Deceased with outstanding LOAN with Hitachi Capital

magpiecottage

I suggest you go back to Hitachi, rather than the solicitors and explain that there are no surviving assets and you want them to call off the solicitors.

If they don't do it, you can take Hitachi to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Twilighter

magpiecottage wrote: »

I suggest you go back to Hitachi, rather than the solicitors and explain that there are no surviving assets and you want them to call off the solicitors.

If they don't do it, you can take Hitachi to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Hi

I contacted Hitachi at first, I sent copy of death cert off to them and they said they will have to pass it over to their solicitors to deal with. I said thats ok the solicitors wrote to me saying the remaining outstanding balance will be taken from my nans estate. I had to explain no estate was left so they asked me to send proof ie. Council rent letter, closing bank statement etc, then when I sent all the docuements over, they then wrote to me saying ........

"We acknowledge receipt of your email together with enclosures.

Notwithstanding the above, the furniture the subject of the agreement is an asset of the estate of the late (my nans name) and therefore, any such assets should be liquidised and the proceeds used to discharge the debts and liabilities of the estate.

We have been instructed, therefore, to request that the furniture be sold and that the proceeds of sale be paid to us in at least partial discharge of the balance outstanding to our client"

I phoned the solicitors up as I was abit confused, and the lady said "they understand no estate has been left, so the lady who has possession of the sofa will have to sell the sofa and pay off debt, or she will have to carrying on with the monthly payments. She told me to get in touch with the lady who has sofa, and email/write back to them letting them know what the lady with sofa wants to do in regards to making payments for sofa".

Then I came across this site for some advice.

theoretica

Twilighter wrote: »

Notwithstanding the above, the furniture the subject of the agreement is an asset of the estate of the late (my nans name)

This is their mistake. I suggest that you write back to inform them they are wrong and the sofa (or if you prefer, furniture in question) was and is not an asset of the estate as it was purchased as a gift and your nan gave it away x years before her demise. As the finance agreement was an unsecured loan they can have no further claim on the sofa.

Errata

FGS a DFS sofa a couple of years old is worth zilch. Without wishing to upset anyone, the value of most old people's furniture and household bits and pieces is also zilch (unless they collected antiques) which is why house clearance firms charge like mad bulls to clear a house.

Twilighter

theoretica wrote: »

This is their mistake. I suggest that you write back to inform them they are wrong and the sofa (or if you prefer, furniture in question) was and is not an asset of the estate as it was purchased as a gift and your nan gave it away x years before her demise. As the finance agreement was an unsecured loan they can have no further claim on the sofa.

Thank you for that piece of information, you have a point. Im so useless when it comes to things like this lol it will come in handy in my letter im writing. Definitely pointing that out to them.

I will point out that the guy at DFS did write on on the agreement form 'buying for granddaughter' (my nan classed this family friend as her granddaughter because they were so close - our family friend is like my older sister ive never had). Hence why my nan was kind enough to help her out when she lost her job & flat. My nan helped her get back on her feet, find a cheaper flat and brought her the sofa as a thank you gift for everything she has done for my nan & my family.

Twilighter

Errata wrote: »

FGS a DFS sofa a couple of years old is worth zilch. Without wishing to upset anyone, the value of most old people's furniture and household bits and pieces is also zilch (unless they collected antiques) which is why house clearance firms charge like mad bulls to clear a house.

My nan to be fair didnt leave much furniture behind as she hated clutter. The furniture she did leave behind went to other family members and friends for sentimental keep sake really.

opinions4u

I don't think I've ever had a DFS sofa last longer than the interest free credit.

Errata

Twilighter wrote: »

My nan to be fair didnt leave much furniture behind as she hated clutter. The furniture she did leave behind went to other family members and friends for sentimental keep sake really.

Exactly, and if you tried to price it up on ebay it would probably all come to very little in total.

heathcote123

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

A crappy two year-old DFS sofa would probably be worth less a tenner now so if you wanted to be completely mischievious send them that. Or tell them to jog on.

I'd go with something like this, tell them they can come and pick it up if they want to resell it.

mo786uk

As has been mentioned, just make it clear that your Nan bought the item as a gift and it is no longer an assett in her name.

Therefore there are no further funds available to pay for the debt.

If they keep insisting that you sell stuff to get the money then report them (the finance company) to Trading Standards. That kind of pracice will most likely be a breach of the OFTs guidance for credit licence holders.