Barclays Bank Rant and other Rants! and Death

[stringvest]

Mum had Dementia, Dad Alzheimers. There came a time when they couldn't manage their finances. Dad would go out with five and a half? for a newspaper and some milk. Mum couldn't see to write a cheque for the insurance etc. I already had Lasting Powers of Attorney with the solicitor, so I have to get them in place. The doctor had to tell the solicitor that they "lacked capacity" for this to happen and some goings on at the Office of the Public Guardian etc. When this was done I went to Barclays. Took "powers" for both. Instead of issuing me a cheque book, new card, pin no to me at my address. They made mum in charge of dad, dad in charge of mum and issued them both cheque books, cards and pin numbers. I complained. THEY DID IT WRONG. I TOLD THEM NEVER TO USE THE OLD ADDRESS, as we couldn't be sure what would happen to anything sent there. I had to go back and do it again. This time they did it correctly, re-sent a cheque book, card and pin TO THEIR ADDRESS which got lost, stolen or hidden ... so they did it again!!

Mum died. I phoned the bank. I was told to go to a branch with ID, LPA for Dad, death cert for mum. I did this, I went to the office with a lady, who photocopied it all and said mum would be taken off the account TWO YEARS AGO.

Dad went into care, his home sold to pay bills. I had to write a cheque to the home for ?10k, the home lost the cheque, so I stopped it and wrote a new one. The home presented the stopped cheque, so it was returned to me AT THEIR OLD HOUSE??

Dad recently passed. I phoned the bank. Thats ok, come in with the certificates and they would take dad off MUM'S ACCOUNT? I said she died two years ago! Why didn't you tell us they asked?? I have 2 deaths now to deal with because they didn't deal with the first one ???

January the registry is busy, had to wait 2 weeks for appt. Got there with all docs, ID etc DADS BIRTH CERT etc .. the lady printed a draft I checked it was fine. She then said "when did dad die" ... I told her. She printed off the certs, signed them with her posh pen, stuffed them in an envelope whilst I gathered all my papers together. I looked at the certificate .. SHE HAD DELETED DADS BIRTHDAY AND PUT HIS DEATH DATE. So he was now "0" days old, having died the same day he was born!!! THEY ARE NO GOOD i said. She said she had entered them now, so I would have to come back tomorrow as they were closing and apply for an amendment. I had an appointment with the manager the next day (FRI). They said they would waive the ?90 amendment fee (like they are doing me a favour) and that it would take 10 days to get new ones. I SAID NO - I AM NOT HAPPY WITH THAT, Ive got a funeral to sort. She said she would put them through URGENTLY, and phone me MONDAY. I waited for a call til 3,30 (they shut at 4pm). I phoned them. Some "gate-keeper" wouldn't put me through to the manager, telling me to turn up fill the amendment forms, pay ?90 wait ten days ..." I SAID NO - IVE DONE ALL THAT... i need to speak to the manager urgently. She took a message. I PHONED THE GOVERNMENT GENERAL REGISTRY ... they said they had "authorised the amendment and it should be done NOW". The register office manager phoned and said, sorry she had NOT had authorisation so couldn't do it. I told her I had phoned the general registry and they told me THEY HAD suthorised it, she said they hadn't, I said they definitely had. So she checked again ... she found they HAD authorisation and said I could come in this morning to collect proper death certificates.!!!

HOW MANY OVER PAID NUMPTIES ARE OUT THERE?????????

Barclays, said I need to apply for Probate now before they will release funds- the accounts are frozen, thats all they tell you. To apply for probate you have to go to a probate registry and swear an oath etc., Before you can apply for probate appointment, you have to apply to HMRC with details of the estate for inheritance tax etc. They give you a reference number and details of your agreement to pay the tax before Probate will see you? This is a worry, should I use a solicitor? I contacted the solicitor who sent me their terms of business: ?210 per hour for an unknown number of hours/weeks? plus a percentage of the estate? For a simple release of bank funds? I contacted HMRC for help, quite complicated, but not necessarily worth employing a solicitor for: complete form for a reference number. Complete 3 other forms with that reference number IHT400 (general), IHT421 (money), IHT423 (bank release) .... theres an array of forms depending on how complex the estate is, properties, stocks, shares, debts, etc ... IT LOOKS MUCH WORSE THAN IT REALLY IS.

