Guidance and support during bereavement

When you’re ready, let us know what’s happened

Email us at customerservices@thisbank.co.uk with the name of your loved one and their account number (if possible).

Once we get your email, we’ll ensure their account is locked, meaning that no transactions can be made by us or anyone accessing the account.

If they had a loan account, any direct debits would be stopped. For deposit accounts, the balance will keep earning interest during this period.

This helps make sure that all the right steps are taken to help everyone follow the wishes in the will of your loved one.

We’ll be in touch with next steps

We’ll then send you an acknowledgement email with a case reference number, which will include a copy of our account closure form.

Documents we’ll need from you:

Once we send you the account closure form and the case reference number, we walk you through some of the documents we will need. Below is a list of likely documents we may need – should you wish to prepare them in advance.

1. Your loved one’s death certificate
2. The loved ones signed will or Grant of Letters of Administration (certified copy), naming the executor
3. The executor’s identity document showing their signature, such as a passport or driver’s licence,
4. A Grant of Probate, for a savings account holding more than £1000 – for lesser amounts a Grant of Probate isn’t required.
5. Proof of address of the Executor – in the form of an official letter (such as bank account statement)
6. The completed account closure form, signed by the Executor, which should tell us the nominated account number where any amount should be transferred for execution of the will.

We’ll send you a confirmation email and follow up with any more questions or requests when we’ve received these documents.

What happens after we get all the documents?

If they had a deposit account

• For deposit accounts, we’ll review and approve payment of the full balance of the account (plus interest that has accrued until the day that the account is closed). We’ll deposit it into the account nominated in the account closure form and then close the account.

If they had a loan

• For loans, we’ll give all necessary documentation to the Executor so that the remaining balance can be settled from the estate, and the estate wound up. This process can take some time, but we’ll stay in touch with the Executor until it all finished.

We know what a difficult time this can be.

We genuinely want to help and make this process as easy as possible for you. That’s why we will try and go the extra mile by covering reasonable funeral costs directly from the account of the person who has passed away once we receive an invoice or a paid bill.

We can also pay Inheritance Tax straight to HMRC on your behalf – so you can focus on what matters. Once the people managing the estate send us the completed tax form and documents, we’ll check them and then make the payment from the account.