Old lady with HUGE credit card bills and struggling

[Nosha123]

Hey all

Hope you are fine and dandy today!

Wondered if you had any advice for a friend of mine.... Her 83yr old gran has £25k on credit cards PLUS quite large maintenance costs on her flat.

On just her state pension she is struggling to make payments to both... and so her bank account is EMPTY and she writes chqs which then bounce.

Now I know that there is a debt agency who help by speaking with the creditors to arrange a more manageable payment scheme... but would this still apply to an 83yr old?

Who should my friend contact on her grans behalf to get some help and a more realistic repayment plan... I would imagine the creditors would be worried about not getting their money back as she is so old so may not co-operate as they would with a 40-something yr old in full time employment!

All advice appreciated

[rowanwitch]

First of all a letter needs to go to everyone of her creditors pointing out she is an 83 year old lady with no income to pay them back. (it is likely some or all of each debt will be written off anyway as it costs too much to collect) contact national debtline for advice rather than looking at insolvency practitioners as they can help for free. and get her to give up her cards and switch to cash payments wherever possible

[Nosha123]

so they wont want to place a charge on her flat then? She already remortgaged it for £50k to pay some debts years ago and some family have been poncing off her

[rowanwitch]

Sounds like she is no longer able to manage her own affairs I think someone needs to apply for power of attorney so they can deal with people on her behalf.... start with Debtline though they are brilliant...but it is likely when she dies they will have a claim on her estate..

[Nosha123]

thanks Rowanwitch have passed on your advice!

[Jemisa]

If she died tomorrow who would be responsible for all her debts? Would it be down to her family? - How does an old lady of 83 spend all that money? - or Has she been egged on by family? them thinking when she dies her debts die with her.?

jem

[Nosha123]

I dont know Jem.. I have no idea WHY credit card co's would lend that to an 83yr old with no job.. I dont think she can live on her pension alone and some family have been round there begging too!
She is very upset as a chq bounced today and so has been on phone in tears to her grandaughter

[anneasquith]

she could apply to be made bankrupt. and let her live in peace. especially as she has no other assets.

[factor-fiction]

I can't imagine how she could have racked up 25K in credit card bills. I wonder if someone else has been spending the money. Apart from selling her flat I can't see how she has any chance of paying the debts off. I also find it very hard to imagine how she would have been a credit limit of this size based on her circumstances.
I think she needs advice but on confidentiality/data protection grounds I can't see how any organisation can discuss her finances with your friend rather than direct with the grandma

[boxtops]

Do you think she might have racked up the charges over many years? I know from experience how long it takes to pay off a credit card if you only pay the minimum each other, the card companies probably don't factor how old people are, only that you pay up.

[ladybirder]

Nosha if she only has her SP to live on and has large maintenance costs on her flat she could be entitled to some help from the state - say Pension Credit or something. As well as taking the advice given above I would also get her to call the free Pension Credit hotline number to see what she might be entitled to. Just google for the number. And I agree with other posters, if she is being taken advantage of then someone who can be trusted should take on Power of Attorney for her.

[ummmm]

Let them place a charge on her flat....she's 83 she can't take the equity with her and the spongers will get less when she passes away.

[craft1948]

I agree with ummmm, but also cannot understand her getting that amount of credit.

[society]

Sounds like someone is having a good life off the grand lady.

[rowanwitch]

A friends father did the same....everytime a card maxed out he was able to get another which he used to make payments on the previous ones...and also to send money to those you have won a share of £25,000 please give us £29.95 and your bank details it was a terrible mess.... because he had lots of credit he had a great credit score and could get more and more

[Nosha123]

Contratory to the posters who dont believe this can happen to an 83yr old it would seem from Rowanwitches last post she is not the only one!

They DID lend her over £20k on credit cards and I think she is so broke she has been using one to pay the other and none are 0%...

My friend recently helped reclaim £3000 for her as she was sold an insurance policy that against unemployment. They sold her the policy when she was in her mid 70's!!!!

The banks may be more moralistic now.. but perhaps they weren;t back then when they gave her the credit cards!!!

[Nosha123]

One of her grandaughters saw two credit card statements with £8000 on each.. and the family know she has two other cards so are estimating the damage to be £20k or so.

My friend is going round there next week to go through ALL her incomings and outgoings to try to start fixing this mess. Her Gran seems to have calmed down a bit now she knows someone is going to try to help her.

it would seem there is a grandson living with her - who is on the dole and lazy and scrounges off her and leaves the house dirty and the gran is paying for his upkeep with no help from his actual mother at all - who refuses to contribute (but could!). So another family situation about to kick off there I think.

To be honest... an 83yr old lady should be able to enjoy living her life without worry like this and should be looked after by her family not the other way round!

[ummmm]

If the Grandson is on the dole why should the Mother pay for him? Gran should kick him out...I wouldn't give my kids a penny if they didn't at least make a massive effort to find a job.

[AlBags]

Good god .. More fool the CC companies for letting someone like that run up such huge debts.

[ummmm]

Personally - I would just stop paying them.