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Hi

I am hoping for some advice on how best to help my elderly parents (late 70's).

 

I have just recently discovered that they (mainly in my fathers name) have around £25k in credit card debt.

They have been managing to make the payments (mostly minimum ones) using their savings!

 

These savings are coming to an end and they will be unable to make the minimum payments on all of them soon.

My Father is a proud man and it has taken a lot for him to confide in me as he is devastated and embarrassed that he has allowed things to become so bad.

 

Financially neither my sisters and I can help but would like to help try take away his burden.

All his debt are with the original providers, are all credit cards and he has never missed a payment ever.

 

What would be our best way forward?

We were thinking of writing to each credit card company and explaining the situation and setting up a standing order of a nominal amount that they can afford?

 

Thanks in advance

Edited by honeybee13
Paras.
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I'm just gutted for them, he still does work on the side to supplement income - he is 79yrs old! Apparently he cried the other day, my father just doesn't do that. I am devastated for them at their time of life, from what I can gather so far is it's just built up over time.

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Beepy - Welcome to CAG. Im sorry to hear about your parents issue. Stress & Debt go hand in hand im afraid but you've come to the right place.

Tell me more about your parents, are they homeowners? What other debts do they have?

 

Be aware that a CC is NOT a priority debt, and means that it falls down the list of stuff to pay for if there are other things on the tables.

What are the monthly repayments on the card? Who is it with?

 

Im asking because it could help tailor our advice on how to deal with it.

 

 

 

Apart from that, its all i can really suggest for now till we get more info. Being 79 etc I doubt they will do anything. At this point, they can be classed as vulnerable so have to take care when dealing with YP.

Also read up on CONC Sourcebook from FCA - Make sure you know what they can and cant do :)

Edited by Andyorch
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We could do with some help from you.

 

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**Fko-Filee**

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Think you need to sit down and collect a few details when you are able to do so. We would really need to know the following.

 

Type of debt e.g credit card/loan/overdraft.

 

Who the debt is with ( do they have a current bank account with the same bank as they owe a debt to ( very important) )

 

Approx amount of debt ( don't give exact figure, round up to nearest 100)

 

The approx date/month the account was taken out originally

 

Do they own any assets such as a house ?

 

Remember that if they default on say a credit card and they have a Bank account with the same company, they might be able to raid the Bank account for funds to cover the debt. Therefore sensible to move money away from a current account, if they have a debt with the same Bank and the terms allow them to access funds.

 

Banks don't generally take any court actions themselves to recover debts. If there are issues of hardship caused by mounting debt, the Banks can only help if they know about it i.e they might freeze interest or not apply charges. They might accept reduced payments.

 

Please come back with more information when you are able to do so.

We could do with some help from you.

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Thank you I will ask him for a beak down of the debts but I won't get a reply till tomorrow. They are no longer homeowners, they sold their house and their savings was to be their 'nest egg'. They have no other debt apart from credit cards, their car is oldish is and worth little and they have no assets apart from I think they still have around £2000 of Premium Bonds.

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Thank you I will ask him for a beak down of the debts but I won't get a reply till tomorrow. They are no longer homeowners, they sold their house and their savings was to be their 'nest egg'. They have no other debt apart from credit cards, their car is oldish is and worth little and they have no assets apart from I think they still have around £2000 of Premium Bonds.

 

In these situations there is not much Banks can do. Once they get tired of minimal payments, they will sell the debts on as an asset to a debt collection agency, but don't worry about this now. The debts are unsecured and your parents have minimal assets/income, so any company buying the debts will soon realise they won't get paid. But you should keep an eye on what post they receive, to make sure companies ate dealing with your parents properly, respecting their age/circumstances.

We could do with some help from you.

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Hi Beepy... Great advice from UncleB...

But answer our questions if you can and we can help.

 

Be also aware of what Uncle B said...

RTOS - Right To Offset is something that the bank can you to align debts etc

 

We could do with some help from you.

 

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**Fko-Filee**

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Thank you I will have more info tomorrow.

 

No problemo... And the best thing you can do right now, Reassure the YP that they will be okay! :)They are in good hands and we will help where we can. Take a look at the CAB and MAS links i sent you.

 

We could do with some help from you.

 

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Once we have a list of what with who...we will tell you which are connected and what action each company is likely to take.

 

Also which bank/s they use...as they may need to set up a basic account with another that is not connected to any of the cards they have.

 

My following statement may shock you but I would be inclined to drop the payments to £1 per month on every account.......of course they will issue default notices and blast your Dads credit files to pieces .....but at 79 years of age...does it matter ?

 

Regards

 

Andy

We could do with some help from you.

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rock on as above 10/10 andyorch:whoo:

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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Once we have a list of what with who...we will tell you which are connected and what action each company is likely to take.

 

Also which bank/s they use...as they may need to set up a basic account with another that is not connected to any of the cards they have.

 

My following statement may shock you but I would be inclined to drop the payments to £1 per month on every account.......of course they will issue default notices and blast your Dads credit files to pieces .....but at 79 years of age...does it matter ?

 

Regards

 

Andy

Sorry for yet another site team member jumping in here but the post above is spot on.

In the library are some guides and letters to help deal with the creditors.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?405-Debt-Collection

 

If you wish to act on their behalf, you will need their signed authority to do so. If any of the debts are separate to each parent then a separate authority would be needed.

 

It would help if they filled out a budget sheet to work out the priority debt first. This is usually rent/council tax; utility bills and especially as they are elderly, the phone.

Include everything they pay out but do not include non priority debts. This should help work out what is left per month.

 

You can then offer pro rata payments or £1 on each debt. Ensure that a new account is opened with a bank not linked to any of the debts.

Based on their ages, all creditors must follow the VP guidelines and I would certainly demand that they correspond in writing only. No phone calls. If you need to call a creditor or they call you, record the call.

If you are asked to deal with any matter via private message, PLEASE report it.

Everything I say is opinion only. If you are unsure on any comment made, you should see a qualified solicitor

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What have you done so far?

 

Have you contacted the CC companies?

 

You need to answer a few questions first, as in who? are the CC with?

 

Have you set up a parachute account?

 

Have you/they done their own I&E sheet?

Who ever heard of someone getting a job at the Jobcentre? The unemployed are sent there as penance for their sins, not to help them find work!

 

 

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Hi there, is there any one who can still help with this one? I'm sorry it has taken so long, it was way more distressing than I anticipated and worse than first thought.

 

Already advised as above..there is only one course of action.

 

Andy

We could do with some help from you.

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Hi,

I have collected exactly what the debt is and with whom.

I have not yet contacted anyone,

I was hoping to get some advice first.

 

 

We haven't set up a parachute account yet,

it is possible they have one which has no debt attached.

 

 

Also having looked at the state of his affairs I wasn't sure anyone would give him one?

 

 

Although having said that, I don't think he misses any payments.

If my parents drop the payments to a pound a month as recommended above,

can someone explain what will happen next?

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List the creditors here and amounts and I will advise how each are likely to react.

We could do with some help from you.

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Here goes

 

HSBC CC £7096

NATIONWIDE CC £2833

LLOYDS BANK CC £486 (Account closed)

CAPITAL ONE CC £3470

BARCLAYCARD CC £ 5725

SAGA CC £980

MBNA American express CC 3054

MBNA American express CC £1782

MARKS AND SPENCER CC 921

MARKS AND SPENCER STORE CARD (I THINK IT'S HARD TO TELL) £1496

DEBENHAMS STORE CARD £1799

 

Those are in my fathers name, he banks with HSBC, which I understand is overdrawn.

 

My mothers has cards in her name

 

BARCLAYCARD £8801

TESCO CC £4114

DEBENHAMS STORE CARD £253

 

My Mother banks with Barclays.

 

They have a joint Nat West account which they seem to use to bay bills

 

The most frightening thing is between them they have access to over £100 000 in credit.

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Amazed that the Banks have provided this credit, unless at one time they had very good income and the credit provision was based on a previous totally different financial position. When you apply for credit, you have to supply certain information and the Banks then run a credit check.

 

Do you know roughly when these accounts were taken out ?

We could do with some help from you.

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I think most of them are oldish, I'm sure my father has had most of for ages. I have to admit I was really taken aback.

 

Prior to April 2007 ?

 

Were they well off financially when they applied for these accounts ?

 

What i am trying to rule out, is than any untrue information was provided to obtain credit. Given the level of credit the Banks seem to have got the impression that there was significant income to cover repayment of credit.

 

You can't really ever claim irresponsible lending and complain about it, if it turned out that the information supplied on a credit application was not correct.

We could do with some help from you.

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well I would suspect they've paid the debts off several times over with regard to interest already paid

 

 

and I cant more heavily underline andyorch's msg earlier

 

 

I would be inclined to drop the payments to £1 per month on every account.......of course they will issue default notices and blast your Dads credit files to pieces .....but at 79 years of age...does it matter ?

 

 

I would be sending the letter that's in the DCA section of our library asking for a write off

 

 

else then send the £1 letter in the same library.

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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