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Home >> Accounts >> ATM/Debit Cards
Is Our Use of Clients' ATM Cards Legal?
I work for a company whose business it is to look after people with severe mental disabilities. In a number of cases we are the financial appointee for these individuals. A number have bank accounts with cards with PINs. A home manager or senior support worker may use the card and PIN to withdraw money from the service user's bank account. Are we breaking any laws?
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 "Mental disabilities" covers a lot of territory. If any of your clients has actually been declared legally incapable or incompetent, it is questionable whether they should even have bank accounts, let alone ATM or debit card access, but assuming that those clients with accounts are legally capable of managing their accounts, they could authorize someone from your company to complete a transaction for them. Allowing your employees to accept such a responsibility is unwise, although there may be no workable alternative if there are no responsible family members to make those transactions. It is unfair to put your workers in the position of being able to access your client's funds, since that can expose your workers to all sorts of allegations, whether or not justified.
Your workers would definitely be stepping over the line if they used any of the client's cash for anything other than the client's needs. As a company, allowing your employees to assist clients in this way could expose the company to huge liability. Individually, those workers could also be exposed to liability if one of the clients or his/her family alleges financial abuse.
You should be concerned about the risks that staff members and the company are taking with this service for your clients. If you want further information on the risks involved, please consult legal counsel.
Published on BankingQuestions.com 12/10/08
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