pls advise on credit card / bank debt

jumbopants

Hi All,

Not 100% sure this is the correct thread to post in, so sorry in advance if incorrect...

My mother has recently come to me for help as she has got herself into a mess with credit cards.

She has over the years built up credit card debt + bank load debt of 50K plus on various cards/banks, it has got so bad that I am now paying the minimum payments each month as the rob Peter to pay Paul gravy train has come to an end due to her defaulting on the min payments which has then led to a very poor credit rating.

She is 60 and my father is 65, both don't have a job are they are unable to pay the min. payments... The one credit card company that she owed 4.5k on froze the interest and agreed that they would take 2k to wipe the dept, which I gave the money for to get rid of..

I was really surprised when she came to myself in tears to reveal the secret of the dept that she had managed to build up over the years, I had no idea that she was even in dept as she does not lead a lavish lifestyle. Plus when I was down there 2 days ago my father has said that she is now lending from door lenders, I'm unsure of what the amount is, or the APR, but I am sure that it's going to be very expensive.

My question is, if I ring the credit card comapanys will they write off part of the debt if I say that they should not have lent it to them in the first place and how did they ever expect to get the money back..?

She is still too ashamed to reveal the full extent of the problem, and part of me thinks that it's probably more like 60-70k debt, but I am willing to pay off the debt for them as it is now affecting there mental health and are unable to sleep due to the constant worry plus constant phone calls from the card companys due to non min. payment.

Am I wasting my time making them offers ? Or is there another way out IVA etc...

A massive thanks in advance for any help, as the problem has now become mine and I'm now the one with sleepless nights, I do not like to see the worry that they are going through and would do anything to try and help them out of the mess that they're in..

Cheers,


Justin.

opinions4u

I would post on the bankruptcy forum.

Not because bankruptcy is the only solution, but because I think you will get the appropriate level of experience of this sort of situation to help better.

While you paying off her debts is admirable, I don't actually think it's a good idea. Bankruptcy or an IVA could remove or reduce the debts. Getting 50% knocked off one debt is great. But if she's paying 200% to a door to door merchant, the money could have been used better elsewhere.

Oh, and tell her to forget her shame and disclose absolutely everything. Without knowing the whole picture nobody can give appropriate advice.

Also, post whether or not they own their own home, the amount of any mortgage and the estimated value of any property.