Shocked by the advice my mum got at the CAB...

purplemoon

Tell me, is this normal?

My mum has big debts on credit cards;13k including a bank loan. All are on standard (high) interest rates. Unfortunately she also has no income at all except rent from a rented property which goes entirely on her mortgage and repairs. I live in that house. She lives in Turkey partly as she feels cannot afford to live here as she cannot claim benefits as she owns a house and cannot go straight into work.

Anyway.... She really hoped to get good advice from the CAB as she has no means to pay the interest her debts are accruing. The woman she saw told her to..........

..............................Just stop paying.....................

Is that really it?? :huh: There was no forms with incoming or outgoing. No advice about contacting the credit cards to ask for help. Nothing. The person she saw was a 'specialist debt advisor'.

When my mum tried to say that she really didn't want to have a debt held againgst her property (which her daughter and grandchildren live in) the woman said 'what else are you going to do?', and 'they won't find you in Turkey, will they?'.

I am amazed. She seems to be taking it ok, but she had placed a lot of faith in the CAB giving her advice and has been very depressed with her money situation. She returns to Turkey on Monday. If this isn't normal advice (and I can't see how it can be?) please can you tell me what advice she should have been given? I hope it is ok for me to post in here. I am trying to get her to register herself. :rolleyes: TIA.

boredofbeingathome

Would it be worth her doing an online cccs debt remedy and seeing what they say?

Not really sure what else to say about it.
Sorry.x

bigheadxx

Just stop paying!

Not very responsible of CAB. She needs to get it sorted out as there will be long term implications. CAB are usually very good so you should perhaps go to a different office.

purplemoon

There is no other office in this town and she leaves on Monday... She tried filing in the debt remedy thingy but it was difficult to work within the confines of the form as she isn't living in this country.

boredofbeingathome

purplemoon wrote: »

There is no other office in this town and she leaves on Monday... She tried filing in the debt remedy thingy but it was difficult to work within the confines of the form as she isn't living in this country.

It's a hard one isn't it? I am shocked at the advice quite frankly. The only thing i would suggest is if you can ring someone on her behalf..perhaps NATIONAL Debtline?

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/debt_advice.php

Make them fully aware of all the facts and see what they have to say.

rustybucket

Is Turkey in the listed countries that have a tie in with the UK in relation to debt recovery? If not is that one of the reasons why? Not ideal, but I spose if she intends to stay out there six years or more then why worry about her credit score. I guess CAB are inundated with stories such as this that this is a generic answer these days.

Good luck with how it pans out for you all

RAS

It sounds to me like you mum needs some better advice on what she would be entitled to if she lived in the UK? if she was not working would she get JSA and after 3 month get the interest on the mortgage paid, assuming she lived in the house.

The other option is to pay a higher rent so that she can make payments to the creditors.

With that sort of CC debt she may well get a charging order anyway but that only comes into effect when the house is sold.

angelpye

Hi, I owuld definately get a second opinion from a debt counselling helpline, I am sure there are numbers on here. I fyou get housing benefit or local allowance for the property it might be worth checking she is getting the most she can for a property of that size.

CLAPTON

I think it rather depends precisely what information she gave the CAB... you seems to say she has no income...

If that were literally so then what else can she do but stop paying other than selling the house?

What does she actually live on in turkey.

We need a full SOA to make any sensible comments.

10past6

purplemoon wrote: »

The person she saw was a 'specialist debt advisor'.

CAB debt advisors are not free at a moments notice, it can take weeks, even months waiting for an appointment, how long did your mum wait for an appointment?

purplemoon

She has tried calling the helpline numbers but cannot even get through to the place to leave a message.

Other than my rent money (and I cannot pay more) she has no income. Before the credit cards got to their limit she was using those, now she has been getting loans from her brother. As the interest rates are going down at the moment on her mortgage she could pay some towards the debt, but it would make only a small dent on the interest.

She is enjoying living in Turkey now and does want to make money out there too. She is also trying to sell a flat there and has a Freehold here to sell. Within a year she will be able to claim a state pension.

She gave all of the above info to the CAB. She got legal aid in order to see the woman there so I am guessing that means she WAS a 'specialist'- that and her saying so that is!

I told her that she may be able to get the credit cards and/or loan to stop the interest or decrease it or something if she gives up the cards themselves... But I really don't have a clue! Today she is re-arranging her stuff in storage (moving it to somewhere cheaper) and has no more 'working days' here. She hopes to continue business stuff from Turkey as she now has the internet and landline there.

Personally I really don't like the idea of the mountains of letters that I would get here if she were to stop paying, but maybe that is silly? I would find it very worrying and she would like to re-mortgage here (to have work done) at some point and so doesn't want to totally trash her credit rating.