LPA & HSBC

Mands

I'm aware this is a pre-death issue but the regulars here know more about LPAs than anyone else on the site and I'm in need of a sanity check, so I hope you'll forgive me going mildly off topic.

I'm in the process of registering an LPA for my mother who has lost capacity. LPA is set up and active, I have activation keys etc. I've hit a roadblock with HSBC.

They have an online portal for registration. I've used that, given them the activation key, all the details they asked for plus a digital signature. On 3/5 they called me acknowledging receipt and telling me they now needed ID and address confirmation from me. They created a one-time link to a verification app. I uploaded everything needed. On 14/5 they texted me saying everything was good, they had all that they needed, they would text within 5 days with next steps. Since then: nothing. 

This morning I spent 50 minutes talking to customer service agents.

During the course of that call they:
* Told me they couldn't say if the LPA was stalled
* That they didn't have an online process for dealing with LPAs
* That I needed to take the LPA into a branch (there isn't one in the country I live in)
* Told me I needed to take my mother into a branch (which would, most likely, kill her)
* Tried to take me through security using mum's details

Other than a monster dose of frustration and a huge phone bill I've achieved nothing. 

The LPA team are not contactable by phone or email. The number they called me on doesn't take incoming calls, the email address they sent stuff from is unmonitored. 

Calling the normal HSBC number will just take me round the same loop again.

I've tweeted HSBC and raised an official complaint. But does anyone else have any other ideas? 

TIA,
Mands

Flugelhorn

Put in a formal complaint - sometimes works as someone will actually look at what is going on

Jon1970

As the poster above states put a formal complaint in today by email/letter, this starts the clock ticking as HSBC will have 8 weeks to deal with it before you can escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service. 

Careful when using social media to highlight issues with financial companies as there are scammers that target people off the back of tweets.

Mands

Flugelhorn said:

Put in a formal complaint - sometimes works as someone will actually look at what is going on

Complaint's in and I've had an acknowledgement. Thanks.

Mands

Jon1970 said:

As the poster above states put a formal complain in today by email/letter, this starts the clock ticking as HSBC will have 8 weeks to deal with it before you can escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service. 

Careful when using social media to highlight issues with financial companies as there are scammers that target people off the back of tweets.

Complaint is in and they've emailed me that they've started the process. Clearly there are two issues: some sort of glitch with the LPA and that their own staff have absolutely no knowledge of them. If anyone listens back to the calls I think they'll realise they have a huge GDPR issue, asking me to log into my mother's accounts as her. 

Noted re timelines and also the scammer warning. 

p00hsticks

The only other option I can suggest is perhaps try calling the HSBC bereavement team (assuming they have one) , as they might be able to put you through directly to someone from their LPA team. 

I certainly found this was the case for Lloyds when, having notified them of my dad's death online, I called the bereavement team shortly afterwards to talk about making a branch appointment to go in to register LPA for my mum - like you I was expecting to have to get mum into a branch to do so.

I was pleasantly surprised when they transferred me over to the LPA team, who gave me a number to call back on when I had an activation code for them and then registered it all for me, including setting up online and telephone banking. I was very impressed with the service.

Brie

If you can't get through to the bereavement team then look for a vulnerable customer team.  Both should have a fairly high level of sympathy and understanding for a difficult situation and usually have a bit more authority as well as knowledge than the standard customer service bod.

Hoenir

Mands said:

* That I needed to take the LPA into a branch (there isn't one in the country I live in)

Being a non UK resident may prove challenging. 

Mands

Thanks for the suggestions folks. I spent the afternoon messaging with HSBC twitter team. They were able to confirm that the LPA is fine and that they have written to me with all the relevant information. This contradicts the text message they sent but would explain the delay. Post regularly takes a month to arrive. 

I'll update the thread, in case this is of use to someone else, as the process moves forward. 

Mands

Closing the loop on this and updating in case anyone is interested but also for anyone who stumbles across the thread having searched for "HSBC" and "LPA".

The LPA is now registered, I am now recognised as the person controlling the accounts, I have online and telephone banking. 

HSBC have been, mostly, excellent. But when they have not it has been astonishingly bad. The most common issue I've seen is that they give a timescale for something to happen and then take significantly longer. Since I wasn't formally a customer they became tied in knots when I tried to call and follow up.

Example 1: they texted to say they had all the information they needed to register the LPA and would follow up, by text, within 5 working days. Instead they wrote to me, to an address I'd asked them not to use, and the letters took over a month to arrive. Calling, to find out what the delay was, resulted in the frustration detailed in my OP.

Example 2: their response to my complaint was that a particular team needed to speak to me and would call within 72 hours. It was 10 days before they got in touch.

My takeaways: everything takes longer than HSBC believe so it is worth waiting for them to make contact. And, HSBC have the best online portal for registering an LPA of any financial organisation I've contacted to date. Also, invoking an LPA takes significant time and resources so if in doubt start early.

Thanks again for all the assistance,
Mands