I suppose this won't be easy?!

homerhotspur

I have had a joint current account with RBS for 25 years +.

I now have to open a sole current account purely to accept DWP payments on behalf of my ill mother. I have a distinct feeling that this will not be the straightforward matter that it should be. Can't see anyging on the website and will have to call into a branch.

Does anyone know what I may expect to hear?

PasturesNew

Either your mother opens it - they might just give you a form and you just need her to sign it, then you can take it back to them .... or you obtain Power of Attorney for her financial affairs and open it as your mother's account (PoA).

If she's very ill, you should go through getting PoA as you'll probably need it at some future point for all sorts of things.

xylophone

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4087845
might be worth a look.

Obtaining PoA if possible would be a good idea.
http://alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=154

JuicyJesus

It would be an exceptionally good idea to ensure the account is in your mother's name. Not least because her benefits going into an account solely in your name would raise all manner of eyebrows.

agrinnall

RBS will not allow you to open an account for your mother, at the very least they will need the usual proof of identity and address. It's not clear whether the joint account you mention is relevant, is it joint with your mother or with someone else? If it's with your mother then it may be possible for her to open an account online as she is already known to the bank, even if it's just a savings account it should still be able to accept incoming payments, and may well allowe FPS out. If she has no account with RBS at the moment then the options are:

Use an account elsewhere if she already has one
Open the account herself in branch
You get a finance (and possibly welfare) LPA and open it for her

Official LPA site: http://www.justice.gov.uk/forms/opg/lasting-power-of-attorney

missile

She (or perhaps you on her behalf) could open an account in her name with RBS on a.n.other bank online.

InsideInsurance

If you want to open the sole account in your name and not your mothers then it is a very straight forward thing to do as you have already got an account with them.

The risk you have of putting it in your name is that the money is then yours and so if anything went wrong with your joint account or if the person with whom you have the joint account got into any difficulties with any other RBS account even if it is solely in their name then RBS will still pull your sole account into the debt recovery process locking you out from the money in your sole account.

Depending on your mothers situation it is possible for her to open her own account and you be added to the account not as a joint party but as an authorised third party.

If your mothers mental faculties are no longer sufficient for her to make her own decisions then you are looking at going down the lasting POA route anyway

JuicyJesus

InsideInsurance wrote: »

The risk you have of putting it in your name is that the money is then yours and so if anything went wrong with your joint account or if the person with whom you have the joint account got into any difficulties with any other RBS account even if it is solely in their name then RBS will still pull your sole account into the debt recovery process locking you out from the money in your sole account.

I would be more worried about the DWP doing an investigation and finding out that her benefits are going into his account.

homerhotspur

Sorry, I didn't go into the full circumstances as it was really just the banking point I was looking to clarify. Fear not, it is the DWP who have officially given me the authority to receive these payments on my mother's behalf but they do insist on a sole account as I am the only person so authorised. It is an official process following an interview and is their equivalent to a POA.(Appointee)

Anyway, all is well. I visited the bank today and a helpful chap did the necessary in about 15 minutes.
Thanks for your interest.