International access to UK account

Nick_Roberts

Morning all,
I have somewhat of a problem, so a little background first.
My Aunt has always (last 30 odd years) dealt with my Mothers finances, I want this to stop as Aunt is getting older and Mother moving closer to me, (youngest child)
*I do not want to manage her money*
I have an older brother but he lives in Canada.

Problem, what kind of account and from which bank? Canadian brother does not pay UK taxes and does not (yet) have power of attorney(?), I do.

I have spoken with my bank First Direct and they do not seem to be able to help.

Short version: Mum has UK access, Brother (Canada) has international access (internet banking etc).

Many thanks in advance
N.

PS I suppose I could set up and account for her and give him all the login info but down there lies a slippery (probably illegal) slope.

agrinnall

Sounds like a Financial Power of Attorney is required, although whether this is acceptable when the Attorney is overseas I'm not sure. If your mother is not capable of grating the LPA then it's a more complicated and expensive process involving the Court of Protection.

https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/overview

Nick_Roberts

she is currently capable to sign over control its just find the right account.

Steve_xx

Nick_Roberts wrote: »

she is currently capable to sign over control its just find the right account.

In that case you can take your pick of the current accounts available that pay interest. The brother in Canada would have login access to those accounts and that would be fine so long as he was named on the Financial Power of Attorney.

grumbler

He can't do much with access to just one account, can he?

What are you trying to achieve actually?

agrinnall

grumbler wrote: »

He can't do much with access to just one account, can he?

What are you trying to achieve actually?

You mean apart from transfer all of her money to his own account (not saying that he would)?

But you're right that it's difficult to recommend an account without knowing what the intention is, other than to say it would be simplest if it has a decent level of online access.

FD might not be the best option because all their best access is telephone; you can do most of it online but there are plenty of alternatives with better online access out there.

xylophone

You say that your mother has capacity but that your aunt deals with her financial affairs. Does your aunt have the legal power to do this or is it a case of your mother's having handed over all her PINS etc and your aunt does what is necessary?

Are your mother's affairs complex?

You have POA and live in the UK so why do you want your non-resident brother to deal with your mother's affairs?

Nick_Roberts

Sorry for late reply been ill.
I was hoping for a straight quick answer....good luck with that he says.

A few more details.
My mother is compus mentus (She has MS, hence the POA if she gets worse) my Aunt has always managed her accounts, on paper, with cheques, pins etc. she is just.....untrustworth. not the right word. She does not really understand how cheques work for example, she writes one and then does not realise she no longer has £1000 she has £500 due to writing a £500 cheque. Hopefully now her alcoholic ex-husband is out of the picture is may get better, but just about to sell the house and stand to shuffle away with 90K+ I worry.
Oversight might be a better term, I want my brother managing the oversight for my own reasons (which are many and boring being the one lumbered with everything since he lives abroad and abandoned me shirking responsibility wah wah wah poor me etc etc)
He needs everything to be web based.

I have POA and my Aunt has POA, my Brother does not. Yet. Again is that a problem if abroad.
Her 'affairs' are not complex that I am aware of.
I hope that is enough info if not please ask more.

grumbler

Nick_Roberts wrote: »

Her 'affairs' are not complex that I am aware of.

Can you not just e-mail him a pdf statement once a month then?
Generally, it's OK to login to a bank account from abroad, but this can possibly trigger some extra security checks: Natwest blocked my account without explanation

SnowTiger

Nick_Roberts wrote: »

I have POA and my Aunt has POA, my Brother does not. Yet. Again is that a problem if abroad.
Her 'affairs' are not complex that I am aware of.
I hope that is enough info if not please ask more.

Is this simply a technical question about whether it's possible to use online banking abroad?

If it is, the answer is yes. You can. Well, your brother can.

However, with some banks you need access to a UK (mobile) number to authorise some transactions. Santander send SMS; LLoyds, Halifax, TSB, etc call you.

For many of the big banks you need a card reader and card to authorise some transactions.

Whether you should allow your brother, who doesn't have POA, access to your Mother's bank account is a different matter.

10pence

Your brother has no legal recourse to access the account - that is no POA or 3rd Party, if you decide to give access and the bank discover this they, could close the account(s) for breach of TOCs. Furthermore, any fraud committed on the account(s) could be declined refunds if brother has access.

If your brother must know what is happening with your mother's money send statements or even get them POA.

If you no longer wish to have the aunt as a POA look to amend it - for as you say she is untrustworthy - then do so.

My words might seem harsh, but fact remains you have difficult decisions to make.