How do I pay my fathers credit card

curiosity101

I phoned them again last night and asked them to put a note on the account explaining the current situation. She explained (like someone mentioned above) that they will send a letter once the payment is overdue . I'm hoping that when that arrived it will just be a matter of calling them again, getting any charges / marks on a credit file reversed and then we can pay it.

Thanks for all your help and kind words.

And I do see your point david39 - this isn't something I'd ever considered before (I do all of my transactions online, banking, utilities, phone etc). I'm definitely going to look into making sure others have access in the future, you never know what could happen.

Nasqueron

If I rang the credit card number on the back of the card and input the details it used to give you an option to hear the current balance - I can't remember if you needed to enter a security check before that though such as entering the xyz digits of a PIN.

Unless your father has amassed huge debts that you are unaware of (and previous statements should give you an idea) then go through the statements, see what his average minimum was and pay that plus say £50 - worst case he goes into credit - better than a late payment + a fee

Hope he gets better

macman

Assuming you have access to his email account and can guess the username, I'd try a password reset. Worst that can happen is you are locked out-which you are already.

Tiny_Tina

curiosity101 wrote: »

Hello all,

My father is currently unwell, he's been in a medically induced coma for a number of weeks now and we've received a text from his bank to say his credit card payment is due.

I phoned them last night and they weren't particularly helpful. In short they said that without a statement (and therefore knowing the current balance and minimum payment) I couldn't do anything (without power of attorney). He does all of his banking online so I don't have access to anything except his credit card.

Are they right? If anyone else has been in this situation what did you do?

First of all, I wish to say I am so sorry to hear of your dad's situation, and to let you know I will be praying for him every day in the hope he makes a speedy recovery. :A

I'm a little surprised and worried that you have not been put in contact with patient support who, amongst other things, would be able to advise you on this type of thing.

However in simple terms, yes the credit card were correct in not discussing another persons account with you without appropriate authority (God forbid, you could actually be making this story up; they don't know), but were incorrect in stating you could not, if that is your wish, credit your dad's credit card account given that you have your dad's credit card.

You could, for example, simply send a FP/BACS payment with the credit card number as the reference.
You can normally find the credit card's own bank details on their website, but otherwise if you let us know the credit card company, I'm sure someone could advise you.

In regards to the credit card account itself, and I guess many other ongoing liabilities your dad has, you do need appropriate authority (power of attorney) for the business to discuss someone else's account with you.
Presumably your dad has not given power of attorney to you (or anyone else) and obviously cannot currently do so. So you would need to ask a court to appoint a guardian (with power of attoney) to take care of his affairs during this difficult time.

God bless, and my thoughts are with your dear dad. :A

Tiny_Tina

curiosity101 wrote: »

I phoned them again last night and asked them to put a note on the account explaining the current situation. She explained (like someone mentioned above) that they will send a letter once the payment is overdue . I'm hoping that when that arrived it will just be a matter of calling them again, getting any charges / marks on a credit file reversed and then we can pay it.

Thanks for all your help and kind words.

And I do see your point david39 - this isn't something I'd ever considered before (I do all of my transactions online, banking, utilities, phone etc). I'm definitely going to look into making sure others have access in the future, you never know what could happen.

Unfortunately, notwithsatnding the current sad situation, if your father's credit agreement is breached, this will probably be reported to the credit reference agencies and any request to later reverse/delete the enties will likely fall on deaf ears as it will represent an accurate way in which he has handled his credit account.

What he could do when he hopefully makes a recovery, would be to contact the credit reference agencies and ask for note(s) to be attached explaining the reason for any adverse entries.

chattychappy

david39 wrote: »

It is another reason why we should put in place a direct debit to pay at least the minimum payment to the credit card account. That is, always assuming that the main account has regular income to support it.

All very well if indeed the income continues. But if there is a break there, you simply end up with double charges - missed payments and failed DDs.

I think better to make some other kind of provision (eg a trusted person that knows logins), or simply allow things to take their course. Afterall, it is quite a rare event.