ASK TONY: TSB – The bank that said ‘NO’ to my frail 86-year-old mother

I took my 86-year-old mother to a TSB branch to open an account because she has been told she can no longer receive her state pension via the Post Office.

We took a birth certificate and several documents, including home insurance, showing her address.

She has mobility issues so making the visit was not easy. My father had been a customer of TSB for 50 years at the same address so he also attended with his passport to identify my mother.

The man we saw seemed to have no further capabilities than inputting my mother’s address and birth details and then telling her that her ID was insufficient.

I explained that Mum does not drive and has not been abroad for years so does not have a passport. He did not pick up the phone to ask for advice nor exercise any discretion.

I feel my mother is being discriminated against because of her age. She does not already have a bank account.

Dr A. G., Liverpool.

I fully appreciate your frustration. Helping elderly relatives with mobility problems is a task faced by many of us in middle age. When things do not go to plan it can be exceedingly frustrating.

The problem appears to stem from the fact that you were a walk-in customer.

TSB says that if you had phoned to make an appointment, it would have provided you with a list of acceptable documents, such as a state pension letter. The list is available on its website.

You are extremely unhappy about the lack of flexibility or help offered.

You tell me you don’t see ‘the rational difference’ between a letter from the Department for Work and Pensions telling your mum to get a bank account, which has her address on it, and a pension notification letter. She had her birth certificate and was sitting with her husband.

However, that’s not the way banks operate now. While it may seem absurd to you and me, financial regulations force banks to subject elderly people to the type of scrutiny they would show a suspected money-laundering drug dealer. TSB says it has now provided a list of acceptable ID.

Incidentally, the person you met in the branch has been with TSB for more than 30 years so has plenty of experience in customer-facing roles.

My wife was taken ill while on holiday in Portugal last May. I made a claim on our Nationwide bank account travel insurance.

Initially I was told the claim was being dealt with, but then received a letter asking for more information, which we had already provided.

So we sent photocopies of documents as we had already provided the originals to UK Insurance, the company which provides the cover for Nationwide. I am still waiting to be paid.

B. S., Essex.

You made the claim on June 10 last year and your wife sent all the documentation, including bills for medical treatment, to UK Insurance. It lost or, to be charitable, mislaid them.

It became aware of your claim on July 26 after you have chased it up. At that point, UK Insurance asked for original receipts and medical reports to confirm the your wife’s illness. She sent photocopies because, as you say, she had already sent the originals.

UK Insurance subsequently found the originals but these included some receipts from before the incident which, I’m told, confused the issue. 

Apparently some were for further medication which suggested an infection or shortness of breath.

Nationwide and UK Insurance accept they could have settled the matter sooner. They will be paying £470.51 to settle the claim plus £200 compensation.

A Nationwide spokesman says: ‘We apologise for the delays. While we didn’t have all the information requested, she had provided enough for us to make a pragmatic decision.’

• Write to Tony Hazell at Ask Tony, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email asktony@dailymail.co.uk — please include your daytime phone number, postal address and a separate note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Tony Hazell. We regret we cannot reply to individual letters. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given.