Elderly relative, no ID, hassle from energy company and others

Hairyboff

Not sure if anyone else has faced this problem but here goes.
An elderly relative of mine has lived in the same property for the last fifty years and is now widowed. They are housebound due to mobilty issues, so they have no longer have a passport, travel cards or other forms of photographic ID. My partner and I regularly visit in order to bring them shopping. The same elderly relative does not have the internet, so cannot access online banking - in fact, all they have is a building society account (the same one for almost fifty years) with a chequebook. This alone is problematic as some organisations refuse to engage with building society current accounts, meaning that any refunds cannot be paid to our relative.

Now, said relative is being harassed (bullied?) into paying for their electricity by direct debit (the supplier is a top six company by customer numbers) - something that has never been done before. All payments in the past have been paid by cheque without incident, yet more and more aggressive letters are being sent demanding payment or threatening being cut off. Our relative has never paid for anything by DD and refuses to do so as a matter of principle. However, the behaviour is upsetting them.

Is there anything that can be done to reduce/eliminate this unnecessary behaviour which is intimidating?

Flugelhorn

just looked at this one https://www.bristol-energy.co.uk/customer-care/our-help-vulnerable-customers they will send the bill to  someone else to act as an intermediary - clearly not ideal but perhaps you could pay the bill and then she could give you a cheque

having said that it is ludicrous than any person like this should be bullied for wanting to pay by cheque 

sheramber

Would they consider a standing order?

Could they pay the bill by cash or by cheque over the counter at the post office or the building society?

Many places no longer accept cheques, regardless of whether they are from a bank account or building society.
 

swabaxter

Thanks for the question. I would recommend setting up a modern bank account for your relative to use for Electricity and other bills. You can certainly administer this for them either informally or formally. Best wishes.

elsien

Bullied may be the wrong word for letters that are probably auto generated. Not ok, obviously, but not personal. Have they checked whether their supplier still accepts cheques - companies that do are becoming a minority. If they don’t take cheques any more, what is your relative’s plan B, because they will have to have one, principles or not.

Has your relative considered setting up a power of attorney? Will save a lot of hassle in the future if they get to the point they can’t manage their own affairs, but if set up that way it can also be used while they still have capacity for someone to take over the bits they would prefer not to do themselves any more. 

For information, third party bank mandates should stop when the person loses capacity and accessing bank accounts legally without an LPA takes months. It can be hard for the person to acknowledge it may be needed in future but it’s a conversation that would be well worth having. 

Hairyboff

swabaxter said:

Thanks for the question. I would recommend setting up a modern bank account for your relative to use for Electricity and other bills. You can certainly administer this for them either informally or formally. Best wishes.

The only difficulty with this is the necessity of acceptable ID now required to set up an account with a UK bank. As listed in my OP, effectively, our elderly relative has been 'outlawed' by anti-money laundering regulations. I am left wondering how many others are in a similar position?

elsien

Does their building society offer a current account? That may be a way round the issue because the BS already knows who they are?
I think basic bank accounts also tend to accept a lower level of ID.
Your relative may be resistant to change but sometimes there's not really much option. 

Keep_pedalling

I would strongly suggest she sets up LPAs for both finance and welfare, not only to help with the current situation but in case she looses mental capacity in the future.

Hairyboff

Keep_pedalling said:

I would strongly suggest she sets up LPAs for both finance and welfare, not only to help with the current situation but in case she looses mental capacity in the future.

We woud do this but they are fully compos mentis and not in need at this stage - personally, I would agree from a future-proofing perspective. However this would reduce their independence, which my partner and I are reluctant to do.

Robin9

If your relative is happy - apply for online account with her supplier -  use your email address. - keep her actual name and address.

Who is her supplier ?

Did she get the £150 as a cheque from the council ?

Hairyboff

elsien said:

Does their building society offer a current account? That may be a way round the issue because the BS already knows who they are?
I think basic bank accounts also tend to accept a lower level of ID.
Your relative may be resistant to change but sometimes there's not really much option. 

The building societ account is a current account - it may be something of a bureaucratic hangover from the days when only bank accounts were trusted.

There is always an option: very simply, the steamroller approach whereby people simply submit to the will of big business has never interested our elderly relative...