Banks should be obliged to offer greater protection to their vulnerable elderly customers, according to a Ten Minute Rule Bill on Banking Practices (Protection of the Elderly) drawn up by New Forest East MP, Dr Julian Lewis.
The Bill, introduced in Parliament on 23 February, recommends three changes:
There should be a ban on ATM cash machine charges for pensioners gaining access to the accounts in which they are now obliged to receive their pensions.
Banks which operated the ill-fated Share Appreciation Mortgages in the 1990s, which have left elderly people unable to sell their homes without giving three-quarters of the increase in their value to their banks, should be declared
inequitable and the debts should be rescheduled to impose only a reasonable rate of interest.
Banks should have in place software which will automatically alert account managers, cashiers, and where appropriate relatives and carers of elderly people about untypically large or frequent withdrawals being made from a vulnerable
client's account - whether or not being made by the account holder personally.
This is to improve safeguards against the activities of conmen and other criminals
who prey on the vulnerable and suggestible.
Commenting on the proposals, Dr Lewis said: "As a Private Members' measure, this Bill sadly will not become law. However I felt it important to put down a marker - along with supporters from all three major Parties, including Desmond Swayne from New Forest West - for the principles behind it. We all know how much misery is caused by those who take advantage of the vulnerability of the elderly."
Your Comments
I endorse this motion. Many pensioners have been forced into the position where they can be exploited by the loss of the old pension book/post office service with which they were confident and content
