Advice after father passed away

jellybean08

Good morning,

My dad passed away last week and I was hoping for some advice re their credit cards.

My parents had two credit cards, both in my mums name and totalling about 4 thousand pounds.

She will not be able to afford the repayments as she will likely only be on JSA or another benefit once we have sorted these for her.

Is there any advice on what we should do to help her? Is there any chance the credit card companies would reduce the debt or can we approach any charities for support?

Many thanks.

[Deleted User]

She should approach the lenders. They may agree to an arrangement to pay, or reduced interest, particularly given the circumstances.

Alternatively speak to someone like Stepchange. I'd certainly advise her to talk to the lenders or charities rather than just stop paying, as that will likely add more stress to her life at an already difficult time.

cheesetoast

Firstly, sorry for your loss.

Your mum should first consider consolidating the two cards onto one - this would mean one minimum payment instead of two. Easiest way is to balance transfer from one to the other.

Even better, try to get the debt onto a 0% (or cheaper rate) deal. First, ask the two card companies if they have balance transfer offers available on her account. If one does, and there's enough spare capacity to take both balances, do that. (If the limit isn't quite enough, ask to raise it).

If that's a no-go, look at taking out a third card, and hope for a big enough limit to take both other debts on.

Did your dad's estate have any money that could be used to pay off the cards?

Finally, it might be worth posting a full SOA on the Debt Free Wannabe board - the guys over there are great at this kind of thing.