Can we cancel charity direct debits? If so, how?

[WhiteboardMarker]

I’d really appreciate some help on this please

Dad has dementia, he’s got several DDs set up for charities but he needs carers, which obviously he’ll have to pay for and he just can’t afford the charity payments any more

If I ring his bank they won’t speak to me will they?

Do you have POA over his finances ?

If you phone them with him there they will ask for his permission to speak to you. If you do it on a mobile you could then wander to another room so he doesn’t hear/get distressed.

Can you set up online banking on his accounts so you can do it that way?

I have in the past just rung the charities themselves up and said there is a problem with dementia and they have cancelled the debit just like that.

No POA unfortunately

I could try ringing with him there but he won’t know what we’re talking about so I don’t know if they’ll accept that. Worth a try though

Setting up online banking would be great but I bank with the same Company so I don’t think that’d work, which is a shame

Really Abra1t?

Thanks for that, again worth a try. Will take me ages but I’ll do it if I have to

You may be able to register for online banking with him then you can cancel online

Yes. Admittedly probably a decade ago now, for a very elderly neighbour I was keeping an eye on. I just explained I was a friend, he was 96 and I wasn't sure he knew what he was doing and they cancelled it.

He had no idea how much money he was spending and the charities had telemarketed him.

If you don’t have POA you can apply for guardianship- not sure how quickly this can be arranged but you might find it useful going forwards.

I'd do it through the charities. I would think you will need to get legal power of POA before the bank will speak to you. This is kind of why POA exists. If you could meddle with someone's legal and finical stuff without it, then why would it be needed?

My dad rang up pretending to be his FIL once. His MIL, my grandma, was standing there feeding him any answers he needed - she'd have done it herself but just needed a male voice. It was when grandad had severe dementia, and grandma needed something doing - I think it was to do with the electricity bills or similar, where only grandad was on the account and a bit silly they'd never changed it.

I did the same. My IL's had been taken advantage off by tele marketing calls, with their initially low DDs increasing tenfold. The charities cancelled them without challenging it.

Is there any chance he has online banking? My elderly PILs do, which is why I'm wondering. You can usually cancel them via online banking but I appreciate this might not be an option.

You could draft a letter to the Bank for him and get him to sign ? Banks will usually action postal requests for elderly customers.

Thanks everyone, some good suggestions here. Definitely no online banking

Going to try the bank after 8 but I’m not holding my breath with them. I’ve got numbers for the charities (all 7!) and will go to them direct if I don’t get anywhere with the bank

Get online banking sorted, it doesn't matter that you bank with them as well (why would it?)

It will help in future as well

Who does your dad bank with? Most banks have specialist teams who support vulnerable customers who will understand and help.

Definitely try the bank. They can be helpful and will be alert to people with dementia being taken advantage for this sort of thing, esp if you explain that it’s leaving him financially sort.

please please do sort POA if it isn’t too late for him to consent to this

I emailed the charities for my MIL. As well as Direct debits, they sent her ‘one-off’ requests for specific events. She read them as bills ( I could understand why) and got herself upset trying to pay for them all.

I have a shit-list of the larger charities who act abominably towards their established donors, but that’s a whole other thread.

Got nowhere with the bank. They need to see him or speak to him. Told them he can’t get about and wouldn’t know what a direct debit is, made no difference

Wouldn’t get POA now

I don’t think online banking would work because my email and phone number are registered to my own online account and I surely can’t have 2 registered to the same ones with the same bank? Or can I? And is it legal for me to do it? Really don’t want to get myself into trouble

I will try the charities directly

If you can get hold of his debit card you can just set up online banking, you will probably need access to his phone as well. As the will text security codes more than likely.

but going forward you need to have legal means to help him manage his finances if he doesn’t have the capacity

I’d register with his email address and telephone number, particularly given you work there, but that should work.

You can use the same number on more than one account with some banks, as my number is one of the online banking numbers for my husband and vice versa.

I don’t think online banking would work because my email and phone number are registered to my own online account and I surely can’t have 2 registered to the same ones with the same bank?
Is it worth checking to see if the bank has a non-phone / OTP system e.g. a card-reader?

You might be able to get third-party access to his accounts?

I was doing this with Barclays but because they were so unbelievably slow my mother died long before it was set up. Other banks might be faster.

she didn’t have any cognitive impairment though.

As an aside, you need to seek Deputyship.

Try a dementia charity for advice. But I would phone up each charity and say they took advantage of someone with dementia and the payments stop today or you’re escalating it.