Accounts 'frozen'!!!!!
Forget everything I said last time on this thread…
I am told today (after nice advisor has done a bit more ‘ferreting’ with Head Office) that my mum’s accounts are frozen until such time I produce original EPA stamped by Court of Protection…..said document being en route to Court of Protection as we speak)…. 30-odd days to go......
Standing orders etc will be honoured and the bank will graciously (!) receive her pension payments into her account (!) - but NO withdrawals….. not by mum, not by me….. Hang on… did mum give the bank POA???? How can they dictate what she (or me as her appointed POA) can or cannot do????? All this because I have verbally volunteered that I am intending to register EPA as protection for mum … (not to mention protection for me that I am quite happy to be ‘interrogated’ about acting in her best interests…..)
I thought I was accountable to the Court of Protection ….. Not being ‘policed’ by a bank??????
Apparently, had I NOT told said advisor I was applying to Court of Protection this situation would not have arisen … have I missed some obligation here? Bank blames solicitor for not advising me this would happen ????? … I blame myself for being too bloody honest as usual and trying to find a way to secure mum’s financial security alongside allowing her some independence …..
Michael, can’t agree more - will be voting with feet - when I get over the mountain of paperwork this latest challenge presents …. Cate - surely, this ‘paying selves back’ goes against the grain of keeping the ‘donor’s money completely separate’ … ???? but the bank are now forcing me into providing cash, paying for goods etc through my own account and at some point ‘paying myself back’ ….. (wish I was in a situation I didn’t even have to think on that score….)
Bank’s stance was ‘ if someone is incapable of managing their financial affairs, they are incapable of managing their financial affairs. Apparently, CHIP & PIN (debit cards) cannot be limited, and transactions must be honoured blah, blah…..’
My stance, my mum is incapable of making financial judgements but, for now, can manage CHIP & PIN card at the local shop (and very, very rarely gets further than that without assistance from a trusted friend or me). Not my fault nor hers that the banks can’t accommodate restrictions on ‘CHIP & PIN’ when they can on other cards….. If I am POA surely I am accepting any risk and remain accountable - to mum and anyone else I have legal or moral obligations to?
Frankly, what brassed me off most today was that ‘The Bank’ (who shall for now rename nameless) suggested ‘incapable’ means ‘incapable’. That to me was discriminatory ….. and took no account of my mum as an individual……
Hmmphhh. Any thoughts appreciated.
Many thanks, Karen, x