Family is Unhappy with Bank but is Prohibited from Changing Banks.

Be careful of agreements that you sign with banks. This family is being held hostage by a bank that made the beneficiaries sign an agreement that required all 94 of them to agree prior to moving their money to another bank.

The Tompkins family had been customers of Riggs Bank for nearly 50 years when a money-laundering scandal at the Washington lender prompted them to take their business elsewhere (to Chevy Chase Bank)….The family blames Chevy Chase for poor investment returns, among other things. They can’t move the accounts, now worth $100 million or so, because of a fundamental error they made seven years ago when signing up with Chevy Chase: They failed to read the fine print. In their haste to flee Riggs, which was eventually sold to another bank, the family signed an unusual agreement that prohibits it from pulling the money from Chevy Chase unless all 94 family members who are beneficiaries of the trust agree. Having failed to secure familial unanimity, 10 of the grandchildren are now suing Chevy Chase Trust for the right to pull the funds.