Best easy access acct WITHOUT an app?

Braveface

My 89 year old father has a significant amount of money all deposited in one bank.  He already has a fully funded ISA for this year and is now looking for somewhere to move some of his money to so that he can still be protected by the eighty five thousand pound per bank legislation.  Not a single high street bank in our local town will open an account over the counter for him.  He wants to be able to set up and access the account but does not have a smart device and has limited internet savvy (He only used a card in a machine for the first time last month!)  So my question is this. Does anyone know of a high street bank or building society that will allow us to set up an account using his laptop OR where I can set up an account on his behalf using an app?  Failing this means that he will have substantial amount of money at risk as its all sitting with one provider.
TIA!

eskbanker

Is his preference a branch account?  I find it hard to believe that there aren't any available - which banks and building societies are in his town?

Online non-app access ought to be viable if he has an SMS-capable device?

GeoffTF

I use the Skipton Building Society. It has a good online service (you do not have to use the app), and the branch service is good too, but that does not help unless you have a local branch.

FrustratedPython

He's slightly older than my mother who is in a similar situation, does not have a smart phone and prefers to minimise what she uses her computer for.  We've currently got a Tesco Bank Easy Access account for her (now part of Barclays), which I was able to set up online for her without too much difficulty.  We haven't been operating it much though.  I do have formal power of attorney but for many online banking purposes I haven't had to prove it.

I hope you can sort something sensible out.  Elderly people are being pushed out of a lot of things they would previously have been able to continue managing independently, and it's frustrating for them, even when we're happy to help.

Mark_d

I'd suggest looking at NS&I - then you don't need to worry about the £85k protection limit eg.

https://www.nsandi.com/products/income-bonds

Cisco001

Where about he is living? You could check which building society close by just in case he want to access by branch.

Or is he looking for Cash ISA for 25-26?

Anyway. Pick one here
https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/savings-accounts/

P.S  last resort NS&I...

wmb194

Braveface said:

My 89 year old father has a significant amount of money all deposited in one bank.  He already has a fully funded ISA for this year and is now looking for somewhere to move some of his money to so that he can still be protected by the eighty five thousand pound per bank legislation.  Not a single high street bank in our local town will open an account over the counter for him.  He wants to be able to set up and access the account but does not have a smart device and has limited internet savvy (He only used a card in a machine for the first time last month!)  So my question is this. Does anyone know of a high street bank or building society that will allow us to set up an account using his laptop OR where I can set up an account on his behalf using an app?  Failing this means that he will have substantial amount of money at risk as its all sitting with one provider.
TIA!

Lloyds, BoS and Halifax - as part of the same Group all use the same underlying system - have a good browser based online banking system. I don't think you need a mobile either as I'm always offered the option of a call to my landline when it wants to send me a 2FA code.

lr1277

NS&I income bonds can be operated by post, phone and online. For other NS& I products you would have to check each product individually as not all have this range of ways to run them.

On these boards I have heard about 3rd party mandates. I don't know how these things operates, but it is possible if your dad sets up a current and savings account, he could give you 3rd party mandate on them. Then you might be able to operate them with your smart device.

Another option is LPA for property and finance. With these the donor (your dad) authorises say you to act as his attorney. Then you can definitely run his accounts for him. He doesn't need to have lost capacity for you to act as his attorney as long as he authorises any action you are taking.

One of my mum's banks only allows a maximum of £2k transfer. (even to an account in her own name at a different institution). The way around this is to use their smartphone app to raise this limit. My mum is not confident with her smartphone, so we don't use this method. We haven't tried the telephone customer service to see if we can transfer larger amounts.

However certain institutions allow deposit by debit card. So for some NS&I, Yorkshire Building Society and Skipton Building Society accounts you can deposit with a debit card. Many debit cards have a limit of £50k for online transactions though I have heard some debit cards have a £20k limit.

Hope that helps.

Braveface

Firstly, thank you to everyone who has commented.  In our hometown there is only one financial institution - the Nationwide and thats where he already banks (open 3 days a week and thats when they're not on a "training" day).  We went to Lichfield and were turned away at Lloyds, Halifax and HSBC - they all said we would have to travel to Walsall to open an account (HSBC Lichfield is now nothing more than a row of illuminated cash machines with not a single cashier desk.)   So it looks like a trip to Walsall.  I really can"t believe that the banks truly believe this level of what they laughing call "customer sevice" is what their customers want!

wmb194

Braveface said:

Firstly, thank you to everyone who has commented.  In our hometown there is only one financial institution - the Nationwide and thats where he already banks (open 3 days a week and thats when they're not on a "training" day).  We went to Lichfield and were turned away at Lloyds, Halifax and HSBC - they all said we would have to travel to Walsall to open an account (HSBC Lichfield is now nothing more than a row of illuminated cash machines with not a single cashier desk.)   So it looks like a trip to Walsall.  I really can"t believe that the banks truly believe this level of what they laughing call "customer sevice" is what their customers want!

Why can't your father open e.g., a Lloyds account online?

mon3ysav3r

Braveface said:

Firstly, thank you to everyone who has commented.  In our hometown there is only one financial institution - the Nationwide and thats where he already banks (open 3 days a week and thats when they're not on a "training" day).  We went to Lichfield and were turned away at Lloyds, Halifax and HSBC - they all said we would have to travel to Walsall to open an account (HSBC Lichfield is now nothing more than a row of illuminated cash machines with not a single cashier desk.)   So it looks like a trip to Walsall.  I really can"t believe that the banks truly believe this level of what they laughing call "customer sevice" is what their customers want!

I just recently opened a current account at HSBC, they really wanted me to do it via an app on my phone in branch and I said no I didn't want to install that, so they did it the "old way" using a staff laptop! Took a surprising while, over an hour, and took scans of photo ID passport (would also take driving license probably). They gave me a tiny key fob sized device with a numeric key pad to generate the login code for online banking because I didn't want to use their phone app. They seemed to have far more staff working the day I went in than the other banks in my town.