Advice barclaycard debt following death

mack1969

my mother died a few weeks ago. dads gone to pieces and i'm trying to wade through their commitments.

mam had a barclaycard in her name with 9k of debt. i haven't reported her death yet to bc. when i do will they hit my dad with a 9k demand? are they likely to offer payment terms?

he's got a 35K endowment policy coming but still owes 45k on the mortgage. argghhh

thanks

preable

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1021183

chattychappy

See also:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2403433

I wouldn't delay telling Barclaycard. Was there a Will appointing executors? If so you should give Barclaycard details of the executors (which might be your father). If you want to use a solicitor to handle this, then they can take care of Barclaycard.

Banks do have a duty to treat consumers fairly. It's reasonable that it can take a little while to sort things out - but obviously they need to be kept updated.

In a nutshell, the debt will have to be paid out of the estate. If there is not enough money in the estate, then creditors (including Barclaycard) will only be part paid and the rest written off, subject to exception below (and discussed in the thread above).

It seems there was a house and your mother may have owned it with your father. Depending on how this was held, it may or may not be part of the estate. Even if it's not part of the estate, it is possible that your mother's share of the available equity could be used to make up any shortfall - but this requires additional procedure by the creditors and they may not bother or be willing to do a deal.

lisyloo

your mother owes the debt not your dad.
It can be taken from her estate if there is enough there, so it can be removed from the estate before your dad inherits her property.

You need to get advice.
Most likely the house is held as joing tennants and passed to your Dad automatically without going via the estate.
However you do need advice because it does depend on how the house was held.

mack1969

lisyloo wrote: »

your mother owes the debt not your dad.
It can be taken from her estate if there is enough there, so it can be removed from the estate before your dad inherits her property.

You need to get advice.
Most likely the house is held as joing tennants and passed to your Dad automatically without going via the estate.
However you do need advice because it does depend on how the house was held.

thanks for the advice and links everyone.

in a nutshell.
there was no will.
the house was joint so that passses onto my dad.
the only insurance in my mams name will be going to pay for the funeral.
dad will have the payout from the endowment but this doesn't cover all the money remaining on the mortgage.
so with that in mind do bcard have a right to take the money from the endowment payout before my dad can pay that off the mortgage??

chattychappy

lisyloo wrote: »

Most likely the house is held as joing tennants and passed to your Dad automatically without going via the estate.

Yep - Tenants in Common - goes into estate - available to pay creditors. Joint Tenants - passes by survivorship, not via estate and not normally available to creditors. But bank can use the Insolvency Act 1986 s421A (Insolvent estates: joint tenancies) to recoup a shortfall in the estate - but must get an order.

mack1969 wrote: »

there was no will.

Father is likely to be administrator then.

mack1969 wrote: »

the house was joint so that passses onto my dad.

Yes it does, but there is a potential claim on it. I stress POTENTIAL claim.

mack1969 wrote: »

the only insurance in my mams name will be going to pay for the funeral.
dad will have the payout from the endowment but this doesn't cover all the money remaining on the mortgage.
so with that in mind do bcard have a right to take the money from the endowment payout before my dad can pay that off the mortgage??

Did you mother have any assets? Current account? Personal stuff of value? These must be used to pay off the debts as far as possible. If, for example, her only asset (except the house) was a £5K painting, then Barclaycard would be entitled to be paid out of that. Your father could, of course, buy it from the estate so that the proceeds could be used to pay Barclaycard.

To answer your question directly - no. I can't see that they have any right to take the money directly from your father. But the estate really does need to be wound up properly - even if there is nothing in it.

mack1969

chattychappy wrote: »

Yep - Tenants in Common - goes into estate - available to pay creditors. Joint Tenants - passes by survivorship, not via estate and not normally available to creditors. But bank can use the Insolvency Act 1986 s421A (Insolvent estates: joint tenancies) to recoup a shortfall in the estate - but must get an order.


Father is likely to be administrator then.


Yes it does, but there is a potential claim on it. I stress POTENTIAL claim.



Did you mother have any assets? Current account? Personal stuff of value? These must be used to pay off the debts as far as possible. If, for example, her only asset (except the house) was a £5K painting, then Barclaycard would be entitled to be paid out of that. Your father could, of course, buy it from the estate so that the proceeds could be used to pay Barclaycard.

To answer your question directly - no. I can't see that they have any right to take the money directly from your father. But the estate really does need to be wound up properly - even if there is nothing in it.

thanks for that. the only posessions mam had would be minor things like the odd ring etc.

i think the key bit of info provided has been the estate needs to be wound up properly. lots to think about and see what letters arrive now i've done the notifying!!

PHYTHIAN

Mack, my condolences on your very sad loss. I know what you going through.

Have you checked the breakdown of payments your mum was making to BC? Are you sure she wasn't paying Insurance each month? If she was, BC will give you the details of the company you need to write to, enclosing the Death Cert. They will ask for details of GP and should then sort the debt direct with BC. You will also find the Insurance Company's details in the policy , if you have one. Normally, it's the first £10k which is covered.
You also need to contact BC ASAP and tell them to close the account so that no further interest etc is added....get the name of who you speak to and note the time/date---they tend to 'get it wrong'.

Might be worth a mention to go through your dad's policies for any loands/credit cards and look for Insurance payments. Many of them pay out if EITHER the policyholder OR THEIR SPOUSE passes away.

My dad passed away last August and had a 9.9k CC debt with Saga. I never gave them the estate details as I told them they should get in touch with Stirling Finance as my dad had been paying a fortune each month for the Insurance protection. Wrote to Stirling who also asked for estate details. I rang and said they were just trying it on and wouldn't be getting paid out of any estate. Haven't heard back from either Saga or SF in over 7 months.

chattychappy

Should just add, despite horror stories of nasty banks (which I don't doubt) when I handled my aunt's estate the banks were efficient and courteous.

mack1969

thanks again for your replies.

No insurance with bc.

Does the money my dad receives from the endowment death policy count towards mams 'estate'?

zzzLazyDaisy

mack1969 wrote: »

Does the money my dad receives from the endowment death policy count towards mams 'estate'?

Hi Mack, I am sorry for your loss.

I take it this endowment is connected with the mortgage?

If so it would have been written in trust with your Dad being the named beneficiary, so no, it doesn't go through your mother's estate.

I would send the death certificate to the CC company with a letter explaining that she died intestate with no assets of her own. They may not like it and you or your father may get letters suggesting that you/he is responsible for the outstanding debt, but this is simply not true.