Please help - RBS, a 77 year old, a £20K loan, and death...

teeni

savingmummy wrote: »

Sorry for your loss.

That is a lot of money has she spent it? its inly over a year ago.
Do you have any idea where it went if not - that concerns me.
I think i would use the estate to pay the loan in full.
I find it odd them given her a loan of that size.

This is not so unusual for the royal bank of scotland group, The Halifax gave my m.i.l a £45,000 re mortgage at 78 for term of 25 years, wont be paid off untilshe is 103.

She took it out to cover my sil's credit card debts so was pursuaded to keep it secret from us because we would fuss:mad: She has state pension and 2 personal pensions

When I found out i was livid and tried to challenge Halifax on their lending policy I was told age was irrelevant and they processed applications on basis on income and existing credit.

Hence mil is now strugling to meet the repayments whilst sil is building up even more debts.

LilacPixie

Halifax are not part of the Royal Bank of Scotland group.

Pitlanepiglet

I wonder if she had a big overdraft or bills to pay off and that's why she needed the loan and that's why there is little money left over?

I would ask the bank to supply statements, whoever is executor will need to be sure that there are no other investments elsewhere and it's possible (although unlikely) that this money was invested elsewhere.

I'm sure you're stuck with the loan, you're not indicating that she wasn't of sound mind in which case it was her choice to borrow the money, if she'd wanted to talk to her family about it then she would have chosen to do so but she didn't. I'm sure that's hard for you to realise but unfortunately that's how it is.

Sorry for your loss, I hope you get the probate etc. sorted.

[Deleted User]

ste_coxy wrote: »

erm that is hardly constructive is it? dont throw your 2p in if you ain't got anything useful to say sheessh!

i think you are going to need to get some good legal advice here rather than relying on the likes of the above for advice 2b honest. i do hope u get things sorted out.

try the Community Legal Advice - they offer free, confidential and independent advice out over the phone and can signpost you to specialised solicitors who deal with this kind of law.

http://www.communitylegaladvice.org.uk/ or 0845 345 4 345

Good luck!

CLA will only help if you are elligible for legal aid

JQ.

I'm sorry for your loss. There are some pretty heartless comments on this thread considering you've just lost your Grandmother, don't take them to heart.

I can also understand your frustration. I would think the comments of Pitlanepiglet above sound very plausible and something worth investigating.

With regard to fees I would be careful of going down the route of appointing your own solicitor due to the costs. I have had 2 immediate members of my family die in the last 2 years and in both cases the solicitors fees have been considerably more than the £3,000 the bank are likely to charge.

I hope you get it all sorted to your satisfaction.

[Deleted User]

I'm surprised the OP is getting such flak when actually their post seemed quite reasonable to me!

Sadly, as unscrupulous as it sounds, I'm not sure there's a huge amount you can do, really. There's no PPI (so can't claim that back) and you can't complain that 'they shouldn't have given her the loan' now - it's just too late, I'm afraid. The question really is: was she of sound mind when she took out the loan?

If you gran was very sick, unable to make decisions for herself or mentally ill then you may have a good case for mis-selling, but otherwise I'm afraid you might have to swallow this one.

That said, the repayments seem extortionately high compared to her income - can you obtain copies of the original documents and credit agreements to see what she put on her application form? I would be VERY surprised that she'd get a loan - in 2008 of all years - on such a low income for such a high amount when repayments are 50% of her income. I really don't want to suggest this, but is it possible she inflated her income slightly to get the loan?

Could you not transfer the loan into your name? Or else you and your mother take out smaller loans each to repay the loan?

Can you trace the proceeds of the loan into another asset?

dzug1

paologray wrote: »

Thanks R.

Guys, I understand that if the loan is bonafide I'll have to pay it back.

But I smell fish, thats my problem. I see it as a terrible thing to give a loan to a 77 year old woman to be paid off over 7 years. It's irresponsibe banking if you ask me. Thats my question - What should I be looking for in the paperwork?

Why is it irresponsible? She (apparently) needed the money, or thought she did. The life expectancy of a 77 year old woman is I am sure in excess of 7 years and in any case she had assets to fall back on - as you are now finding out.

I think the only concern is did the loan ever exist. Do you have any doubts as to that? Do you think RBS set up the loan and took repayments without ever paying out the money?

paologray

dzug1, a good point well made - who knows?

The problem we have at the moment is that all accounts have been frozen and there are no statements to be seen anywhere so until I get the grant of probate I'm in a bad position and can't get into the bank details.

Lets not all be completely ridiculous about what I'm asking here. I was asking for advice and not a grilling. I realise that if everything stacks up then I'm going to have to pay the bill, thats always been at the forefront of my mind.

I know my grandmother (unlike what some have suggested that I am a bad grandson). She would not have wanted the bank to take 4% of her estate. It's quite out of character for her to take such a big loan when all of her siblings are quite well off. If she needed the money she could have asked us, which makes us think she was pushed/tricked/asked whatever you want to call it.

Pitlanepiglet

paologray wrote: »

It's quite out of character for her to take such a big loan when all of her siblings are quite well off. If she needed the money she could have asked us, which makes us think she was pushed/tricked/asked whatever you want to call it.

Hmm don't under estimate the pride and stubbornness of the old. My grandmother refused to claim any benefits other than her pension even though she had no money left at the end of her life and had worked all her working life.

My now 75 year old father does some very odd and out of character things rather than ask for and accept help.

An increase in pride appears to be one of the problems of ageing!

I really do suspect that she'd got herself in a mess and that's why the bank loaned her the money. My Dad has a small mortgage, he'll probably never pay it off in his lifetime but that doesn't really matter, he has assets to cover it.

jdturk

I don't see the problem in banks lending money to anyone at any age of adulthood as long as

1) the person was of sound mind
2) the person approached the lender for the money

If the person dies and doesn't have an estate to pay it off then thats the risk for the bank