5.14.2008
The latest on the fake mutual fund....
I realized that I hadn't updated the 'mutual fund' that I was helping my FIL sort out and decided to do a quick recap on that little fiasco as well.
Some of you might remember already but I'll recap quickly... My FIL came to visit 2 weeks ago and while he was here mentioned to me that perhaps I could help with something. Oh boy.... Sure enough, it's a doozy but then again it always is with him. I swear he has "sucker" tattooed on his forehead.
"Well, back in 1990 I saw an ad in a magazine that AARP would open a mutual fund through Scudders Investments so I wrote a thousand dollar check out to AARP and sent it to them at their main address in the mail. You know, I never heard back from them. I know they cashed it though because I got the canceled check in the mail about a month later!"
And yes, after questioning further, it seems that my FIL really did mail off a check to AARP, 18 years ago and never questioned that they or Scudders never sent him his mutual fund information nor contacted him over the last (almost) two decades. But suddenly he says he wants to check on that mutual fund and see if it's worth anything today.
He wrote to the main regional office of the AARP about 10 months ago and never heard a word back from them and never attempted to contact them again as he was waiting for them to respond to his one letter.
Well, let's speed this up a little, shall we? So I emailed AARP last week with a quick explanation and about 4 or 5 days later I got a response saying AARP had cut ties with Scudders in 2005 and all accounts that were opened before 1/1/06 have to go through Scudders; and she gave me their contact info.
SO! I had a mailing address and phone number to pass on to my FIL but I'm not sure he's going to get anywhere. I mean... really! He wrote a check out for $1,000 to AARP and sent it to them out of the blue! They cashed it and probably put it into their general fund! I mean, seriously, who wouldn't call after a month when they didn't get any mutual fund paperwork in the mail!? And to wait 17 years believing you have a mutual fund that doesn't even exist? Oh gracious.
But... we'll see. I can only do 'so much' to help with privacy laws and legalities being what they are but also - my FIL is not feeble minded and is completely coherent so legally he is on his own to work this out (except if we do the three way calling thing... which isn't needed quite yet).
Anyway - so this fake mutual fund he thinks he has, at least I got the Scudders info for him. I'll let you know if they take pity on him and give him back his thousand bucks after almost 2 decades.
Some of you might remember already but I'll recap quickly... My FIL came to visit 2 weeks ago and while he was here mentioned to me that perhaps I could help with something. Oh boy.... Sure enough, it's a doozy but then again it always is with him. I swear he has "sucker" tattooed on his forehead.
"Well, back in 1990 I saw an ad in a magazine that AARP would open a mutual fund through Scudders Investments so I wrote a thousand dollar check out to AARP and sent it to them at their main address in the mail. You know, I never heard back from them. I know they cashed it though because I got the canceled check in the mail about a month later!"
And yes, after questioning further, it seems that my FIL really did mail off a check to AARP, 18 years ago and never questioned that they or Scudders never sent him his mutual fund information nor contacted him over the last (almost) two decades. But suddenly he says he wants to check on that mutual fund and see if it's worth anything today.
He wrote to the main regional office of the AARP about 10 months ago and never heard a word back from them and never attempted to contact them again as he was waiting for them to respond to his one letter.
Well, let's speed this up a little, shall we? So I emailed AARP last week with a quick explanation and about 4 or 5 days later I got a response saying AARP had cut ties with Scudders in 2005 and all accounts that were opened before 1/1/06 have to go through Scudders; and she gave me their contact info.
SO! I had a mailing address and phone number to pass on to my FIL but I'm not sure he's going to get anywhere. I mean... really! He wrote a check out for $1,000 to AARP and sent it to them out of the blue! They cashed it and probably put it into their general fund! I mean, seriously, who wouldn't call after a month when they didn't get any mutual fund paperwork in the mail!? And to wait 17 years believing you have a mutual fund that doesn't even exist? Oh gracious.
But... we'll see. I can only do 'so much' to help with privacy laws and legalities being what they are but also - my FIL is not feeble minded and is completely coherent so legally he is on his own to work this out (except if we do the three way calling thing... which isn't needed quite yet).
Anyway - so this fake mutual fund he thinks he has, at least I got the Scudders info for him. I'll let you know if they take pity on him and give him back his thousand bucks after almost 2 decades.
Stumble It please!