I've printed off all the forms I need so I can fill them in draft, and then do it online, I will then have a hard copy. Complicated estates can take months, with valuers needed, property sold etc ... others can take several weeks.

Once Ive done the HMRC stuff, I can apply for probate, original will, 3 copies of will, ID, death cert, Tax forms, ?215 cheque payable to the courts!

Aaaaaaarrrrgggggghhhh! What doesn't kill you ..... makes you a snivelling half person and then kills you! Stringy 2018

[dbboy]

Have pm'd you

[se22cat]

I highly recommend Child and Child solicitors http://www.childandchild.co.uk I thought I was going to lose my mind going through a complicated probate, in the end the whole thing left me deeply affected, but after speaking to a few solicitors, including a local one, who seemed horrible, they got everything sorted, were incredibly supportive and very reasonably priced.

Look after yourself, if you are at the EDMC they have a very good psychiatric nurse who can help you make sure your mental health is kept in check - do not ignore your own state of mind during this period.

[TheCat]

Fark. What I nightmare. I could feel my BP rising as I read your rant. I empathise!

[JohnL]

We did my mums probate ourselves .. or my sister did most of it .. and we've only now got round to clearing and selling the house five years later. I get the feeling from the jist of my mums will that's what she wanted, but why ? My brother in law said 'she left loads of notes round the house' (but he never shared what they said, and I don't like to ask).

Deaths are horrible and leave unanswered questions that you never get answered.

[Pugwash]

I did the probate for my Great Aunt and only had a solicitor when it came to the house she jointly owned with me.

Since that time, I have also dealt with my mother's affairs - since there was no property involved was fairly simple.

I had lasting Power of Attorney for my father who was partially sighted who later developed dementia. When I presented all the necessary paperwork to his bank Nat West - they did not know what to do. I had to explain that they needed to take a copy of the LPA and that my address was to be used for all correspondence. I was issued with a cheque book with my name on it as attorney for DJC (my father) and also a Cheque card. Some time later - I discovered that my Dad had a few thousands in a Barclay account. I made an appointment with Barclays in Lordship Lane as my Dad lived in Sussex, and they were a bit confused by the LPA. They took all photocopies and sent them up to Head Office who lost them so I had to go through the whole thing again.

Usually the bank will allow funeral expenses to be paid out of the account before going to probate. With one relative, a copy of the death certificate and the Funeral Director's invoice was sufficient and the bank paid directly to the Funeral Director.

When my father went into a care home, I encouraged him to take out a Funeral Plan which saved us a lot of aggro when he died. My mother also had a funeral plan and now both my husband and I have funeral plans which will save our kids some worries.

I would complain to the Banking Ombudsman re mix up re accounts.

[Saffron]

Email your bank's central Fraud Department. Tell them that you suspect fraudulent activities on this account, as the branch holding this account has failed on multiple occasions to perform simple requests regarding personal details and correct usage of the account.

IME, sadly some bank managers are useless. However, everytime my bank has cocked up something and failed to investigate it promptly (usually something to do with my parents / overseas banking), an email to their central fraud team had things sorted asap.

I'm so sorry for your loss, and the banking rubbish you've had on top. I hope it can be righted quickly for you. xx

[stringvest]

Thanks for your replies. Yes! LPAs - completely flummoxes anyone you see about it, they want to appear like they know what they are doing, or know what they are saying, so tell you wrong stuff and push the wrong buttons ... or don't push the button that actions the proper request ... instead of telling you to do A,B and C, they tell you X,Y Z so when you ask whats going on? Have you done ABC, "No, I did XYZ" You shouldn't have done XYZ, why was I told to then????

It's not FRAUD, its just total incompetence and apathy!

[Saffron]

The appearance of being incompetent can sometimes be a cover for fraud. However, the point isn't whether it is or isn't fraud.

The point is that the fraud team IME have also been good at sorting out cock ups caused by incompetence (even where they detected no fraud). In every case, the fraud team seemed to have a better understanding of bank procedures and more scope of powers to ammend mistakes than did my branch managers. They also seemed more willing to investigate than did managers.

Maybe branch managers have no incentive to investigate or correct mistakes, in comparison to fraud investigators..? Who knows..? I'm just relaying my personal experiences.

I hope it all gets sorted for you eventually. xx