Please tell us your questions on mental health & debt

beverly_hills

SouWestsaver wrote: »

PLEASE help all those with Mental Health problems particularly bi-polar and depression.
They need help with:
1) Advice on debt run up whilst ill.e.g. credit cards when items bought whilst ill.
2) Council Tax when they cannot pay
3)Mortgages when they cannot pay
4)Overdrafts when they cannot pay the debt off
5)Management charges on communal property
6)Ground rent on lease property
7)Employers who are unsympathetic to mental illness and try to dismiss
8)Help with utilities, telephones [land and mobile],gas,electricity,water
9)Any advice and help from the state.
10)Any help from NHS the community services etc.

These poor people who are genuinely ill need help from MSE.

You've got it right there! End of Aug '08 I got in the shower one Monday morning and burst into tears - managed to see my doc that day (after having been offered an appointment--like a week on tuesday--so told the receptionist I would be there in half an hour and would sit there till a week on tuesday) and burst into tears when doc asked what's wrong.
He imediately said he could do nothing with me, and explained this was something a specialist needed to treat..he dictated letter for aptmt with psyciatrist. Got the appointment 11 weeks later, the waiting time was no joke. Thankfully, 21 months later with my anti-deps, I feel like a new person, albeit that's only in the last 3 months, so I have no idea how anyone with long-term serious effects has to cope. I couldn't put two thoughts together...you'll understand if you've been there..and being told to - for example - "just make the phonecall" or "just write a short letter" made me want to scream. I can only liken it to telling someone in a wheelchair "just stand up and put one foot in front of the other, then you'll be able to walk!!!" I can understand how non-ill people cannot see how you just can't do something familiar....you have to have been there or had someone close suffer before its anything like understandable. THIS NEEDS TO BE TALKED ABOUT and understood, there is no shortage of publicity for cancer, aids, alzheimers etc, all devastating illnesses, so why hide us away when so many of us are ill to some degree. MARTIN...a whole series of t.v programmes on this please. Lets sign up for being guineapigs folks. The rest of the world needs to know we exist!!! My very best wishes to everyone with a mental illness, to whatever degree you suffer, just take one day at a time. Big hug to everyone who needs one today.xx

cliveoram

ocoste wrote: »

My brother suffers from schizophrenia. He is also an alcoholic. His girlfriend suffered similar illness to a lesser degree. Tragically, she committed suicide a few months ago. The point of debt is this: She took out a personal loan, which by all accounts was on my brother’s behalf. The true details of the distribution of the money borrowed is vague.

Now her family are pursuing my brother for re-payment of the loan. On several levels he is unable to comply with this. My question is this: a) Is the legal situation not that personal debt is written off on a person’s death? And b) as my brother did not co-sign for the loan, does the family have any legal right to pursue him for repayment of the loan?

This is a sad, unsavoury episode and I’d appreciate any advice on offer.
Thanks

Firstly, no debts "die" with the death of that person and are repayable from that person's estate, (what they owned), and can be claimed back by the lender. Where the person had no assets, i.e. they owed more than they owned, then the lender may pursue the next of kin, (nearest relative), to clear the debt; however, this has no legal basis and the lender will often give up if they refuse to accept the debt as an inheritance. (It is a complicated area of law).
The second issue is much clearer. If your brother did not sign to accept joint responsibility for the debt then he cannot be held liable even if the loan was for his benefit. This would be regarded as an "absolute gift" and would be treated as any other gift in the eyes of the law.
I hope this helps.:)

cliveoram

wolfehouse wrote: »

I care for someone with schizophrenia. she does not want me in charge of her affairs but there is no named care manager who looks after her finances.
she has been readmitted to hospital repeatedly and has lost her tenancy this way. how can i make sure someone has a duty of care to look after her possessions
and keep an eye in general over finacial matters for her when she is incapable?
is there some way to determine when she is capable and when not?
who has a duty of care toward her possessions after they are 'bagged and tagged' if she cannot present herself to get them out of storage?
her benefits stop when she has been in hospital for a prolonged time. is she not expected to have any needs at all then or how are incidentals provided for?

