63 yr old given a 8yr £15k loan-now can't pay back. Any recourse from Bank?

Elsie2_2

Hi folks, I need some advice. I've just found out that my mother who is in hospital with Breast cancer which was diagnosed last year has a bank loan I was unaware of. She has been off work sick for 12 months as the treatment really knocked it out of her and she's back in hospital again with an infection. I am looking after her finances for her as she is no longer receiving waes from her little jobs as she has been sick for a year. She is not due any SSP because of her age either. Her only income now is her pension and Benefits. She does recieve housing and council tax benefit so they get paid but its her other bills I'm trying to sort out. I have contacted her credit card company who are setting up a repayment plan but I need to do something with her loan. The issue is this - she banks with the same company and is worried that if she tells them she is struggling, they will take her bank account away from her and she has been with them 24 years. I've told her to move banks but she doesn't seem to want to.

I have spent much time pondering on what course of action to take, and am unsure whether there would be any come back on the bank as I don't think it was particularly responsible banking to give a 63 year old woman on a part time wage, a £15k bank loan over the period they did. She doesn't have PPI either through choice or age and I think expecting a 69 yr old to cominute with £220 payment each month is unrealistic. Obviously my mother shouldn't have applied for it and if I'd known, she wouldn't have but in this day and age of responsbile banking, should the bank be held at least partially responsible.

As always, I'd like any comments you guys may have.

Thanks.

owner

Did they sign the agreement for her ?

jdturk

it all depends on how much part time she is, you can be part time and do 10 hours a week or part time and do 30 hours a week.

As you said your mum knew what she was doing when she signed for it and I'm not sure why you are after recourse from the bank.

Saying that should banks thus not lend any money to someone who is over 57 years of age if they are only working 'part time'

Was the purchase consildation of debts because if it was you can't blame the bank for the loan at all if your mum was already in debt If it was to buy assets then you might want to think of selling these off

Was your mum paying this debt of before she became ill, if she was then again the bank can't be in the wrong, its just very unfortunate that your mum has now become ill (I hope she recovers fully)

Basically I think you have little recourse against the bank and you would be better negotiating a debt repayment plan (talk to CCCS or another charity that do this type of thing)

sorry to hear of the situation and hope things get better

CLAPTON

she needs to open a bank account with a bank she has no debts to ... whether she wants to or not.

leveller2911

On the face of it ,it does seem bad practice to me.Surely the bank would do an affordability check.Part time can mean anything really but they should make more checks.

With regards to her age,IMO banks can't and shouldn't discriminate against lending to pensioners(obviously not gonna give a 25yr mortgage to an 83yr old).At the end of the day if they can afford it then why not?.

stebiz

CLAPTON wrote: »

she needs to open a bank account with a bank she has no debts to ... whether she wants to or not.

Agree 100%. Is the debt secured on her house??

milliemonster

You need to explain to her that if she doesn't open an account with a bank unrelated to this loan, then if she doesn't make the full repayments each month, they can and probably will take the money they are owed out of her pension from her account, thus leaving her short for paying everything else. Unfortunately the bank will not care that she is ill (and you have my every sympathy here, I lost my own mum of the same age to this horrible disease last year)

Chrysalis

you seem to only have 2 choices.

1 - come clean with the bank and try to renegotiate. I expect either.
(a) they will say no
(b) they agree to a default, some may get written off, frozen interest etc. but with impact on credit record and possible loss of banking facilities.
(c) they agree to new terms, likely to be over a longer period possibly with higher APR but with lower more affordable monthly payments.
2 - open a new account with a different bank and use that for the pension etc.

Cant say I am surprised they lent her 15k, banks don't seem to care one bit about their customers now days, loans are one of the most profitable things for them so they get dished out like candy.

Elsie2_2

Thanks guys. Thats pretty much what Iexpected. She was stupid getting it in the first place, just thought I'd see what the consecus was. Its an unsecured debt so not against the house. I think as some of you have suggested, I migh talk her into moving banks anyway and set up an arrangement myself with them. Luckily, I'm able to do that sort of thing without going through CCCS wo are great but sometimes have a long wait.
Thank you all for taking the time to reply.

caeler

I don't know if this will help, but my PIL were in this situation when they found out their mother had been sold a big loan but she was slightly older and it all came to light to similar circumstances when she got very ill and definately had no means to ever repay. They felt strongly she had been misold the loan due to her age, amount based on no earnings and length of loan and wrote to the bank manager asking them to investigate and write off the loan.

They did. I'm really not sure what they did or any details but this is what I was told, I typed up the original letter explaining the mothers circumstances. The bank in this case was Natwest and she too had banked there for years.

Elsie2_2

Thanks Bluefuzzybug. What a coincidence, its the Natwest that my mother banks with. Maybe its just their style. I will try my hand at being cheeky first I think, it can't hurt and then if no joy, option number two is to move banks and offer them a repayment amount. Thanks.