What's a third party mandate and how could it help?
A third party mandate is a first direct specific document that gives another person (a ‘third party’) access to your bank account. It’s a request from you to first direct, telling us you’d like another person as well as you, to carry out everyday banking transactions on your first direct bank account.
Whether it’s short-term help or regular support, a third party mandate could make life easier if:
• someone is temporarily unable to contact us
• someone is helping you with tasks like paying bills
• a power of attorney is being registered
• someone needs support with a single account, rather than all their finances.
Important information
The account holder must have ‘mental capacity’ when a third party mandate is introduced.
Restrictions
If you have an existing mandate registered and you open a new account, you’ll need to request a new mandate to include the new account.
All instructions from third parties who aren’t first direct customers must be in writing.
If you’d like to restrict what the other person can do with your account, simply tell us when you register the third party mandate. For security reasons, we won’t give them access to our App, online banking or a debit card.
Responsibility
If the third party is your representative, then you are responsible for the actions and decisions they carry out with respect to your account. If the third party makes a payment that you have not authorised, you must let us know immediately. There may be instances where we need to raise a report to the police.