Bhuepndra Narsey, 64, and his wife Alina said they donated $10,000 to their retirement savings plan (RSP) through the Canada Trust in 1994 . The fund merged with The Toronto-Dominion Bank in 2000.

They said that after they left Canada and moved to New Zealand in 1996, they paid little attention to RSP accounts. They were engineer Bhupendra working here.

In July last year, the retiring couple contacted the bank and found that they could not find their RSP.

“How can they lose money? I mean, this is our money, they just don’t know what happened,” Alina Narsey told CBC News.

“The bank should take care of our money and keep it until we want to withdraw it.”

TD denied any wrongdoing, saying that the couple must have obtained bank permission to transfer the relevant RSP to another financial institution more than 20 years ago.

TD said the customer transferred the RSP, but did not know where

Narseys showed that the CBC News of the bank’s internal ombudsman’s office informed them that TD had transferred its retirement savings plan (RSP) to another financial institution, and they believed the current retirement savings plan (RSP) It is now worth about $32,000.

The letter stated that the bank’s limited records indicated that the transfer occurred in February and March 1995.

However, the Transport Department no longer has a record of where the retirement savings plan was sent, nor can it provide documents showing that the couple requested a transfer of investment.

“Based on my review of the facts, TD does not seem to have the specific details of the RSP transfer, because TD will not keep records from 25 years ago,” TD’s Rebecca Seaman said in an email to Narcis. Assistant Ombudsman.

“According to applicable provincial laws, the Transportation Department will keep RSP account records for seven years.”

Bhupendra Narsey stated that neither he nor his wife authorized TD to transfer its RSP, which is necessary to transfer investments elsewhere.

He said: “We did not cash the cash and did not transfer them. They are still in the hands of Canada Trust.”

Narseys also has RSP accounts with Scotiabank and Bank of Montreal. Naxi said that neither bank has a record of receiving RSP remittances from Canadian Trust Bank.

His wife said: “This is our money. This is hard-earned cash.”

CRA has no record of RSP redemption

The couple also showed a CBC newsletter from the Canada Revenue Agency, indicating that it has no records of RRSP redemption or taxation.

Whenever a customer redeems an RRSP, Canadian financial institutions are obliged to report to the institution because the recipient is required to pay federal taxes on these funds.

The couple provided CBC News with a copy of the receipt given to them by the Canadian Trust for their donation in 1994, as well as the corresponding tax return that recorded the donation.

Together they deposited $9,219.00.

Fiona Hirst, senior manager of corporate and public affairs at TD, said in a statement to CBC News that Naxi’s RSP account was closed 26 years ago.

She wrote to CBC News: “We take the concerns of our customers very seriously. After completing a thorough investigation of the latest information, we were able to find statements indicating that these accounts were closed and the funds were transferred out in 1995.”

“The annual report on the transfer should have been sent to the Naxi couple in early 1996 before they moved overseas.”

The Naxi people said they have never received any such declarations.

They were dissatisfied with the results of TD’s investigation and escalated the complaint to the ADR Chambers Bank Ombudsman Office (ADRBO).

This is a regulated private bank regulated by banks, which is responsible for mediating complaints from customers of its member banks, including the TD Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, Royal Bank of Canada, National Bank of Canada and Digital Commercial Bank.

ADRBO declined to investigate, partly because of lack of bank records.

It also accused the Naxi people of not having better control over their investments.

“We noticed that you have not monitored RRSP for 26 years; we found that the bank is not responsible for paying you the amount of these RRSPs because (a) you have not fulfilled the obligation to monitor and track your own account, and (b) the bank has retained 26 Years’ records,” ADRBO’s Ombudsman Kayla Albin told the couple in a letter dated April 27.

Bhupendra Narsey admitted that he could have followed his TD RSP closely. However, he believes they are safe in a reputable Canadian banking institution.

Although the “Naxi couple” stated that the money would not make or destroy the couple’s retirement life, they did want to know where the money went.

Bhupendra Narsey said: “The RRSP should not be cashed before you are 65. This is my knowledge. The TD Bank should keep these records at all times.”

TD customer sues bank for lack of RSP

Bob Grossman has a similar story. He is now suing TD Canada Trust, hoping to find out where his retirement savings plan is going.

He filed a lawsuit in March, claiming that the bank lost his current pension worth $104,622.37.

Grossman, a 35-year client of Canada Trust, and then TD, also hopes to receive punitive damages of $50,000.

The lawsuit claims a breach of trust, negligence and breach of fiduciary duties, but it has not yet been tested in court.

Grossman declined an interview request for the lawsuit, but contacted CBC News for the first time last year.

CBC News reviewed bank and tax documents and showed that Grossman had donated $37,956.64 to his Canada Trust RSP in 1996. In 2019, when he was approaching retirement, he asked about his retirement savings plan (RSP) only to be told that he had retired.

Grossman’s statement of claim said: “The bank has fiduciary responsibility to Bob to ensure that Bob always knows his investment status, but it failed to do so.”

Grossman admitted that he did not regularly check the status of his RSP, but “has the right to believe that his investment is safe,” the lawsuit states.

“Because of not funding Bob in Bob’s retirement savings plan, the bank will unreasonably benefit from Bob’s hard work and funding.”

In its defense statement, the Transport Department denied the loss of Grossman’s money. The bank claimed that the money was withdrawn on June 29, 2000.

TD said: “After he was removed, RSP was closed.”

“The Transport Department denies [Grossman] Suffered any alleged damage. “The court document said.

Grossman claimed that he never made any withdrawals, and the CRA never taxed the withdrawals.

No independent watchdog

Duff Conacher, co-founder of the accountability organization Democracy Watch, said that bank customers should check their investments at least once a year.

But he also questioned the TD’s ability to only find certain records related to the controversial and suspicious RSP.

“Let the bank say,’We know we have transferred, but we did not record its location, which raises the question of how they know they transferred it. If they have a record, they should also have a place to record the transfer.” He told CBC News.

Conacher said that most major Canadian banks avoid accountability by essentially maintaining vigilance when handling consumer complaints.

In 2015, the federal government allowed some banks to opt out of the publicly funded independent dispute resolution system and use ADRBO funded by a number of banks, including The Toronto-Dominion Bank.

Konach said: “Consumers need an independent regulatory agency to supervise. This is not the bank’s choice, and it is obviously not the consumer’s choice. Moreover, this person needs to be in the middle and has an independent understanding of each situation.