Paying for a funeral, they want the money up-front!

lurkylurky

It might be worth speaking to your Mum's bank. Take your credit card bill/proof of payment and the invoice from the FD.

BobQ

Mojisola wrote: »

Why are you planning to pay for the funeral with your credit card?

If the FD sends the invoice to the bank, the bank will pay it directly to the FD out of your mother's accounts.

OP, Mojisola is right. Do not use your card. Tell the FD to provide an invoice and either ask the bank to settle it or tell them that you will be sending it to the bank for them to settle.

All the bank will need is the death certificate and the invoice. Probate may not be necessary in any case, but even if it were bank will settle the bill if you ask them and there are funds to pay for it.

BobQ

lurkylurky wrote: »

It might be worth speaking to your Mum's bank. Take your credit card bill/proof of payment and the invoice from the FD.

Unless the OP has actually paid for it from a credit card there is no need to do this. OP needs to give the bank the invoice. It should have nothing to do with her credit card.

Ardlife

I will contact FD tomorrow, but having to use cc as I do not have access to nearly £3000 cash, and the t&cs on estimate and in BOLD type on the "Confirmation of funeral arrangements" letter states "Please note that this account must be paid before close of business the last working day prior to the funeral service".
There is a portion about using a solicitor and if so the invoice is payable in full within 30 days if not then admin fee of £100 shall become due and payable immediately, in addition interest shall be payable at the rate of 8% per annum.
They are a locally well known company, been around 30 yrs, so not some fly-by-night.
Writing it all down helps see things clearly, thanks for all your replies.

G6JNS

Ardlife wrote: »

I will contact FD tomorrow, but having to use cc as I do not have access to nearly £3000 cash, and the t&cs on estimate and in BOLD type on the "Confirmation of funeral arrangements" letter states "Please note that this account must be paid before close of business the last working day prior to the funeral service".
There is a portion about using a solicitor and if so the invoice is payable in full within 30 days if not then admin fee of £100 shall become due and payable immediately, in addition interest shall be payable at the rate of 8% per annum.
They are a locally well known company, been around 30 yrs, so not some fly-by-night.
Writing it all down helps see things clearly, thanks for all your replies.

They sound like rip off merchants to me.

lurkylurky

Apologies, I misread the OP and thought the bill had already been paid.

I would take the invoice to the bank where you have the ATM card. The funeral debt trumps all other debts so I'm sure they would release the money to the FD.

BobQ

Ardlife wrote: »

I will contact FD tomorrow, but having to use cc as I do not have access to nearly £3000 cash, and the t&cs on estimate and in BOLD type on the "Confirmation of funeral arrangements" letter states "Please note that this account must be paid before close of business the last working day prior to the funeral service".
There is a portion about using a solicitor and if so the invoice is payable in full within 30 days if not then admin fee of £100 shall become due and payable immediately, in addition interest shall be payable at the rate of 8% per annum.
They are a locally well known company, been around 30 yrs, so not some fly-by-night.
Writing it all down helps see things clearly, thanks for all your replies.

OP,

They are just bouncing you into this at a time of grief. They are concerned they get paid, if they know the payment will be made by a solicitor or a bank they will not force the issue. Just tell them you have not got the money, but the estate does.

FDs often have to wait for Probate.

They are probably members of a trade association.
http://www.saif.org.uk/membership/code-of-practice/

I would tell them that if they do not accept payment by the bank you will complain to whatever body they purport to belong to. I doubt that they will push it to the point of cancelling the funeral but if they threaten this I would do the cc thing and tell them you will be writing to the local press and any trade association about their conduct.

specialboy

I've arranged 3 funerals all with the coop one they never once asked for cash up front, they actually waited 4-6 weeks before sending out the final invoices and allowed one of the funerals to be paid for weekly with no set minimum payment.

Keep_pedalling

When I arranged my FIL and step father's funerals with a local company there was never any question of paying up front, which is the sort of thing I would expect from a cowboy builder.

bongonaut

It sounds like the FD in question is a long established and well-known business. Therefore I think it's extremely unlikely that they are untrustworthy in any way.

Even if they trade under their original name, they may be owned by a larger conglomerate business, and it is becoming fairly common practice for some of these big organisations to ask for payment in advance, especially if something has been said to them about delays or concerns regarding payment.

It's now much more common for funeral directors to ask for payment of third-party fees (often referred to as disbursements) in advance. Even for a straightforward cremation funeral, these fees can easily amount to over £1000.

The funeral business is perhaps unusual in that it is often possible to obtain goods & services worth thousands of pounds with few (if any) background/credit checks, and sometimes not even a signature.