How to find details of multiple bank accounts with Power of Attorney?

Clks90

Hiya, I recently received financial Power of Attorney for my Dad, who has dementia. I'm in the process of trying to sort his finances however it seems that he has multiple accounts with multiple banks, which he's hoarded all the paperwork for. I'm yet to get through all of the paperwork but thus-far I've discovered over 20 accounts - none of which he remembers. It's quite overwhelming to see the amount of paperwork he has and I was wondering if anyone could recommend a quick way to see all the accounts under his name? Thanks in advance!

yksi

First, get his credit report, you can do it from here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub/

Not all will be listed necessary, but probably the bulk of them.

Se1Lad

yksi said:

First, get his credit report, you can do it from here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub/

Not all will be listed necessary, but probably the bulk of them.

This won’t show any savings accounts or investment products though.

one thing to check is if any of the paperwork lists a financial advisor - if so it’s worth contacting them to see if there are any records of accounts they helped to set up - this is what I did when I got PoA for my father.

3card

I've not tried these but maybe worth a go

https://www.mylostaccount.org.uk/

Zanderman

I think I'd go through all the paperwork (which should have more detail about the history of each account) first, and worry about tracking other stuff online afterwards. 

Depends on the urgency of course - but even finding stuff online is only a start, still needs the LPA to be registered with each bank to get the details of the accounts.

And as several have said savings accounts are more difficult to find online.

If there's a big pile of paperwork records I'd counsel just getting on with going through it! Seems far simpler to me.  (edited to add: and it probably must be gone through anyway - there could be important docs in there)

EssexExile

3card said:

I've not tried these but maybe worth a go

https://www.mylostaccount.org.uk/

That only works for dormant accounts I believe. I think you are just going to have to go through all the paperwork and once you've got a handle on it - simplify things!

Se1Lad

The way I dealt with this when I got PoA for my father, who also had dementia and multiple accounts was as follows.

1.       Gathered all the statements for all accounts – there was a lot and it was all mixed up in no real order.

2.       Separated the statements by bank / investment company and put them in date order.

3.       Where some statements suddenly stopped I checked if alternate statements started at the same time – for example ING savings accounts subsequently became Barclays savings accounts, and a Sun Life Investment Bond became an Aviva Investment Bond.

4.       When finished I split the accounts into the following categories:

a.       Accounts where statements had stopped with no clarity what had happened to the money

b.       Accounts where statements had stopped but a warning letter had been issued regarding account dormancy

c.       Accounts where statements had stopped but it was clear the account had changed to a new account, or money had been moved to a new account

d.       Accounts which were still active with regular statements

5.       For a. I contacted the banks/investment companies to find out what had happened to the accounts.  For b. I contacted the accounts and requested the money was paid into my dad’s current account.  For c. no action was required.  For d. I contacted the banks and requested access.

In each case I needed to provide the PoA.  Some banks could view the new online version of the PoA, some were ok with a copy, and some wanted to see the original.

6.       I noticed that all the investment products had been organised through the same Financial Advisor, so I contacted them to see if there were any other accounts they had set up.

7.       I kept an eye on my dad’s post over the next 12 months in case any statements for accounts I hadn’t identified turned up.

Obviously each bank I contacted I also asked them to check if my father had any other products with them.