Olive Lynch, who is a British citizen but resides in Barbados, still has no access to her money over a month after finding out that her bank account had been closed
A dementia sufferer was left struggling to pay her hospital bills after Barclays shut down her bank account because she lives outside of the UK.
Olive Lynch still has no access to her money over a month after finding out her account had been closed. The 82-year-old, who is a British citizen but resides in Barbados, is said to have been completely blindsided by the decision after receiving no letters from Barclays over the past two years, despite the bank claiming it had reached out to her.
Her daughter Fiona Lynch Griffith became concerned over how long it would take for the funds – totalling just under £20,000 – to be released. She told the Mirror: “I just can’t see how a bank can close an elderly, vulnerable person’s account without letting them know.”
Meanwhile, Olive is unable to afford her medical bills after collapsing and being rushed to a private hospital with heart failure last month. After the Mirror stepped in, the bank reduced her waiting time from 12 weeks to three to five working days, and offered £300 in compensation.
Fiona, who has taken over as her mum’s power of attorney, said: “My father begged me to follow up with Barclays as he was aware of this same scenario happening to three other people that he knew about in Barbados. When Barclays close bank accounts they put that money into a holding or dormancy account until they accept the relevant paperwork, then they release that money to the original accountholder. I’ve been assured the money is there but that’s not the point.”
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Olive’s memory and cognitive skills started to decline last year, and she was formally diagnosed with vascular dementia in May. Fiona became her power of attorney two months later, and decided to immediately seek advice from a Barclays branch in central London. However, despite numerous visits, she was still being told to wait weeks for the funds will be released.
Fiona said: “I started this process on July 4. My mum’s got a huge hospital bill to pay and it’s been a nightmare. We just needed to know when the money is coming – I didn’t think it was unreasonable for them to tell 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. Barclays states on its website that, for a person’s accounts to stay open, them and everyone they have an account with “need to live in the UK and all the addresses we have for you also need to be in the UK”. It adds: “You don’t need to do anything if one of your addresses is outside 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.” Anyone whose account has been shut down is able to claim their balance plus any interest they may have earned since it closed – this can be done online, via post or visiting a branch, it says.
Those who are exempt include UK Crown employees and their spouses or civil partners; people whose power of attorneys, accountant or lawyers have an address for the account outside the UK and those abroad on a temporary basis for six months or less, who will be moving back to the UK.
While Fiona doesn’t dispute the reasoning behind her mum’s account closure, she believes that the bank needs to communicate more with those affected, and provide them with notice well in advance. She said: “My mum is still a British citizen – her pension is paid into that account which she has had for 40 years, maybe more.
“A lot of people are saying that people in the EU who had a Barclays bank account that had been closed were given six months notice to transfer the money, but clearly there’s an issue in the West Indies. I know of three other people that this is happening to – one of whom had to fly to the UK to sort out her money as she didn’t have a representative to help 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.” In response to this, Barclays said it wrote to Olive and Nigel in November last year, then twice again to provide advance notice, yet it remains unclear why the letters went undelivered.
After visiting the bank’s branch in London last month, Fiona said she was told that her power of attorney (POA) documents had just been received, and needed to be processed. A few days later, on July 8, she was told the POA had been recognised by the bank, and was given the balance of her mum and dad’s joint account.
On July 19, she was told to fill in an online form to retrieve the funds, for which a resolution was said to take up to 15 working days, and received a letter acknowledging receipt of the claim on July 26. Barclays then requested certified ID and documentation from Fiona’s parents, but she explained that this was nearly impossible because they are housebound.
After being asked whether the money could be deposited into her account because she had certified documentation, Fiona was told that this could take up to 12 weeks. After the Mirror contacted Barclays, this was reduced to three to five working days.
She said: “My mum has picked up conversations I’m having with my father and she’s extremely distressed by all of this. We have to keep assuring her that the money is coming soon but it’s a worry. There are obviously other people in this position too, which is concerning. At no point has Barclays notified my mum that they were going to do this.”
A Barclays spokesman said: “It is evident that on this occasion we have failed to provide the high levels of service that our customers can expect to receive, and we apologise for the inconvenience this has caused to our customer. As a ring fenced bank, our Barclays UK products are designed for customers within the UK.
“We wrote to our customer in November 2022, followed by two further letters that provided advance notice that we will no longer be offering services to personal current or savings accounts to customers with addresses outside of the UK, and explaining the next steps they need to take. We are working closely with our customer’s representative and will ensure the funds are swiftly sent to the chosen account, together with an additional payment for the inconvenience caused.”
