Elderly Friendly Accounts

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.

Barkin

Interesting.

For 35 quid, I'd have expected something more useful than a photocopy, that I can get from the village shop for a couple of quid... 

Eco_Miser

Barkin said:

Interesting.

For 35 quid, I'd have expected something more useful than a photocopy, that I can get from the village shop for a couple of quid... 

but what's the village shop going to use as an original?

Barkin

Eco_Miser said:

Barkin said:

Interesting.

For 35 quid, I'd have expected something more useful than a photocopy, that I can get from the village shop for a couple of quid... 

but what's the village shop going to use as an original?

In the previous poster's case - agreed, there's no original to copy. 

In my wife's case - she has POA for her father, but he doesn't have the mental capacity to certify a copy himself.
It seems that, should she wish for a "just in case" copy of the LPA, a copy from the village shop would be just as useful as the £35 one from OPG. 

I wonder - if the previous poster were to generate an access code from their online account, whether this would be acceptable to any institution that won't accept a photocopy of the original? 

onomatopoeia99

tealady said:

Another thumbs down for Nationwide.
In order to receive inheritances legatees had to open accounts to have their share paid into. I found the staff I dealt with borderline rude or unhelpful.

My experience was entirely different after my dad died.  I kicked off the process by going into the branch with a death certificate and list of account numbers, the person I spoke to was very helpful tracked them all down and told me there was one more beside, which made sense as there was an ISA that had matured a few months previously and we couldn't figure what had happend to the money, dad wasn't in a good way by then and his record keeping had suffered.  The total was well over their probate threshold, so we had to wait for some other things at that point.

When probate was granted they offered the choice of paying into a Nationwide account or sending a cheque.  I opted for cheque and paid it in to the account I'd set up to collect all the funds.  It would have been more helpful if they could have done a bank transfer, but it only cost a couple of days for the postal system.