After resigning from her job at a major Canadian bank, Saadia Behilil was shocked to receive a statement from the institution addressed to her estate because her status had been changed to “deceased” and her accounts frozen.
The Scarborough, Ont. woman said she left her position at TD Bank last month.
“I gave them a resignation letter for my two weeks and I left the company on good terms,” Behilil explained to CTV Toronto.
Shortly after, Behilil said she was unable to access her bank accounts, stocks, insurance, and other financial records.
“I didn’t know what the issue was,” she said. “I thought they put me as “fired” and I thought ‘Oh my God.’”
Behilil said she contacted her former employer and discovered the bank had changed her employee status to “deceased” instead of “resigned.” As a result, her assets had been frozen.
“I was shocked. I was literally shocked,” she said, recalling her discovery she could no longer access her accounts.
Behilil said she called the bank to explain the error and they told her it would be corrected within one to two business days.
However, weeks went by and Behilil said she still didn’t have control over her finances.
“I feel like I’m dreaming,” she said. “You know when you have a nightmare? That’s what it is.”
TD Bank said it would immediately look into Behilil’s situation after CTV News Toronto contacted them.
“We made an error and sincerely regret and apologize from the inconvenience we caused our former employee, and are making every effort to resolve this as quickly as possible,” the bank said in a statement.
Behilil said she has since been able to access her funds and that her status is no longer listed as deceased.
