Financial Support For Carers

Helen and Alice's story

Alice hadn’t been herself for a few weeks. She was anxious and withdrawn, and her carer, Helen, thought she hadn’t been sleeping very well. At first she didn’t know what was wrong, but she knew Alice would tell her in her own time.

By the time Helen found out what had been going on, Alice was in real difficulty. The debt on her credit card had built up higher than Alice could afford to repay and now she was cutting back on her food shops to save money, but the letters were still coming. Helen wanted to help sort things out, but she didn’t know if she could.

When they sat down to talk about it, Alice told Helen that:

• the latest gas and electricity bill hadn't been paid
• she’d stopped opening her post because there were so many red letters

How Barclaycard helped

Helen and Alice went through the unopened letters and missed payment reminders together. Seeing a phone number on one of the letters, Helen rang us to talk about Alice’s situation and got through to one of our support team, Paul.

• Helen explained her concerns to Paul and he listened to everything she had to say, asking questions about Alice’s health and circumstances to understand the situation better
• Paul established Helen’s relationship with Alice and explained that he couldn’t talk about the details of Alice’s account without her permission – but told her what information she could gather for Alice and how Barclaycard can help
• Paul asked Helen’s permission to share the issues they’d discussed with Alice and his colleagues, when it was relevant to finding a solution. Before the call was over, they’d established their next steps in helping support Alice

Helen felt so helpless because she knew she couldn’t manage Alice’s finances for her. But speaking to Paul made all the difference. Together they put in place some practical steps to support Alice and ease her difficulties.

Does your story sound like Helen and Alice's?

Not being able to help someone when something is causing them stress can be both frustrating and upsetting. We can’t always talk to you about somebody’s account, but we can offer the advice and guidance you need to support them.

You're not alone - we're here to help

We know it can be frustrating not being able to help directly, but if you get in touch with us, you’ll already be helping a lot.

Depending on the situation and what permission you have, we’ll be able to offer appropriate guidance and support. When you call, we'll check you have authority to speak on behalf of your relative, friend or client.

If we're not able to talk to you about the account, we'll let you know. Your concerns will be recorded so they can be looked into, and if we need to share anything you've told us we'll ask your permission first. It's important we really understand the situation, so we may ask after your relative, friend or client's health and what it is that's preventing them from calling us.

Before you go, we'll confirm that we've understood and discuss the next steps to help the account holder.