DMP for pensioners

lolamosschops_2

I am posting here in the hope that someone can offer advice on my Parents in laws situation, we were telling them about our situation and they let us in to their secret - they are 68 and 69 and currently in a DMP with CCCS paying back 100 a month over the next 62 years!!! - they have a house with a mortgage!!! and are both still flogging their guts out running a home based business - I am pretty sure the majority of their debt is CC related although some of it is bank loans - is there anything they can do or are they destined to work till they drop - neither of them is in the best of health one has had cancer and the other has diabetes, arthritis etc. I just want to be able to help them not to have to pay till they die. I apologise if this is in the wrong place and I am happy to start a new thread but I just wondered if anyone could offer any help or advice at all.

Tixy

Hi lola

This is definitely the right place to post (although I may not be the best to give advice).
So presumably they owe around £75k or so from what you have said? Do you know how they ran up their debts? Do you know what sort of debts they are (cards, loans etc)?

Do you know when there mortgage is due to be paid off? any idea of the value of the house and the balance on the mortgage?
Are they both still working? Do they have pensions coming in (aside from state pensions)?

This certainly is a crazy situation for them to be in, they cannot go on working indefinitely, I'm sure there must be other options open to them.

lolamosschops_2

I think they owed about 65k and this is made up with cc and bank loans - I really don't know when these were taken out but I think they have been on this DMP for about 3 years now - the creditors seem happy to take £100 a month because when anything happens to them they will take the rest out of any property they leave.
Im unsure when the mortgage is due to finish and I do know that M-i-L has a modest pension from her old employers.

I am going to have to tell them about this thread and ask them to post some further details to get the best help but I dont want them to think I am interfering which is why I am trying to sound people out before I tell them what they can do to remedy their situation. I get the impression that they are prepared to do something rather than nothing though.

NorthernLas

It would also be useful to find out
- if the loans are secured or un-secured,
- whether they have overdraft/s,
- whether the credit cards were taken out before 2007 (a possible option might be to stop paying any that are un-enforceable
- whether any of these products had PPI (a possible option might be to reclaim this if they think they were mis-sold)

NorthernLas

To find out about un-enforceability, you should have a read of the first few pages of this thread.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2532927

Then your PIL will be in a much better position to work out if this can be of help to them

never-in-doubt

Hi Lola

Ok, first thing to do is to have a mooch over here - moreso at the first page and read the basics, it will help you no end: Unenforceability & Template Letters IV

Then, you need to ask your parents what and who they owe to, thing is it is fruitless paying £100 for eternity, especially at their ages - it would make much better sense to consider similar to MouseAnn (and others) and look into unenforceability, that way the lenders cannot touch anything when they go, from the assets I mean.

Its up to you/them which route to take but in all fairness they have nothing to lose by considering unenforceability, I mean they will never clear their debts before they die, so why run the risk of losing their house etc (what they have worked for) all because of some erroneous debt?

If necessary, have them join this site or you could opt to deal for them, but they would need to answer whatever questions we ask, and not hold back on the truth! Its a painfree process, as my thread will explain - basically in a nutshell they stop paying, we get the agreements, check them and then tell the lender to sod off - that's about it (in an easy to understand fashion).....

As I say take a read of this to see the pro's/con's etc etc - Unenforceability & Template Letters IV

Best of Luck

Niddy

mouseann

never-in-doubt wrote: »

Hi Lola

Ok, first thing to do is to have a mooch over here - moreso at the first page and read the basics, it will help you no end: Unenforceability & Template Letters IV

Then, you need to ask your parents what and who they owe to, thing is it is fruitless paying £100 for eternity, especially at their ages - it would make much better sense to consider similar to MouseAnn (and others) and look into unenforceability, that way the lenders cannot touch anything when they go, from the assets I mean.

Its up to you/them which route to take but in all fairness they have nothing to lose by considering unenforceability, I mean they will never clear their debts before they die, so why run the risk of losing their house etc (what they have worked for) all because of some erroneous debt?

If necessary, have them join this site or you could opt to deal for them, but they would need to answer whatever questions we ask, and not hold back on the truth! Its a painfree process, as my thread will explain - basically in a nutshell they stop paying, we get the agreements, check them and then tell the lender to sod off - that's about it (in an easy to understand fashion).....

As I say take a read of this to see the pro's/con's etc etc - Unenforceability & Template Letters IV

Best of Luck

Niddy

Hi Lola,

Just popped in to say that what Niddy says is worth listening to. I think you already know how much he has helped me - you can trust him 100%.

If you need any support please keep posting on my thread - we also have the odd (sometimes very odd!) joke - doesn't mean that we don't take our situation seriously, just that we realise that life has to go on and we should do our best to lighten the load!

That's my 10p's worth.

lolamosschops_2

awww thanks Mouseann, everyone, I have made the phone call to MIL to inform her of my meddling, she is going to come up in the next couple of days and we will be in a position to post far more details re their current situation. The one promising thing is that they have been on their DMP with CCCS for over 5 years so that must mean that the cards/loans were taken out over 5/6 years ago. All I can do now is let them know what I have found out and see where we go from there. But for now Many MANY thanks to all who have posted.

3Dogs

Hi Lola - glad to see you are already getting the right advice - I knew Niddy would pop in quickly enough- as Mouseann says, he is totally genuine and if he can help them he will - trust him totally

I can't get over the fact that your in-laws have been put on a DMP over that period - presumably the only other option open to them was bankruptcy and they did not want to lose their house. And why should they? The banks have so much to answer for dishing out credit willy nilly - always there with a [STRIKE]gloating[/STRIKE] welcoming smile saying "of course, just take out another loan to clear that one and give you a little bit extra spare cash to do up your house..... have a hoiday...... etc" putting people deeper into debt and at their mercy. And now they wonder why those same people can't pay it all back. Rant Rant Rant!!!

Tell them to consider all options - they may not think that unenforcability is 'morally right' "well I borrowed it so I have to pay it back even if it kills me" syndrome - don't let them think that way. The banks have already had their money back twice over in interest most likely. At their time of life, they should be taking it easy and enjoying themselves after a lifetime of work - not beavering away, ill as they are, to pay back the banks

Hope everything goes well and either they come on here for help or they have you doing it for them - they are lucky to have you trying to sort it out for them. Good on you Pet

Fitzer2000

Hi Lola, Makes me ill thinking that these bankers/DCA's have arranged a DMP over 60 years for PENSIONERS, and then take whatever assets they've work all their lives for to pay off their debts! It just goes to show how ruthless they are. Well I can assure you NID is as ruthless if not more ruthless his responses (in the nicest possible way!) The mentoring and guidance he provides will make them sleep easily. Take care and well done for posting.

Hannah_10

It's a peculiar idea and I think you'd have to look into it thoroughly (because I admit I haven't) but I was wondering if there was a way for them to give thier house to thier son/daughter (and then still live in it paying rent- nominal or otherwise) and then they'll be in a position to go bankrupt without losing thier home.

I don't know how this would work in practice, so if it sounds interesting raise it with a suitably qualified advisor, but I know this sort of thing is rife in the posh end of my extended family to avoid inheritance tax. People are forever being given Mums house on paper but with the truth of it being it's still Mums really. So I'm thinking perhaps if son/daughter stood to inherit the house eventually anyway, this route could be used to make a bankruptcy possible without the loss of the property?

I have no idea, I admit I am plain guessing- but could be worth a couple of questions?