Dementia affected person left minimize off from cash as Barclays shut account

Dementia suffered Olive Lynch was left struggling to pay her hospital charges after Barclays closed her checking account as a result of she lives away from the United Kingdom.

The 82-year-old nonetheless has no entry to her cash over a month after discovering her checking account had been shut. Olive, a British citizen who lives in Barbados, was fully blindsided by the choice, reports The Mirror.

She reportedly acquired no letters from the financial institution over the previous two years. Although, Barclays claimed it had tried to achieve out to Olive.

Her daughter Fiona Lynch Griffith is now involved about how lengthy it’s going to take the funds – round £20,000 – to be launched again to Olive. She instructed the Mirror: “I just can’t see how a bank can close an elderly, vulnerable person’s account without letting them know.”

Fiona says Olive’s reminiscence and cognitive abilities started to say no final 12 months, and she or he was formally recognized with vascular dementia in May. Two months later Fiona grew to become her energy of legal professional two months later, and determined to right away search recommendation from a Barclays department in central London.

However, regardless of Fiona visiting the financial institution quite a few occasions, she was nonetheless being instructed to attend weeks for the funds to be launched. Fiona defined: “I started this process on July 4. My mum’s got a huge hospital bill to pay and it’s been a nightmare.

“We simply wanted to know when the cash is coming – I did not suppose it was unreasonable for them to inform me that.”

Olive retired in 1993 and moved to Barbados with her husband Nigel in August the following year. After querying why her mum and dad’s joint account was closed, Fiona was told that it was because their address was outside of the UK

On its website Barclays states that, for an account to remain open, thhey need to “dwell within the UK and all of the addresses we’ve got for you additionally must be within the UK”. It adds: “You don’t must do something if considered one of your addresses is outdoors the UK and we haven’t contacted you.

“If this changes, we’ll give you as much notice as we can if you need to take any action. We’ll also make closing your accounts as simple as possible.”

The financial institution states anybody with an account that’s closed declare their stability plus any curiosity they might have earned since. This will be executed on-line, by way of submit or visiting a department, it says.

It says UK Crown workers and their spouses are exempt, as are folks whose energy of attorneys, accountant or legal professionals have an deal with for the account outdoors the UK and people overseas on a short lived foundation for six months or much less, who will likely be shifting again to the UK.

While Fiona does not dispute the reasoning behind her mum’s account closure, she believes that the financial institution wants to speak extra with these affected, and supply them with discover nicely prematurely. She mentioned: “My mum is still a British citizen – her pension is paid into that account which she has had for 40 years, maybe more.

“Lots of people are saying that folks within the EU who had a Barclays checking account that had been closed got six months discover to switch the cash, however clearly there’s a problem within the West Indies. I do know of three different those that that is taking place to – considered one of whom needed to fly to the UK to kind out her cash as she did not have a consultant to assist her.

“Barclays has gone so far as to blame the postal system in Barbados, but my parents haven’t received any letters from them in years, from statements to anything notifying them of closure. I’ve been to their home myself and seen that there’s been no correspondence since 2021.”

Barclays nevertheless says it wrote to Olive and Nigel in November final 12 months, then twice once more to offer advance notices. It stays unclear nevertheless why these weren’t delivered.

After visiting the financial institution’s department in London final month, Fiona mentioned she was instructed that her energy of legal professional (POA) paperwork had simply been acquired, and wanted to be processed. A number of days later, on July 8, she was instructed the POA had been recognised by the financial institution, and was given the stability of her mum and pop’s joint account.

On July 19, Fiona was then instructed to fill in a web-based type to retrieve the funds. A decision was then mentioned to take as much as 15 working days.

She acquired a letter acknowledhing the declare on July 26. Barclays then requested licensed ID and documentation from Fiona’s dad and mom, however she defined that this was almost unattainable as a result of they’re housebound.

After being requested whether or not the cash may very well be deposited into her account as a result of she had licensed documentation, Fiona was instructed that this might take as much as 12 weeks. After the Mirror contacted Barclays, this was decreased to 3 to 5 working days.