Bank limits

Yep...M0nica - I guess it takes them a while to do these things. Though it's a bit surprising when one has been with them for donkeys years - as I have and I guess you probably have too.

In all that time there's only been two blips:
- a. When they sent me a new credit card at one point and I found it was the "flash your card at the terminal" type and they got a phonecall from me pronto asking them if I was changing bank or were they going to send me another new card (this time the old-style slot it in type). They duly sent me another new card pronto - of the old style.
b. When I found out a friend here was not a friend at all. I'd had one or two suspicions - but when he asked if he could borrow the hard drive of my last computer just after I'd bought a new one = both he and my cards had been junked that day. He's history and I destroyed my cards just-in-case and got replacement ones.

What I couldnt understand is why the ex-friend attempted to pull a stunt on me - given it's such a small town .....and I have got a degree of acceptance with some locals here now - and he hasnt...

Cariadagain The banks have many checks and balances in play that are automatic. One of these is that their computers contain a model of your normal expenditure pattern based on your spending and being adjusted all the time - for example, most of what is charged to your card is mainly food shopping, fuel and other things, usually within 50 miles of home.

These are simple electronic based systems based on the information within the system. If you suddenly change your spending pattern or spend a lot elsewhere they are instantly on the alert, in case your card has been cloned or otherwise misused by others.

In the last six months w have moved home and started to renovate an old house. Suddenly we are ordering home furnishings, DIY materials, more meals out, in places we have never visited before. For the first 2 months both of us had real problems with our credit card. Mine was frozen at one point.

However, now all our financial documents have our new home address on them and the various machines behind these cards have adjusted to our new spending pattern , I know that if were to go to Bedford and, for example, spend £500 at Dunelm, my cardd would now see that as part of my new spending pattern at my new address, where as three months ago, an alert would have been raised.

This seems to be some misinformation. There are no UK bank policies regarding how much those over-65 can withdraw. Whilst most banks do have daily transactional limits at ATM or card point-of-sale (POS) terminals, they apply to everybody and not just older customers.

There may also be some banks with additional protection or security features for larger withdrawals, such as alerts or making a visit to the branch, but these are optional protections and no rule or regulation restricting older customers from accessing their accounts. For example, an ATM will let you withdraw a few hundred pounds a day regardless of your age, and if you want additional funds, it can be arranged (usually at a branch).

So for customers over-65, there is nothing to stop them accessing their money, just the usual banking checks and limits that apply to all customers under the Bank of England rules and regulation. If unsure, always check directly with the bank for specifics.

I'm currently in Spain, two out of three credit cards won't work despite being correctly set up. One of them we have especially for foreign travel! OH contacted one bank online and had an AI chat which told him the bank hadn't "declined" any transactions. Well we hadn't got that far! We have absolutely no idea why they aren't working as we have used both on the journey here. Tap to pay is great when it works! Thank goodness for having some euros in our pocket and a card that when activated ( not the one we intended to use) actually worked or we'd be having a pretty lean holiday.

Paying for two or more things by credit card in the same day can prove problematic sometimes I've found.

I pay the first thing okay - but going to pay a second thing that day has been a problem a couple of times (and these were only quite small things I was talking about).

I think what they were perceiving as a problem was I was spending it on that card in Totnes (whereas I live in Wales these days). Nobody had stopped to think "Hang on a minute - her bank account is based in Exeter - she's lived there for many years, ie it's her "home". Totnes is a daytrip away from Exeter" and draw the logical conclusion of "She's having a home visit and could be doing a day trip nearby".

I had to have a pretty clear talk with my bank to point out not to be suspicious of anything in or near Exeter (because it is my "home") - as well as in Wales. They must/should know it's very normal for those of us living in this remote Welsh area now to go back visiting our "home areas" and still generally interreacting with it a lot.

My daughter tried to book a holiday for around £2k but they would only accept a credit card which she doesn't own. Son was here at the time and paid it on his credit card. She went online to pay him back but it was rejected by her bank. Rang the bank and a long conversation ensued about was she sure it was her brother she was paying, how did she know etc. They both have the same surname and in the end she told them he was sitting next to her and put him on the phone. Then they let the payment go through Lloyd's bank. Even when I transfer money to my savings account in my name that I've had for years the message comes up about 'Are you being scammed' The banks are trying to prevent scams but it's a bit OTT.

Across*

Irritating though it is,on the whole I think in this day and age it's a good thing. The most tech savvy of us can be not thinking right sometimes due to stress or a thousand and one other reasons. I do think this should be a cross the board though,not just aimed at the older generation.

I'm supportive of the banks having good security but it can be difficult to override them even by actually going into the bank. I wanted to buy a second hand horse box from a woman who lived 100 miles away. The box was kept at a yard in the middle of fields. We agreed a price but she didn't want to let me take the vehicle without the money in her account and I didn't want to put the money in her account without actually having the keys in my hand. So we agreed on a Bacs transfer from my phone.
Unfortunately the bank blocked it and my account as well. Return empty handed but I went to my bank to get my account unblocked and find a solution. There was no solution other than arranging a cash withdrawal or hoping if they put a note on my account they could stop it being blocked. I didn't want to be walking around with many thousands of pounds on me so we tried the bacs route again which fortunately worked but it was such a stressful palaver! We could have driven the lorry to the nearest bank but that was miles away and parking it would have been a complete nightmare!

