“Plastic” for someone with Alzheimer’s

[CharlieEvans]

I am helping a couple where the husband is sinking rapidly into Alzheimer’s. He still has the ability to be out walking around town and likes to buy groceries and such. His wife wants to give him the use of some sort of card that will allow him to make limited purchases, perhaps with a purchase limit of $500. If he exceeds the purchase limit then a charge just shouldn’t go through without penalty. What type of card would this be? For the moment she has hidden his Visa with its $25,000 purchase limit.

[Lastrun]

This is a really good question and one that the credit card industry is not addressing (evil intentions aside). Amex used to be the best for authorized user "kids" cards with limits, and I guess you could use the same for an adult. I guess you could also use a secured card for this approach. Buy my sense is that the CC companies with just raise the limits over time on these without the security. Here is a place to start:

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/cred ... ized-users

https://www.creditcards.com/education/w ... it-limits/

https://wallethub.com/answers/cc/500-li ... 140665809/

Following for others with ideas.

[BarbBrooklyn]

How about one of those pre-loaded Visa gift cards where you can add descrete amounts at a time?

https://usa.visa.com/pay-with-visa/card ... cards.html

[Cheez-It Guy]

^Thats a good idea.

[Lastrun]

^ditto

But on the pre-paid, make sure you can ACH load it for no charge. Some of these card types have pretty stiff reload fees. I think it depends on the method.

[fourwheelcycle]

At age 92 my father asked me to begin doing his taxes, and at age 94 he asked me to take over all of his finances. We went in to his local regional bank to set me up as his DPOA. The branch manager explained the bank had no provision for POAs on accounts and suggested my father could make me the secondary joint account owner, which he did. Separate from "our" joint checking account, my father had a longstanding Bank of America credit card with a $15K limit. He averaged $650 or so in monthly charges, which I reviewed and paid in full each month from "our" joint checking account.

One day, at age 98, my father got a scam call from "his granddaughter's husband", who said he had lost his wallet on a business trip and needed $6,000 to finish his trip and return home. The scammers had the right name for my niece's husband; I have no idea how they got it or how they matched it with my father's name and phone number. My father fell for the scam. They wanted him to wire $6K to them, but he said he did not know how to wire money from his bank account and he would have to call his daughter, my niece's mother, for help. This put an end to the scam, with my sister telling him it was a scam and me calling his state attorney general's office to report the episode.

Although my father's $15K limit BoA credit card was not involved in this attempted scam, I cancelled it and opened a new credit card for him at his regional bank, with a $1,000 credit limit. I carefully review the charges on the new card each month and so far there have been no surprises.

He has had two two other scam calls. One was a person claiming he owed an outstanding $1,300 property tax bill on his house (which he sold at age 94). The other was from a person who said he owed a $600 electric bill on the same house. Both times he was very worried and called me to ask if he should pay; each time I explained the call was a scam.

[OnTrack2020]

How about one of those pre-loaded Visa gift cards where you can add descrete amounts at a time?

https://usa.visa.com/pay-with-visa/card ... cards.html

Great idea!

[terran]

My American Express Blue Cash Everyday card would let me put a spending limit on my wife's card (I'm the primary, she's the authorized user), so that might be a good option. I haven't tried it and I don't know if this is available on all Amex cards, so I can't help there.

[niagara_guy]

Watch the fees on gift cards. How about a secured credit card? The way I think it works is that you put a certain amount of money on the card and when the balance hits zero the card will be denied. (I think the normal reason to use this is to build credit.) watch the fees on this too.

[Shallowpockets]

I am helping a couple where the husband is sinking rapidly into Alzheimer’s. He still has the ability to be out walking around town and likes to buy groceries and such. His wife wants to give him the use of some sort of card that will allow him to make limited purchases, perhaps with a purchase limit of $500. If he exceeds the purchase limit then a charge just shouldn’t go through without penalty. What type of card would this be? For the moment she has hidden his Visa with its $25,000 purchase limit.

He still has the ability to walk around town, until he doesn’t. Being lost is a common early feature of Alzheimer’s and maybe one of the most alarming.
Get him an air tag just in case he does not come home with his groceries.

