Interest rates for Power of Attorney accounts

robe1810

My mum is 92 and in a care home which is being funded by investments. I am her attorney on her LPA. I am struggling with the opening of a new easy access account for an investment that has reached maturity but due to the way her investments mature I need to keep this money available.  It would seem that not every banking institution wants PofA accounts and those that do seem to offer a less interest rate?  I managed to find one but although I have access on line I can do very little and have to telephone to make withdrawals.  Am I alone in this frustration?  I have jumped through all the hoops for the LPA and now the banks want me to jump through more when all I want is to ensure mum gets the same level of interest rates and service that would apply if she was applying herself.  Perhaps someone on the forum has advice which would be gratefully received!   

P933alilli

Have you registered the LPOA with your Mum's bank prior to her going into a home or are you just looking for options at banks now with the best interest rates?

    When i was trying to do this last september Santander and Gatehouse bank were a disgrace frankly, and made it impossible for me. But if youve registered a LPOA previously with your Mum's bank you should have no problem and it would just be simply calling in your local branch with the required documents. Although they may not provide the highest interest rate you may be better just accepting that than getting nowhere for weeks like i did.

    If you do decide to hunt around for banks with better rates of interest then as was mentioned on my posts back in september/october, last year, its advantageous to have proof of your Mum's care-home address with confirmation from the manager and also a passport sized photograph of her! You may still get messed about though. Gatehouse even posted a letter to my elderly mum addressing her as the attorney and me as the doner. I complained over the phone , got an apology, was told they would send an application that day and i never received it. Then 2 months later i got a grey card from royal mail to say that someone had tried to send me a package but hadnt payed the required postage. I needed to pay £5 to receive it and, lo and behold, it was the application form to register the LPOA with Gatehouse bank, 10 weeks late! By this time i'd successfully opened an account for Mum with The Halifax!

soulsaver

I have POA for my brother and found the access token process a breeze with Santander (albeit his current bank) amongst others. 

Vortigern

I have, in the past, operated several accounts as an attorney.

For Halifax and Santander I had full online access.

Leeds Building Society - Branch access only.

NS&I - Apply by post, then operate account online.

Make an appointment before visiting a branch, ensure they know it's a PoA application and ask them to have a competent person available - someone who's dealt with PoA before.

Make sure you have a certified copy of the PoA. You'll need separate proofs of name and address for yourself and for your donor. Look up the bank's requirements before you go. You should not need a photo of the donor and you certainly should not need to take the donor to the branch!

BooJewels

Having been an active Attorney for different family members, I feel your frustration - an LPA makes things possible, but it certainly doesn't make it easy.  Not helped - as @Vortigern touched upon - by lots of staff simply not getting how LPAs work in their organisation.  I spent silly amounts of time trying to get the LPA registered with banks and getting things set up how they were needed - almost always because the person I was dealing with was inadequately informed/trained.

The only easy access savings account that I've personally encountered recently that openly state that they operate attorney accounts is Ford Money - their Flexible Saver - unfortunately they've dropped their interest rates recently, so they're not as attractive as they were - 4.60% yearly, 4.51% monthly, but perhaps better than a bank offering.  There will surely be others of course - but it will be a case of digging through the T&Cs.  Of the companies I have accounts with, this was the only one I found when recently checking for a friend.  Shawbrook state that you can ask for a paper application form to be considered - 'they may accept such applications'.

xylophone

Relative operated as Attorney for his relative and managed accounts with Santander, Leeds, Barclays,  Coventry,  Hargreaves Lansdown,

Metro Bank and others.

He was also able to open accounts in her name but with him as Attorney.

It is necessary to register the PoA with the institution in question.

Example

https://www.leedsbuildingsociety.co.uk/savings/power-of-attorney/

robe1810

Thank you @Collyflower1 and @BooJewels   It would seem that I am not alone in my frustration!  @Vortigern visiting a branch was my next option along with trying to sort out the mess they have made of registering the LPA  I applied for on-line access for her two existing accounts last year and was informed by letter that I didn't have authority for one of the accounts - so my mum with dementia can operate one account but not the other!!!  This visit is necessary even after a phone call and being assured that the change would be made.  @xylophone I have found the Coventry Building Society to be excellent and they were my first choice but sadly we are up to the FCSA limit so need to find somewhere else.  @soulsaver thank you, will look into Santander.      

xylophone

You could try the Leeds- it seems possible to operate by post as LPA.

happybagger

I had no issues regarding PoA when I had them, they were General PoA not Lasting. Only one I could not register for was Kent Reliance, as their terms said no. However it wasn't that relevant as it was a fixed rate account so no access anyway.

I will single out Coventry for exceptional customer service in in respect of this. Very sympathetic, respectful and knowledgeable, and the accounts i had PoA for appeared on my own log-in screen within 3 days.

soulsaver

I would also add that NS&I incongruously uses the online process by you generating & posting the access token to them!
Surprisingly, it worked well in my recent instance taking a week from generation to accounts visibility.

enthusiasticsaver

I registered the LPOA for my mum on accounts with her existing banks and can run them all online with no issue.  Nationwide, Yorkshire Building Society, Nat West, National Savings.  They all involved me going into the branches to show them the POA though except for National Savings and I don't keep moving her money around to get better rates of interest so I am  not sure if opening a new one in her name with a different institution may be problematic. They also changed the address on all of them to my address except for Nat West which agreed to keep mums address as the main address given that is her everyday account and I did not want new cards for her to go to  me instead.