grandparents credit cards/debts

Hooloovoo

pheonixrising21 wrote: »

This is irrelevant.

Probably, yes.

By your logic, all claims will be limited to a maximum of one month's payment.

Yes, it should. But the law isn't always logical, sadly.

I've had PPI refunded on a loan taken out where PPI was a pre-ticked check box on an online form and one where paymenst were taken even though PPI wasn't even on the CCA. Both were refunded immediately and without arguement.

And as far as I'm concerned they should not have been refunded! It was quite within your power to UNTICK the box on the online form! It's not their fault you didn't read everything you were accepting and looked to see what boxes were ticked. You had every opportunity to SEE the charge on your statement EVERY MONTH. You had ample opportunity to remove it.

It's a good job I'm not a judge.

InsideInsurance

But if you were I suspect your catch phrase would be "hang 'em"

I have no doubt that some PPI policies were truly miss sold however, having known the PPI claims department for one insurer every case of miss sold PPI they received they paid out on the claim anyway.

For the majority it is just jumping on a bandwagon to try and get free money which they were willingly (not stupid enough to think anyone is happy paying any type of insurance) paying simply because they had an insurance policy that they ended up not needing to claim on.

Obviously this is a different debate than for the OPs thread so will get off my soap box now

erimus1

omega015 wrote: »

My grandparents have a couple of credit cards with debt totaling about £18,000 now, they cannot afford to pay these off along with the mortgage. My granddad is retired and receiving next to nothing and my grandma is 63 and working but minimum wage.
They barely have enough to live. I have taken on paying their credit cards for over 5 years now and have worked out that I have paid over £30,000 in this time. The amount I have paid has wiped about £1000-£2000 in total which is shockingly low.

Is there anything you can suggest that might help take the burden off me without causing hardship to them? At the moment I am paying more than £500 a month to credit card companies and I want to buy a house and start my own family. I cannot do both.

We are seeking to claim back PPI as when I first took on the debt for them there was PPI of about £150 total a month on the cards. Anything we get back will go towards paying off the debt.

Would they be considered for a interest free balance transfer? would banks stop the interest? It sickens me to know I have paid over £30,000 and they have paid £000's over the years and yet the debt still remains.

Hope someone can advise us of the best course of action.

Regards,

Michael.

Hat off to you for helping out, although it would seem tat you were just throwing good money after bad. If you weren't helping out, your grandparents would probably have defaulted. May well be best too look at this option now I would have thought. Can't really do your grandparents any harm aside from not being able to get any additional lines of credit, but they can't afford any anyway.

mrcow

Hooloovoo wrote: »

The miss-selling of PPI is more to do with it being sold to people who would never have been eligible for the cover - ie people on fixed term contracts etc.

No it's not. Not at all.

There are lots of reasons as to why it may have been missold.

It's very easy to reclaim missold PPI and would urge the OP to do so with gusto. If it was not something that was specifically requested at the time, then the credit card provider should pay it all back wth interest.

mynameistallulah

omega015 wrote: »

My granddad is retired and receiving next to nothing and my grandma is 63 and working but minimum wage.

What are they receiving in the way of pension, pension credit etc?

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

omega015 you don't mention your own parents. Are they in a position to help? Apologies if they're not around.

nctmum

My dad was in a similar position at 61 - he kept paying and paying after his business went bad and in the end he had to throw in the towel and go bankrupt. He worked out he had probably paid the capital back easily over time but course thats not the way CC works. It would be better for your grandparents to speak to the companies and try and negotiate repayment plans, some companies will freeze interest and fees, but usually only once someone has missed a couple of payments. Rather than recommend that, perhaps speaking to a not-for-profit debt advisory service would be a good idea or the CAB.

Good luck!

By the way to the Judgmentals on this board - people come here for advice, not a telling off/patronising comments. Not everyone in the country has the same financial literacy as the people on here pointing the finger. And dont bother to reply because I wont be reading it!

Piece said

omega015

Not sure what they are getting in terms of pension credits but I suspect it isn't much. I haven't sat down with them just yet to go over everything. Unfortunately my parents are not great with money and don't have any disposable income or assets to help. I think as I am young and earning a reasonable salary that I might be the only one in the family that can or willing to help them.

I think I will get them to speak to that charity and see what they recommend.

If they did default etc.. could their home be at risk? Or are credit card debts unsecured, therefore they are not at risk from loosing their home?

molerat

The owners of the debts could go to court and obtain a charging order over the property or petition for bankruptcy. Note could and not will.

IMO by paying off their debt you are just throwing your money away as you are making very little headway. The !!!! is going to hit the fan anyway so it may as well be sooner rather than later.

omega015

Somebody at work has advised me that she should consider an IVA. does anyone have any thoughts on this?

She shouldn't need anymore credit so her credit worthiness isn't a problem. She has an endowment policy linked to her mortgage but that will be short anyway. She isn't likely to receive any big bonus or big cash sum from anywhere and she wishes to reduce her work hours too so her income will be reduced anyway.

In my mind if this works how I have been led to believe, there will be a figure agreed what she can afford to pay, if the creditors agree that this is acceptable then she pays this for a fixed term and then the debts are settled (whether paid in full or not).