Bank of America refuses to accept a stale DPOA. What can I do?

Part of the problem with banks is the compliance issues they now face after the financial crisis in 2008 - even to open a new account requires tremendous know your customer regulations and there is extra scrutiny around anything concerning financial elder abuse

My mom had me joint on her accounts so I've been lucky but one credit union told me otherwise they would have to verify any transactions with her under a POA

FYI - in Canada the RBC can be a pain in the butt over rules in that I deposited a cheque [spelling correct for Canada] at C.I.B.C. for a friend easily then 10 minutes later RBC gave me a hassle for same & I WASN'T TAKING ANY MONEY OUT - the C.I.B.C. were worst for estate execitrix as they constantly wanted documentation up the ying yang - T.D. I've had no issues with - B.N.S. & BMO have been extremely helpful also even dealing with same bank & different branches -

The B of A seems to want to make their own rules - thank goodness they are south of border & I will make sure they stay that way should they try to shoulder their way up here - it seems they are not well loved in the U.S.A. so that shows much!

Wells Fargo has recently become a nightmare according to a poster in another forum. She had a current/recent POA, letter from the doctor indicating her mom was incompetent. They went into the bank to close the accounts and Wells Fargo demanded that the Bank Manager be allowed to take mom off into an office alone to talk to her privately - as if to "assess" her mental capacity. The bank called the police when the daughter with POA refused. Research revealed that this isn't new. WF legal department isn't cooperating. She can't access the accounts. When I'm hearing all this, I am SOOO glad mom's accounts are with the same credit union I belong to. They have the POA on file & give me absolutely NO grief. Yet another needless hurdle for those who already have far too much on their plate to deal with. Shame on these banks!

Why not humiliate Bank of America on Social Media; that ought to fix their wagon!

I posted an update today, so you can look at that string. Wells Fargo refused my moms notarized DPOA that was less than 6 yrs old and had dr competency letter attached (mom incompetent). Short version. F'n nightmare. Got nowhere after multi reviews, branches, mgrs. They froze account so there was no access when auto deposits started coming out for on line payees we set up for moms care and memory care facility.

We were told to either go to court and gain consevatorship and guardianship or get lawyer to to challenge them. All options just more money out of our pockets which I refused. We were told account is now frozen until mom dies at which time me and brother are beneficiaries. I'm still fuming as the acct has substantial amt of money.

I have ended up setting a new acct and will use money from sale of property to pay moms care and back bills.

You try to be honest with all the right paperwork and banks refuse to work with families nor disclose to their depositors that they require their own POA and may not acknowledge ones legal notarized DPOA. It should be part of their marketing materials to remind customers of this critical requirement.

I too had problems with Bank of America for about a year after Dad's death. Mom still alive with dementia. All I wanted also was a change of address. Somehow or someway it all got done magically after I went to the post office and had all mail forward to my home address. I don't understand how the post office had the power but it happened. Think that God's hand was in it because Bank of America was driving me crazy and I could not take it anymore.

Forwarding of mail CAN work for SOME items, but only for a limited time (typically one year). After that, or perhaps even before, items can be returned to the sender, usually with a yellow banner stuck to it noting the new address. IF and ONLY IF that sender updates based on this will the change happen. No guarantees they will do this.

Beware that SOME items CANNOT be forwarded. I, through my own local post office, temporarily (1-1.5 months, indicated on the form) forwarded mom's mail so that I could take over the bills, add all the info to the online bill payment system and have the billing addresses changed. That worked for all the usual suspects. However... some items WILL NOT be forwarded (note on some envelopes forwarding might be requested while on others it might specify NOT to).
The issues I have run into is that federal entities do not like your DPOA, new, old does not matter.
* The IRS has their own form (we have not gotten to them yet, but my question is going to be simple - HOW does an incompetent person sign your stupid form!).
* The VA has for 21-22a "APPOINTMENT OF INDIVIDUAL AS CLAIMANT'S REPRESENTATIVE" that you need to use (I send the DPOA in with the 'intent to file', wanting them to discuss with me - nope. Had to file this form, not the one they sent, 21-22, which assigns a rep from their org for her)
* Office of Personnel Mgmt (fed pension) - requires a specific dx, letter from doctor or affidavits before they allow us to intervene!
* SS - have not gotten that far yet... needed to get over #3 above

The pension took about TWO years, because previous doctor was USELESS despite pinging them AT LEAST once/month to provide the letter he promised. Changing docs helped, but we had to keep throwing it at the wall until it stuck!
I just confirmed today that the VA now has the 21-22a, so I think we're good there (they do not mail anything back for confirmation!)

But I digress - because we still did not have those items changed, I had to schlep on down to mom's condo to get the tax paperwork needed for this year. And behold! About a YEAR AND A HALF AFTER the TEMPORARY forward, those documents had that nice yellow banner stuck on it that stated - UNABLE TO FORWARD. I questioned this, since the forwarding was long gone, but got no satisfactory answer. Even better, a replacement refund check from the IRS did NOT have that sticky on it!

Imagine all this crap they give you, protecting the person's information, identity, whatever... but as I said to one place - if we decide to rent OR sell the place, YOU will be sending her PRIVATE information to STRANGERS!!!

Bottom line: although this may work temporarily, it is NOT a real fix.

I wonder if the State Attorney General can help? Yet another nightmarish series of hoops for unpaid, downtrodden caregivers to have to endure?!?