A woman fears her mum could be plunged deep into debt as she claims her bank won’t release her ‘life-savings’ to pay for her care.
Lilian Warrington, 91, moved into a care home in Upton, in January, following a battle with dementia. However, her fees to the home remain unpaid, as her daughter claims her bank is refusing to release her money, leaving Lilian’s seven children fearful their much-loved mum could end up in £20,000 worth of debt.
Mary Smith told the ECHO how her mum had worked her whole life, starting work aged 15 at a tapestry factory. She then moved to Berwick’s Toy Shop, where she spent the rest of her working life while raising her family.
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Mary, 71, from Birkenhead, said: “The money is hers that she has saved up her whole life and now she can’t get it.”
Lilian’s declining health saw her move into the care home in January. In February, Mary, on behalf of her mum, took an invoice from the care home, which had been signed by Lilian, to her local Santander branch to set up a standing order to pay her mum’s fees – which cost £1,000 a week.
But four weeks later, the care home called Mary to say her mum’s fees had not been paid. She said: “I called the bank but they wouldn’t speak with me without my mum and that she must come in to the branch to set it up in person. We wrapped my mum up – who is already in an unwell state – and took her to the bank. She told the bank what she wanted which was £4,500 each month as a standing order to the care home.
“We were assured by the bank that it was all set up, but nothing came out again for two months. I phoned the bank again because I had another call from the care home to say the payment hadn’t gone through. My mum had to answer security questions to give permission for me to be able to speak to them.
She continued: “My poor mum has dementia and she doesn’t know what is going on. She kept asking us ‘why do they want to know all these questions, we just have to tell her to answer them. Then because she has trouble with her speech they are saying they can’t hear her and she is shouting her name and date of birth down the phone.”
The family claim Lilian’s account was then blocked due to an ‘unusual payment.’ Mary said: “It’s because it has a different address registered to the account but my mum doesn’t live at that address anymore and doesn’t have that landline number. They said they had been ringing and writing letters but she hasn’t got them. I had given the bank her new address at the care home.
“They told us they would take the block off and that the standing order was now set up. The next month I had another phone call from the care home saying they had received nothing again. At this point my mum owes the care home payments from January to May, that is £1,000 a week for the fees. It is a lot of money.
“We we’re assured ‘don’t worry’ the standing order has been set up. We received confirmation to find they had set it up for £14,000 – they had set it up wrong. At this point my mum really wasn’t well, she had been unconscious for three days. I phoned the bank again and they have told us now that they can’t set up the standing order without my mum coming into the bank again.”
Mary says her mum is now too unwell to make it into the bank to set up another standing order. She said: “My mum has no idea why she is answering the questions. We are trying to set up a £4,000 monthly standing order. We need the money for the home but my mum is too unwell to go back to the branch. My poor mum doesn’t know what was going on.
“We took a chance taking her to the bank the first time, but she is in no condition to go again. They have told us to apply for power of attorney but that could take up to 20 weeks – she could end up in another £20,000 of debt in that time.
“We can tell the care home are getting edgy because they haven’t had a single payment from my mum, my mum has got the money. It’s a worry, not only because my mum is so ill but the debt is adding up. The money is sitting there in the bank but we can’t do anything about it.
“My sister is having a break down over it, I just get angry. To be honest I’m thankful she [mum] doesn’t quite understand what is going on or how stressful this is.”
Mary says the situation feels even worse because the care home “has been amazing” and they “deserve to be paid immediately.” She said: “The back log is not fair, they have been amazing.”
She added: “I want to make people aware that even if they don’t think they need the power of attorney to apply for it so they are not stuck in the position we are now. Its so stressful.”
A spokesperson for Santander said: “We offer a range of ways for customers to bank with us depending on their individual needs and our supported banking options, including the ability to access a Carers Card, set-up Third Party Access on an account, or register a Power of Attorney, are there to help customers who require additional assistance with managing their finances.”
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