First Direct bank unsupportve/unhelpfull

Ksw3

If its the usual calendar that pops up for entering dates, if you click the yearat the top, you will be able to scroll through the years rather than going back month by month.

Grumpy_chap

flaneurs_lobster said:

I don't think that legally you can set up a bank account for another adult unless you have a Power of Attorney in place for them.

I don't think the OP was setting up the account for his wife - more assisting his wife to set up her own account.

I agree with the Niece suggesting that both the OP and his wife should have the ability to access finances in the event that either of them is unavailable / incapacitated.  It may be that, if the OP's wife is unable to manage online services because of eye sight, FD may not be the best provider for her.

It is good for the OP to assist his wife, but to meet the need of allowing her to manage finances in the event that the OP is not available, it needs to be a banking service which the OP's wife can access easily on her own.

Better that the OP and his wife are being proactive, though, rather than the situation when my Grandad passed on.  Grandma and Grandad would go to the local Tesco store, Grandad would stand outside and smoke a cigarette while Grandma did the shopping.  When she got to the till, she would wave for Grandad to go in and pay.  The first time Grandad was not available, Grandma went to the store alone, did the shopping and got to the till.  She had taken Grandad's cheque book but simply did not know how to write a cheque and was unable to pay.  They were different times back then, the staff in Tesco knew her and simply said to pay next time.  I suspect that would not happen today. 

35har1old

quintain said:

First Direct bank are not allowing my wife to transfer her account (£40k) to a-n-other.

A short while ago my wife (since 1966) requested that I set up a new bank account for her, she had been advise by  a loving neice that at our 80+ yrs ages my wife should have her own seperate bank account for the time I died.

At the request of my wife I set up an account in her name with First Direct (Moneysaving expert recommended them)..she does not have the abilty to do this online type of work, she also has very poor eyesight AND in any case it has been my job for all our married life to do all this type of work.

We downloaded the smartphone app to register to go online with the account.

The app opens at the year 2020 and we need to go back month at  a time to 1938. The app on the phone always go faulty after about 20 back clicks. There is no other way of putting in her date of birth other than using this calendar on the phone screen.

First Direct personnell when we phone them cannot talk with her and me together, they say for security checks they can only talk with her. She tried to talk with them very recently and did so for 40++ minutes to different FD personnel but they still did not accept it was her wish to transfer her account. She was exhausted and I, on her behalf was very annoyed.

My wife cannot deal with these conversations. She is somewhat deaf and is not used to dealing with unhelpful indeed perhaps deliberately evasive bureaucracy.

Both she and I are frustrated at this procedure.

She with my help has emailed FD asking & giving all the above information and asking for help. She never recieves any constructive assistance but she does recieve the Marketing BS frequently "We value you as  a customer etc etc"

We considered trying to talk with Chris Pitt Chief Executive Officer or his team at first direct but the FD personnel cannot transfer us to him or his team. Does Pitt really exist, is he interested in his customers, does he want to help. does he support the unhelpful bureaucracy, Does he really exist?????

We aso sent a Linkedin message to him but again got no reply.

Has First Direct Bank decided they can hold onto £40k ++ and never allow my wife to be able to accesss it. Is this deliberate corporate theft.

We welcome any and all advice from this forum..."what can we do"

Most banks will accept for your wive to  answers all the security questions she can then ask them to speak to you on her behalf 

M25

I'm suspicious and I don't work for FD.

Take your wife to a high street bank branch and open an account.

moneytorques

The OPs opening line.

"First Direct bank are not allowing my wife to transfer her account (£40k) to a-n-other."

"Her account" suggests she already has one with FD?

northwalesd

Yes, I'm totally confused about the OP. It sounds like the FD account already exists, exactly what are you trying to do, and what does clicking back from 2020 in the FD app have to do with it?

sheramber

First question

Do you have a joint account with your bank or is it just in your name?

If it is only in your name you could add your wife to make it joint. If either of you die the account automatically belongs to the survivor.

Yiour wife could open her own account with the same bank you are with. No need to go elsewhere unless you are not happy with your bank.

or
If you have a local bank visit it, with your wife , and open an account for her.

whatever bank you use please advise them your wife is deaf and has bad eyesight. Her record will be noted and extra help provided. 

Please also look into Power of Attorney for both of you. It can be done easily online. 

moneytorques

In the absence of the OP coming back to answer any of the questions posed to assist this one is going to remain a mystery for the time being.