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Bank letter informs Saint John man he's 'dead'

A Saint John man was going through his mail when he found a letter from his bank, telling him he was dead.

"The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has been informed that the above customer has passed away," said Steve Fudge, reading the letter aloud.

"I thought, 'This is not how I want to find out,'" he said with a laugh.

The letter, which was addressed to him, was sent a few days ago as a result of a number of bank errors that began when Fudge was late with a payment on his overdraft account.

Fudge says he thought he was in the clear when he paid up.

But his account was frozen more than once and then, as he puts it, the bank had him killed off.

"Eventually I did get a phone call stating that they found the problem and that it was a human error, which I kind of figured anyway," said Fudge.

CIBC officials have since apologized for the mistake and told Fudge they will sort everything out. They have also assured him no one will make any adjustments to his bank account without getting approval from a branch manager first.

Fudge has maintained a good sense of humour about the ordeal. He is, however, worried about how the mistake will affect his financial records.

"I don't know what dead credit gets you and I don't know how long a dead person can keep their bank account," said Fudge.

"But I've tried to cover all angles and I was assured that my credit report would not be affected and all negative effects to me whatsoever would be reversed."