[bsteiner]

Some banks and trust companies use True Link for special needs beneficiaries: https://www.truelinkfinancial.com/.

[Point]

We implemented an OOMA phone for this very reason. White listed numbers that would ring through, the rest went to voice mail that we check. The known scam calls are blocked. She never gets bad calls now.

At age 92 my father asked me to begin doing his taxes, and at age 94 he asked me to take over all of his finances. We went in to his local regional bank to set me up as his DPOA. The branch manager explained the bank had no provision for POAs on accounts and suggested my father could make me the secondary joint account owner, which he did. Separate from "our" joint checking account, my father had a longstanding Bank of America credit card with a $15K limit. He averaged $650 or so in monthly charges, which I reviewed and paid in full each month from "our" joint checking account.

One day, at age 98, my father got a scam call from "his granddaughter's husband", who said he had lost his wallet on a business trip and needed $6,000 to finish his trip and return home. The scammers had the right name for my niece's husband; I have no idea how they got it or how they matched it with my father's name and phone number. My father fell for the scam. They wanted him to wire $6K to them, but he said he did not know how to wire money from his bank account and he would have to call his daughter, my niece's mother, for help. This put an end to the scam, with my sister telling him it was a scam and me calling his state attorney general's office to report the episode.

Although my father's $15K limit BoA credit card was not involved in this attempted scam, I cancelled it and opened a new credit card for him at his regional bank, with a $1,000 credit limit. I carefully review the charges on the new card each month and so far there have been no surprises.

He has had two two other scam calls. One was a person claiming he owed an outstanding $1,300 property tax bill on his house (which he sold at age 94). The other was from a person who said he owed a $600 electric bill on the same house. Both times he was very worried and called me to ask if he should pay; each time I explained the call was a scam.

[pizza8822]

You should be able to call the bank with the $25k limit and request a lower limit. I routinely contact Chase to lower my limits on certain credit cards. However, depending on the card, there might be a minimum credit limit.

[Agent 99]

You are confronting one of the multitude of challenges that Alzheimers will turn topsy turvy. Even when you think a solution has been found the disease will morph it into another disaster. There is no predicting most of the time. Just reacting but being prepared is possible. The best place for guidance, suggestions and support for helping people with Alzheimers is on the forums at alzconnected.org

There you can ask any question and get practical answers to any curve ball the disease throws at you.

You are a very special person to be willing to help this person. You can private message me if you want to discuss dementia issues in more detail.

[GP813]

At age 92 my father asked me to begin doing his taxes, and at age 94 he asked me to take over all of his finances. We went in to his local regional bank to set me up as his DPOA. The branch manager explained the bank had no provision for POAs on accounts and suggested my father could make me the secondary joint account owner, which he did. Separate from "our" joint checking account, my father had a longstanding Bank of America credit card with a $15K limit. He averaged $650 or so in monthly charges, which I reviewed and paid in full each month from "our" joint checking account.

One day, at age 98, my father got a scam call from "his granddaughter's husband", who said he had lost his wallet on a business trip and needed $6,000 to finish his trip and return home. The scammers had the right name for my niece's husband; I have no idea how they got it or how they matched it with my father's name and phone number. My father fell for the scam. They wanted him to wire $6K to them, but he said he did not know how to wire money from his bank account and he would have to call his daughter, my niece's mother, for help. This put an end to the scam, with my sister telling him it was a scam and me calling his state attorney general's office to report the episode.

Although my father's $15K limit BoA credit card was not involved in this attempted scam, I cancelled it and opened a new credit card for him at his regional bank, with a $1,000 credit limit. I carefully review the charges on the new card each month and so far there have been no surprises.

He has had two two other scam calls. One was a person claiming he owed an outstanding $1,300 property tax bill on his house (which he sold at age 94). The other was from a person who said he owed a $600 electric bill on the same house. Both times he was very worried and called me to ask if he should pay; each time I explained the call was a scam.

People who scam the elderly are the lowest of the low.

