Banking - a new wonderment

[amyFB]

I have spent two weeks trying to get an account created for my disabled and home bound brother , using a broad power of attorney that was executed for just this sort of need.

One bank flat out refuses to do it unless I can bring my brother into the bank. It's not that the POA is unacceptable, no, it's because my brother has no existing relationship with the bank. Doesn't count that I have accounts with the bank.

The other bank is actually a credit union and while it took multiple calls to corporate pleading my case , eventually they agreed that a copy of my brothers drivers license along with a proof of address and the POA would be sufficient for me to bring to the bank and get the account opened up.


What I learned is that , according to these people, it is uncommon for a human not to have an account at all. The bankers I talk to are accustomed to a POA used to take over an existing account.

So I guess the PSA for you readers is: make an account for yourself while you still have the ability to do so , then when your Kids or siblings need to take over it's easier.

The banks can decide what they want to do , including rejecting a perfectly valid POA.

Even my credit union is telling me this is being done as an exception based on my account status with them.

Sheesh !




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[Nyghthawk]

Try dealing with an insurance company! I have faxed a copy of the POA to USAA three times now. I have had one delivered to a corporate office by Fedex once. They still claim to have never received it. All this to get them to send me a small check and close out an auto policy for my MIL who is in a memory care unit. Customer service is becoming an anachronism.

[Acousticado]

I recently went through this with my bedridden mother who passed away a little over a month ago. In addition to the POA, I needed to prepare a letter from my mother to the bank, signed in her handwriting, directing the bank to act on her request. The bank complied. Of course, this is a bank where my mother already had her accounts.

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by amyFB

I have spent two weeks trying to get an account created for my disabled and home bound brother , using a broad power of attorney that was executed for just this sort of need.

...snip ...

What I learned is that , according to these people, it is uncommon for a human not to have an account at all. The bankers I talk to are accustomed to a POA used to take over an existing account.

So I guess the PSA for you readers is: make an account for yourself while you still have the ability to do so , then when your Kids or siblings need to take over it's easier.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here in the UK, I find it very difficult to imagine how anyone can manage in our society without a bank account...but I'm reliably informed that many don't - especially travellers, illegals etc.


One might assume that the poor might be the ones without bank accounts, but as they tend to receive lots of welfare benefits - I think the government created simple banking accounts held via the General Post Office (GPO) into which their savings/benefits /incomes could be paid.

This has changed as our banking arrangements have changed, and the accounts ... formerly called "Giro" have now been transferred to commercial banks.

Banks are large corporates with their own strict rules, and loopholes and exceptions are anathema for corporates.
The days of a local branch with a manager who can make decisions for known clients are long gone.

[amyFB]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

Here in the UK, I find it very difficult to imagine how anyone can manage in our society without a bank account...but I'm reliably informed that many don't - especially travellers, illegals etc.


One might assume that the poor might be the ones without bank accounts, ......

POOR is exactly the cause of my brother's situation. A consequence of an injury over 2 years ago, that caused him to lose his job, and for which he had no insurance or means of paying a doctor bill for treatment. He had a bank account for the direct deposit from the job he did have for a long time, but when the job and the income ceased, the account closed and he had no reason to open another.

[Mr. Jelly]

Systems are not made for people. They are made for business. And business is a necessary evil.

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by amyFB

POOR is exactly the cause of my brother's situation. A consequence of an injury over 2 years ago, that caused him to lose his job, and for which he had no insurance or means of paying a doctor bill for treatment. He had a bank account for the direct deposit from the job he did have for a long time, but when the job and the income ceased, the account closed and he had no reason to open another.

I'm so sorry to hear of your brother's situation. How does he get his welfare and disability benefits?

[amyFB]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

I'm so sorry to hear of your brother's situation. How does he get his welfare and disability benefits?

So far he is getting food stamps . I am getting ready to help Him apply for disability or any kind of assistance that might be available.

The health care we are traveling thru the VA loop and not having a very effective time of it - yet. I do have him signed up for state Medicare but we are reluctant to start all over at square one with a new doctor when we have gotten halfway thru with the VA....

He has been something of a loner and recluse his whole life and had it not been for that one friend who called me, I can only imagine the worst would have happened from there.

I had high expectations of my ability to navigate the VA more effectively than he was able to , and to some degree that's true, but the endemic problems within that agency are well known and all the tea in china won't suddenly fill the buildings with medical professionals who actually treat patients.

Nearly everything seems to be outsourced to Veterans Choice , which hasn't had great reviews either.

He gives up in the face of forms, red tape, and yet another referral without any treatment. When I went to Florida to get him he was sleeping in his car behind a tire shop and all his possessions fit in a cardboard box. It was beyond sad.



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[Chicago Sandy]

The poor are used largely to a cash economy, because in the past they’d been refused bank accounts (especially in the days before ATMs when banks used to “redline” on an ethno-demographic basis). Nowadays, either that’s what they’re used to, or they simply cannot afford the fees charged by most banks & credit unions. Here in Chicago, that’s why we have so many “currency exchanges,” which despite the name don’t buy & sell foreign currencies but mostly cash checks for a fee (exorbitant, but taken right out of the check rather than having to be paid to a bank in advance to set up an account). They also sell license plate renewal tabs, city vehicle stickers, money orders, and sometimes notary services. Not surprisingly, there are far more of them in poorer neighborhoods.

In IL, what used to be “food stamps” has been replaced by EBT (electronic benefit transfer) cards, that at groceries & convenience stores can be run through the same “swipers” as credit and debit cards. This not only speeds transactions (and automatically excludes items ineligible for food stamps) but preserves the recipients’ dignity, as they don’t have to conspicuously tear off and present food benefit coupons.

The state reloads the cards at the beginning of each new benefit period. I’m not sure if they can be topped up with additional external funds (the way transit debit cards or tollway transponders can), but if they can, those funds would have to come from…a bank or credit union account. I think the concept of a “welfare check” at least here in IL has gone by the wayside, as “welfare” for the able-bodied childless person (or low-income married parents) barely exists any more. Nonetheless, even the working poor must often resort to paying fees analogous to a loan shark's “viggorish” in order to access their own money when cashing a paycheck.

[Cypress Knee]

I have business bank accounts at Wells Fargo and Bank of America because it is pretty easy to find a branch just about anywhere in the US except Louisiana.

When I moved to the West Coast I left my investment and brokerage accounts at a large mutual fund company based on the East Coast. Last year I needed to some minor transaction that required a "Medallion Signature Guarantee."

I could not get it done - the brokers wouldn't do it because they did not have my account, and neither WF nor BA would do it even though I had bank accounts - they wanted my investment account in-house too.

I talked to the people at my broker, and they told me it has become an increasing problem. Nobody has to "medallion guarantee" a signature if they don't want to do it. It is all about financial institution policies, and their policy is "what is best for us, not the customer."

I was finally able to get an exception to policy and submitted a notarized Letter of Instruction. What a headache.

I understand why people don't want to do business with banks if they can help it.

CK