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Bank won't give my dad his money
HeparGirl24
Posts: 43 Forumite
Hello Everybody
My 84 year old father has had an Everyday Saver account with Barclays for years. He wants to close the account. He has never registered for telephone or internet banking as he preferred to use the branch in his local village until about 10 years ago when it closed. He recently wrote a letter asking the next nearest branch (around 2 hrs bus journey away) to close the account and send him a cheque but because his signature has "changed" and now appears "shaky" (due to a stroke) they send him a letter refusing the request and asked him to come into the branch with something to prove his identity.
Since he had the stroke he cannot drive so he cannot get to the branch easily and his driving licence has expired. He has not travelled abroad for many years and didn't renew his passport. When I phoned, Barclays confirmed they would need any identity documents to be in date. They suggested he should telephone their helpline and register for internet banking and then he could operate the account how he liked. His speach is often slurred (since the stroke) and it is difficult to understand him unless you know him well so that would never work. I live 300 miles away.
I have power of attorney but Barclays won't recognise it at the moment for various reasons - I have moved several times since we set it up so my address isn't correct, and my late mother is also named as an attorney but they also won't recognise it until her name is removed even though it says severally and jointly. Dad says they are being awkward and is why he wants to close the account in the first place. He might have some physical difficulties due to his health but he is still with it mentally.
Letters of complaint have got him nowhere. They won't speak to me other than to give generalised information. We managed to move a couple of Barclays Isa's he had because Lloyds have accepted my power of attorney and allowed me to authorise the transfer in of the Isa's too them but we are stuck with this savings account which is only earning about 0.7% interest.
Does anyone have any suggestions how to get back is money?
My 84 year old father has had an Everyday Saver account with Barclays for years. He wants to close the account. He has never registered for telephone or internet banking as he preferred to use the branch in his local village until about 10 years ago when it closed. He recently wrote a letter asking the next nearest branch (around 2 hrs bus journey away) to close the account and send him a cheque but because his signature has "changed" and now appears "shaky" (due to a stroke) they send him a letter refusing the request and asked him to come into the branch with something to prove his identity.
Since he had the stroke he cannot drive so he cannot get to the branch easily and his driving licence has expired. He has not travelled abroad for many years and didn't renew his passport. When I phoned, Barclays confirmed they would need any identity documents to be in date. They suggested he should telephone their helpline and register for internet banking and then he could operate the account how he liked. His speach is often slurred (since the stroke) and it is difficult to understand him unless you know him well so that would never work. I live 300 miles away.
I have power of attorney but Barclays won't recognise it at the moment for various reasons - I have moved several times since we set it up so my address isn't correct, and my late mother is also named as an attorney but they also won't recognise it until her name is removed even though it says severally and jointly. Dad says they are being awkward and is why he wants to close the account in the first place. He might have some physical difficulties due to his health but he is still with it mentally.
Letters of complaint have got him nowhere. They won't speak to me other than to give generalised information. We managed to move a couple of Barclays Isa's he had because Lloyds have accepted my power of attorney and allowed me to authorise the transfer in of the Isa's too them but we are stuck with this savings account which is only earning about 0.7% interest.
Does anyone have any suggestions how to get back is money?
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Comments
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If that was me (83 year old) I would get one of my kids to register me for internet banking
breaking the rules possibly but hardly a prison sentence.2 -
I would do the same and make sure that the funds are transferred to an account elsewhere in his name to avoid any "accusations"MikeJXE said:If that was me (83 year old) I would get one of my kids to register me for internet banking
breaking the rules possibly but hardly a prison sentence.0 -
Why can't he just register for internet banking? If he doesn't have a computer or tablet himself then surely he knows someone with one that he could use.
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one thing you might want to consider is giving priority to either updating or getting a new power of attorney because you may need it in the future and it sounds though the one you have is not acceptable1
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The OP needs to update the PoA and act on his behalf. It was needed in the past, it's needed now and will be needed in the future.0
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The bank don't hold an email or mobile number for him so he needs to phone to register these details before he (or me) can sign up online for internet banking. The alternative is to go into branch with the details but if he could do this he could close the account himself. We tried registering online but got a message saying please call the helpline as they didn't have enough details to complete the sign up. Barclays won't allow me to give them these details. They won't take them off the letter either.0
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He doesn't have the necessary in date id documents either.0
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The original POA document was sent back to the OPG for updating over 2 months ago but hasn't come back yet. Lloyds and Santander accepted the original document but Barclays wouldn't.0
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It’s ridiculous to even be thinking about work arounds. But. Could he set up a current account with Barclays and once he has, withdraw the savings to that and from there transfer them to his own bank account?1
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I'm not sure. I looked and it the first thing it asked was if you were an existing Barclays customer and if you say yes it asks you to log in to online banking. If I say no and start from scratch will the two accounts eventually show together? Also how to Barclays go about checking his ID if we make an online application for a current account?0
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