Third-party account access

< Return to Coronavirus: Guidance and information

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.

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.

If you're unsure how long you'll need it for, speak to us and we'll try to help.

Short-term third-party access

For the short term (think three 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 managing 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. Neither the card holder nor the third party can use the card during this time.

To set it up

Either you (the card holder) or the third-party can set up nominated support.

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.

• You (the card holder) 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 (LPA) 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 and you can set up an LPA  opens in a new tab alone or with a solicitor.

It can take up to 12 weeks to set up an LPA. In the meantime, you can set up nominated support with us to help manage your Capital One account.

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’re 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

You can become a Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) appointee  opens in a new tab, this 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 an LPA or a Court of Protection order.