I have LPA - how do I find all the bank accounts?

[NowYouSee]

My sister and I have financial and property POA for our elderly father. We don’t have a code as was done prior to them being introduced so just in paper which might be relevant.

DF used to pride himself on seeking out best rates and liked to spread his money across lots of different banks. But aside from his current account he can’t remember where he has accounts and I need to be able to identify all his money for care assessments. For various reasons trying to look for paperwork is a non-starter.

How else can I try and locate them all? Has anyone used the lost bank account service with a POA? Any other way to do it? Ideally one that minimises the time I need to spend as I’m spread very thin as it is.

Any suggestions much appreciated.

Search through all paperwork at your Dad's house for statements?

Looking for statements isn’t an option in this case unfortunately so I need to try and find a central place to get info.

You need to do a Subject Access Request to every possible place they might be - including a copy of the POA. Alternatively I think there are firms that will do this for you.

It must be possible centrally - when we remortgaged the bank could see all savings and financial commitments we had. I'm assuming connected via NI number.

But quite hope you do it in this scenario I do not know!

Id agree that banks can do it.
Have you got their credit report I wonder if that would list things.

Run his credit report it should bring it up

@NowYouSee some suggestions, can you redirect his post so it comes to one of you? This way you would get any paper notifications.

Secondly can you access his online HMRC account via the gmt gateway? You may find historic tax returns show who has declared they paid him interest in the past.

Thirdly, can you access his email?

His credit report should show these.
You tell then need to register the POA with each individual bank for them to be able to provide you with any information.
I've never used the Lost Account Service but again the LPA should entitle you to ask for this info

Yes this, you can do it through Experian or similar and it will bring up all accounts associated with him.

This might help:

www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/reclaim-lost-assets-free/

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I’m surprised to hear credit reports would show savings accounts, I had understood they only showed credit facilities. I have my own account with CreditKarma and none of my savings show up, just the current accounts that have an overdraft facility even though they aren’t used. But worth a go in particular to make sure there is no debt or credit cards I don’t know about. I will also try the lost accounts service although that sounds like you had to hit their definition of dormancy so some stuff may not fall into that.

I had brief access to his email and searched a load of bank names and apart from the bank I knew found nothing. I think he used to do a lot of postal accounts.

There is a way of finding all accounts in one search - this may be it https://www.mylostaccount.org.uk/

I picked tgat link up from the National Bereavement Service

When I notified the bank of my mother's death they asked if I wanted them to check for missing accounts at other banks so It's definitely possible.

When managing registered LPAs for my clients and searching for active (rather than dormant "lost" accounts) I undertake a paid for search via InheritanceData.co.uk which has a LPA/Deputy asset search service (which costs £192) and searches every banking group so far as I am aware.
If you have access to your father's current account and can pay this fee (or reimburse yourself from his funds) this is probably the quickest and most effective way of searching multiple institutions.

@JennyMule thank you so much - this is perfect. How long does it typically take to come back please?

@NowYouSee the search is "open" for 30 days but results trickle in regularly and often within a few days.
Some "results" are not especially helpful e.g. "here's a form to fill in to find out if there's account with X bank" but on the upside it still saves a lot of checking out individual bank websites and downloading forms yourself.
Good luck with the search - one time I discovered the client had premium bonds and had received a big win but had never cashed the cheque, so you never know!

Thanks @JennyMule that’s good to know thank you.