Woman, 45, Was Unable to Access Her Money. She Found Out She'd Been Mistakenly Declared Dead by Her Bank

A woman claims that after suddenly realizing she had no access to her money, she learned that her bank had mistakenly declared her dead.

Masithokoze Moyo, 45, was shopping at Sainsbury’s in England on Wednesday, Feb. 12, when her credit cards were declined during her weekly trip to the supermarket, according to SWNS.

Eventually, the Worcestershire woman learned that a representative for Co-operative Bank had allegedly labeled her as deceased after she called them the week prior to switch to Santander Bank, the outlet reported.

Moyo said her credit dropped to zero after the bank contacted creditors with a death certificate number — and all four of her credit cards stopped working as a result.

“I have four credit cards in total and all were declining," Moyo told SWNS. "The embarrassment of all of my credit cards delving, the stigma, it was an awful thing to experience."

She later called Vanquis, one of the credit card companies, and learned that Co-Op Bank told them on Thursday, Feb. 6 that she was dead.

"They even informed the DVLA and I was driving around in my car untaxed,” Moyo told SWNS. "They told my water, electricity and car finance company. My appliance insurance company, too.”

Moyo’s driver’s license and passport “were also cancelled” after the bank reported her dead.

Additionally, Moyo — who is single and has no children — said she was forced to ask to borrow money from neighbors while she was unable to access her funds.

"My driving licence and passport were also cancelled as I was dead. I even have a death certificate number," Moyo told U.K. outlet Metro News. "I have no idea how this has happened as someone has verified my death. Whose information are they using to verify I have died? It is really concerning."

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Moyo finally regained access to her accounts on Friday, Feb. 21, but was forced to miss a planned trip to South Africa due to the mistake.

She has since threatened to take the bank to court, claiming the bank has “offered no compensation at all,” and is seeking £5 million ($6.48 million) for the “distress” she experienced, she told SWNS.

"They cannot put a value on my life,” Moyo said, adding that the incident “borders on defamation of character.”

A spokesperson for the bank told SWNS and Metro News that they are “deeply sorry for the distress caused to Ms. Moyo.”

"We are working closely with her to compensate her for the repercussions of our error, and we are working hard to review the process that led to the error in order to prevent this from happening again," they added.

The bank did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.