[curmudgeon]

I'm not a debit card user, but this seems to be a good case for one. Dealing with gift cards and recharging them would be a hassle.

I would set up a separate account with a modest amount of money and no "overdraft" or "auto-transfer" mechanisms enabled and a debit card. Treat that as the "walking around money" account, and periodically transfer over another hundred or two. Probably set it up for text or email alerts, either on every use, or whenever there is an overdraft attempt.

Depending on the circumstances, I'd probably put $500 or so in the account as needed so it doesn't require frequent tending.

[Lastrun]

I'm not a debit card user, but this seems to be a good case for one. ....

Simple solution, but no fraud protection correct? So if I am correct, that is a trade off.

[Mike Scott]

What about a $20 in his wallet? Why risk blowing $500 on whims?

[Keith5337]

I'm not a debit card user, but this seems to be a good case for one. ....

Simple solution, but no fraud protection correct? So if I am correct, that is a trade off.

https://www.identityiq.com/scams-and-fr ... protected/

There is fraud protection with debit cards.

[Lastrun]

I'm not a debit card user, but this seems to be a good case for one. ....

Simple solution, but no fraud protection correct? So if I am correct, that is a trade off.

https://www.identityiq.com/scams-and-fr ... protected/

There is fraud protection with debit cards.

Thanks, I'll restate, better fraud protection with credit card.

https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-expe ... bit-cards/

[Keith5337]

I'm not a debit card user, but this seems to be a good case for one. ....

Simple solution, but no fraud protection correct? So if I am correct, that is a trade off.

https://www.identityiq.com/scams-and-fr ... protected/

There is fraud protection with debit cards.

Thanks, I'll restate, better fraud protection with credit card.

https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-expe ... bit-cards/

The link I provided has the same information as your link.

[runninginvestor]

I wouldn't use a prepaid visa. People give those to us as gifts and I'd say 1 in 4 get drained before we use them. Seems like they are ripe for scams. I'd say open a checking/debit account w/out any overdraft but you may still need to know a pin number so that may not work. But maybe times have changed since last I used a debit card.

Edit: some sites say that you can still enter your debit card as credit so you don't need a pin.

[Doom&Gloom]

What about a $20 in his wallet? Why risk blowing $500 on whims?

+1

Seems like much less of a headache, and nobody will be tempted to take him to an ATM to force him to withdraw money.

[tunafish]

What about a $20 in his wallet? Why risk blowing $500 on whims?

+1

Seems like much less of a headache, and nobody will be tempted to take him to an ATM to force him to withdraw money.

He's buying groceries. What can you buy for $20 lately in a grocery store.

[Doom&Gloom]

What about a $20 in his wallet? Why risk blowing $500 on whims?

+1

Seems like much less of a headache, and nobody will be tempted to take him to an ATM to force him to withdraw money.

He's buying groceries. What can you buy for $20 lately in a grocery store.

Then give him $60 or $100 or whatever is reasonable for that walk to the store and back. There are a lot worse things that can happen than his losing a few bucks.

[celia]

What about a $20 in his wallet? Why risk blowing $500 on whims?

+1

Seems like much less of a headache, and nobody will be tempted to take him to an ATM to force him to withdraw money.

He's buying groceries. What can you buy for $20 lately in a grocery store.

Snacks, fruit, drinks.
He's not going to buy very much if he has to carry it home.

He should also carry someone's phone number on him who will pick him up if he gets confused / lost.

Surprisingly, we've had two different occurrences of a confused, elderly person knock on our door. I figure since we live near a bus stop, they probably took a bus to our neighborhood. When we called 911 to report them, we were told to not let them in the house, but try to keep them on your front porch/yard. Ask if they have a driver's license or photo ID they can show you so the police can first check to see if they were reported as a missing person. Neither of ours were, but a policeman arrived and waited with them until a social worker??? arrived.

[mgensler]

You might check into a greenlight card. It has an app that you can use to put money on his card. It works in realtime to move money. It also has the ability to only allow purchases at vendors that you choose. If lost or stolen, you can turn the card off immediately and request a new one in the app.