Moved to Ireland from UK - Lloyds TSB / Westcot Threatening Letters

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Hi,

My mother owes Lloydsicon TSB £4,000 for a Credit Card and £6,500 for a Bank Account.

She moved to Ireland in September 2012 to retire as my father has alzheimer's disease, and it's a better quality of life over there. She has high blood pressure and suffers from stress which Lloyds TSB are aware of.

I'm a student studying at University and have promised to help her deal with the constant letters to try and reduce her stress levels. The letters are being re-directed by Royal Mail from our old address to my University address.

She has not informed Lloyds TSB or Westcot that she has moved abroad, as I don't want any letters being sent to her, so I'm trying to deal with them myself but have got confused about what to do next.

I believe her debt issues started around 13 years ago.

During May 2013, I sent Lloyds TSB an Income & Expenditure form and agree a payment of £1/month, however as I had exams during this time I completely forgot to set this up.

On 26th July 2013, Lloyds TSB passed both debts over to Westcot and I have received a number of letters from them since for both debts. The first was a 'Notice of debt collectionicon' and the second a 'Final Notice' threatening further action on 11th August 2013. The 'Final Notice' stated that after investigating they have confirmed that my mother still lives in the old property, however this is not true.

I have not contacted Westcot as of yet.

A few weeks ago, Lloyds TSB sent me some statements after speaking to them on the phone. One shows a number of payments from 07/10/2010 to 06/08/2012 of £28 per month. The other was on some paper that looked dated, with some statements dated from the year 2000.

What should I do next?

Thanks

fatbelly

How much has she got available as a lump sum?

How much could she afford to pay on a monthly basis?

Does she own property anywhere?

Was there ever a period of six years when she paid nothing?

Doe she have other debts?

Was the bank account in joint names?

That'll do for starters.

DailyClicker

fatbelly wrote: »

How much has she got available as a lump sum?

How much could she afford to pay on a monthly basis?

Does she own property anywhere?

Was there ever a period of six years when she paid nothing?

Doe she have other debts?

Was the bank account in joint names?

That'll do for starters.

She has recently been made redundant so has some money available, but is using this to live on as well.

From the Income & Expenditure forms I sent off, a £1/month payment was agreed, but due to having exams I forgot to set this up and it has been passed to Westcot now.

I don't believe there has been a 6 year period with no payments.

Yes, she has a smaller debt with Bank of Scotland.

Single account.

Thanks for your help so far.

fatbelly

There are two options that I have been thinking about:

1. Full & final settlement

2. Debt Relief Order.


(1) will require the 'some money' to be available for the task and about 5k.

(2) is available while she was 'resident in England/Wales during the past three years' and IF she does not own property nor a car worth over £1000 and IF her assets are under £300 AND her debts under 15k. So she doesn't qualify while she has the lump sum and will cease to qualify in Sept 2015. If she owns property (you didn't answer that one) then it's not an option.

Actually, you should be more concerned that your mum is apparently not living within her means than be concerned about non-priority debts. What is she going to do when the lump sum runs out? Has she explored what benefits are available to them?