Sorry, If You're Not The Account Holder We Can't Talk To You

wishiwasinliverpool

Please feel free to move this post if it's in the wrong place. I want to share my current experience with an LPA application for my elderly mother.

As some of you may already remember from my previous posts I'm in the process of taking out LPA for finance/property for my 86 year old Mum who is in an EMI care home up in Liverpool and has been since July. I live in Bristol, I'm the next of kin thanks to family fallouts and I'm the only idiot who goes to visit. I have a sister who lives up the road from Mum who doesn't want to know - too busy nursing her forty year old grievances. Mum has schizophrenia and cannot now look after herself.

First of all I would like to comment that when I first research this process someone (not on this forum I don't think, but elsewhere)mentioned it would take ten weeks to sort out. Rubbish. I started this process in October last year; it's now late March and I'm still waiting. I finally heard from the Office of Public Guardian the other day through the solicitor stating my application is being processed but sorry there's a backlog and it'll be another six weeks or so before everything is finalised.

Secondly no one cared to tell me that LPA for medical, health and wellbeing is a separate application. The manager of the care home told me it used to be one application but this way they get more money out of you. The home and Mum's CPN are going to push for a court order for Mum because they're of the opinion she should remain in care so they've told me not to worry about that. My plan is to remove her to a home near me in the Bristol area when all this rubbish is finally settled.

My main worry now is not the bills for the home - Mum's self-funding - as the council has agreed to pay until I have LPA, my beef is with organisations like the Halifax who, when I contacted them about Mum's home insurance on the flat, refused to speak to me because I wasn't the account holder. 'We can't talk to you until you have power of attorney. Sorry.'

No matter what I said to the jobsworth on the phone she refused to listen. All I wanted to do was to establish that they had managed to get the direct debit they needed to insure the flat and to tell them Mum was in a home and the property was empty, but no, they didn't want to know. I had to leave it. When I went back up yesterday (I go up monthly, I can't afford to go up more frequently than that with petrol costs etc) they'd written to Mum to say they had been unable to take the money from the account she'd nominated (Mum's pension payments are in limbo, so her bank accounts are virtually empty).

So now the flat isn't insured.

Not only that, there were three letters from a debt collector over an unpaid phone bill which I had paid in January, after speaking to a customer service guy at the Post Office and explained about Mum, and another bill waiting to be paid. I asked if her bills could be sent to me. No, sorry. I tried to pay this latest bill with my debit card, the automated service wouldn't let me as I was - guess what - not the account holder, so I rang customer services and I don't know how I didn't scream and swear but I wasn't happy. Well, I do. My husband was listening and kept telling me to calm down. The guy put me through to the payment people who accepted my payment and also asked me to ring another number on Monday so I could explain the situation properly. 'Kevin' was very professional, but mate, if you're reading this I'm sorry I was angry but don't flannel me with soft soap about the weather again when I'm stressed out about you lot sending in the debt collectors over a bill I can prove I paid.

There were also bills from British Gas and Scottish Power - the first I'd seen since going up monthly as previously my sister had been paying the bills up until November when she stopped doing it (she's a third party signatory on Mum's accounts). Both bills are grossly over-estimated, SP want £900 quid and BG want their money plus a £250 cut off fee. We took meter readings and although I've been staying in the flat when I visit her what I've used has been buttons, but I've been on the lookout for the bills to pay them myself as I thought that was only fair.

My husband who is more sensible and more detached than me about the situation is going to ring them all tomorrow and give the utility people meter readings. I said good luck, mate. If they won't speak to her daughter they won't speak to her son-in-law, but he said to leave it with him, he was relishing the ding-dong.

So if you're looking to apply for LPA be prepared for all this rubbish. I can't mention this to mum because of her condition.

fluffnutter

Sorry to hear this has been so frustrating for you, but a couple of things struck me. The directgov website makes it very clear that the well-being LPA is a separate application to the financial one. It's the first thing that's mentioned. Link here. Did you look at this site when you were researching things?

And, as irritating as it is, I can completely understand why no one will deal with you until you have LPA. That's the way it should be. Hopefully things will be sorted soon.

wishiwasinliverpool

You're right, fluffnutter, I should have researched it more thoroughly, but by the time I found out it was too late and I'd already forked out £700 for this application (correction: my husband did) and I couldn't afford another application, and it was getting Mum to agree to it. I had a hard enough job getting her to agree the first time around. She's been deemed to have enough mental capacity for me not to go through a court of protection application.

And maybe these organisations are right, but even when I'm trying to GIVE them money they refuse to take it. I'm now in a position where I've had to leave my mum's flat uninsured. If anything happens to it, like a fire, then what?

pigpen

Lie....

Of course you are the account holder.. it may be a little bit on the illegal side but they aren't going to know..

Take out a new insurance policy online.. they don't need to speak to you and you can get it in both your name and your mums.

Who are the utilities with? Most you can input meter readings online or over the automated service without speaking to anyone so it doesn't matter who rings. They will send a revised bill when they have them.

Mrs_Arcanum

BT are vile. It took my colleague nearly a year to sort out the bills on one property.

Yes sadly as pigpen says, the easiest way is to lie. If you have all the address details it is simple enough and as long as they are getting money no one seems to bother much.

trina2010

lying may be an option, however, i work in a similar field to above and deal with a majority older people. do you think we cant tell the difference between an 80 year old and a 50 year old? we speak to people day in day out and we can tell. you will get reported to fraud, and then you will be in much greater issues.

and in agreement with the above its exactly right that no one speaks to you, and its not a 'jobsworth' that you spoke to, just because you didnt get your way.
all financial services are bound by data protection which means we MUST have official notification of anyone else to hold any authority. how do we know who you are? how do we know you are genuine? because you say so?
the people you spoke to will hold enough information and more for your mums identity to be stolen. anyone who knows personal info about your mum could say they are a family member, take enough information and steal everything....do you really want that to happen?
OP try and think full picture before going off the rails at the people who are charged with keeping your mums information safe!

Mojisola

pigpen wrote: »

Take out a new insurance policy online..

Isn't this the easiest answer?

pmlindyloo

I can't help about the LPA - have just got one for my mum and there is a long waiting time as they have a backlog.

However, you could apply to be an appointee for your mum as regards her pensions credit/benefits.

See here:

https://www.gov.uk/become-appointee-for-someone-claiming-benefits

Since your sister is a signatory on the cheque book then you need to ask her to sign some cheques to sort out the insurance/bills etc. Obviously this would all have to be done by post/letters which you could get your mum to sign.

Once you are an appointee then the pension credit can be restored and you can pay the care home fees with cheques (signed by your sister)

OK, just realised this has to be done the other way round! Get the appointee set up so the pension credit can be restored and then you can pay the insurance etc.

Ladyhawk

It's so frustrating when you are trying to do the right thing but because you don't have the right peice of paper you can't. Unfortunately it is for our own safety that these rules are in place.

I had an annoying one a few years ago... I asked my PA to order some flowers using my credit card. She didn't ask for a receipt to be sent so I called us the well known retailer who the flowers were ordered through to ask for one to be sent... They refused to deal with me because I didn't place the order even though it was my card!! So I had to get my PA to phone back! Ludicrous!

Hope it all gets sorted for you soon and your mum gets settled into her new home in Bristol soon

claire16c

My Dad just pretended to be my Grandad on the phone once when he needed to close a bank account for him. He had Alzheimer's and couldn't do it himself.

pigpen

I've pretended to be my exhusband on the phone and noone questioned it!!!!