Interest charge on money owed.

[Tilly2]

I am in contention with my Dad's care home over the rise in fees and the top-up I have to pay. To cut a very long story short, I currently owe them around two hundred pounds which should have been paid on July 1st. (in advance)

As we are still 'discussing' the fees, I have not paid this amount. Yesterday, I got a letter from them saying, among other things, that if I have not paid by Monday 9th July, they will start charging interest on the unpaid amount. Can they do this?

[cathfromsaron]

they defo should have been from that minute!

you can't force someone in, and then charge them for it!!!!!!!!

[cathfromsaron]

we voluntarily paid something which covered little trips, shampoo and nice puds and teas etc!

nothing very much though!

[Tilly2]

Thanks for your input, ubasses. I hope to get something sorted on Tuesday.

[EDDIE51]

bednobs I know many cases from my own life where relatives have been illegally asked or ''persuaded '' to fund care not just the ones on AB .
As I say my brother is the housing finance manager for a large London council and even he admits that this ''persuasion'' go's on all the time.

[bednobs]

yes, but i was not talking about your life, i was referring to answerbank

[tonywiltshire]

Stafford bull terriers are some of the nice, most loyal, family friendly dogs anyone could hope to have the privilege of sharing this life with to use one as your avatar marks you out as being special (I like dogs). Please look at the late payment of commercial debts (interest) Act 1998.

[factor-fiction]

Eddie51- we agree that there is a problem with pressure being put on relatives to fund care home fees but this doesn't seem to be the issue with Tilly's case- it is some sort of extra level that was requested and is being charged for.

I have been through the maths on this before- if a care home's fees rise by say 5-6% pa and the social services and dad's contribution are capped at RPI (maybe 3%) then the top up element will have to rise significantly more than RPI- maybe over 10% a year, and over a few years the increase in top up becomes huge in percentage terms. I think this may be what has happened here

[EDDIE51]

I was and still am perplexed as to why bednobs is so certain that a whole series of questions about care fees were from the same person under diffrent IDs . Does she have access to information the the rest of us don't?

[lcg]

tilly - as i have mentioned before, being sectioned does not make your dad eligible for funding from the mental health trust he was detained under - whatever the circumstances of his admission or discharge. i also showed you the relevant part of the mental health act which states this. he is now living in a care home and as he has savings, he is liable to pay. the hospital he was sectioned at is not responsible for his care home fees in any way.

[Tilly2]

Thanks icg. I do understand that. This tread just somehow led to that discussion again. My original question was really about them charging me interest.

[factor-fiction]

Bednobs is right, Eddie51. We could list at least 10 names immediately and maybe 20 if we dug back a bit. The person used an almost identical style, making no attempt to disguise the fact, as they related tall stories. People have a style of writing and often without realising use the same phrases such as "oddly enough" and " I was wandering...". Fortunately they seem to have stopped over the last week

[Tilly2]

Tonywiltshire,
I have looked at the act that you suggested and I'm afraid I can't make head nor tail of it.

[bednobs]

and again, sorry to hijack your post tilly - i have access to the same info as everyone else - the poster even forgot to sign out of their username they'd used to reply to their own original thread more than once, so it's not like i'm just putting 2 and 2 together and making five. the ed even banned them under some names because they had multiple usernames

[tonywiltshire]

You asked if interest can be charged and the act I quoted (Late payment of commercial debts (interest) act 1998) as the one that can be used, I am sorry you found it difficult to understand. You must of course be liable, but if you are and do not pay they can charge £40 and 8 % over base rate up to the time of payment. I have used it a number of times and most people have paid, the threat of using it, which you are experiencing, is usually enough. But I repeat you must be liable in the first place, if you believe you are not get the advice of a solicitor experienced in the area of law you require, the law society may be able to help 020 7242 1222.

[Tilly2]

Thank you for that, tony wiltshire.