To need immediate help.

[RobinEllacotStrike]

I’m at the bank with my elderly neighbour.
bank says she’s been declared mentally unfit and won’t let her get money out.

she wants £140 FFS.

this feels inhumane. Also her family know me & knows she comes to me. So why didn’t they tell me?

How have the bank deemed her mentally unfit if she can’t speak English?

Just co tact them and say she is upset she doesn’t have access to her own finances any longer and has been asking you for help. Put the ball in their court.

Who took away her card, the family or the bank? If she has dementia it is possible she is not deemed well enough to manage her money but she should have some access to her funds. Is it possible when she did, that money went missing or was unaccounted for, which raised concerns about her vulnerability especially with carers visiting so they want to restrict what is available in the house.

I would suggest you contact the family and see what they say. Might be worth speaking to social services afterwards and see what they say.

I agree with @LIZS
She may have access to limited money, you said the bank did allow her to withdraw her usual amount.

When my mother had dementia and was at home with daily carers I was managing her money with LPA but she needed access to some cash. I had an agreement with the bank she would withdraw a set amount each week for shopping. Without a set limit she would go into the bank too frequently for money because she had forgotten she had already withdrawn some. Then put it somewhere safe, forget where it was, whole cycle starts again.

Speak to the family.

I had an elderly relative like this with dementia who was eventually deemed to have lost capacity.

For months beforehand she was making an absolute nuisance of herself (unwittingly of course) with neighbours, passers by, the bank, the post office etc. Telling them that her relatives were starving her, stealing from her, that she had no food, couldn’t turn the heating on etc. All nonsense.
We went with her each week to withdraw cash, took her food etc but she forgot and would try to persuade others to take her too. When she was admitted to hospital she had over £2k in her handbag!

If you are genuinely worried speak to adult social care in your area but chances are there’s a lot more to it if the bank have been informed. She’s probably been losing money or giving it away radomly or accusing people of stealing so this is a way to regularise it.

Do keep taking her for a coffee though and looking out for her- my relatives’ neighbours were wonderful despite how awful she was at the end and I will forever be grateful to them.