Lloyds cash withdrawal being refused

SteveRobinson

Hi all. Can you help me with a problem please? I lead Prama, a care provider that does a lot of work helping older people maintain their independence and I have a problem with Lloyds Bank. We have a client who is Ageing Without Children -it's a situation that 20% of the population find themselves in- sound of mind and speech but physically limited. She spends about £250 a month on things like shopping, gardening, dog walking, those sort of things and for that she needs £250 cash to pay for it. Up to date she has written a cheque for "cash" which one of my staff goes and cashes for her at Lloyds Bank. It's one of the little ways in which she stays in control of the things that happen to her. Up to now. The problem is that Lloyds have just started refusing to allow anyone who isn't a signatory on her account permission to cash cheques. It's probably about money laundering or something. The thing is that I don't want my staff member to have to become a full signatory on a client's account. I think it's an unfair responsibility on the staff member and an invasion of the client's personal life. Equally I don't want to have to do the "powers of attorney" thing. Does anybody have any suggestions? She doesn't want the hassle of changing banks and what we had was working. It's such a shame that she might be being forced to give up a large aspect of her independence due to Lloyds Bank not being prepared to listen to a life long customer.

eskbanker

Could she write a cheque payable to Prama instead and you put it through your books and dispense the cash via your staff member(s)?

john1002

As your long time customer will find it means nothing in this day and age, she is a number like the rest of us, LBG is well know. As well as HSBC for been extremely tight on money laundering issues and as such other than suggested above there is nothing she can do other than write a formal complaint and hope they relax the current rule but I would not hold much hope. Also on the basis I doubt escalation to the ombudsman will overturn this rule.

Let us know how you get on

John

agrinnall

john1002 wrote: »

As your long time customer will find it means nothing in this day and age, she is a number like the rest of us, LBG is well know. As well as HSBC for been extremely tight on money laundering issues and as such other than suggested above there is nothing she can do other than write a formal complaint and hope they relax the current rule but I would not hold much hope. Also on the basis I doubt escalation to the ombudsman will overturn this rule.

Let us know how you get on

John

Not sure where HSBC come into this particular issue, although I imagine they, and all other banks, will have similar rules in place.

OP, does the client really need to pay for all of those things with cash? Some of the ones you have mentioned (dog walking, gardening) should be able to be paid by cheque, and shopping could be done using a card. I think you need to look at ways she can minimise her cash requirements, which would perhaps make eskbanker's proposal more feasible for the smaller amount of cash that is absolutely necessary.

xylophone

Would it be impossible for her carer to take her into town once a month so that she could draw cash for herself?

Although it might be safer for her to keep the minimum of cash in the house and pay the tradesmen with cheques?

Or is a standing order a possibility?

Or as she is only physically limited, would it be possible for her to use on line banking?

Dobbibill

If she is of sound mind, then she can also use telephone banking.

Yorkshire_Pud

A letter of authority signed by the cheque writer and a phone call from the bank clerk to customer to confirm if necessary and use the same clerk each time if possible.

Talk to the bank:)

GingerFurball_2

Discuss third party access, which would allow you to withdraw cash in branch.

jonesMUFCforever

Yorkshire_Pud wrote: »

A letter of authority signed by the cheque writer and a phone call from the bank clerk to customer to confirm if necessary and use the same clerk each time if possible.

Talk to the bank:)

I found they would do this on a one off basis but not on a regular basis.
Perhaps the client could withdraw the cash from an ATM either by the care people taking them to a suitable one (does not need to be the same bank where account is) or giving the PIN to a staff member.
(I realise this is breaking the bank's T&C's but as OP does not want to go down the PofA route what alternative is there?)