Stashed away money - help!

SailorSam

Maybe your Gran isn't as daft as you think, she may think she's wise enough not to be taken in by some con-man that knocks on the door but, it seems that some of the biggest thieves are in charge of our Banks, so she's decided not to trust them with her savings.

foreign_correspondent

If you take it and bank it in her account, do be aware that if she has to go into full time care at any point, all that money, and more, will go to pay for it, so in effect you may well be giving it to the nursing home.

Without wanting to get too much into the ethics, rights and wrongs of avoiding care home fees, she may well have put some aside as cash for that very reason - to keep it from being known to anyone else - and whilst she is mentally competant that is her choice. If you bank it she may be very unhappy, I would be!

My gran saved £20,000 from her pension - she has never had much all her life, and lived very frugally from retirement age, putting any spare into her savings account. Sadly, she used to do things like turn her heating off and sit in a cold house, as she was so worried about ever becoming short of money - she had a stage in her youth which was financially very difficult, and it stuck with her. This went on until this year, when she went into a home aged 95. Now her savings are decreasing at a rate of £500 per week, as she has to pay for her own care. She may as well have spent her money and had a comfortable retirement.

...I dont know why I am telling you all this, other than perhaps to flag up that your gran may be canny enough to know what will happen to her money if it is banked, and maybe she has other plans for it.

However, as you have posted on here, one word of advice is to check through your other posts and just make sure no one could identify you, and therefore your gran from your posting history.

chesky369

I also presume that the OP has realised that the £20 notes with Elgar on them are no longer legal tender and might have to be taken to the bank for substitution.

beaujolais-nouveau

scotsbob wrote: »

Taking money that doesn't belong to you, without permission, and putting it in a bank account in your name is theft.

No, I believe that theft is defined as taking something from someone with the intention of depriving someone of that something indefinitely.

beaujolais-nouveau

chesky369 wrote: »

I also presume that the OP has realised that the £20 notes with Elgar on them are no longer legal tender and might have to be taken to the bank for substitution.

But take only a few at a time.

beaujolais-nouveau

hermum wrote: »

The OP's Gran, probably isn't trying to defraud anyone. Is just of the generation who didn't trust banks, let's face it in the past couple of years they've been proven right.

I have to say that the banking crisis and the MPs expenses scandal has altered my perceptions radically of my "duty" as a taxpayer. The banks held onto the taxpayer-funded bail-out, to make their balance sheets look better. And the taxpayer is still paying interest on the borrowing taken out to fund those bail-outs.

As to the MPs: I wrote to my MP asking why people who received a salary that was three times the national average were being given free food as well (up to £400/month) when pensioners don't receive free food. Many, many MPs spent up to their expenses, no receipts required "ceiling" every month: that is the same as "not giving back" what you have saved from your benefits.

If you are good at saving from your State pension, do what your MP would do - or your bank - just keep it quiet. Just my view, of course, and I might review it when MPs start to set an example.

margaretclare

If you are good at saving from your State pension, do what your MP would do - or your bank - just keep it quiet. Just my view, of course, and I might review it when MPs start to set an example.

Some of us are saving from our retirement pensions already. DH and I do. I can't see why we need to 'keep it quiet'. There is no question of means-tested benefits, so why keep it quiet. But we still wouldn't leave large sums lying around. Money goes into the bank and it gets dealt with electronically.

chesky369

keep it quiet from whom?

zygurat789

chesky369 wrote: »

keep it quiet from whom?

Anyone and everyone, just like the OP's gran.