Post Office Card Account - Transferring money out

Franco50

My elderly father has recently been in hospital for a number of weeks and during that time his pension and benefit payments have accrued to quite a sizeable sum in his Post Office Card Account. Having discussed things with my dad, we have decided the best option would be to have the bulk of the money transferred out to a bank or savings account as we feel that would be a more flexible option to access funds in the future. Can his local post office carry out a transfer electronically if we provide the bank details? Obviously my father does not want to have to withdraw the sum from the post office in cash as we are talking about a few thousand pounds here.

benjo

You cant withdraw more than £600 cash per day using the post office cash card, so it might take you several days to transfer the money this way. Im not sure what the regulations are regarding electronic transfer, I dont seem to be able to find any details about it - other than you cant transfer money into the account other than benefits, but that doesnt help much, sorry.

dzug1

The Post Office cannot transfer the funds electronically - the only thing they can do is give you £600 a day in cash. Apart from closing the account completely, that's the only way of getting money out of it.

Depending on the other bank you may be able to pay it straight back in at the PO counter.

Franco50

Thanks for the replies. I was afraid that would be the situation although it is frustrating that in the 21st century an electronic transfer cannot be done. Oh well, looks like my old man will just have to make lots and lots of trips to the post office!

dzug1

Well the card was never meant as a bank account - it was designed to be an electronic version of the pension book and to be sufficiently user unfriendly to push users into having a 'proper' bank account. The hoops you had to go through to get one (filling the form in without the slightest error/alteration for one) were not inconsiderable.

Franco50

I do appreciate it is the simplest form of account and that in most circumstances a pensioner's account would only be holding a few hundred pounds (at most) as they would draw the majority of their pension on a regular basis to pay bills etc. It is unusual in my dad's case that funds in his account has abnormally accumulated due to his time in hospital.

Franco50

Just had a further thought about this - please excuse its rather morbid nature! My dad is a widower and I am his next of kin so how would I be expected to withdraw from his PO card account in the event of his death? His insurance life policy is insufficient to meet current funeral costs so I would need access to the cash in his Post Office account to help pay for this. Surely they would not insist on it being withdrawn in £600 chunks!

margaretclare

Franco50 wrote: »

Just had a further thought about this - please excuse its rather morbid nature! My dad is a widower and I am his next of kin so how would I be expected to withdraw from his PO card account in the event of his death? His insurance life policy is insufficient to meet current funeral costs so I would need access to the cash in his Post Office account to help pay for this. Surely they would not insist on it being withdrawn in £600 chunks!

I think in the case of death of account holder, you would submit a copy of the death certificate and ask for the funds to be transferred to yourself, your own bank account as NOK/executor.

Oh well, looks like my old man will just have to make lots and lots of trips to the post office!

As you are talking about a man who has been in hospital for several weeks, is he in a fit state of health to do this? And what has happened to all his normal bills during the time this money has been rolling up into thousands?

I personally cannot understand why anyone chooses to bother with this very limited form of account. I've heard of these kind of problems before - money in the account, account-holder in hospital and no one else able to gain access to pay essential bills which still fall due whether you're in hospital or not.

As I understand it, these accounts were only ever designed to receive pensions or benefits income, not money from other sources, and to allow it to be withdrawn immediately. At least with the old pension books, the holder could sign it and someone else could draw the money. These accounts don't allow for that.

Franco50

margaretclare thanks for your points. I was half joking when I said my dad would need to makes lots of trips to the PO, although in effect this is what will need to happen due to the limitations of this type of account. And, yes, at almost 86 years old he is quite frail these days and I worry about him trying to get to the PO. Unfortunately I live almost 50 milese away and work full time so cannot assist as much as I'd like. While he was in hospital I was paying his bills on his behalf from my own funds. His card account has been building up so much lately because, since my mother died in 2007, he has qualified for so many benefits and allowances that his income is significantly more now than it ever was when he was working! He has no rent to pay to the council and his council tax is only peanuts, all down to the allowances he gets so there is always more going into the account than is coming out, hence the reason we'd prefer to shift most of it to another account. As an example, his old washing machine broke down and I ordered one online for him, paying for it myself. I now have to depend on my dad withdrawing that amount the next time he feels able enough to visit the PO to pay me back.

Rikki

Can neighbour or close friend of his go to the post office for him?
Take the money out of one account and pay it into another straight away.

p00hsticks

Franco50 wrote: »

His card account has been building up so much lately because, since my mother died in 2007, he has qualified for so many benefits and allowances that his income is significantly more now than it ever was when he was working!

Is he still in hospital ? Slightly off topic, but I think you do need to let DWP know if he is expecting to have an extended spell in hospital - I don't know the exact rules but his benefit payments could be affected.....