POA

For those of you who are military spouses, you know what POA is. It is that treasured slip of paper that you fold up into a pocket-sized square and take with you every where you go.

Power of Attorney=POA also known as the golden ticket. It allows you to legally sign your husbands name and basically "be" your husband with regards to all legal and financial issues.

Or does it?

No it doesn't. While the document provides proof that your husband has authorized you to do whatever you want in his name, it doesn't require someone to accept it.

I sold a house using a POA, rented an apartment in Matt's name with a POA, got a passport for my kids, signed up for medical insurance, tackled numerous cell phone, water, electric and gas bills issues and countless other things all with the little paper. However, today at the bank I was not allowed to pay off an auto loan with my POA. I can sell a house and take possession of the profit, but I cannot find out the balance on a used car loan in order to pay it off? I'm stumped.

I had my ID, POA, and an old statement showing the account number and balance for the loan and cash to pay it off, but Service Credit Union would not tell me how much Matt owed on the loan in order for me to pay it off. The kicker . . . this is a Credit Union located on a military installation and 99% of its customers are active duty military. I would guess that at least half of the customers are deployed or have deployed in the last 6 months and yet they have some whackado POA policy for paying them off.

So, I'm left to ponder a very important question . . . has anyone ever taken a banking institution to court because the bank allowed someone else to pay off their loan? If so, was it something like this:

Smith vs. Service Credit Union. Bob Smith is suing SCU for allowing Joan Smith to eradicate Bob Smith's debt without permission . . . other than a signed POA.