Mums Debts after care home admission

swt61

Hi,

My mum has just gone into a residential home as she has dementia.

I have been going through all of her financial affairs now as I have enduring power of attourney and have found that she owes debt to 2 credit card companies that she has been paying in the past every month these cards both total to £4500.

I have 2 questions ;-

1/ Can she keep some money every month to pay into a funeral plan liike me setting up a direct debit for her from her Bank account as she has no life cover as the home normally take all of her money to pay towards her care ?

2/ Can I apply to the credit card companies to write off her debt as she has no monies avalable left each month to pay them off and how can I ask them to do this based on her situation now.

She has no assets or savings as she was living in a council flat and the only income she is receiving is her state pension , some pention credits and attendance allowance.

Regards,

Simon

unholyangel

Cant help with the first question i'm afraid but as for the 2nd, you may be able to work out a deal with if you pay it off in a lump sum, they'll give a slight reduction. I cant realistically see them agreeing to write the debt off. The only way that might happen is if declaring bankrupt. Not a easy "get out" though and it does have rather severe consequences.

You will probably have a lot more luck getting the companies to freeze the interest. She could enter into a voluntary agreement but the companies dont need to accept this and quite a bit of the debt would still need to pay back - companies sometimes agree to this as an alternative to bankruptcy though.

Zandoni

I'd just let the Credit Card companies know her position and see what they say.

You can't get blood out of a stone.......

foxytomtom

Hello i am in same situation except my mother has a bank loan with a high street bank.
I am hoping to get a debt and mental health form for doctor to fill in,but dont know where to get it.i have tried bank and doctors but no luck.

Gavin83

By law all of her income is paid to the local authority to fund her care minus a personal allowance. These fees are paid before any other debt and therefore the credit card debt is unlikely to get paid. I would inform them of the situation and although they'll unlikely write it off at this current time, they'll be aware further payments are now out of the question.

Also she can't fund a funeral plan unless she is willing to pay out of her personal allowance which frankly is too small to fund such a scheme.

kittycatty

In the same boat here too, the "pocket money" Mum is left with is carp, after negotiations with the creditors she's left with 20p per week. So everything else she needs I pay for. xx

bcl999

swt61 wrote: »

Hi,

My mum has just gone into a residential home as she has dementia.

I have been going through all of her financial affairs now as I have enduring power of attourney and have found that she owes debt to 2 credit card companies that she has been paying in the past every month these cards both total to £4500.

I have 2 questions ;-

1/ Can she keep some money every month to pay into a funeral plan liike me setting up a direct debit for her from her Bank account as she has no life cover as the home normally take all of her money to pay towards her care ?

2/ Can I apply to the credit card companies to write off her debt as she has no monies avalable left each month to pay them off and how can I ask them to do this based on her situation now.

She has no assets or savings as she was living in a council flat and the only income she is receiving is her state pension , some pention credits and attendance allowance.

Regards,

Simon

Are you absolutely sure you have tracked down all her bank accounts, places she may have put cash about the house etc?

The only reason I'm asking is when my mother was getting the same benefits as you list, she had about £100 a week left over. She never went into care. That soon adds up to a tidy sum.

Unless things have changed, the AA isn't considered when calculating rent rebate and she shouldn't have needed to pay anything towards council tax (mental impairment exemption).

It didn't hapen with my mother but with her mother, who also had dementia and lived on her own for longer before she finally went into care, her whole house had to be checked as there was money everywhere e.g. we had to search through piles of old newspapers as there were notes hidden in amongst them.

McKneff

So how much is this 'personal allowance' please.

Are you sure there isnt an insurance policy around. Its unusual for older people not to have
one even if its just enough to pay for a funeral. (no offence intended)

swt61

HI All,

Thanks for the replies,

I am not getting my email notifications even though its sellected for some reason.

I cant find a policy anywhere is there a way to search companies where she may have one ?

Simon