[epolanski]

I'm Italian and both the previous story as well as your comment trigger me.

1) You could've asked the password to literally anybody in the dorm.

2) Unless this was geological ages ago, by law, all you need to close a bank account is a certified email (or PEC) or a certified letter (you go to the post office with a document and a simple form that specifies where you want your stuff transferred) you don't need to go in person anywhere at all.

[koliber]

Regarding closing the account, it's probably just like you describe. However, the author was told something else. Not everyone knows the "proper" procedure by heart, and many people rely on what they are told from officials in a given institution.

The fact that the bank personel in the first bank did not share what you just shared only adds to the misfortune.

[dml2135]

It was a long time ago but from what I remember it wasn’t that simple. We needed the IT guy to set us up with individual accounts, and we could never get a straight answer on when he would show up.