Need Some Help/Advice for my Step Father

quantumleap

Hi All,

I was wondering if you guys could give me/my step dad some advice.

He is 56 years old, a maintenance fitter by trade and has recently been laid off. He has been trying to get another job for almost 2 months now without much success.

Whilst helping him fill in an application form last night he told me that he had two credit cards, one with £6,000 and one with £400, that he has been unable to pay for the last two months.

The minimum payment on the 6K card is £200 P/M, I don't know the situation regarding the £400 card.

He is receiving jobseekers allowance of approx £60 per week and pays my Mum £40 of that, so he simply doesn't have anything other than token payments to put towards the cards. Needless to say he is quite embarrassed by the situation.

His name is NOT on the mortgage as my Mum clearly knew that he wasn't great with money (the relationship is not great to be honest).

So what advice do you have for him?
Can his financial problems have any impact on my Mum (bearing in mind he is not associated with the mortgage), who has worked very hard to remain debt free.

All help much appreciated.

quantumleap

shamlessly bouncing as it is slipping off the page!!

Ames

Do your mum and dad have any joint accounts? If they do then your mum may be affected.

As for the debts, if he's on JSA then he should just be paying token amounts of £1 per creditor per month. Write to them explaining the situation, that he's out of work but is looking for something and will be able to meet payments again when he's working again.

In the mean time could he get a job in a shop in the run up to xmas? I know it's hard to go from one industry to another, but my dad had worked at a desk for years and then, at the same age as yours got a job at Curry's, he's done so well he got a pay rise when no one else in the shop did!

quantumleap

Thanks Ames, much appreciated.

He is applying for lots of varied jobs and has got a number of interviews but it is fair to say that communication is not his strong point...

I do think they have a joint account but he is the only one who uses it. All of my Mum's money is in a seperate account - does this help?

quantumleap

Is there a link to a template letter that can be used to inform creditors of the circumstances and offer a token payment?

markandkate

It may be worth checking if he has this. Often it is just added to credit cards each month and you have to opt out rather than in so it is possible that he has this protection and is unaware. If not then he could register with agencies as there is usually a reasonable ammount of temporary work coming up to christmas. Hope this helps

quantumleap

thanks for this mark and kate, I'll check it out!

RAS

Hiya

Three things

1. if he is the only one using the joint account, get it iin balance and get mum's name off it or get a new basic account set up and get the JSA moved into there. Otherwise when he gets late payments and defaults, your mum's credit record will be affected.

2. Check whether he has PPI urgently. Sometimes you have to tick a box not to get it. Make £1 payments each month to shopw willing - he can get letters off here.

3. Unfortunately the fact that his name is not on the mortgage does not ensure that he has not Benefical Interest in the property if he has to go BK. If he has contributed to the cost of the house or repairs he could acquire this without being named on the mortgage or deeds. Your mum needs to speak to one of the debt charities here:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help

Get step dad to talk to them as well.