Autistic friendly banking

bert1fegg

I work for an autistic person. She is a very intelligent and capable adult, but she cannot do real-time communication with strangers without it causing her extreme stress. This means she cannot talk to banks on the phone. Most banks offer on line banking for all normal banking activities, and she can use those fine as long as she doesn't have to interact with a person. But occasionally the bank needs to talk to an account holder in person (for example, if there are suspected fraudulent transactions) and this is very difficult for her to manage. Going into branches is also problematic. She doesn't want to give power of attorney to a support worker, for obvious reasons.

Does anyone know of any banks that offer current accounts that can be completely managed by secure email without ever needing to phone or talk to someone in real-time (except perhaps for the initial setting up of the security information)? I've only called a few so far but no luck yet.

Does anyone have any other ideas about how this problem can be overcome? Most institutions allow a third party to speak as a representative, but in her experience banks really dig their heels in on this. Some will allow nominated third parties to do some things, but they still insist that they speak to the account holder personally for really important stuff.

tabby_cats_mum

Smile, it's an internet bank and I use secure email all the time to contact them. They usually reply and have sorted everything out within 24 hours.

Does she have a relative who can hold POA for her? Both their names can be on account and as long as she holds onto the cheque books, cards etc they wouldn't be able to draw money out, but it would mean the banks would deal with them.

bert1fegg

Thanks tabby cats mum. I'll call Smile tomorrow and see what they say.

She doesn't have relatives she can draft in to help, unfortunately.

[Deleted User]

First Direct can be dealt with by secure message too.

For credit cards, Egg might be perfect - they're all online by secure message, and when they suspect fraud, it's a computer that phones up.

Danstar_2

bert1fegg wrote: »

I work for an autistic person. She is a very intelligent and capable adult, but she cannot do real-time communication with strangers without it causing her extreme stress. This means she cannot talk to banks on the phone. Most banks offer on line banking for all normal banking activities, and she can use those fine as long as she doesn't have to interact with a person. But occasionally the bank needs to talk to an account holder in person (for example, if there are suspected fraudulent transactions) and this is very difficult for her to manage. Going into branches is also problematic. She doesn't want to give power of attorney to a support worker, for obvious reasons.

Does anyone know of any banks that offer current accounts that can be completely managed by secure email without ever needing to phone or talk to someone in real-time (except perhaps for the initial setting up of the security information)? I've only called a few so far but no luck yet.

Does anyone have any other ideas about how this problem can be overcome? Most institutions allow a third party to speak as a representative, but in her experience banks really dig their heels in on this. Some will allow nominated third parties to do some things, but they still insist that they speak to the account holder personally for really important stuff.

This defines me.