Changing bank account without online or phone access!

tiamaria

Hi I have power of attorney for Mum who is 90. Basically i want to switch her direst debits and standing orders from Barclays to Santander and then shut down the Barclays as she is not receiving any money into that account and also from Santander I am getting statements and online banking details so i can check all is ok on there. She is signing up to unwanted schemes which are taking money from her account and I am having trouble getting them stopped. Barclays won't let me speak to anyone on the phone about her account despite the POA, the local branches have all been closed and she has no online banking. I feel it would be easier to get everything on to her Santander account which I can monitor. How easy or difficult will this be considering my limited access and the lack on Barclays online banking?

badger09

Are you already operating your mum's Santander account as POA?

If so, have you considered using the Current Account Switching Service to switch in her Barclays account?

Santander don't offer any switch incentive but this would move all incoming and outgoing payments and close the Barclays account. If anything went wrong (and occasionally things do), Santander would responsible for sorting it out.

https://www.santander.co.uk/uk/current-accounts/guide-to-switching-your-current-account

18cc

I am not clear exactly what you are asking here

when you say you are already receiving statements from Santander does that imply your mum already has an account there?

if so in order to switch their direct debits all you've got to do is contact the originator and give them the Santander bank details

if you want to cancel any direct debits just get your mum to write a letter and post it to barclays bank

sparkyspark

I've been running two POA accounts for many years and your post is a bit vague at times:
Firstly have you registered the POA with Barclays, secondly if you have are you registered for phone banking which is usually done through a dedicated POA team.
If you've done neither do this, If I hold power of attorney for someone, how do I access their account?
https://www.barclays.co.uk/help/third-party-access/access-with-poa/
You'll most likely have to go into your nearest branch to register the POA.

Have you registered the POA with Santander and receiving statements and all correspondent's to your own address as POA.

Depending on which institutions be it bills or other, as has already been mentioned to switch the direct debits, all you've got to do is contact the originator and give them the Santander bank details, depending on the institution they may want you again to register the POA to do this.
Usually utility companies will allow you to do so without any problems, although they may ask to speak to your mum first for permission to change the details.

If you want and need to manage mums money independently as a POA, banking institutions will not let you do anything as an individual acting on your mums behalf without first registering the POA.

xylophone

Relative hold PoA for his relative and operates both Barclays and Santander accounts on line on her behalf.

You have formally registered the PoA with Barclays?

If so, you should be able to operate the account just as you would your own, setting up/cancelling DDs, SOs etc as appropriate.

She is signing up to unwanted schemes which are taking money from her account

She is currently operating only the Barclays account and is permitting certain schemes to set up payments on that account?

What are these schemes?

Is your mother becoming confused? Do you consider that she has become incapable of managing her financial affairs?

PRAISETHESUN

It sounds to me like you haven't gone through the proper process of getting the POA recognised by Barclays - that is why they are refusing to speak to you or let you act on your mother's behalf. Once this has been done (some good info in the above posts) then you should be able to operate on the account and cancel DDs, etc without issue.

Once that has happened, you can use the Current Account Switch Service (CASS) to switch your mum's Barclays account to her Santander account - the accounts just need to both be in her name. This will move all money and payments in/out over to the new account which you can monitor. Alternatively you can contact each institution individually and give them the updated bank details, but depending on how many there are it is probably easier just to use CASS.

Zanderman

If you have PoA you should be able to monitor and control all her accounts. But that does need the banks to acknowledge the PoA first. Which needs a branch visit. If you haven't told them about the PoA but are trying to operate her accounts regardless then you're not using the PoA properly.

For Barclays, as others have said you need to get the PoA recognised by Barclays (will have to be in branch, and by appointment with someone qualified to deal with PoA) and then you can register yourself for online and phone banking on her account. At which point you can switch if you like - but actually, as you'll have control of the account, you'll have no need for switching.

Vortigern

badger09 wrote: »

Are you already operating your mum's Santander account as POA?

If so, have you considered using the Current Account Switching Service to switch in her Barclays account?

Santander don't offer any switch incentive but this would move all incoming and outgoing payments and close the Barclays account. If anything went wrong (and occasionally things do), Santander would responsible for sorting it out.

https://www.santander.co.uk/uk/current-accounts/guide-to-switching-your-current-account

OP already has online access to Santander so badger's suggestion above is definitely the way to go.

tiamaria

The POA was done years ago and Documents shown in branch, it was only because I tried recently to talk to someone on the phone that they told me I didn't have phone access, only branch access (but the branch was shut for some reason). Didn't realise I Only had partial access!

Thanks for the CASS suggestions, that sounds perfect and I will look into that.