Bank ' ROBBED ' my 82yr old father

mjanet

I am soooooooooo mad , my father is 82 and housebound through a disability ( has been for years ) and he has his bank accout for over 40yrs with the same bank.I recently found out that they are charging him £7 a month for some account with the ' benefits ' of a personal shopper , cheap AA cover etc etc All that are no good what so ever to him .Not one of these benefits have ever been any use to my father besides the fact that you are no longer eligible to them once you turn 80.I asked my father why he opened such an account and he said he never has .He said that the bank kept pestering him by post to swop / open this account but he just ignored it thinking they would give up but the next thing he knew it was up and running he left it as a saving account came with it that looked ok . Thing is the saving account is far from ok the same bank has much much better saving accounts , besides the fact they aint as good as other places.Anyway I phoned the bank and asked why they are 'ripping 'my elderly father off at first they refused to speak to me until my father got on phone and gave permission.Then they insisted he had signed but when I asked for details of when , where and I want a copy they couldn't tell me and said they no longer kept paper records so could not prove at this late stage he had agreed.I want to take it further , do a Data Protection Request and if possible sue the A*R*S* off them but my dad is in poor health and just says '' leave it , you have sorted it now '' so I can't do anything without his permission and to push it will only cause him distress and could make him more ill so once again the bank get away with ROBBING an elderly disabled person .
I am sooooooooooo mad but obviously my fathers health has to come first .

maforduk

Take it to the papers!
If you are worried about doing anything for your father's health. Atleast spread the word via mass production of the newspapers.

mjanet

maforduk wrote:

Take it to the papers!
If you are worried about doing anything for your father's health. Atleast spread the word via mass production of the newspapers.

I would love to BUT without the DPR I have no evidence and I can't get the DPR without my fathers permission.Plus what if my father starts getting pestered by press , bank etc I can't take that chance with his health being so bad .I have a VERY long memory so even though there is nothing I can do at the moment I will not forget and they will feel my wrath at some point .I will go all out to sue them publish it when I am in a position to.

maforduk

Who is the bank in question anyway...atleast you can tell the people on MSE about it.

mjanet

maforduk wrote:

Who is the bank in question anyway...atleast you can tell the people on MSE about it.

Believe me I would love to name and shame them but I think if I name them it may be seen as libelous, again cos I havn't got the evidence in black and white in front of me YET.
hmmmmmm trying to think how I can tell you without the post being removed .It is one of the main big ones , I think it is THE biggest .

maforduk

Barclays...all you have to do is say yes or no?

mjanet

NO ... I have P'Md you

Martins changed the rules about posts that could be libelous so I'm unable to name and shame unless I'm reading Martins new rules wrong .

Mark7799

It's unclear from your first post if the Bank has now put right their wrongs but is it worth asking your father to give you a third party authority to act on your behalf with the Bank on a permanent basis? If he does, this could allow you to rip into them properly - if you haven't got this already, it would be worth asking for a refund of any charges paid since he passed 80 years of age.

mjanet

Mark7799 wrote:

It's unclear from your first post if the Bank has now put right their wrongs but is it worth asking your father to give you a third party authority to act on your behalf with the Bank on a permanent basis? If he does, this could allow you to rip into them properly - if you haven't got this already, it would be worth asking for a refund of any charges paid since he passed 80 years of age.

They never put their wrongs right , it was changed when I insisted they changed my father account , they agreed because he said he shouldn't have it after the age of 80 anyway,(EDIT ).They refused to refund him I think they could hear my dad in the background telling me to'' leave it now '' so they knew my hands was tied .My father may be 82 but he is of sound mind so would not give his authority for me to deal with the bank for him on a permanent basis.Do you know if there is any legal recourse I can have with the bank without my fathers permission ? Surely I am allowed to protect him somewhere in law ? my original post said £7 a month but seen as this has been going on for some years , guessing maybe 4 if not more , then that is £336 they have taken unlawfully :mad:

Mark7799

I was thinking of a general third party mandate to operate the account rather than any Power of Attorney but this would still be subject to your father giving his permission for you to do so (I have the same arrangement on my parents' accounts as there have been instances where they have been offered things by their Bank and they have asked my advice/opinion so I set this up to allow the Bank to talk to me).

Unless your father is willing to give permission and as long as he is of sound mind, unfortunately I don't think there's a lot you can do by way of legal recourse.

Oscar

It is difficult to deal with elderly who wish to remain independant but it would be well worth trying to speak to your Dad about his various finances. As my mother found after my father died that it did not matter that he had a written will leaving everything to her,she had to go to court at some expense to get access to his bank accounts over a certain sum and this differs from bank to bank. A little off subject I agree but I am sure that lots of people do not realise this until it happens to them and know that had my father known the accounts would have been put in joint names.

I cannot see how you could not persue on his behalf a claim for the charges that he has paid since his 80th birthday as he was not entitled to have that account. Anything he has paid since then should automatically be refunded as these would definately not have been authorised by him if the account he supposidly signed up for was only valid until he was 80!