SAN DIEGO — A local Navy veteran is fighting to regain his identity after his bank declared him dead.
"If they say you're dead and they send out that information, you're dead, you're cut off. I'm cut off from life," said the 61-year-old, who wants to remain anonymous.
The La Mesa man envisioned having a peaceful retirement life. Instead, he says the past five years have been a living nightmare all because of his mistaken death.
"I can't get a car, I can get a loan, I can't open up any other accounts," he said. "I can't buy a house, I can't do anything."
In 2019, he was living in Mexico while recovering from cancer surgery when he claims his Bank of America ATM card suddenly stopped working.
“And, I called B of A, and they transferred me to one person who asked me a lot of questions, and then they transferred me to someone else, and the questions became more personal," he said. "And I said, 'What is going on?' And she says, 'We received a phone call that you were deceased,' and I almost fainted."
He told CBS 8 the person on the phone told him his son had called the bank.
He doesn't have a son.
Yet, it was reportedly enough to block his accounts.
"This is the bank. I mean, who declares people dead without a death certificate?" he said.
After a lot of back and forth, he thought the issue had been resolved.
In one letter he showed CBS 8 dated January 2019, Bank of America apologized and assured him the mistake had been corrected.
Yet, days later, their estate department reached out to his so-called estate, requesting a death certificate.
Thousands inaccurately reported dead every year
"There's approximately 12,000 people inaccurately reported as deceased every year,” said David Chami, the managing partner with Consumer Attorneys PLC.
While Chami did not work on this case, CBS 8 asked him what’s to blame when these things happen.
He said sometimes it's human error, or revenge, when someone reports your death knowing it could ruin your life.
Something it's not: identity fraud.
"There's no benefit in telling the bank that someone is dead if you're trying to steal their identity. If you're trying to steal their identity, you don't want them dead, because then their credit will get shut down," said Chami.
Chami suggests if this happens to you, contact the Social Security Administration as well as an attorney.
The man in this story did both, and last year reached an agreement with Bank of America to get his accounts back, which he says contain an estimated $8,000.
That has yet to happen.
CBS 8 reached out to Bank of America. A spokesperson said:
“Five years ago, someone incorrectly notified us that Mr. (redacted) was deceased. We promptly corrected the error, and we resolved adverse credit reporting to the four credit reporting bureaus, as promised. We’ve communicated with our client and continue to address any questions they may have.”
CBS 8 emailed back asking if they plan to follow up, which they say they will.