Post Office Card Account - Transferring money out

Franco50

Rikki wrote: »

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.

My original plan had been to take some time off work and take my dad to the PO myself but that was when I thought we could transfer the bulk of the money electronically to another account. It is only since creating this thread that apparently we are limited to £600 cash over the counter per day! Last statement I saw for his account it was nearly £7000!

Franco50

p00hsticks wrote: »

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.....

Now that is a point I hadn't considered. He was in hospital for around 5 weeks but back home now.

margaretclare

Rikki wrote: »

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.

They would need to take his card and know his PIN.

I know how the mere fact of being in hospital for any length of time can debilitate someone. My DH has had a long illness and several hospital admissions - he's only now becoming able to do normal things, and standing in line waiting in a PO would not be something he could do.

margaretclare

p00hsticks wrote: »

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.....

Attendance Allowance is stopped after 4 weeks in hospital. I don't think that any of the other payments will be affected. It's known that bills do still need to be paid whether you're in hospital or not!

Franco50

margaretclare wrote: »

Attendance Allowance is stopped after 4 weeks in hospital. I don't think that any of the other payments will be affected. It's known that bills do still need to be paid whether you're in hospital or not!

In that case I'm assuming that the social work department would have taken care of the attendance allowance payments being stopped as they knew his admission and discharge dates from hospital.

Franco50

Thanks to everyone for all the replies and the extra points of interest - bottom line however is that we are unable to transfer funds electronically from a PO Card Account or even a large sum in cash over the counter (as a last resort) which makes the situation a bit of a pain!

margaretclare

Franco50 wrote: »

In that case I'm assuming that the social work department would have taken care of the attendance allowance payments being stopped as they knew his admission and discharge dates from hospital.

It would be worth checking, though, because he needs this reinstated now he's home.

Franco50

For the benefit of anyone else who might be in my situation I have obtained further information this week. Certain branches of the Post Office will allow large withdrawals from PO card accounts - you are not limited to withdrawing £600 per day. You should first establish if the branch you wish to deal will allow this and then you need to contact the Post Office customer service centre and obtain an authorisation reference. When you visit the PO branch to withdraw the money, you present them with this reference and they will contact the customer centre to verify it. It is also advisable to contact the PO branch a couple of days in advance to advise them of the amount you plan to withdraw and on what day so they can, if necessary, have extra cash in stock. Unfortunately no electronic transfers are possible and the withdrawals have to be done in cash over the counter but at least it does not have to be done it multiple £600 lots! Hope this helps someone.

Rikki

Thank you for getting back in touch with your findings. I'm sure this information will help many people.

I hope your Father is better and life is back to normal.

dzug1

margaretclare wrote: »

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.

Correct but:

unofficially they can give you the card, tell you the PIN and you can do it for them

officially an agent can get a second card on the account with its own PIN - the PO will have the application form