Tesco Bank will not close mothers Tesco Credit Card Account

welshden

Hi All

My mother is 85 years old, she has dementia and is in a care home and spends most days staring at a wall. She has a Tesco Bank Credit card account and each year about £70 goes out of her account in January. We cannot tell from the statement description who it is, so contacted Tesco Bank to cancel the payment and close her account, they refused. We made a complaint and yet again they refused. They started sending her debt letters, so in the end the family paid the money off. We have no idea what her security details are, so they will not talk to us and we cannot cancel it online. We have Power Of Attorney but Tesco Bank insist that the original master documents are sent to them. There is now an online system with the OPG but Tesco Bank does not use it. Power of Attorneys can take up to a year to get and cost a fair chunk of money, so do not want to send it into the black hole that companies are these days, as we probably would never see it again. I would have thought Tesco Bank has the authority to close any account they wish. We are not sure what further actions we can take to close our mothers account. There is also the case of where is my mothers card as we have not come across it, although it doesn't appear to have be used, according to her statements. Has anybody come across this before with Tesco Bank, if so how did you get the account closed

Flugelhorn

can you get a certified copy of the PoA and send that to them? I got 3 certified copies done which were acceptable to institutions ? Or can they suggest you take it somewhere so that they can certify a copy themselves?

born_again

Sounds like a recuring payment for something.

What is the description on statement?

TBH, should not have paid it off. They are hardly going to take your mother to court over this & would have seen account frozen to any future payments.

Do you not have original PoA you can send them?

welshden

Born again

Payment is to "Paypal *2co,com"  2co.com  looks like some sort of payment company

Yes we do have the original, but that is our issue, we do not fancy sending them the master.

welshden

Flugelhorn

We went and got a certified copy for Tesco and they refused it accept it, they want the originals, which we are reluctant to send. If they lose the originals we will have to go through the process all again and last time it took nearly a year last time. 

born_again

welshden said:

Born again

Payment is to "Paypal *2co,com"  2co.com  looks like some sort of payment company

Yes we do have the original, but that is our issue, we do not fancy sending them the master.

Thanks. 
I would ring the co as per UK number on website & they will tell you what it is for. They should also cancel it.
Had experience with these co & they are pretty free with info 👍

Also did your mother have a paypal account? If so & you can get in, then it will be in the Automatic Payments section.

Wonder if it is for something like anti-virus on computer or other software.

pfpf

85 with a tesco CC? she signed up and i assume had online access as is it an online account only? would she have done this herself or with help? if with help is that person available?

iv'e just had a quick look on the tesco site and the "forgotten username" option may be a starting point. i have no clue if this route would gain you access but worth a try. good luck.

p.s your 1st sentence in the OP is heartbreaking. best wishes.

pdel61

They should accept the code from the OPG unless there are restrictions on the LPA.

From their FAQ:

Yes, we accept the code. Please visit the Governments lasting Power of Attorney webpage to receive a code for all Lasting/Enduring POAs. If there are conditions or restrictions, we will need to see the paper document.

welshden

Thanks PDEL61

Do you have a link to the FAQ with this question

I tried looking but can only find links to them wanting the Power Of Attorney documents.
Thanks

pdel61

https://www.tescobank.com/help/giving-control-of-your-account/

FAQ is at the bottom of the page

welshden

pdel61

Many thanks. This is excellent and gives us something to go on, as this contradicts what their customer service people are telling us.