Setting up telephone banking if you don't speak English!

gt94sss2

studentsaver166 wrote: »

He does speak French, and his wife is French so that would be ok, but (naive question) do they have HSBC branches in France?

http://www.hsbc.fr/ - though I don't know if they would be able to help with accounts held in the UK.

Regards
Sunil

sabretoothtigger

He only needs a male to phone up and speak for him.

Online banking can be done via chrome which will translate words to french

dalesrider

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

He only needs a male to phone up and speak for him.

Online banking can be done via chrome which will translate words to french

But to set up online banking you need to call them...... To get the access set up.

Getting a 3rd party to do it for you is a major risk.

meer53

I work for a bank. We have foreign speaking representatives to take calls like this. He needs to ask for someone who speaks his language to deal with his query. Unless he speaks an obscure language it shouldn't be a problem.

studentsaver166

@innovate - At no point did I assume that English was your first language. I merely pointed out that having experience of learning and living in a foreign language should enable you to understand why telephone dealings may be more problematic than face-to-face encounters. Then again, you have made it abundantly clear that experience does not necessarily lend empathy. Not that it is any of your business, but his job specifically required him to work only in his native language, hence why in the short time that he was here, he did not progress much further than conversational level in English.

To everyone else with helpful suggestions; thank you very much. I will contact HSBC again and see if they have a Spanish-speaking representative who may be able to help. That seems to perhaps be the most likely solution.

Anthorn

studentsaver166 wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestion Anthorn. I did call them to just ask about the process and whether he could authorise his wife or myself over the phone to speak on his behalf, but they said that he himself had to be the one to provide the security details to speak to them. Do you think a formal letter will be accepted?

I really don't know. I'm drawing on my own previous experience with my late mother who was unable to operate her own bank account. Although the letter was drafted by a solicitor it was basically just nominating me to act on her behalf.

Anthorn

innovate wrote: »

You need Power Of Attorney to do anything with a bank account that doesn't have you as an account holder.

I don't claim to be an authority (pun intended) in these matters, quite the reverse in fact. But I would say that delegation of authority to a third party can be done by consent for most things in which one has authority. A Lasting Power Of Attorney is used more comprehensively when a person is unable to make their own decisions.

sabretoothtigger

dalesrider wrote: »

But to set up online banking you need to call them...... To get the access set up.

Getting a 3rd party to do it for you is a major risk.

Change the password afterwards. Most things can be done via letter, they may say otherwise of course. Via letter could be via google translate, wont be much worse then many residents grammar

studentsaver166

Anthorn wrote: »

I really don't know. I'm drawing on my own previous experience with my late mother who was unable to operate her own bank account. Although the letter was drafted by a solicitor it was basically just nominating me to act on her behalf.

Well that's definitely worth looking into then. Such a faff just to set up a 6 digit security code! Thanks for the advice. Very much appreciated.

studentsaver166

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

Change the password afterwards. Most things can be done via letter, they may say otherwise of course. Via letter could be via google translate, wont be much worse then many residents grammar

Initially they did tell me that it has to be done over the phone, but perhaps it's worth me going back to them to ask again. They did say they can send him a form to fill in if that's easier than doing it over the phone, but to order the form he has to call and get through all the security questions and then request it, which sort of defeats the purpose of sending a form to avoid the phone call!