When Amelie’s grandchildren invoked a power of attorney, should her bank have made more checks before blocking access to her account?
What happened
Planning ahead, Amelie appointed her two grandchildren to act as her attorneys in the event she lost mental capacity. One day some time later, she found she couldn’t access her current account or use her debit card.
When Amelie called the bank she was told they’d allowed her grandchildren to register a power of attorney (POA) on all her accounts. Shocked and upset, she told the bank it should have asked the grandchildren for evidence that her mental capacity had declined.
Amelie revoked the POA and sent evidence of this to the bank.
The bank removed the POA immediately, but took weeks to reactivate Amelie’s online access and issue a new debit card. Meanwhile, Amelie had to withdraw cash in branch to cover her spending and was only allowed to take out £50 at a time.
Amelie had reduced mobility. Travelling to and from the branch – and having to prove her identity each time – was exhausting, time-consuming and expensive as she had to use taxis.
Amelie felt the bank had failed to protect her and had taken too long to put things right. She complained to the bank and, unsatisfied with their response, brought her complaint to us.
What we said
We saw that the bank’s policies and procedures don’t require attorneys to provide evidence of the consumer’s mental capacity. The POA had been properly registered with the Office of the Public Guardian. The bank said it had no reason to doubt the grandchildren were acting in Amelie’s best interests.
We asked the bank for records covering the six months leading up to the POA being registered.
We saw that Amelie had been regularly using her online banking and debit card, and had recently set up a standing order to her savings account. She’d also called the bank a few times but bank’s the call notes didn’t mention any concerns about her wellbeing or mental capacity.
Circumstances can change, sometimes very rapidly. And it’s important for attorneys to get access quickly to a donor’s account when appropriate. We understand that asking for additional, supporting information can cause delays, but sometimes it’s necessary to protect the consumer.
It wasn’t the bank’s fault that Amelie’s grandchildren had let her down. But we thought it should have made some additional checks, like asking more questions or trying to contact her. If it had, it wouldn’t likely have removed her access to her accounts.
We also felt that the bank took too long to restore Amelie’s access to her accounts and that the delay had caused her unnecessary problems.
Because of that, we told the bank to cover her taxi fares and also pay her £350 compensation to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused.