As more and more payments are made digitally and more bank branches close, there is an increasing need for payment assistance for those who find it difficult to pay themselves using digital tools. As the Riksbank highlighted in last year's Payments Report, there are only a few places that offer over-the-counter bill payments, and they can be expensive – up to SEK 150 per bill. Instead, you may need help from a relative to pay bills or make purchases. However, giving out your card and PIN is a breach of the banks' card terms and conditions, and using someone else's BankID may constitute misuse or forgery. Helping someone with payments also raises issues of privacy and accountability, as well as the risk of exploitation by the family member or carer.

To get help with payments, you can authorise a relative. You may also need a representative, i.e. a guardian or trustee. What they have in common is that processing is generally much less digitalised than the rest of the payments market. For example, an authorised representative often needs to visit a bank branch, with the original power of attorney, to carry out banking transactions on behalf of the principal. In this way, the bank can ensure that the authorisation is still valid. For guardians and trustees, the digital service offering varies between banks, and they may also need to visit a bank branch for some banking transactions. To facilitate digitalisation, the Ställföreträdarutredningen (SOU 2021:36) has proposed a national register of proxies that banks and other payment service providers, among others, can use to verify the eligibility of proxies. The proposal, presented in May 2021, has so far not led to any new legislation.