Archive Notes: This is an English translation and rewritten version of a blog post originally published in Japanese on October 8, 2019. [Japanese version]
Despite the gloomy, uncertain weather, I took my elderly father to the bank.
I simply couldn’t wait another single day.
After all, my father is 89 years old. It wouldn’t be surprising if something happened to him at any given moment.
I knew that if he had any fixed term deposits under his name, we needed to cancel them immediately and transfer the funds into a standard savings account—one that could be easily accessed using a debit card. Otherwise, we would be facing huge trouble down the line.
Our first stop was Mitsubishi UFJ Bank for his installment savings account.
It turned out that every month, funds were automatically flowing from an account under my father’s name into a savings account registered under my mother’s name. I negotiated with the bank to see if we could at least transfer those funds back into my father’s own account, but they refused.
Even though the money originally belonged to my father, he couldn’t withdraw even a single yen from that account!
Does a ridiculous system like this even make sense? If that’s the case, they shouldn’t have let them set up a contract that automatically funnels money into an account under a different name in the first place—especially without clear, conscious consent.
Still, we were at least able to stop the automatic monthly transfer from my father’s account to my mother’s. Since the 15th was the scheduled transfer date, I’m just relieved we caught it in time to stop this month’s payment.
Next, we headed to Kansai Mirai Bank.
There was a fixed term deposit under my father’s name there (which my mother had opened on her own in the past). We cancelled it on the spot and had the funds deposited straight into his standard savings account. Since my father was physically present at the counter, the procedure went smoothly without any issues.
I’ll say it again and again:
What is the point of putting money into a fixed term deposit nowadays?
In this era of super-low interest rates, if something happens to you and you lose the ability to express your intentions, you won’t be able to withdraw a single yen.
Money that was meant to be used for your own care and comfort becomes completely untouchable. And in the end, it only leaves a painful, complicated burden for the family left behind.
If you or your parents have fixed term deposits, you should cancel them as soon as possible!
Do it for your family, and most importantly, do it for yourself.
