dual authority on-line banking

jbuchanangb

My sister and I have had to take over running our father's finances under a Lasting Power of Attorney, because he can't do it himself anymore.
He decided that we should always work together so the PoA is "joint" not "joint and several". This means that his bank TSB have now blocked on-line banking, phone banking and debit card transactions, and every transaction whether a payment by cheque, a standing order, a direct debit, or even a transfer from savings account to current account has to be done on paper with both our signatures.

It would take a court order to change the arrangement.

It happens that we live hundreds of miles apart.

However we could open an account for him at a different bank, if we could find one which would allow on-line banking with dual authority. I know Unity Trust Bank do this, but not for individuals, only for organisations, but does anyone here know of a bank which offers this type of service?

Archi_Bald

I recall this question from several months ago and I believe the answer is that there are no personal accounts with dual authority.

You could ask your CAB whether they have any suggestions.

agrinnall

Last time a thread was started for this I don't recall any solution being provided, you may well just have to continue doing paper-based banking I'm afraid, unless you are prepared to go down the court order route to enable single signatory access.

Armorica

The large banks committed to deliver online multiple authorisation by the end of last year but this was framed around charities and small businesses. Depending on how IT systems have been set-up, some may be able to provide it to personal customers too by now.

http://www.paymentscouncil.org.uk/media_centre/press_releases/2013_archive/-/page/3071/ lists the participating banks.

jbuchanangb

I have found some that do this for businesses. I am contemplating my sister and I creating a limited company in order to qualify for a business account in order to work around this restriction. But first I might discuss with one of the big banks which offers this facilities. I am a signatory on two business accounts at our local branch of Barclays, both of which require multiple signatories, and my wife operates yet a different business account at the same branch. This might give me some sort of open door round there.

agrinnall

I would suggest that you discuss your scheme with the Office of the Public Guardian before going ahead as I suspect they may have concerns about what you're proposing.

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-of-the-public-guardian

Robin9

Why don't you go down the Court Order route?

jbuchanangb

My resistance to applying for a court order is based on the following from gov.uk web site:

When you apply, you must pay the fee for:

your application - £400
a hearing if the court decides there needs to be one - £500
an assessment if you’re a new deputy - £100
You must also pay an annual supervision fee depending on what level of supervision your deputyship needs. You’ll pay:

£320 if you’re a type 1, 2 or 2A deputy
£35 if you’re a type 3 deputy
Your annual supervision fee is due on 31 March for the previous year.