For a person who is mentally incapable, (or otherwise unable to make their decisions known), then the Court of Protection is charged with managing their affairs, (also known as the Office of the Public Guardian or OPG), and they will appoint someone known as a Deputy to manage their affairs. This is a) costly, b) inconvenient for the family, but most importantly c) distressing for the family; (see the story of Heather Bateman on the web and other places). The way to avoid this is for every person to have in place a document called Lasting Powers of Attorney or LPA the website https://www.opg.org has more details but for someone who already has mental health issues a professional Certificate Provider is essential. I am hoping that someone from MSE Towers will read this and that the importance of LPAs is flagged up on a regular basis. 3 out of 10 adults have a Will they have written themselves, (as opposed to the statutory Will via the Law of Intestacy), which although tragically few is at least better than those who have LPAs registered which according to the OPG is about 1 in 100.:(

skintsue

I've been suffering with depression and debt for several years, they seem to be interwoven. When I was heavily doped up with several ongoing medications I had no control over money.
I was encouraged to spend by the bank who were raising my overdraft to ridiculous sums, despite being on DLA and IB, which they knew I hadn't a hope in heck of repaying.
They gave me two consolidation loans, when I couldn't work out a proper budget for what I was on, which meant I had even less to live on each week.
When CAB got involved the bank refused to go through them and continued to pester me with phonecalls. They were made aware that I had mental health problems, was suffering from severe stress and depression, and was also judged to have suicidal tendancies, but they just wanted their money back.
It would have been some help if they had actually looked at the issues that had been raised and sorted them out - but they just steamrollered me into the ground, despite the fact it was their cruddy service and ineptitude that got me in the position in the first place.

My story is under Nat West Shambles in to reclaiming bank charges section of the forum (if you want more info).

This section on help for mental health people might be too late for me, but hopefully it will be very useful for evryone else!

HappySad

Google MDF (manic depression fellowship). I joined them and they offer you legal advice and also insurance as part of the membership. Legal is free and you pay for the travel insurance. Someone mentioned earlier that they did not know where to go for insurance for holiday or life insurance well MDF will be able to help you with this.

ash4becks

kittykat211273 wrote: »

Hi
I couldnt even begin nor would I even attempt to give you a diagnosis as I am not qualified to do so but Im a bipolar sufferer and was ill from teenage years but only diagnosed 2yrs ago when I was 34 due to the mental health services basically being incompetent, one psychiatrist said "oh you cant be bipolar you havent been sectioned" what a load of rubbish! I was lucky enough to be with a partner at the time who paid for me to see a highly renowned private psychiatrist who diagnosed Bipolar and Adult ADHD immediately! I understand most people cant afford private healthcare so what I would recommend is that you demand another psychiatrist appointment from your GP and before going sit with someone who knows you well and write down certain behaviours and incidents that are cause for concern, also I would highly recommend you print off the royal college of psychiatrists information sheet on Bipolar (google it it should be easy to find) and highlight any of the things mentioned that relate to you and how long it has been going on for...when you see your psychiatrist take all this info with you and show them, this will help to give them a better perspective into what exactly is happening in your life so they can hopefully give you a correct diagnosis.

Hope this helps
Take Care
Kat x

cheers have only just seen this today x

climbintheladderouttadebt

When my daughter was 1, I suffered my worst ever bout of depression. I was on my own with no family around. My doctor referred me to a local mental health place which said I couldn't cope as a mum and needed parenting lessons! (GREAT affect on my mental health!)
The charity couldn't see me straight away, and I walked out, albeit briefly, on my poor little girl. (Everything's ok now but...)
I never got help for my depression. The lady who came to visit me from the charity tried to help but actually gave me info which has worsened the situation with debts and has blocked some of the avenues I otherwise might have had open to me. I'd like to see info out there for any charities to direct sufferers of depression/bipolar/schizophrenia etc. to. I also think the CAB need to be MUCH more informed. There was so much they couldn't help/advise on that the great users on MSE have been able to clear up for me.
Thanks to this site I've already reduced my debts by more than 50% in about 12 months and I am trying to help others close to me now.

Well done MSE and MSE's!

Mystery-Lover

It would be good if you could put advice in for those who have to live with someone with mental health problems and large debts.

My mother has Bi-Polar and has run up around 20k in debts. I now live in constant fear of the debt collectors taking all of our belongings and I also know that we probably soon be made homeless due to her bankruptcy. And it has been so difficult to find out what help there is for me as well as my mum.

hermum

puggers wrote: »

Some help for the Forces and ex Forces, who are suffering from stress, mental health and PTSS. I suffer from PTSS and apart from My Wife and Doctor, I have recieved no help as to how I am to deal with it. The inability to deal with paperwork or problems, leads to hiding away any and all envelopes, thus building up late payment fines, and so the problem grows. So please, any ideas would help.

have you contacted the Royal British Legion and or SSAFA? They will help serving & ex forces with advice & all help to clear debts.

jenniewb

I think the trouble is that with mental health, we are talking about one problem, but with the widespread nature of mental health, we are talking about many different individuals each responding to the same or similar situations in different ways.

There really is no one-solves-all solution and I think that any support made available would need to be very individual and carefully thought about. Not just because each of us is an individual with individual problems and needs but because when you are in the throws of a M/H problem, you become that bit more unstable, untrusting that bit more and feel that bit more vulnerable. Its not as easy to see things how they really are when your very unwell, everything becomes like a double edged sword.