Lasting Power of Attorney - Banks Rejecting

Dellmar

Just tried to post but lost it in the cyber ether! Anyway, here goes again...I'm the sole power of attorney for my Mum. I registered a lasting power of attorney with the Office of the Public Guardian but have run into problems getting the Halifax and Lloyds to accept it. They say pages are missing, however these pages are not a requirement (additional certifcate provider's statement and additional attoreney's statement). Although I have explained to them that these were not filled in since they were not relevent and moreover not a requirement by the OPG for registering the poa. I double checked with the OPG that it is correct that these pages are not provided and they confirmed this was the case. Despite my writing to these banks attaching downloaded pages from the OPG webiste so they could read them for themselves I am no further forward. I have explained why they are not required but Halifax just repeats that they need them and doesn't explain why or address the points I raise in my letter. I asked them to contact the OPG directly giving them their website address and telephone number, although I doubt they've done this. I'm thinking of reporting this to the Financial Ombudsman but I would rather not have to resort to this route. I suspect that the banks are not that familiar with the new lasting poa's and are used to receiving them only through solicitors - I downloaded all the forms and guidance notes from the OPG website and did it myself. (We used my Mum's gp rather than a solicitor to provide the certificate provider's statement which was much cheaper than a solicitor would have been.) It doesn't help that I can't actually talk to the people in the banks who have rejected the application to register the poa access to my Mum's accounts and policies as they won't give the number out so I have to go throught the branch staff who don't know much about it.
Has anyone else experienced similar problems and, if so, would you have any tips on how to resolve it? Any advice gratefully received!

jonesMUFCforever

When did you register the PoA?

Dellmar

17th March 2008 - only took the OPG 3 and a half months to process but that's another storey!

Biggles

Dellmar wrote: »

I suspect that the banks are not that familiar with the new lasting poa's and are used to receiving them only through solicitors

Basically, they're just not familiar. With the old EPAs nor the new LPAs. The fact is, each individual branch deals with so few, and you will know more than them about it. You have to make sure you know your facts, tell them what they must do, and take it further up the line if you meet resistance. You will find this attitutde with most organisations, not just banks, sadly. Sometimes it needs a lot of perserverance.

To be fair, however, the notes on completing the LPA say that each section should either be completed or scored through, so they may have a point re 'missing' pages. Unless the OPG's certification makes it clear that no page is missing, I think it may help if you can get a letter from them to confirm that the LPA is valid, that can be attached to it to deal with doubters.

sloughflint

With the Halifax, call 0845 602 1997 and ask to speak to a person who specialises with POA.( I say this because the second time I called, I was diverted to a different number)

dunstonh

I'm thinking of reporting this to the Financial Ombudsman but I would rather not have to resort to this route.

You cannot do this. The complaints process has a defined structure and the FOS will just return your complaint letter back to the banks.

I would say that the banks are correct in asking for the missing pages. Whilst you say there is nothing on them needed, the banks dont know that. Normally sections not required are crossed through so how do they know if they are crossed through or completed?

The pages are also numbered so they can see clearly that pages are missing. Can you imagine if you were not fully disclosing the information and later it ended up in court. The bank wouldnt have a leg to stand on if it accepted a document with pages missing.

Dellmar

Thank you Biggles, Sloughflint and dunstonh for your responses. Much appreciated. I called the OPG again today to try to get clarification on these missing pages. It was a tortuous call as the person I was speaking to had to keep putting me on hold for long periods while they consulted with colleagues. They say that although I had not included the pages that the financial institutions were after, as they weren't relevant to the poa they approved it nevertheless. However, as this had created problems they told me that I could send back the original poa so I could add the crossed out pages so that they could stamp them. If the sanctioning of the original poa is anything to go by this could take 3 or 4 months. Alternatively they said I could tell the banks to contact them directly and they would confirm that this was a kosher poa. I told them I had already asked the banks to contact the OPG but that they didn't seem to want to do this. I asked if they couldn't simply send me something that would confirm the poa was approved and registered without the missing pages and they said I would have to write them a letter explaining all this and they would respond. I asked how long this would take and I was told a month - well double that and more I thought! And then there's no guarantee the next person to deal with the case would say no, we need the original back/no, not required/no, send us a cheque first as an amendment fee, etc, etc. So I thought I would try the number Sloughflint gave me for the Halifax poa helpline which was, unhelpfully, not quoted on any of the correspondence I'd received from them. (I couldn't get past the automated telephone system when I rang the number quoted on their letters so I had given up.) I had a fraught conversation with a Jeannette there who even implied at one point that none of this would have happened had I employed the use of a solicitor to do it. Fair enough if you don't mind spending the money on what you should by rights be able to do without the assistance of the legal profession and the expense of their bills. Anyhow, I asked her to request her poa/legal department to contact the OPG directly to resolve. To be quite honest I don't expect anything to happen on this front and now I think the safest route would be to just send the whole poa back to the OPG and ask them to reissue.
It's all been so slow and messy and the all institutions have given me contradictory information depending on whom you speak to. I wish you could just deal with the decision makers directly and not an endless stream of random people who don't have the full knowledge to best advise you.
Oh well, I just hope an emergency doesn't crop up in the menatime where I would need manage my Mum's affairs. Fingers crossed!

Biggles

Sounds like the best bet, Dellmar. And I'm sure it won't take as long as before, my EPA only took the standard five weeks fairly recently, so maybe their backlog (or whatever!) is cleared now.

dunstonh

However, as this had created problems they told me that I could send back the original poa so I could add the crossed out pages so that they could stamp them.

That would be the logical outcome. Lets hope they are quicker this time round

sloughflint

Dellmar wrote: »

I had a fraught conversation with a Jeannette there who even implied at one point that none of this would have happened had I employed the use of a solicitor to do it.

Oh dear. You are not having much luck.
That was a naughty thing to say. I found that my EPA was rejected in places because the solicitor stamp did not state solicitor name and address so the document couldn't be verified.Fair point I thought and I went on to think that the other banks that had merrily accepted the document maybe should have not done so.
Hopefully it will get sorted soon for you.