Best bank account for vulnerable elders?

ConcernedRellie

Are there any bank accounts which can be set up so that (for example) a new direct debit or large payment has to be agreed by two signatories?

Context: my very elderly father-in-law has on several occasions been tricked by telephone scammers into giving out his bank account details. Fortunately, he hasn't lost much- yet. My mother-in-law is pretty astute, but has communication difficulties which make it impossible for her to use a telephone. They both use email regularly but refuse to contemplate internet banking, mobile phones or tablets. We have tried!!

They live very active lives and have always been fiercely independent. We want to support this independence, not take it away from them.

My husband and his brother plan to discuss Power of Attorney with them and we think that they might agree to it.

Brie

Would third party authority on the account help at all?  It's a good thing to put in place while the folks are still competent and while you're waiting to set up/use a POA.  If OH and/or bro (or you) had TPA then they could ask for a flag to be put on the account that they get a text/call whenever a new DD etc is set up.  I had TPA for my MiL's account but that was just to manage her money for her as she wasn't mobile enough to get to a branch.

tacpot12

Power of Attorney is the way to go, but you need to be aware that there is 20 week wait to receive PoA's back from the Office of the Public Guardian. 

Band7

Can you/they stop the root cause with a call minder which won't let unknown callers through?

Will the FIL agree to have a flag on his account, as suggested by Brie? Which bank is he with - you should be able to check third party access options on their website.

Rob5342

If you got third party authorisation then you should be able to access their account via the app and get notifications when new direct debts are set up.

Band7

Rob5342 said:

If you got third party authorisation then you should be able to access their account via the app and get notifications when new direct debts are set up.

depends on the bank. Not all send notifications for new DDs. Which ones do?


The larger issue is probably payments to new payees. Fraudsters are unlikely to use DDs.

ConcernedRellie

These are all really useful answers, thank you. 

They are currently with Lloyds. 

I think FIL will probably agree to a flag. One of the frauds seems to have been more a hard sell of a genuine product, so he allowed a direct debit mandate to be set up. My late aunt fell for something similar- she paid out insurance for years for an appliance she didn’t even own, and could have bought multiple times for the amount she paid them. We didn’t discover this until after she passed away. 

ConcernedRellie

re: the call minder - we have set one up for them, but they don’t want to block unknown callers as they are involved in various local societies and regularly get calls from perfectly honest strangers relating to that. It’s an important part of their social life, so we have to strike a balance. 

MikeJXE

The system I have with Santander is 2FF whereby if I set up payment I have to log into my iPhone app or I get a OTP code to my phone to authorise it 

Why not have your phone number linked to your FIL bank account 

ConcernedRellie

That might work, particularly as they don’t want to use a mobile phone themselves.

Band7

ConcernedRellie said:

re: the call minder - we have set one up for them, but they don’t want to block unknown callers as they are involved in various local societies and regularly get calls from perfectly honest strangers relating to that. It’s an important part of their social life, so we have to strike a balance. 

The perfectly honest strangers can leave voicemails, so your FIL and MIL can discuss whether to call back or not