Bank mistakenly reports man deceased

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - A local man is fighting to prove he's alive.

A workplace injury caused David Poole to retire from his job, and take Social Security Disability. Somehow someone at his bank must have thought his condition was fatal because his monthly benefit went missing from his account.

"They says well there's good news, bad news - your money is there, but you are dead," Poole said.

That is what officials at Bank of America told him, when he asked about his account. The largest bank in the country declared him deceased, and sent his money back to Social Security. Bank officials then drafted a letter, admitting their error. But how did it happen?

Poole explained, "Their computer said that they had my death certificate. I says, how did that happen? It has to be typed in - yes, death certificate shown. They told me, no, nobody typed it in, the computer did it by itself."

So Poole got his benefits straightened out, but the next month - another glitch, this time he went to the bank and found out Social Security coded him deceased.

"And they called Social Security saying 'Well he is sitting here, where is his money?' Oh, he somehow was coded in our computer system as being deceased," Poole said.

He then went back to the Social Security office, and they promised to straighten things out, again. So how does it feel to have the U.S. government, and the largest bank in the country say you are dead?

"People have actually laughed and thought it is really a funny joke. It's not, it is not very funny at all," Poole said.

On Thursday, Poole finally got his monthly benefit - two weeks late - from Social Security.