advice on bank account

[penny403]

Can anyone help with advice on opening a bank account with a limited amount of money in it?
My mum is shortly moving back home 30 miles away from me with 24hr care. She has only recently been diagnosed with dementia and is obviously finding it all a big shock. We have PoA but it would be much easier for me and perhaps more dignified for her if she could still have access to a certain amount of money by using a debit card. The carers will rotate every 3 weeks so it's not practical to open an account for them to access. I know that banks operate accounts for 16yr olds which do not allow overdrafts, but I haven't been able to track one down for a 76 year old!

 

[jenniferpa]

I believe that you are looking for a basic bank account, but you are going to have one major problem - in order to open one the account holder must have contractual capability. In other words they must have the ability to understand the consequences of their actions regarding this account. If they don't the bank does not have to accept the application. Unfortunately, the very act of asking for an account like this for an elderly person is going to raise some red flags I would imagine. You say you have a POA. Do you mean an EPA? Because if so, and it's registered, by definition (according to the EPA site) she no longer has the ability to enter into contracts. So it seems likely that anywhere you find will require it to be a joint account. Having you looked at savings account with card access?
This is a link to the mencap site re bank accounts
http://www.askmencap.info/IFM/GenInfo.nsf/GenInfo/88519FD660248A3680256E190059AF74?OpenDocument

And this is a list of basic bank accounts
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/consumer/02_HOW/basic_bank/accounts.html

and FSA's guide to basic bank accounts
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/consumer/pdfs/bank_account.pdf


Jennifer

 

[penny403]

that's really helpful I'll look into it - thanks

 

[Helena]

given the mess i have been dealing with for over 6 months i would say on no account let your mother loose with money especially if she has vascular dementia .........far too rapid a swing from "lucidity " to craziness and a huge risk

 

[Lynne]

Hi Penny

My Mum's condition has some similar characteristics. Based on that experience, my advice would be to give your Mum a suitable amount of weekly 'pocket money', to limit the potential for loss or theft. If a debit (or credit) card got lost or into the wrong hands, whatever is in the account would be in jeopardy. Can your Mum still remember PIN nos. without writing them down somewhere?

 

[Margarita]

if you go along to the abbey with your mother and open an saver account for herself then all she has to do is go into the branch with a saver book and withdraw money.

Be forewarn don’t let mum have debt card , there is a lot of cloning cards going on in cash machine , easy for your mum to forget pin number and someone finding it , if wrote down , or her asking someone to help her at machine ,lots of cameras around monitoring card machine that you don’t know if they are security cameras or not , even in shops , always put one hand over the hand that taps pin, in shops and cash machine . is your mum going to remember all that .

Yes, my mother had it done to her card. Money comeing out of machine , that can not be accounted for

Don’t know your circumstances, I sent my EPOA to the pension credit/ pension / AA 2 years ago thank god , as now I can legally ask pension to put my mother money in to my account .

I was like you and

wanted to give my mother some dignified for her if she could still have access to a certain amount of money by using a debit card.

I made the mistake of leavening all her money in her account , now I can not find my EPOA , nor can the solicitor who done it 4 years a go , so I can send EPOA to the court of protection .

Therefore, I phone the pension section, they have my EPOA on there system, like I said above .

There is a small privet pension that i have to trace up address , but I can leave that in mum account and cancel all cards on account

PS

This fraud happen in one of the riches bank dear old Barclay, your be amazed how many time it happen , you only find out when it happen to you , and you tell people that its happen , one person had £1,000 taken out from cash machines over a
period of time .
.

 

[ben]

It is much better if you have power of Attorney and it is court registered to control all of your mothers money.
It would be very unwise to let her have a debit card as it is unlikley she will remember the pin.
Also you protect her from theft or fraud from rogue traders or dishonest carers.
Honest carers are also protected because if there is any money ever going missing it will be small amounts only.
My own mother gave anything valuble away to members of the family so there was nothing worth stealing if she had strangers in the house.
There is no problem with opening bank or building society accounts for a 76 year old person, it will be better to do it before they move so you can prove identity by income tax return,utility bills ect.

 

[Helena]

Its only now when we are trying to clear my Mothers house that we have discovered just how much has gone missing from a pre war train set to Gold sovereigns

Various workmen have clearly taken advantage of her "vague" periods

My Mother stubbornly refused to admit she had problems
Its clear that her grip on finances went 5 yrs ago right at the start of her Vascular Dementia and I despair at just how much money she lost both in interest and in cash along with what few precious possesions there were