Help needed with POA

Mrsseanbean

Hi

I have recently registered power of attorney for my parents with their bank. They both hold sole accounts and my dad also hasa credit card.

Statements are being sent to my dad's address but now have my name added so it appears that the account is in joint names 1and does not indicate that it is a sole account with myself as poa.
I contacted the bank who advised that a review had highlighted that adding "poa" after the name could indicate that the person was vulnerable if their post was intercepted and as a result no longer indicate this on correspondence.

My concern is that other family members will think I have made the accounts joint when I have only registered poa. Also the statements would suggest the accounts are joint if they need to use statements to prove income.

I have raised a complaint with the bank about this which has not been upheld as no error has been made by them.

Is this usual bank practice and has anyone else experienced similar?
If so, has this led to any further issues with the account appearing to be joint.

Any help or advice would be appreciated, thank you.

Keep_pedalling

It was not usual practice with Barclays a couple of years ago, when i had poa on my mother’s accounts.

If your family are in the habit of going through your father’s mail i would suggest going paperless or having the statements sent to you.

You must have some correspondents from the bank that will allow you to prove that the set up is not joint, but if not maybe its time to switch banks.

cloud_dog

We (brother and I) have PoA for mothers bank account (HSBC) and there have been no changes to the account, address, statements etc at all. Nor would I expect there to be.

colsten

cloud_dog wrote: »

We (brother and I) have PoA for mothers bank account (HSBC) and there have been no changes to the account, address, statements etc at all. Nor would I expect there to be.

This is my experience, too. But I understand it is down to the banks how they manage the POA information, and it also depends on what exactly the donor (in LPA terms) has decreed. In most cases, the POA only comes into force as and if the donor loses mental capacity. If the donor wishes the support to start regardless of their own ability, the POA may well be handled similar to a joint account.

colsten

Mrsseanbean wrote: »

My concern is that other family members will think I have made the accounts joint when I have only registered poa.

Could you and your parents clarify this by sharing the POA with the relevant family members? Could another family member become a joint attorney with you?

BooJewels

I have POA on a family members Santander accounts and I have a debit card in my name, which looks like it's my account, so I can use it seamlessly to make purchases for the account holder.

The account holder still gets their paper statements (the one thing I haven't been able to do is go paperless, but I might try in branch, next time I'm near one with the right paperwork) exactly as they were before for him (my name isn't on his copies) and I also get a copy with my name at the top, as though it was my account.

In my on-line banking, his accounts just appeared in my own accounts list and I can work with them just the same as with my own. That aspect was a little unexpected when it happened, I assumed they'd give me separate log-ins for his accounts in isolation.

When I had reason to pay in a cheque recently, made to him, I wasn't sure how it would work - but I popped my card and PIN in the counter console and commented that I hoped it would make sense to the staff member and she immediately said "that's all fine, Mrs X, I can see that you're an attorney for Mr Y".

It's worked well for us, but it's all straightforward and no family members with any concerns.

Keep_pedalling

colsten wrote: »

This is my experience, too. But I understand it is down to the banks how they manage the POA information, and it also depends on what exactly the donor (in LPA terms) has decreed. In most cases, the POA only comes into force as and if the donor loses mental capacity. If the donor wishes the support to start regardless of their own ability, the POA may well be handled similar to a joint account.

LPAs come into force as soon as they are registered. My mum still had mental capacity when we first put it into force with Barclays, and we both had cards, but we stopped paper statements, and we arranged for all correspondence to be sent to my address.

When she moved into a care home and no longer had the mental capacity to manage the simplest of transactions, her card was cancelled and I had sole responsibility to manage the account.

There is an option on the LPA form to limit your attorneys to only act only if you have lost mental capacity, but that is not very flexible and could make life difficult for your nearest and dearest so it is not wise to tick that box, and we certainly did not do that when we made ours.

colsten

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

There is an option on the LPA form to limit your attorneys to only act only if you have lost mental capacity, but that is not very flexible and could make life difficult for your nearest and dearest so it is not wise to tick that box, and we certainly did not do that when we made ours.

Opinions clearly differ on that. There is no way I would allow my attorneys to have access to my accounts whilst I am still compos mentis.

Mrsseanbean

Many thanks for the advice and suggestions. It would seem that every bank do things differently, will be looking at the banks mentioned above that seem to keep details as they are.

BooJewels

colsten wrote: »

Opinions clearly differ on that. There is no way I would allow my attorneys to have access to my accounts whilst I am still compos mentis.

That would suggest that you don't actually trust your attorneys, which maybe doesn't make them suitable choices.

It's not just about mental capacity (it is with the health and welfare one, but not finance) - it can be about physical capacity too. I used my LPA some time before it became truly necessary, purely because the donor was housebound due to health issues and just couldn't do some things for themselves. We've ended up using both LPAs in ways that none of us had imagined when they were first set up, so were glad they were set up with minimal restrictions.

Zanderman

colsten wrote: »

Opinions clearly differ on that. There is no way I would allow my attorneys to have access to my accounts whilst I am still compos mentis.

Yes, but, as BooJewels says above, it's not (just) about being compos mentis. We took on management of my mother's accounts when she went into care - she could still do it herself, but it was easier for her to leave it to us (not least as she had no easy phone access in care, so could hardly just ring the bank).

And, I'd add, you won't, necessarily, be the first to know that you're not compos mentis. You may think you are, when you aren't. So there may well be a need for attorneys to take control.