86 year old being crippled by interest rates

kindofagilr

She should be claiming Pension Credit by the sounds of it as well xx

jmhgibson123

MrChandlerBing wrote: »

This isn't the ethical thing to do, but it is what I would do as well. Just don't pay it. She is 86 living in a council house. What can they do to her?

not ethical but at least she can lower her payments, companys generally wont entertain lowering payments if you are up to date...may not be ethical but i would make my soa so as i only have a £1 a week to pay

dresdendave

bugslet wrote: »

Think by the time you pressurise an old lady in their 80s, you have to accept you forgo some of your 'rights'.:mad:
.

If only the above were true, but in today's world it seems the more evil you are the more "rights" you have.

JKSandy

Your uncle sounds like the scum of the earth.

In your grans situation I would change bank account and default and contact step change.

Personally If I was you I'd call the police and get that rat of an uncle arrested for it.

Macca83_2

Take your gran down to the bank, book an appointment with a banking advisor and discuss it in full. That should be your first step. Find out from them when the loan was taken out, the interest rate and whether or not the loan can be worked into a more manageable monthly repayment. I would be tempted to go as far as explaining to the advisor that the loan had been taken out under duress.

Have a family meeting. The right amount of pressure from the family may be enough to put the thumb screws on her sorry excuse of a son

Don't consider defaulting until you've had a proper sit down with the bank

EmmaHerts

You said it was a loan that didn't immediately have repayments. Is it possible that your uncle didn't realise it was now time to start paying?

Has anyone spoken to him?

lucy03

Macca83 wrote: »

Take your gran down to the bank, book an appointment with a banking advisor and discuss it in full. That should be your first step. Find out from them when the loan was taken out, the interest rate and whether or not the loan can be worked into a more manageable monthly repayment. I would be tempted to go as far as explaining to the advisor that the loan had been taken out under duress.

I think that's excellent advice - given the amount of money that has already been paid off and the inevitable sensitivity that would be involved in taking legal action against an 86 year old for a possibly questionable debt I'd suspect the bank would be keen to resolve it at an early stage.

BigAunty

kindofagilr wrote: »

She should be claiming Pension Credit by the sounds of it as well xx

Good suggestion - check out her benefit entitlements using the Turn2us online benefit calculator or book an appointment with the Citizens Advice Bureau. That private pension of her late husband will be classed as income. Wouldn't hurt to have a check that she's receiving what she is due.

There's been good advice about debt management options - you could post on the debtfreewanabee board where the posters there will also provide links to free expert debt advice charities and outline a strategy to deal with it.

AMILLIONDOLLARS

A family meeting is very important. Have you told your parents, this is the first step to be taken, as well as a meeting with the Bank. To keep this secret from your family is even more harmful to your Gran.

The truth will set you all free to come up with practical solutions. Not worth going to prison for the Uncle, Karma will deal them him in the long run.

AMD

catwoman73

I would be careful with the advice for her to stop paying as she will then get phone calls from debt collection morning, noon and night, and possibly house visits, which she could find distressing/inconvenient.

However, can the rest of the family guilt the son into paying up? Or lend her money to pay off the loan?

If not, she needs help setting up a payment plan via stepchange etc, or to see if she is eligible for a DRO or even bankruptcy.

She also needs to check that she is getting all the benefits that she is entitled to and help with budgeting to ensure that she is not going without food/heating etc in order to try and pay off the loan.