Sofa Debt

calmity72

Hi All

This is a complex forum and finding an answer to my question wasnt easy. Apologies, if this questions is covered somewhere else.

A good friend of our died of breast cancer and her mum and brother have been left to sort her estate. Effectively, she has enough money to pay for her funeral arrangements and with a couple of hundred of pounds left over... but by the time the family pay for removal firms etc im sure it will have gone. Her mum was left with everything in her will.

She only had one debt - for a sofa - and the family have asked us to try and sell some of her furniture to pay off the remaining sofa debt which currently stands at £500. Its one of those sofas from the companies on the TV that have a constant sale and selling it wont cover the debt. There are a few other pieces of furniture which if we manage to sell them all, we might be able to reach £500.

We are more than happy to help sell the items. I have learned from these forums tonight that debt doesnt die with you - which was always my assumption. However, is there an value/rule of thumb/ process that I can advise her mum and brother to try to take the stress out of the importance of raising the money from the sale of pieces of furniture - seems like a kick in the teeth to loose your daughter and then have to depend on the sale of her furniture to clear a small debt, but i appreciate that life isnt always fair.

Any recommendations, advice really appreciated. We are in Scotland in the event that the law differs across the country.

Thanks

dzug1

Check if there was any insurance in the sofa loan which might pay it off.


Ultimately if there is no money in the estate then the sofa firm can't have anything apart from possibly its sofa back. Your mum cannot be responsible for anything beyond that

Mojisola

calmity72 wrote: »

I have learned from these forums tonight that debt doesnt die with you

If the person who has died doesn't leave enough money to cover the debt, then it does die with them.

worried_jim

The debt is nothing to do with the sofa firm. The debt is with the finance company and it makes no difference if was used to purchase, a car, holiday cooker etc. The executor of the estate just needs to contact the company and inform them of the death. The debt is not passed onto anyone else it is the business of the estate. You can do what you like with the sofa, the finance company don't do repo furniture, what would they do with a second hand suite?

g6jns_2

worried_jim wrote: »

The debt is nothing to do with the sofa firm. The debt is with the finance company and it makes no difference if was used to purchase, a car, holiday cooker etc. The executor of the estate just needs to contact the company and inform them of the death. The debt is not passed onto anyone else it is the business of the estate. You can do what you like with the sofa, the finance company don't do repo furniture, what would they do with a second hand suite?

How do you know what form of finance there is? It could be HP in which case the sofa still belongs to the finance company.

worried_jim

g6jns wrote: »

How do you know what form of finance there is? It could be HP in which case the sofa still belongs to the finance company.

Because I used to work in the industry and I know the business model, they don't do hp. It is a simple finance agreement and the furniture company gets paid in full the day your furniture is delivered into your home and the debt is between the customer and the bank which is usually one of three companies-

G.E. (most likely)
Hitachi
Paragon

If the OP had said they purchased from a small family business then it could have been a different matter but they said high st chain always advertising on on tv and there are only two DFS (constant sale- again, I know the business model) and Harveys.

Tigsteroonie

Harveys were using Ikano Bank for finance 2 years ago - their c/s was very good.

theoretica

Mojisola wrote: »

If the person who has died doesn't leave enough money to cover the debt, then it does die with them.

It isn't just liquid money which count - goods do too. Spending the contents of the bank account just before death on diamond tiaras would not make any debts die. But scrabbling around for £500 for a sofa is the sort of level I would hope to be written off as a goodwill gesture - ask them!

Have they thought about a house clearance company which will auction anything saleable? This sort of thing (not a recommendation as I have never used them):
http://www.mctears.co.uk/services/house-clearances.aspx

Mojisola

theoretica wrote: »

It isn't just liquid money which count - goods do too.

Yes, I should have said "estate" rather than just money.