Help with ill brother

Bubby

Hello i will try and keep this as brief as possible so as not to send you all to sleep;)

My brother is very ill, he has been admitted to hospital and this time around we are not sure how long he will be in for. He has got some debts (amounting to £5k ish) and I have been helping him over the past month or so to sort these as he was burying his head in the sand:rolleyes:
My parents have offered to clear some of these debts as he is on income support (i think thats the right one) as he is unable to work due to his illness and although we thought he would be able to return to work this is looking more and more unlikely
At the moment we have gone to one of his creditors and asked for a full and final settlement figure and they have knocked 25% off the total figure (we wouldn't mind but half of the bill is for line rental that he cannot use:mad:) anyway another company are telling me a figure but say that they are unable to write him a letter confirming this until I get him to ring them??? They know he is in hospital and his illness can be aggravated by stress but they are insistant that he speaks to them (I have authority on his account), is this normal?

tealady

Hi. I would ask your brother to sign a letter authorising you to deal with his affairs. the companies can only deal with their client or authorised agent so they are correct.

Bubby

Yes they already have this. As I used to work in a Bank I am aware of data protection issues so I got letters issued before I started dealing with his affairs. I don't believe that they need to speak to him and I feel that they want to talk to him to harrass him!

poorandindenial

Is it normal for them to be heartless?? Sadly, id does often happen. I think you should restate that you have power of attourney and therefore they can deal with you. If they keep on stonewalling you should raise it as a complaint. You may be able to get some support in how to handle this from a charity that deals with people that have the same condition as your brother or you could speak to Citizen's Advice to see how you should proceed.

tallyhoh

I have power of attorney (court protected) for my FIL. I regret that most companies, including banks dont know how to handle them. Abbey & HSBC "lost" my copy of POA including copy of my passport & ID.
He had a £5000 loan with the AA when he was taken ill & as usual the company did not understand how POA worked & told me to ask him to ring them, impossible as he was in a nursing home without power of speech or understanding. The loan is still outstanding.
You just cant seem to get through to these people. They should train their staff in more than selling people stuff.

You could try telling them that they can deal with you or lose their money, that worked with a couple of places I dealt with, NPower for one.

Ames

You can always just make token payments for a while till you know how the situation's going to pan out. I'm in a similar situation and CAB recommended bankruptcy, even though it's a relatively small amount that might be the best solution for him- he'll be free of all the stress, and if he's on income support he wont be needing/getting credit for a long time anyway.

If family pay it back are they expecting your brother to repay them? That might not be possible if he's on IS.

Finally, he needs a full benefits check to make sure he's getting everything he's entitled to, if you've got a DIAL near you they're brilliant and can help him.

Bubby

Ames wrote: »

You can always just make token payments for a while till you know how the situation's going to pan out. I'm in a similar situation and CAB recommended bankruptcy, even though it's a relatively small amount that might be the best solution for him- he'll be free of all the stress, and if he's on income support he wont be needing/getting credit for a long time anyway.

If family pay it back are they expecting your brother to repay them? That might not be possible if he's on IS.

Finally, he needs a full benefits check to make sure he's getting everything he's entitled to, if you've got a DIAL near you they're brilliant and can help him.

Thanks we need to speak to someone re his benefits as we are sure he will be entitled to more. It is a power of attorney I have just authority to deal with his creditors which they accept and will happily arrange payment plans with me but for the full and final settlement they have offered an amount which we are happy with but they won't put it in writing until they speak to him and we won't pay it until it is in writing!!
No his family aren't expecting it back;)
We discussed the bankruptcy option as he is very seriously ill but he has used his debit card in betting shops in the last 2 years (i think this is how far back an OR would look) and therefore he wouldn't be eligible:mad:

RAS

Bubby wrote: »

We discussed the bankruptcy option as he is very seriously ill but he has used his debit card in betting shops in the last 2 years (i think this is how far back an OR would look) and therefore he wouldn't be eligible:mad:

Hi

He is eligible but he MIGHT get the term before discharge extended for having gambled. How the OR would deal with the gambling is related to MH problems is entirely up to the OR. He may not get any penalty at all.

Please have a chat on the BR forum here.

Bubby

Thanks. Its a very difficult time for the whole family especially my brother who has got a very tough time ahead of him from such a young age. Tbh he wouldn't have the strength to go through interviews etc with regards to bankruptcy as he is so ill and his illness could be made worse by stress

We just want to help him with this as we can't help him with his illness