Not only was mum's card cancelled forthwith, I couldn't have one either. That all stopped the moment I tried to do things properly. Yes, I know you're not supposed to but, hey, no one's perfect. Until I registered my power of attorney with the bank, I was able to extract cash from the hole in the wall using my mum's card. The bank that wouldn't give me a cash card was, you've guessed it, Santander. Not its remit, it seems.Īdd to that the millions of pounds belonging to the elderly accruing next to nothing in rubbish savings accounts, which the banks use to make handsome profits by investing it elsewhere at considerably higher rates of interest, and you have a powerful formula for sticking with the status quo.

Guardian consumer agony uncle Mark King suggests that the financial giants can't be arsed to tackle the problems, simply because there aren't enough of us to be a sufficient nuisance when we complain.Ĭertainly, that mighty watchdog the Financial Services Authority was none too bothered when I asked if it issued guidelines to companies about how best to deal with power of attorney issues. Like the bank that wouldn't issue me with a bank card, thus preventing me withdrawing cash on my mum's behalf using its ATMs or the building society that wouldn't recognise that I had power of attorney because my brother failed to complete his part of the form to its satisfaction or the online interest rates that are now unavailable to my mother because the brains behind internet accounts have yet to fathom out a way to register a legal document. It's the problems you encounter when you try to use it that no one tells you about. So, through the solicitor who drew up the documentation when she had the foresight to set things in train, we applied to the Court of Protection and were granted power of attorney. My old mum's an intelligent woman, and while she was still compos mentis she wanted to initiate the process that would enable her sons to deal with her affairs if, and when, she became too confused to do so herself. I now have enduring power of attorney for my mother, held jointly and severally with my brother. If you are one of the unfortunates who have entered the twilight world that comes with power of attorney you will undoubtedly be able to come up with plenty of analogies of your own. Or swimming the Pacific with a bag of cement strapped to your back. How about assembling a nuclear submarine using nothing more than a knife and fork.

An elderly loved one is losing their grip on reality and you decide the time has come to manage their affairs using the power of attorney.

I am da one i am da one