Elderly Friendly Accounts

JezR

Personal experience with LPA registration a few months ago for my father: 

Very Good: Santander. Could have been all done online but I was using a LPA done over a decade ago so elected to go into a branch for them to scan in all the paperwork. His accounts appeared online with mine within a week with Debit cards following in a few more days. New accounts easy to open - do it online & notify LPA team by phone to add them, which again takes a week. I daresay it helped that I already had my own Santander online access.

Dreadful: Virgin Money. Did it in branch. Numerous errors made by front & back office that I had to keep putting right: they didn't collect ID for myself (although already a customer); they didn't copy all the LPA documents first time; when registered it was initially only live on one of their systems and he had accounts on both; they gave me the wrong form to open a new ISA account & took 2 weeks to notify me about it. No online access on one system, only by post. Far too much hassle by this point so I closed down all accounts apart from one with a fixed term.

OK: Yorkshire BS. Forms done in branch, appointment availability not great. Once set up online access alongside my existing accounts. New accounts can only be opened by post at head office - can be done by the branch submitting paper work.

dothenumbersaddup

JezR said:

Personal experience with LPA registration a few months ago for my father: 

Very Good: Santander. Could have been all done online but I was using a LPA done over a decade ago so elected to go into a branch for them to scan in all the paperwork. His accounts appeared online with mine within a week with Debit cards following in a few more days. New accounts easy to open - do it online & notify LPA team by phone to add them, which again takes a week. I daresay it helped that I already had my own Santander online access.

Dreadful: Virgin Money. Did it in branch. Numerous errors made by front & back office that I had to keep putting right: they didn't collect ID for myself (although already a customer); they didn't copy all the LPA documents first time; when registered it was initially only live on one of their systems and he had accounts on both; they gave me the wrong form to open a new ISA account & took 2 weeks to notify me about it. No online access on one system, only by post. Far too much hassle by this point so I closed down all accounts apart from one with a fixed term.

OK: Yorkshire BS. Forms done in branch, appointment availability not great. Once set up online access alongside my existing accounts. New accounts can only be opened by post at head office - can be done by the branch submitting paper work.

Thanks, really helpful.

dothenumbersaddup

cwep2 said:

Had lots of problems with HSBC setting up POA access for my father.

Had to visit branch maybe 6-7 times and they lost paperwork - including the ORIGINAL Lasting Power of Attorney document which cannot be replaced (as he is now not of sound mind to do another one). The branch staff at fairly big branches seemed totally lost with the process also, and this is the sort of thing that does need a branch visit, usually with an appointment made in advance.

One thing also with HSBC was that only one person can have online/app access, you can't both do it. In my Father's case he wanted to be able to log in and see transactions, statements and with the help of my mother (his wife) was able to do basic stuff, but there was no half way house with HSBC even for view only access. So once I was set up with access he completely lost his. He still has a debit card etc for spending/ATM withdrawals, but this was hard for him to let go / lose this access.

Thanks, will definitely not put any funds in HSBC 

dothenumbersaddup

lr1277 said:

Your initial post isn't clear in my mind; are your parents going to continue to manage their affairs are you going to take over all of it?

If you parents are going to continue to manage their affairs, how comfortable are they with online or apps?

You and they need to look at the communication methods available for each financial institution and possibly even by products of that institution.

One possibility is NS&I, despite the downsides listed above, for the NS&I income bonds I believe a customer can manage the account online by phone or by post. No idea about the communication channels for the other NS&I accounts. Would your parents agree to these communication channels?

Thanks, I see what you mean, they have no digital skills whatsoever, but all those who act on their behalf do.  As with many elderly people they used to know the bank staff personally, and really struggle without local branches.  

LHW99

If you have a branch of RBS near you, they were very good setting up an executor's account for me re: my late mum (some years ago now). We found Nationwide were OK for dealing with things for my OH's parents (before / after). Have never had to open a POA with either though.

LHW99

IanManc said:

LHW99 said:

If you have a branch of RBS near you, they were very good setting up an executor's account for me re: my late mum (some years ago now). We found Nationwide were OK for dealing with things for my OH's parents (before / after). Have never had to open a POA with either though.

They are all in Scotland, except for Berwick-Upon-Tweed in Northumberland, Charing Cross in London which is the Drummonds branded branch, and the Holts branded branch in Farnborough which is due to close.

A pity, as I say it was some years ago, and the RBS branch was in the East Midlands. I think it closed just before Covid, but I had no idea that bank had contracted so much.

etienneg

LHW99 said:

IanManc said:

LHW99 said:

If you have a branch of RBS near you, they were very good setting up an executor's account for me re: my late mum (some years ago now). We found Nationwide were OK for dealing with things for my OH's parents (before / after). Have never had to open a POA with either though.

They are all in Scotland, except for Berwick-Upon-Tweed in Northumberland, Charing Cross in London which is the Drummonds branded branch, and the Holts branded branch in Farnborough which is due to close.

A pity, as I say it was some years ago, and the RBS branch was in the East Midlands. I think it closed just before Covid, but I had no idea that bank had contracted so much.

It hasn't! RBS stands (or originally stood) for ROYAL Bank of Scotland, now part of the NatWest banking group. It has many branches throughout England.

It is completely different from Bank of Scotland (BoS), which has its headquarters and most (if not all) of its branches in Scotland. It is part of the Lloyds banking group, along with Halifax.

Barkin

cwep2 said:

Had lots of problems with HSBC setting up POA access for my father.

Had to visit branch maybe 6-7 times and they lost paperwork - including the ORIGINAL Lasting Power of Attorney document which cannot be replaced (as he is now not of sound mind to do another one). 

I thought you could get a copy, for a fee, from OPG?

--x--

Make a copy of a registered lasting power of attorney (LPA)

You can make a copy of your LPA and confirm it is genuine by ‘certifying’ it, if you’re still able to make your own decisions.

Alternatively, we can send you an office copy of a registered LPA. The fee is £35. You can order an office copy by calling the Office Copies team.

OPG Office Copies team

Telephone: 0300 456 0300

Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 3.30pm

(closed 11:00-12:00 on Wednesdays).
--x--

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/register-a-lasting-power-of-attorney

ShinyStarlight1

dothenumbersaddup said:

Hello, we used to look at getting the best interest rates for my parents, but now they are much older and there is the prospect of invoking LPA’s or dealing with probate, we are thinking that it would be better to chose current account, saving accounts and ISA accounts with institutions that were best of class to engage with on these issues, even if the rates are worse.  I wonder if other members have any experience or recommendations that would help as we revamp their banking arrangements.

My experience with Phoenix Life was so unbelievably poor that they compensated me and I vowed never to use them for anything, no matter what. They made a deeply upsetting time after the death of my beloved dad so much worse.

Lloyds were very good, if I remember correctly. (I will double check and amend if I’ve remembered wrongly)

cwep2

Barkin said:

--x--

Make a copy of a registered lasting power of attorney (LPA)

You can make a copy of your LPA and confirm it is genuine by ‘certifying’ it, if you’re still able to make your own decisions.

Alternatively, we can send you an office copy of a registered LPA. The fee is £35. You can order an office copy by calling the Office Copies team.

Thanks for adding this - have already tried going down that route.

The first option is not possible unfortunately due to the decline in my father's capacity.

The second is essentially a photocopy, but does not have the embossed stamp as per the original. Basically what happened was the HSBC employee took a photocopy of the POA, and by mistake gave me the photocopied version and kept the original (embossed version). They then destroyed the original so the only options left are my existing photocopy or effectively a new photocopy from OPG, neither of which is embossed.
Thus far the photocopy has been sufficient with all but one financial institution, and for that account we have just had to leave it and will have to wind it up upon his death as there is nothing we can do now.