Banking for my PWD

[sue2108]

Hello all
I have been managing our finances for many years ( we have always had separate accounts) going from me asking him to sign a cheque back in the day to now me sorting out his bank account online. My question is -do I inform the bank about his condition and the fact I have LPA or should I carry on managing his account online on his phone. What difference would it make? Most of our household bills come out of my account so I transfer regularly from his account to mine to help pay these.

I’ve seen that you have to make an appointment to speak to someone about this but our branch closed down and we were moved to a branch nearly 20 miles away.
Thank you for any advice 🙏

 

[itsorsonkartt]

HI

Im new to this. I took the power of attorney into bank ( Lloyds). Every page of it was faxed through to head office followed by a conversation . It took half an hour or so .Hope this helps?

 

[sapphire turner]

Santander were very helpful and accepted the LPOA online, Lloyds photocopied every page. The Co-op bank was very unhelpful indeed so I got my husband’s account online moved the money out and shut it down. Maybe they might take notice if we vote with our feet! I managed for ages just doing it for him online but if there is a problem and they insist on talking to the account holder it can get sticky.

 

[extoyboy]

I have LPA but haven't instigated it yet. My wife is still financially savvy but can no longer use her phone or PC without assistance so instead I have access to my wife's mobile phone and her account details to manage her accounts on her behalf with her consent. All the shared bills (gas/electric, council tax etc.) come from my account and I log everything to a spreadsheet to share with the other attorneys (not that they have wanted to see it). Then once a month I move money around and transfer her share of the bills across to my account under the reference 'bills'. I then update another spreadsheet I have with her current account balances and send her a screenshot via WhatsApp then show her it on her phone.

For ad-hoc movement of money (e.g. sending birthday money to grandchildren) I'll sit next to her and go through the transfer actions on her phone and show her the screen before I hit the Send button.

As things deteriorate I may have to go down the full LPA usage route with her banks but hopefully that's some way off as I would imagine that will make money management harder for no benefit.

 

[sdmhred]

This whole thing has driven me crazy…..HSBC easy, Sainsburys easy, a couple of the BSociety‘s ok, but won’t allow online with POA.

Lloyds are my nightmare as wanted me to go in and that hasn’t been possible - they’ve shut so many branches!

As for a mortgage she has, they want her to sign 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

As mum can still make financial decisions I haven’t worried too much but the practicalities have been awful and would put me off ever doing it again. Give me a bottom to wipe any day!

 

[Veritas]

@sue2108
NatWest did it all online, Aviva likewise. Both pretty quick and efficient. I’m the named contact on utility bills so they do talk to me without needing to go through the formal process (so far!).

I was doing pretty much what @extoyboy decribes for a long time but in recent months it was clear that we needed to get formal, as I wasn’t convinced that my PWD really understood much of what was going on, and I wanted to make sure there’d be no query about my involvement. I told my PWD I was planning to do this as (at least in theory) he still has capacity, and he raised no objection so I quietly sailed on. Every now and again he frets about whether he needs to reimburse me for an expense and he is perfectly happy when I remind him that I have my own card for his account now and use it!

 

[sue2108]

Thank you 🙏
I eventually got through to someone at hsbc who knew about this …you can do it online but the form says if he doesn’t have mental capacity to manage his finances they will cancel his card and online banking!!! How would I then be able to manage the finances from his account?

 

[sue2108]

And the first person I spoke to at hsbc said I had to go into a full branch, not a “digital” branch - not online - even though there isn’t a full branch nearby. Didn’t care that I couldn’t get to a full branch 🙁

 

[SeaSwallow]

Hello @sue2108 That really sounds most unsatisfactory. I would suggest that you contact the Alzheimer's Society's helpline. I have attached a link below.

Contact us

Find out how to get in touch with Alzheimer's Society by phone, email, post or online.

www.alzheimers.org.uk

 

[SAP]

I had to go into the building soc with the LPA for our joint account and mums savings, I went to a different branch from her own and they photocopied the forms and sent them of to head office. I can now manage everything on line. When the time came that I needed to put money in her name into several accounts it was a very similar process. It’s time consuming and a lot of appointment making but that was OK for me. I think I could have managed everything with out the LPA for her main account as I had her card and access to the online account but I really wanted everything to be above board and crystal clear. This is probably no help to you @sue2108 because you can’t get to the branch but I think ,unless the bank will accept the OPG account code you will have no other choice.

Use a lasting power of attorney

Share a summary of a lasting power of attorney (LPA) with an organisation, add an LPA summary, keep track of which organisations can view an LPA summary.

www.gov.uk

 

[I thank you for the years]

the form says if he doesn’t have mental capacity to manage his finances they will cancel his card and online banking!!! How would I then be able to manage the finances from his account?

This happened with me when I registered my Mum’s LPA with the Halifax and told them that she didn’t have mental capacity. They then sent me a card for my Mum’s account with my name and REP on the back and gave me access to online banking on my Mum’s account. Until the card (and PIN number) came through about a week later I couldn’t withdraw any money from her account so paid for some things myself and then transferred the money owed from her bank account to mine once i got online access.

Overall it was reasonably straightforward forward but one thing to be aware of is that although any direct debits and standing orders will continue to be paid automatically, any regular debit card payments won’t be paid as the card is no longer valid. In my Mum’s case her newspaper subscription and broadband subscription were being paid this way which caused some inconvenience when they were not paid which could have been avoided had I known this would happen.

 

[GailM]

I was informed by HSBC customer services when I phoned them, that I would need to go to a full branch, not a digital one. It would have been a nightmare trying to get there, not just for me but also my 79 year old Uncle. I went into my local branch to find I had been given the wrong information, and they WERE able to deal with it.

 

[sue2108]

Thank you everyone for your advice and experiences.
I’ve just filled in and signed the online form for hsbc - and now I feel overwhelmingly guilty - even though he hasn’t managed his account for years 🙁