My widowed uncle is receiving palliative care for brain cancer and is no longer able to handle his affairs.
His daughter had a Power of Attorney (POA) but died of cancer last year, and the rapid deterioration in his health left no time for him to become the alternate trustee.
The issue is that he has a funeral plan It is paid by direct debit from his bank account every month, and will be canceled if we miss a payment.
Since he no longer has money in his account, I have been trying to hold off all other payments to ensure they stay in credit. But without a power of attorney, his bank will not allow me to manage direct debits, or even tell me his balance.
I’ve been approaching companies, knowing who he is from one of his old bank statements, and I’ve been able to turn off payments for his TV, phone, and internet services without problems and much sympathy.
In fact, everyone was helpful except Camelot despite explaining that £18 a month could empty his account and affect his funeral plan.
Staff says it can’t be canceled Because of “data protection” and it wouldn’t even tell me if his account was active, which would have saved a lot of suffering.
I offered to send him his hospital report but he wouldn’t accept it and I wanted to speak to him directly. I suggested that I put the money into the account to cover it.
I’m willing to make funeral plan payments but not lottery tickets.
AG, Broadstairs
Understandably, you are very upset with the way the national lottery operator handled this, and you say that by contrast, you were able to close their Postcode lottery account with a single phone call. In the end, you were able to log into your uncle’s account online and cancel the payments yourself.
Camelot says, “We’re really sorry AG He did not have good experience, especially under difficult circumstances. Obviously, there are checks and processes that we have to go through to ensure that we, along with the millions of National Lottery players, are only following the instructions of the correct account holder.
“However, it was clear that an exception was made on this occasion, and we are very sorry that her case was not dealt with more appropriately. We have written to apologize, we will learn from this and aim to do better in the future.”
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