Advice required; 69 Year Old Mother having trouble serving her £10k debt

normski24

I'm trying to help my 69 year old mum who has got herself into a bit of a 'debt' pickle which is starting to cause emotional distress. Seeing her crying and worrying about money at her age is upsetting as you would imagine.

She said she was ashamed that I had to see what trouble she was in but I said getting ot out in the open and not burying her head in the sand is the first step to trying to improve her situation.

She owes roughly £10k across multiple credit cards and mail order accounts and though she pays the minimum on time every month this is merely servicing the interest and not reducing the debt by much each month leaving little to live on elsewhere. I have looked at 0% balance transfer cards with her to try and consolidate the credit/store cards but at her age and minimal part time wage at a supermarket she is not eligible for any of these.

I have dugout Debt Charity numbers for MAS (Money Advice Service) and (National Debtline) and asked her to give these a ring and see if they can offer better advice that I can give but if anyone else has any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated to try and give her piece of mind at her age.

Thanks in advance.

BlushingRose

I agree that ringing the debt charities would be very helpful, but so would going through all her finances and doing an SOA.
See exactly he has coming in and going out per month and see where any savings can be made.

National_Debtline

Hello there,

As BlushingRose has mentioned, completing a statement of account could be a very useful process. They are designed to ensure that there is enough month allocated to cover essential outgoings such as housing costs, housekeeping costs, bills and clothes etc. If there is any money left over, this would be what could potentially be used to pay the creditors.

We have a comprehensive budget on our website, which you can find here: https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/steps/step2/Pages/Step_2_11.aspx

Does your mum live in rented or mortgaged accommodation?

We also have a 'four steps' guide to dealing with debts, which you can find here: https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/steps/Pages/default.aspx

Very best wishes,

David @natdebtline

Buffythedebtslayer

hello,


I can well appreciate the distress seeing your mum in this situation. awful cos it's not like you want to send her out to work more hours etc!


Sounds an awful suggestion but does she have anything she could sell? I don't mean jewellery but I have noticed second hand furniture seems to do well? If she has any in a spare room? There is quite a good second hand market for stuff with Facebook groups etc? Or any collectables which might be valuable? (again feel awful to suggest it, but the thought of my Mum being in tears over money is horrible!)


I just really feel for you. hope the debt people have some answers.


Lots of luck


XX

Brightspark87

I am sorry to hear this it must be hard for you and really hope that you can sort this.

I hope others can be more helpful but I wanted to offer my support x