HSBC - A Responsible lender?

planteria

responses surprised by Steve's surprise...but i think a lot of people would be surprised and disappointed to learn that their grandmother had taken out an equity release scheme & had substantial credit card debt when they had passed away. i get the logic that it was her opportunity to enjoy the money, and i hope she did. but many, i would suggest most, folks don't think that way & tend to want to leave assets, not liabilities, for their families.

rabbit_burrow

planteria wrote: »

responses surprised by Steve's surprise...but i think a lot of people would be surprised and disappointed to learn that their grandmother had taken out an equity release scheme & had substantial credit card debt when they had passed away. i get the logic that it was her opportunity to enjoy the money, and i hope she did. but many, i would suggest most, folks don't think that way & tend to want to leave assets, not liabilities, for their families.

Totally see what you're saying, however, if she knew how much her house/assets were worth, then she would have known how much it would take before leaving liabilities.

Just saying.

x

janiebquick

First of all, may I say I am sorry for your loss.

It sounds to me that your gran knew what she was doing. Just because you don't agree with it doesn't mean it's wrong.

opinions4u

planteria wrote: »

responses surprised by Steve's surprise...but i think a lot of people would be surprised and disappointed to learn that their grandmother had taken out an equity release scheme & had substantial credit card debt when they had passed away. i get the logic that it was her opportunity to enjoy the money, and i hope she did. but many, i would suggest most, folks don't think that way & tend to want to leave assets, not liabilities, for their families.

I think the biggest issue I have with the OP's post is this:

I'm amazed at how irresponsible HSBC have been in allowing things to get to this stage in the first place.

There is no evidence of irresponsible lending. Just unexpected borrowing.

planteria

i dont necessarily read it that she Did know what she was doing...and i think it might have been good for other members of the family to be aware (unsure who did/didn't know details, of course).

my mom passed away young. my Dad is 78. i wouldnt expect to learn that he had borrowed money during his later years after he had passed away. doing so would be disappointing...and i dont mean in the sense that it would affect my inheritance.

Thrugelmir

SteveYoung83 wrote: »

Obviously, it will have to be paid from her estate, but I'm amazed at how irresponsible HSBC have been in allowing things to get to this stage in the first place.

To be honest it's none of your business. Your fury is directed at the bank. One suspects as you were expecting a juicy inheritance. Personally I'm pleased to see someone spend their hard earned money.

Neilhmtn

planteria wrote: »

my Dad is 78. i wouldnt expect to learn that he had borrowed money during his later years after he had passed away. doing so would be disappointing...and i dont mean in the sense that it would affect my inheritance.

I suspect you'll have to explain to people just in what sense you do mean it would be disappointing, because I don't think it would be that obvious.

It's obvious why young people generally shouldn't saddle themselves with debt without good reason, but not so obvious why older people with estates to leave shouldn't spend their assets as they wish.

SteveYoung83

planteria wrote: »

responses surprised by Steve's surprise...but i think a lot of people would be surprised and disappointed to learn that their grandmother had taken out an equity release scheme & had substantial credit card debt when they had passed away.

^ This is all I meant.

Of course I would have wanted her to improve her standard of living by spending her money wisely, but whilst her standard of living on paper appears to have been improved by both the loan and CC initially, towards the end as both had reached their limit/run out that she wasn't in a good place financially. All of her money was being used to pay things back each month, leaving her with very little money to live on, which is why I used the term irresponsible lending, because at this point it was, and she was much worse off than before she took them out. As far as we knew she was living comfortably, so it was a big surprise to find out she wasn't, when we could have helped both financially, or with better advice than a bank.

jonesMUFCforever

All I will say is this - she had a choice to borrow or not to borrow.

Is there any sense of family members feeling that they are going to get less money in the will than they thought they would here?

p00hsticks

I agree with most other people that it's up to the old lady what she spent her money on, and it's good that she had the sense to draw cash out of her property to improve her living standards while she was alive.

However, like planteria I'd be disappointed if I found out after their deaths that my parents had left high credit card bills - I would much prefer if they had asked me to give or loan them the money, which I'd happily do, rather than being charged a lot of interest on a credit card.