Woe is me - us over 65's are now regarded so dessicated and doddery we must not be trusted with our own money. Maybe we should arrange for our younger relatives to keep a stern watch over us and dole out a controlled allowance each day, like pocket money. Just to be on the safe side, y'know.

Even better: arrange for a 'trusted' relative to have Power of Attorney - then the bastard can drain your bank account dry when you're not looking........

RinseAndRepeat

It is extremely frustrating when a Bank’s anti-fraud measures kick in. When setting up a new payee, such as a new savings account, I like to make a small transfer to check that the money is going to my new account. When I do this, I can bet my pension on the fact that the next payment will be blocked.

Personally, I am not sure that security checks can deal with, say, a coercive partner who is in the room whilst the payment is checked. Under threat, what is a payer going to say other than ‘yes, I made the payment’ etc.

I remember the fraud department at the bank telling me that criminals often make a small payment first to check that the card hasn't been blocked, followed by a larger payment for a TV or something easily saleable. I think that payments are often made to phone companies for top-up cards or similar, because several fraudulent payments on my husbands card were made to Vodaphone.

I had trouble recently when I bought an expensive print and the bank wouldn't let me make the payment to the new payee as they suspected fraud. In the end I simply sent a cheque.
I suspect any reason for reducing the amount of cash is not just money laundering but to stop people paying for work they have had done in cash to avoid VAT. It's worth finding out what your branch's limit is for cash withdrawals before you have to fill out a form about what the money is for. In the case of our bank the limit was £10,000 per transaction, though we could take out £10,000 every day.

Yesterday I wanted to buy some shares using a bank transfer for a large sum of money. I got referred to the fraud squad. First I had to answer umpteen questions on who I was and then even more questions on the company I was buying from - how had I found them, had I met them in person, and so on and so forth. It was like the Spanish Inquisition and took over an hour before I could get the payment made.

Jojo1950

You might be right on the inheritance thing!

Why would a bank want to stop you passing an inheritance on?

sodapop

My husband has just read that UK banks are to introduce limits on the amount of money people over 65 can withdraw from their accounts at any one time. Apparently a security measure. Is this true or fake news?

It will be fake news. However, you can set a personal limit with your bank. I had to do this with a friend who had a carer to take her shopping. She was withdrawing £250 every week and spending no more than £50 on groceries and other shopping. She had to sign a form at the bank and an alert was put on her account so she could only draw a £50. It wasn't the carer taking the money. Her daughter had found out that her Mum was vulnerable and was taking it off her.

When I transferred a lot of money from my savings account o my current account I was asked what it was for. I said it was a stage payment to the builder constructing our extension. That was accepted and no more was asked and the transfer went through.

You might be right on the inheritance thing!

They do ask a lot of required questions to protect us, but also to try to stop us passing inheritance money on

It is extremely frustrating when a Bank’s anti-fraud measures kick in. When setting up a new payee, such as a new savings account, I like to make a small transfer to check that the money is going to my new account. When I do this, I can bet my pension on the fact that the next payment will be blocked.

Personally, I am not sure that security checks can deal with, say, a coercive partner who is in the room whilst the payment is checked. Under threat, what is a payer going to say other than ‘yes, I made the payment’ etc.

Deedaa

The problem is that so many people - particularly elderly ones - are being tricked into withdrawing large amounts of cash as part of a scam. I think banks are becoming more aware of it, and asking a lot of questions about the reason for the withdrawal, but some people have lost an awful lot of money,

I think we under-estimate the number of people not yet of pensionable age who are getting caught by these scams, but not admitting to it.

From the publicity given to older people being scammed you would think that we were significantly more at risk, but the sad-eyed pensioner holding an empty wallet and telling their tale pulls the heart strings and draws in readers. A 30 year old male teacher who has been scammed will certainly not talk to the media about it - and the media will not be that interested in him either.

Mentally vulnerable people are always at high risk, but you do not need to be old to have mental disabilities.

My father in law who’s 84 went to draw out some money, the bank refused and he had a visit from the police the next day. We have now closed that account and gone elsewhere.

After my mum died my brother handled the probate etc, despite us both being named as executors, as he was local and had had poa when she was alive. When it came to transferring my share of the inheritance he did it online and was limited to £10,000 a day so a few separate transactions, but this applied to all customers and pobably still does. I no longer have enough money to transfer that I'd be affected but I'm sure there are no special rules for over 65s. Banks do often make extra checks if unusual transactions are attempted and that is obviously good in reducing scams.

Someone told me this last week, I just thought they had misunderstood, hopefully they have.
I tried to pay a bill to a company on my bank payee list who I use often for odd jobs. Had in fact made a similar payment around a month ago without problem but I had the full security phone call which lasted around 20 mins. Even wanted to know if I would be making another payment to the same company in the near future. They did not seem to understand that I din't know the answer to that it depended on whether anything else in the house went wrong or broke etc.

I’ve made two LARGE transactions, I rang the bank each time to explain why/who and that I hadn’t been coerced into it.
They did the transaction for me both times - no trouble at all!