Money shouldnt be lost in a bank merger?

Okay apparently my mom says she lost 5k in a Money Market Account (it is what she recalls it was around 1997-1999, it might have been a Money Market Fund dont know if their is a difference). Apparently she says she was with a bank I think it was Bank United (later named Bank U) anyway they merged with/taken over by Washington Mutual...and she says that her money was lost or gone or at least thats what they told her. Now, I also remeber I had a passbook savings account now...now myself I remeber getting a letter that said that my account was now apart of Washington Mutual and it rolled my balance into one of those accounts?
I asked her about if she recieved something like that but she didnt really have a reply(...such a pessimistic person).

Recently with me brushing up on my knowledge I've read that banks are FDIC insured against loss of money would this be one of those situations? If so, what are the appropriate actions to resolve.

like I said she's a pessimistic woman....thats as much as I could interpret without incurring her irascible wrath.

Did her address change at all since that time, and did she notify them of any change of address? She should have been receiving annual 1099 statements for tax purposes. If she still has tax records that far back, see when she last received a 1099 from the bank.

Not sure if it is required or just common that after 7 years of account inactivity, banks publish a list of names they cannot find for unclaimed funds, and if still unclaimed, those funds go to the state. If she finds records for the account and cannot get help from WaMu, contact your state and see if they have her unclaimed money.

One other thing I thought of is that WaMu sold their Advisor group of mutual funds to Principal Financial Group in late 2006. If they still had her money market at that time and it was part of that then http://www.principal.com/ might be another place to check. But it may have already been considered unclaimed before that.

I seriously doubt that you have the story correct. Bank mergers are fairly common and accounts don't just "disappear."

If there was a money market account with an FDIC insured institution........ it's still there (assumming she didn't withdraw it).

Have her write a letter to the bank (Washington Mutual). Request a detailed answer to what happened to her account.

Good luck!

Money market is differnent than a bank account... depends on what kind she has. some money markets are like mutual fund and can possibly lose money. some are like banks that are FDIC insures. I would reccomend seeing the financial advisor that your mother used to place the money. he/she wil be able to tell u what kind of account she had. Once that happens if it was an FDIC insured account they are forced to refund her money up to 5,000 dollars if the bank closed.