Contacting us is just one of many things you’ve got to think about, so we promise to try and make the process as quick and easy as possible for you when you’re ready to get in touch.

Below, we’ve explained exactly how the process works once you’ve let us know that a loved one has passed away. We’ve also included some FAQs that you might find useful. Information on where you can get extra support can be found here.

Notifying us

Contacting us is just one of many things you've got to think about, so we promise to try and the process as quick and easy as possible for when you're ready to get in touch.

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    Let us know

    One of the first things to do is tell us. We'll let you know exactly what information we'll need and walk you through the process.

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    Making changes

    We'll need to make changes to the person's account and we'll ask for some information, like a death certificate, to help us do that.

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    Security checks

    Depending on the amount of money that's in the account, we might need to do some extra checks - like seeing the grant of probate. We'll let you know straight away if we need to see this.

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    Releasing money

    You can use money straight from the account to cover expenses like the funeral, or inheritance tax. You'll then let us know where we should pay the rest of the money

Additional Permitted Subscription (APS) ISA transfers

What is an APS allowance?

An Additional Permitted Subscription (APS) allowance is an extra, one-off ISA allowance available to the surviving spouse or civil partner of someone who has died. It allows you to retain the tax-free benefits associated with your late partner’s ISA, even if you do not inherit the actual funds. An APS is not a direct transfer of assets but an allowance that can be used in the surviving partner’s ISA. The allowance is normally based on the value of your late spouses’ or civil partner’s ISA savings, in line with HMRC’s rules.

Transferring an APS allowance

If you’re transferring an Additional Permitted Subscription (APS) ISA allowance with Hodge, please note that we can’t transfer the funds directly to another ISA provider.

However, we can facilitate the transfer of your APS allowance. To do this, the account will first need to be closed and the funds repaid.

Once this has been completed, you should contact your chosen ISA provider and let them know you wish to transfer your APS allowance. They’ll then contact us to request a valuation of the account and arrange the transfer of the APS allowance.

For further APS guidance, such as eligibility and time limits, visit Gov.UK. We recommend speaking with a tax advisor or HMRC for detailed guidance.

If you’d like to discuss this further, or if there’s anything else we can help with, please contact our Customer Service team by email at [email protected] or call us on 0800 028 3746. We’re here Monday to Friday, 9am–5pm, excluding bank holidays and between 9am and 10am on Tuesdays for staff training.

Bereavement support

This guide gives you practical information on how to notify and confirm a death, what happens to someone’s Hodge accounts when they die, what you’ll need to do if you are required to redeem a mortgage, access savings and where to get support.

We also understand that organising these issues may be stressful. So if you’d like to talk to someone to help you through the steps you need to take, have a look at the ‘contact us’ page at the end of this leaflet.

Get in touch with our savings team

When you’re ready to let us know let us know about your loved ones passing, you can get in touch with our team who’ll guide you through the process of what happens to a savings account when someone dies and the next steps. You can choose whether to call us on 0800 028 3746, or email us below – it’s completely up to you.

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Emotional and mental health support

There are various organisations available to help support you and your family with your emotional and mental needs following a bereavement.

Cruse Bereavement Care

Help with understanding and coping with grief following the death of someone close.

The Samaritans

A completely confidential service offering support for any type of emotional distress.

Child Bereavement UK

Information, training and specialised support for when a child dies or a child is bereaved.

Age UK

Free help and advice from the UK’s largest charity dedicated to helping people make the most of later life.

Widowed and Young

Support group for young, widowed men and women across the UK, married or not, with children or without.

Financial support

Sometimes unexpected events like bereavement can leave you struggling financially. So we’ve made a guide for when your money doesn’t seem to stretch far enough.

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FAQs

Our friendly team are here to help make the process of closing an account as smooth as possible. For more support, find answers to some of the most commonly asked questions

You can learn more about inheritance tax and what to do if someone has passed away on the HMRC website

Usually, the executor or personal representative can access a bank account when someone dies. This person may need to obtain probate or letters of administration to be able to access the account, depending on the bank’s process and the account balance.

If you think the person held an account with Hodge and you’re the executor of their estate, you can get in touch with us and we’ll carry out some checks to find their information. You’ll need their death certificate, address, date of birth and National Insurance Number.

If their accounts weren’t with Hodge, you can use online services to try to find their accounts, such as My Lost Account or The Death Notification Service.

In most cases, the money from the joint bank account will go to the surviving joint account holder. They can take ownership of the bank account and the money in it. The surviving joint account holder will need to contact their bank to let them know what’s happened.

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