POA and the Banks

[jeaux90]

Today Nationwide refused to transfer money from my mothers account to mine for bills I had to pay on her behalf. They have always enabled this in this past.

I have POA registered on her account.

Apparently this is now Nationwide policy to "safeguard" my mother against her own legally signed document and I have to prove invoices.

This is not IFA policy, this is theirs. Is this actually legal? Can they do that?

Sorry I meant it's not FCA policy

i have long thought the only way to handle my mother's bank account is to become a named person on the account (so a joint account) because the bank makes it so difficult to do anything (Lloyds though)

Have the bank shown you written evidence of this policy? or is it only in your branch?

Sorry, nothing to add but watching with interest.

I have POA for my DM at Lloyd's. They gave me a debit card for her account and online banking. I can just move stuff about as she asks me to.

I would ask to see their legal justification for that. You are POA.

Interesting thanks I might have to move everything to another bank then, this is now Nationwide policy and just had a blazing row with their POA department. I got the impression they weren't "safeguarding" my mother at all, I felt it was very much them arse covering.

They said they were going to write to me about their policy as they said they were following the guidelines from the FCA. I said I don't care about your policy, I want you to show me where the FCA guidelines says that. I shall wait for the letter!

A couple of weeks ago, queuing in RBS there was a clearly exasperated woman deep in discussion with the bank employee who was refusing to give her cash from what I gathered was her own bank account because she didn't have any invoices!

It is increasingly difficult to prise money from banks, or even to move it about within the bank. My elderly DM was interrogated for at least 30 minutes by two employees of another bank when she went to transfer funds from one account to another account with that same bank to pay my DF's nursing home fees! This was all for my DM's benefit apparently - even though they could have engaged their brains and used common sense to see that she was moving money from a long-established joint account (using POA over my DF's affairs) to a new account which had been set up specifically to pay the nursing home fees and nothing else.

It's hugely frustrating!

Is this only happening when you go into the bank to transfer the funds.
I use Barclays and HSBC online with POA and never experienced this.

This defeats the whole purpose of POA

@lazymum99 yes they even said to me if it was an online account you could just transfer it, my mother has an old passbook style account.

Which is why I said this isn't about safeguarding at all! Because there is a bank employee involved in the transfer they are making it hard so they are not culpable is my guess.

Online, no issue at all!

I have financial poa for my mum and have been given official access to her bank account. I regularly pay myself and other family members back for stuff we have bought for her. None of us have a credit/debit card for her account so if she wants something buying and they won't do a bank transfer it is the only way. Eg most recently ordering some sandals online. I sometimes get her stuff off my Amazon account too as it is quick and easy and then pay myself back. Sometimes she asks me to transfer money to relatives for presents at Christmas/Birthdays etc. Things like house insurance have needed to be done this way also. I phone up and renew on my debit card, then transfer the money back. If there are any particularly large amounts I will sometimes inform the other attorneys so they know what is going on.

I do keep a spreadsheet of what has come out of her account ( apart from regular direct debits) and whom it was paid to and why. That is just because it is good practice and I want to be accountable though, not because the bank wants me to do it.

Unless the bank was prepared to issue me with a debit card for her account then I couldn't manage her affairs otherwise.

@Seeingadistance hugely frustrating definitely and defeats the point of a POA

@EducatingArti well be careful because depending on which bank you are with they might start making it difficult. Nationwide were fine, now they aren't

Just to add, the transactions I do are all online!

Get online access as a named person on the account.
Mind you my Lloyds online account now gets an attack of the vapours when I pay my Barclaycard asking me if I'm really sure?

@EducatingArti I also have debit cards for both the accounts I have POA over. They have my name on but say POA underneath. I often use them in the supermarket when buying toiletries etc for her (she is in a care home)

The issue may be that she has an antiquated account.

My DM very much does not do Internet banking but it was possible with her account so I have access as a named person.

This is a completely blatant placemark.

I'm currently attempting to deal with Nationwide to access a parents account and they will not accept the POA. They are so obstructive.

Agree it defeats the purpose of POA.

@user157052531 you have to call customer services and demand to speak to the POA department.

I used to love Nationwide but they have become a massive pain and seem to be just covering their arses.

They even suggested they were "safeguarding" my mother, which I said no, that's my job, and you are not social services you are a bank and going against my mothers legal wishes.

My brother and I managed all my mum's finances with POA via an online account. Surely your mum's account can be updated to an online one?
Over the space of the 15 years since she had her stroke, I don't think we went into the back once.

how easy is it to set up an online account for a relative for whom you have POA? My mum used to do online banking but gave up when her laptop broke. She goes to the bank now. I have POA but because i don't live in the UK Lloyds won't let me set up online access to her account because, i kid you not, they do 2FA by text and they often don't arrive at foreign phones in time.

Why they don't have their own authenticator app is a mystery. But i visit my mum quite often, so i could set up internet banking and handle her transactions from her house quite easily. Does that sound doable to anyone? Rather than us traipsing to the bank all the time.

My parents have a Nationwide account and I am recognized as POA on it, but they won't issue me a debit card. They said they could, but then my parents couldn't have their cards, which doesn't make sense to me. Employee in the branch also advised DM to give me her card and PIN to use, but I thought this was verboten? Confusing and not very helpful.

i think banks have a LOT of catching up to do with the reality of people's lives and caring responsibilities.

OP, I’ve no idea whether it’s legal, but you’ll have enough on your plate without adding this fight. Open a new account with a different bank in your mother’s name, with either on-line banking or a cheque book, transfer money from Nationwide to that, then you’re back in control.

What excuse are they giving for not accepting the POA?

Has anyone had any luck getting third party access to a Nationwide account? Not with POA but as an additional signatory or something?