Bank account for elderly person

Rob5342

Have you looked at Barclays, they say there is an option to speak to an advisor to get into telephone banking.

https://www.barclays.co.uk/ways-to-bank/online-banking/pinsentry-audio-accessible-card-reader/

https://www.barclays.co.uk/accessibility/mobility-or-dexterity/

Olinda99

one option to research might be to install your chosen bank's app on either a smartphone with big buttons or a tablet with big buttons.

no OTC then - just press 'approve' on the request the app generates.

sheramber

anything voice recognition based would work.

Nat West do voice recognition for telephone banking.

Daliah

How does OTP / card confirmation work for people who do telephone banking?

Poquito

I’ve rarely had to use OTC for grocery shopping once the details are saved and you are shopping regularly (my example at least monthly) and the spend is not over a certain amount. I can usually get up to about £150 without having to verify. It just asks for the 3 digit debit/credit card code. 

General_Grant

IssyG said:

Thank you for all your suggestions. Olinda99, thanks. She would like to be able to do her own grocery delivery from Tesco - at present I am doing it for her and paying which she will reimburse me for at some point, and it is unweildly. Her bank will send through the OTC when she gets to the payment part. Her phone is a flip top and I am trying to set her up with something that she can handle more easily - going tomorrow in fact - but I fear that modern technology may be too much for her. I have explained again and again how the OTC works but she simply can't grasp it.

I have set up her Tesco's account so that her password etc is saved and she can take her time to select her purchases - I have actually been into Tesco's and explained how they are to be delivered and where placed and with their help that at least goes smoothly.

She would however like to make purchases on Amazon and eBay, and I have set up easily opened accounts there. I'm aware that Amazon have the absolute minimum of input regarding ordering, but at least to start with, for a while an OTC is likely to be needed. 

Whilst I can access her online Cahoot account when I visit, she cannot work out what digits of her passwords and passcodes need to go where. A paper statement is essential for her and also easy to handle telephone banking, like telephone authentication codes, anything voice recognition based would work.

She does understand a lot, but after a year in hospitals and nursing homes she has come out to find that technology has moved on in a way that she doesn't understand.

I really do not want to go the way of a LPA. At the moment I keep a record of every financial action I take for her and keep her eldest daughter - who she is not on good terms with - appraised at every step, as I do not relish any come back over anything done. This daughter is more keeping in the background with all this. I would mention that up until recently her younger daughter had control of her debit card and used it to her own ends to the tune of £6000 over 6 months. That's another situation we are dealing with and how I came to be involved. But it is moving forward on the banking front that I need advice with at the moment.

I have spoken to HSBC but unfortunately they were unhelpful. I will certainly give First Direct a ring though, thankyou, grumbler. I will also investigate Sterling's card, thankyou Marlot.

Thanks for reading all this. 

The two statements which I have put in bold would worry me.

Technology has not moved on that much in the last year, at least not in relation to using OTCs.  So somebody who was as mentally alert as previously and functioning well should be able to grasp the concept.

IIRC originally the problem was with accessing and inputting the code physically but now it seems to be a cognitive problem.

This needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.

Keep_pedalling

elsien said:

I appreciate that you may not wish the responsibility of being her LPA. But someone does need to have a discussion with her about the future and what it may hold - her cognition may decline as her Parkinson's progresses. If there is nothing in place and she does lose the capacity to manage her own finances, then the only recourse is a deputyship which can take months with no-one being able to access the person's money for them in the interim.
It doesn't mean taking responsibility away from her - she can still do everything she does now for as long as she is able and wants to do so - if  she chooses not to act that is her decision to make. And it doesn't have to be a family member  - she could ask a solicitor to act for her. But I've seen too many people in hospital and care homes with no legal means of accessing their money to not raise it as something for her to consider. 

I have to agree with this, as some point she will not be able to handle her affairs and this will be crucial, so putting it off would not be wise. LPAs are not just for people like your sister every adult should put one in place they are just as important as having a will.

jbuchanangb

A Lasting Power of Attorney is no threat to anyone's control over their financial affairs. As long as the Donor has competence to to manage their own money they can go on doing it. My wife and I have LPAs registered with the Office of the Public Guardian, but so far have not activated them with any of our financial institutions. If we are capable of deciding that we would like our Attorney to perform any financial transaction or our behalf, then the process of activating the LPA with the financial institution will take place which involves the Attorney providing all the necessary forms of identification that a bank expects of any new customer. The Attorney is a new customer in the eyes of the bank. If one day the Donor becomes unable to make their own financial decisions, then and only then may the Attorney take over. Of course if the Donor becomes unable to handle their affairs before the LPA has been activated at their financial institutions, it falls to the Attorney(s) to initiate that process. 

GaleSF63

IssyG said:

Thank you for all your suggestions. Olinda99, thanks. She would like to be able to do her own grocery delivery from Tesco - at present I am doing it for her and paying which she will reimburse me for at some point, and it is unweildly. Her bank will send through the OTC when she gets to the payment part. Her phone is a flip top and I am trying to set her up with something that she can handle more easily - going tomorrow in fact - but I fear that modern technology may be too much for her. I have explained again and again how the OTC works but she simply can't grasp it.

I have set up her Tesco's account so that her password etc is saved and she can take her time to select her purchases - I have actually been into Tesco's and explained how they are to be delivered and where placed and with their help that at least goes smoothly.

She would however like to make purchases on Amazon and eBay, and I have set up easily opened accounts there. I'm aware that Amazon have the absolute minimum of input regarding ordering, but at least to start with, for a while an OTC is likely to be needed. 

Whilst I can access her online Cahoot account when I visit, she cannot work out what digits of her passwords and passcodes need to go where. A paper statement is essential for her and also easy to handle telephone banking, like telephone authentication codes, anything voice recognition based would work.

She does understand a lot, but after a year in hospitals and nursing homes she has come out to find that technology has moved on in a way that she doesn't understand.

I really do not want to go the way of a LPA. At the moment I keep a record of every financial action I take for her and keep her eldest daughter - who she is not on good terms with - appraised at every step, as I do not relish any come back over anything done. This daughter is more keeping in the background with all this. I would mention that up until recently her younger daughter had control of her debit card and used it to her own ends to the tune of £6000 over 6 months. That's another situation we are dealing with and how I came to be involved. But it is moving forward on the banking front that I need advice with at the moment.

I have spoken to HSBC but unfortunately they were unhelpful. I will certainly give First Direct a ring though, thankyou, grumbler. I will also investigate Sterling's card, thankyou Marlot.

Thanks for reading all this. 

With the things that your sister is actually doing and wanting to do, the OTC seems to be a surprising stumbling block. Has she seen it working in practice? I'm wondering if it's one of those things that it is difficult to explain simply and if she had a go with you overseeing, it wouldn't be a problem.