I want to always see the good in people and believe that people do good for nothing more than being kind or nice, and the majority of time that is what happens. However not everyone has the same morals or as each other and this can cause financial vulnerability.
Life expectancy has increased and many of us will live to 80 years and beyond which is great, however, this brings with it a number of challenges to life and especially to managing finances. We might have older family members living away from immediate family, as we are spread about the country by location, we might have carers coming in to help enable independent living and we may have elderly family members with conditions like dementia that means they don’t remember things. This can leave them open to financial abuse if we don’t protect those we love, yet there is an easy solution.
My grandad was diagnosed with dementia about 7 or 8 years before he died and over that time span his condition deteriorated. Initially, he was still able to make financial decisions, but over time that capacity reduced. He would go to the local supermarket each day to get his paper and at first, he started forgetting to use his prepaid tokens and was buying the paper for a second time. Next, it was forgetting pin numbers and then he got himself in a muddle in the bank moving money around and trying to withdraw some. Luckily it was a small village bank and the staff were able to spot these goings-on and speak to my mum about it. In time my mum and her brother needed to have power of attorney to help Popa manage his money.
Getting to this point is really hard for families but it is in the best interest of the family member they love. We were worried about him being taken advantage of as he was still living semi independently in his own home, mum had spotted that bills were being paid incorrectly and at one point Popa changed pin numbers which confused us all. He really required help managing money.
GuardianCard has been developed to combat most of these issues, it is a debit card that a trusted family member or friend can use so that they can shop or pay bills on someone’s behalf. A spending limit is set and you keep control of the cash. There are multiple ways this can work, you can use the card as a pre topped card, so in the case of a relative with dementia, it could have a set amount on the card meaning they can’t overspend or make big purchases without others knowing. An alert on spending can be seen for those connected. We hear on the news of conmen targeting the elderly or vulnerable people with bogus garden work for example. This protects the family member from being taken advantage of this way as they cannot pay out lots of money instantly. GuardianCard gives you real-time transaction reports so you always know exactly what is being spent, by who, and where. This means if you have power of attorney you could keep a close eye on spending but it still allows the person to have some financial control on their day to day spending, this helps maintain dignity and choice. My popa for example loved a fish and chip tea from around the corner, which nobody wanted him to miss out on!
Secondly the card can be issued to friends, family or carers who are doing shopping on the persons’ behalf – I immediately thought how useful that would have been in current times where the community have pulled together and done shopping etc for people shielding. Rather than someone paying and then having to ‘pay them back later’ or get some cash from somewhere or trust them with your current card you can use the GuardianCard with its spending cap. This provides peace of mind and again protects from financial vulnerability. You put the funds you need into the account on a weekly or monthly basis, by standing order, from your bank account and then use your GuardianCard as you would any other credit or debit card.
I trialled the card when ordering some online groceries and the process was flawless, just like paying by any other means. I did a quick supermarket shop and had the shopping delivered to the address I wanted. This just shows how much easier it can be to help care for your family. Doing the shopping for older family members can really be easy and hassle free.
Other uses I can see the card being great for is when travelling. My dad has been pickpocketed twice in Europe on public transport. Using a prepaid card would ensure that he only has a small amount of cash on the card and is less likely to lose money.
The cards that are issued can be physical or virtual, I like virtual and have downloaded the app onto my phone. But others may prefer to carry the card about, especially older people who are not as tech savvy and are not embracing the digital age.
Signing up for an account was a super simple process, it took just a few mins and I uploaded my ID online, then the cards are ready to be issued once the application has been verified. You can have five cards for the account which is ideal.
There is a small fee with the GuardianCard it is just £7.95 a month – equivalent to £1.83 a week therefore you can protect your parent’s money for less than a posh coffee. But for me, there is no price on peace of mind and protecting people from financial vulnerability. You can register for an account or find out more by following this link to GuardianCard.
