Credit card debt after parents death

Markharrall

Hi all,

I hope someone could offer me a bit of advise. Last year my Mum was taken into hospital for several months.. At this time, my Dad was at home trying to keep on top of things, but decided that as my Mum had always dealt with the bills etc she would have to open the post when she got out. Unfortunately she passed away on Christmas eve. On visiting the house I saw several "red letters" addressed to my Mum and Dad and said to Dad that he would have to look at them. It turns out that Nat West had decided to give my mum (a pensioner) a 10k limit on a credit card which she had maxed out. This had been being paid by cheque so we had no idea when we were looking at the finances initially. My Dad (also a pensioner) was devastated. My Father went down hill and passed away a couple of months ago. We are now dealing with the estate, and I am thinking of contacting NatWest to see if they will consider a reduction of the debt as I feel it was lent recklessly as they knew their circumstances (it was their bank). Has anyone any experience of this kind of thing? They also had a sofa that they still owe £1000 on, but thats another story! Any advice really gratefully received. Mark

dazza.mk

Markharrall wrote: »

Hi all,

I hope someone could offer me a bit of advise. Last year my Mum was taken into hospital for several months.. At this time, my Dad was at home trying to keep on top of things, but decided that as my Mum had always dealt with the bills etc she would have to open the post when she got out. Unfortunately she passed away on Christmas eve. On visiting the house I saw several "red letters" addressed to my Mum and Dad and said to Dad that he would have to look at them. It turns out that Nat West had decided to give my mum (a pensioner) a 10k limit on a credit card which she had maxed out. This had been being paid by cheque so we had no idea when we were looking at the finances initially. My Dad (also a pensioner) was devastated. My Father went down hill and passed away a couple of months ago. We are now dealing with the estate, and I am thinking of contacting NatWest to see if they will consider a reduction of the debt as I feel it was lent recklessly as they knew their circumstances (it was their bank). Has anyone any experience of this kind of thing? They also had a sofa that they still owe £1000 on, but thats another story! Any advice really gratefully received. Mark

Unless your Mum was in some way incapable of making decisions how did they lend recklessly?

More important thing to look at would be the estate, your Dad was not responsible for the bill as it was (legally) your Mum's debt. So was there sufficient money to pay for the bill? Any money that may have been in your Dad's estate would be a completely separate issue.

dzug1

Was it really reckless? At the time the card was taken out presumably it was serviceable and things only went wrong when your mother stopped paying because of being in hospital and your father neglected to take care of the situation - understandably perhaps.


By all means try it on though. You've nothing to lose by doing so.


I don't like the implication (which I accept you might not have intended to give) that 'pensioners' should not be allowed to borrow money or buy new furniture

Simon7685

Bottom line is your Dad was NOT liable for your Mums debt (£10k). At the time of her death, unless her estate had enough money to settle the debt then Natwest have no legal right to expect anyone to repay it. If your Mum had savings or money in the bank that was hers, or a stake in any property then that would need to used to repay the debt once the property in question is sold.

If you contact Natwest they should write off the debt if there was no money at the time your Mum died. It is not uncommon though for banks etc to try and say you have to pay it, even if there is no money in the estate. You are not liable for it though.

g6jns_2

Markharrall wrote: »

Hi all,

I hope someone could offer me a bit of advise. Last year my Mum was taken into hospital for several months.. At this time, my Dad was at home trying to keep on top of things, but decided that as my Mum had always dealt with the bills etc she would have to open the post when she got out. Unfortunately she passed away on Christmas eve. On visiting the house I saw several "red letters" addressed to my Mum and Dad and said to Dad that he would have to look at them. It turns out that Nat West had decided to give my mum (a pensioner) a 10k limit on a credit card which she had maxed out. This had been being paid by cheque so we had no idea when we were looking at the finances initially. My Dad (also a pensioner) was devastated. My Father went down hill and passed away a couple of months ago. We are now dealing with the estate, and I am thinking of contacting NatWest to see if they will consider a reduction of the debt as I feel it was lent recklessly as they knew their circumstances (it was their bank). Has anyone any experience of this kind of thing? They also had a sofa that they still owe £1000 on, but thats another story! Any advice really gratefully received. Mark

Condolences on your loss Are you dealing with one or both estates? Did either of them leave a will? Your father had no liability for your mother's debts. What you need to be careful of is if one or both of the estates are insolvent it is better not to try and administer them.

