just can’t find these accounts, and legally, federally, they are responsible,” Hollins said.
Forty years after the accounts were opened, Hollins believes the CDs would be worth significantly more now.
“Right now both of those accounts would be $80,000, about $40,000 a piece,” Hollins said.
The couple has contacted several state and federal agencies, but they don’t hear back, or they’re told the agencies can’t help.
“These are all the documents that I have been sending to people, all of these, I kept record of it,” Hollins said. “Seven agencies and nobody seems to want to do anything.”
ABC12 has been emailing Huntington, and at first, the company said they were looking into the matter, but recent emails have gone unanswered. Hollins has been told to search Michigan’s Unclaimed Property website, but the CDs are not there.
“I can’t believe I am the only situation; there must be other people that this must have happened to and they gave up, but I don’t want to give up,” Hollins said.
“Retirement is supposed to be your golden years; this is not golden,” Hollins said.
ABC12 also reached out to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insures deposits, but has not heard back.