Stashed away money - help!

trolleydolley

Hi everyone

This is my first post on this particular part of the forum. I have a specific issue and I'd appreciate some advice.

My grandma (who is 90) has been ill for about a month and is currently in respite care. She is making a good recovery but during the process of collecting clothes etc to take in for her I have discovered a large amount of cash (in notes) stashed away in the house.

She has a savings account and a good pension coming in and I think she has been hiding this money as she is worried that if her savings come to more than £23, 000 she will lose all the benefits she currently receives.

Her assets currently come to just under this figure and if I put all the money I have found in her savings account it will take her over this figure.

What do I do??

thanks from a bit of a financial beginner!

Battybird

I have no advice what to do,

However, if the money is in £20 notes, do you know that the notes with Sir Edward Elgar on them are being withdrawn from circulation on the 30th of June?
(google to see what they look like)

I think she may have to bank them.

scotsbob

It doesn't belong to you and has nothing to do with you.

Leave it where it is.

mochyn88

if she has over £16000 it will affect her benefits

POPPYOSCAR

Is she well enough for you to discuss it with her? Have you asked her why it is there?She may not want you to do anything with it.

zygurat789

Do you really want you grandmother to be taken through the courts charged with benefit fraud?

roy62

Good to see grandmas not stupid.

margaretclare

If you found this large sum of cash so easily, do you not think that any passing opportunist burglar could find it as well?

We regularly read of this type of burglary in the local paper. It's always an older person, and the cry is 'but they were only in there for a couple of minutes while my back was turned'. Reason: opportunist burglars know exactly the kind of places in the house that cash is hidden.

Talk it over with Gran and ask her what she wants done with it.

chesky369

Your relative has been physically ill it seems, not mentally. She obviously has trusted you with her keys and access to her papers, etc. and yet you repay this trust by leaping to conclusions and coming onto a public forum to discuss it, rather than talking to her directly about it. If I were her, I would be extremely upset with you.

trolleydolley

I've read all your responses with interest and just wanted to reply to a couple of them.

The motivation for this post is that ultimately I have my grandmother's best interests at heart and would never do anything with this money before consulting her fully. And if she wants me to do nothing then I will respect that.

However there are often stories in the news about old people who keep money at home and are visited by conmen who proceed to keep someone talking at the door while an accomplice searches the house. I am not prepared for this to happen to my gran and do not feel that she should have a large amount of cash in the house. Maybe it's a generational thing but you do hear of pensioners losing their savings this way and I would be heartbroken if it happened to her.

Chesky - by posting this query I have in no way identified myself or my grandmother or where she or I live. The reason I posted the question was because this is a forum about money, moneysaving and advice etc and at the time of posting I was worrying about what to do next and I was wondering if anyone else had had the same experience. So I asked anonymously and I do not feel that I have breached any kind of confidences in asking.

It looks as though I will just bank it for her.

It's actually quite a stressful time at the moment as she has been quite ill so if the post was inappropriate, so be it but it's not a situation I've found myself in before.

paulofessex

I think banking it without talking to your Grandma first is not ideal. How about purchasing a safe for your Grandma, there not too exspensive these days, make sure its one that can be screwed to the floor/wall etc. You can get one where it opens with both a combination and a key.