Vulnerable adult needs help!

f1widow

just another point i have been allowed in the past, when we had no funds available or were overdrawn to draw on benefit - but they charged me £30 for doing it each time - they didnt tell me of the charge until i came up on bank statement and i queried it - one time i drew £25 got charged £30 - now i dont know what your sons bank rules are but given my past experience i would recommend that you ask about any charges associated with doing this. Hope this helps

McKneff

i seem to remember a thread yesterday or the day before about banks not being able to take benefit money and some one said that the statement wasnot correct.

The benefit, once it is paid into the bank is no longer a benefit, it is classed as just money, therefore can be taken.

robpw2

the banks will claim its just money as they are not going to want to give it back but im sure that if it ended up being Halifax Versus Disabled young man who hasnt got enough money to live then i know who most of the country would be supporting and i think halifax would have to pay out

RAS

Hi

Just to add that if they do not refund the bank charges, he should reclaim them all using the advice on here or CAG. Banks have been told that claims by people inn financial hardship are NOT halted by the court case. If there is any problem, contact the OFT as they gave the banks a telling off this week

barnaby-bear

veryworriedmum wrote: »

Thank you very much to all of you for your great advice and help! :A

I didn't know that the banks weren't allowed to take benefit money to pay off bank charges so that's a huge relief. We're going to tackle HSBC about this today and hopefully try and get some, if not all, the charges dropped although i won't hold my breath!

My son has actually opened another current acc elsewhere which I didn't know when I posted yesterday so the plan is to have his benefit money transferred to that account instead so it will at least give him some breathing space to tackle the other stuff. DLA are also going to start paying him weekly rather than monthly to help him budget better.

Things have progressed with T-Mobile after he called them yesterday to request they speak to me about his account. They've now cancelled his contract with no further charges due and even admitted to him that he shouldn't have been sold the contract in the first place as they don't even have any internet coverage where he lives!!!!! :mad:

Next step is to tackle them about the money they've already taken from him and see if we can get that refunded. I wonder whether threatening court action might produce results

I think once we get past this sticky patch and get everything sorted out he will probably be ok. I'm going to draw up a budget spreadsheet so he knows who he's got to pay and when, and how much he has left for food shopping and to spend etc. He's already involved with MIND and lives in one of their supported housing projects so they already collect money from him weekly to pay toward electric/gas/water so I don't have to worry about that.

Someone mentioned getting a power of attorney and this is something we have discussed but I don't want to take away all his independance otherwise he's never going to learn how to cope with these things. At least at this stage anyway, but we'll certainly look into having me added as a contact on his bank accs etc, will need to do that with HSBC anyway so I can try sort out the mess he's in with them but also the new one too and hopefully prevent him running into problems again. BT have already added me as a contact on that acc and will ring me if there's any problems with his bills in future.

At least there's light at the end of the tunnel in getting all this sorted now as yesterday I felt in such despair not knowing what to do, so thank you so much for all your help :A

Mind have a legal/query type helpline and lots of experience in this area
http://www.mind.org.uk/About+Mind/Mindinfoline/index.htm

Quick browse of their info site throuws up:
http://www.mind.org.uk/Information/Booklets/index/personalfinance.htm#Making_an_advance_statement_
"The law says that a contract may not be enforceable if you did not have the mental capacity to enter into the arrangement when you did, and the other party to the contract knew or ought to have known, that you lacked capacity."