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Hi, this is my first question but I have benefitted greatly from reading other posts. I will try to be concise! Dad is 83, never involved with accounts or paying bills etc. Mom now 78, handled those matters until rapidly progressing dementia. My sister lives close to them & has POA & healthcare proxy. Question is: Mom lost/forgot all passwords to cel, laptop, iPad & email, including her patient portal & online bills. All account resets require access to email, text or both- and we have neither. Just called TMobile regarding cel access and they require her to appear in person to receive assistance. This is nearly impossible- she struggles to even attend her dr appts. Does anyone have experience using POA to change cel password ? If we can do this, we can update & record all her passwords.

I would wonder if Mom kept her information somewhere. Unless she uses the same password for everything, I doubt if she would remember everyone of them. I have all my passwords in my address book. I have told my girls where it is.
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Geaton777 10 hours ago
There are password keeper apps and you can give your girls access to it. When we are old it's totally possible we can move that address book, throw it out or become confused and start erasing and "correcting" PWs. Even apps are not a fool-proof solution but there's a better chance of it surviving someone with cognitive decline. A few years from now it is very likely that access to our accounts will happen in a completely different way that we currently cannot imagine.
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Your sister needs to tell them she is the active PoA for your Mom and that she needs to access her now incapacitated Mom's accounts to manage them. Bring all the devices with. As the PoA I would go to the provider's physical store with the PoA paperwork. Have someone stay in the car with your Mom, and she needs to have her ID with her, in case they ask to see her. It's onerous -- no doubt -- but you just keep asking them how THEY are going to solve this problem. It's not your problem really, it's their problem. They're making a problem for their customer.

If you don't make any progress using that route then you can try to go on Nextdoor.com and post this same question as you have above. In my personal experience with Nextdoor, there will be people who will PM you to give "guidance" that you wouldn't normally get. If you know what I mean (wink).
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When I changed all of my dad’s bills to come directly to me and took over paying them, the only place that was horrid to deal with was AT&T. When he died and it was time to close all his accounts, they were even worse, demanding he come in person to close the account, after being repeatedly told he’d died. I had to go in person with my ID, dad’s ID, the phone bill, and a death certificate to an AT&T store and spend an hour convincing them. What’s with the phone carriers being so difficult?! Sorry you’re dealing with this, hopefully a solution is in sight
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ShirleyDot 21 hours ago
AT&T was a nightmare for me canceling my deceased brother’s cell, too. They kept saying they required his secret code word. Right. Like they never had to deal with a deceased customer’s account. Worst thing I had to deal with and about Lost. My. Mind!
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The first thing I would try, the first thing I did when I needed to take over for my mom and she was willing but also didn't know a single one of her passwords, is use the "forgot password" function on her email. I recovered my mom's password by answering all the security questions properly. I obviously know what street she grew up on, what her mother's maiden name was, etc. You'll have to select "I don't have access to this device" when it wants to send a code to her cell, if she has it set up that way, to get to the identity verification questions.

If you have to send a verification code to her cell phone you may be able to read it when it pops up on the screen, without unlocking the phone, if you're quick. Or it may give the option to call her home or cell instead. You don't have to put in a password to answer a call.

Once you're in her email you should be able to use that to reset the passwords on her other accounts. Is this strictly legal? I don't know and maybe not but when you're trying to take proper care of a parent's accounts and you have their blessing, I didn't care if it was or not.
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AlvaDeer 15 hours ago
Problem with the reset is that you need to know the OLD password to reset to a new one. In most cases, anyway. And here the old one is the missing one.
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So as I understand it you need to log into this phone because this phone contains the passwords? ALL of them? Gosh. What a warning here to everyone. Let family know where you passwords are hidden and be certain they are in black and white.

As you have tried all the easy fixes and got nowhere I think that the POA has to go to TMobile offices (scary thought today when everything seems to be outsourced to an East Indian community operating out of Maple Shade, NJ) by appointment/with appointment to see someone in the know. I think the POA papers need to be presented. Meanwhile, continue to turn the home upside down. Those passwords must be SOMEWHERE.

There are folks who can actually "do the work" to get into SOME phones (forget apple). Put out a plea on NextDoor for anyone who has a clue who does this work.
WATCH OUT FOR SCAMS.

Wish I had a clue how to direct you. The fact no one has answered this question means we are all sitting in horror wondering just what WE would do.
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