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Third-party access

Third-party access can help if you need someone else to run your account for a bit. Or if someone wants your help managing their finances.

Asking for help

You can ask for third-party access in all kinds of situations. For example, you or someone close to you could get a job abroad; or get rushed into hospital; or develop long-term health difficulties.

If possible, try to set up third-party access as soon as you think it'll be needed. That way, you can get things in place early and hopefully avoid problems. Also, it's the kind of thing that's easy to tick off your to-do list, leaving one less thing to think about.

When setting it up, you've a few options, both short and long term. Choosing the right one depends on the situation, the level of help needed and how long it's needed for.

Short-term third-party access

For the short term (think 3 months or less), you can set up third-party access with us to cover a Capital One account. We call it nominated support.

Nominated support

Nominated support can help if:

  • You want someone's help with running your Capital One account.
  • Someone has asked for your help with managing their Capital One account.

Nominated support lets the third-party

  • Get access to the information needed to run the account.
  • Make payments to the account.
  • Set up a payment plan

But, we put a restriction on the credit card. Both the customer and the third-party can't use it to pay for things.

To set it up

You can set up nominated support whether you're the customer or the third-party.

To do this, you'll need to fill out a form. You can get in touch to request the form by email, post or phone. We'll send it to you, along with a return envelope.

The form asks for a few bits of information for our safety and identity checks. If anything is missing, then we can't set up third-party access.

  • Customers need the name, relation, and contact details of the nominated support.
  • The third-party needs medical evidence that the customer cannot get in touch to set them up as the nominated support.

Long-term third-party access

You've a few different options, depending on the circumstances.

Lasting Power of Attorney

A Lasting Power of Attorney is a legal document that lets you appoint one or more people to help you make decisions. It covers all of your financial affairs.

It's managed by the Office of the Public Guardian. But don't worry, it's easy to set up. You can do it alone or with a solicitor.

That said, it can take up to 12 weeks to get in place. In the meantime, you can set up nominated support with us to help manage a Capital One account.

To set up a Lasting Power of Attorney, go to the Office of Public Guardianopens in a new tab website.

Court of Protection

Having a Court of Protection order gives you third-party access to someone's finances when there are no instructions in place.

The case goes to a court, which has to decide whether you are fit to make financial decisions for the account holder.

Going through the courts to set up third-party access can take a long time. In the meantime, you can set up nominated support with us to help manage a Capital One account.

Department of Work and Pensions appointee

Being a Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) appointee lets you manage someone's benefits. It doesn't give you authority over their Capital One account.

Depending on the situation, you could also need a Lasting Power of Attorney or a Court of Protection order.

To set up a DWP appointee, go to the DWPopens in a new tab website.