Markharrall

Thanks for the feedback.

I apologise if I gave the impression that pensioners cannot afford new furniture or credit cards. All I meant was that they were both on a fixed income and ended up (from what I can tell) having to use the credit card to pay for some usual household expenses so that there was enough money in the account to service the debt. As the limit was reached, it was extended although there was no increased income into the house. As I am sure you can imagine it only compounded the issue in the long term.

The credit card was taken out on my mother and Fathers joint account, so as a signatory to the account, as I understand it, he was still liable for the amount. I understand that the bank may well be within their rights to have the debt repaid from the estate (there should be enough to cover it from the sale of the house etc) but I will see what they say. They did leave a will so probate etc. should be pretty straight forward.

Thanks again for the advice. I think I will contact the bank and see what their take on the situation is.

Mark

Tixy

Your father would not be responsible for the debts originally.
A credit card is always in a sole name only, regardless of what account the payments came out of.

But on your Mother's death then her estate became liable to repay the debt.
So as you mention beacuse there is a house then this debt will be due for payment from your mother's estate if there are sufficient funds after settling priority debts.
If Mother's estate did not have sufficient funds then liability would not transfer to Father's estate.

lisyloo

Sympathies for your situation.
I'm not clear on though why you appear to be saying your parents are not responsible for this. You mum agreed to the contract, spent the money (not on impulse but over a long period of time) AND allowed it to be increased.
I'm sorry for your loss, but they are responsible for the money they borrowed.

By all means try a complaint.
You might get sympathy or they might shy away from bad publicity, but the bottom line is your mums estate should pay her debts.

Good luck

DalePie

dazza.mk wrote: »

Unless your Mum was in some way incapable of making decisions how did they lend recklessly?

More important thing to look at would be the estate, your Dad was not responsible for the bill as it was (legally) your Mum's debt. So was there sufficient money to pay for the bill? Any money that may have been in your Dad's estate would be a completely separate issue.

This ^^

Don't enter any agreement for your fathers estate to pay your mothers debt and for gods sake don't enter one to pay it back yourself!

Once Natwest pass this over to a DCA that's what they'll try to get you to do. Away from all the grumpy old men who frequent MSE telling you all about "responsibility" the truth is the debt was in your mothers name, no one else's.

Settle the debt out of your mothers estate, if the money doesn't go far enough then it's tough luck as far as the bank goes. DCA / Banks are pretty unscrupulous when it comes to debt collection, they'll tell you anything to claw the money back! Don't let them push you into paying money that's not your problem.

Sorry for what you're going through at the moment. It must be awful having both parents go so quickly after each other and dealing with the debts too. At-least you know where you stand now, if the bank starts to push you for extra payments feel confident giving them the push off and report them if they start using dodgy tactics to harass you.

antrobus

DalePie wrote: »

...Don't enter any agreement for your fathers estate to pay your mothers debt and for gods sake don't enter one to pay it back yourself! ....

On the other hand

Markharrall wrote: »

....The credit card was taken out on my mother and Fathers joint account, so as a signatory to the account, as I understand it, he was still liable for the amount. I understand that the bank may well be within their rights to have the debt repaid from the estate (there should be enough to cover it from the sale of the house etc) ....

DalePie wrote: »

....Once Natwest pass this over to a DCA that's what they'll try to get you to do. ...

Why would Natwest pass this over to a DCA? If the debt is due from the estate, and the estate is not insolvent, they will just sue the executor if they fail to pay.

dazza.mk

Markharrall wrote: »

The credit card was taken out on my mother and Fathers joint account, so as a signatory to the account, as I understand it, he was still liable for the amount. I understand that the bank may well be within their rights to have the debt repaid from the estate (there should be enough to cover it from the sale of the house etc) but I will see what they say.

Credit card and current account are two totally separate products, just because the credit card may have been paid from the joint current account does not show any liability for the debt, if the credit card was in your Mum's name then the debt was hers and hers alone (even if your Dad had an additional card) as others have said Debt Collectors etc can TRY and get you to pay the debt (from either your Dad's estate or personally) but there is no legal liability for the debt.