Brother Died, Provident made my mother pay off a loan

Skivey

The title says it all, it happened 2 years ago when my brother died.

She had the provident guy knocking on her door threatening her with legal action if she didn't pay off my brothers loans. She did this, and the case was closed.

My mother has just told me about this, this morning. She told me that she never realised she wasn't liable for his loans.

Am I right in thinking that this should have been written off?

Who does she go to for help?

Matt

National_Debtline

Hi Skivey


I am sorry to hear of your mother's experience. It must have been very unpleasant at what would already have been a very difficult time.


Assuming that your mother was neither a co-borrower on this debt nor a guarantor for the loan (most unlikely where Provident are concerned), she would not have been liable in any way. Provident could in theory have made a claim on any estate left by your late brother, but normal practice in this kind of situation is that the next of kin notifies the lender of the borrower's death, after which the lender will often agree to simply close the account (especially if the amount involved is relatively small and the deceased has left no significant estate behind).


It sounds here as though your mother dealt with what I would call a rogue agent, and for all we know this person may no longer be employed by Provident. Nonetheless, I would suggest that she makes a formal complaint to Provident about what happened and that she takes it from there. The Financial Ombudsman may be able to assist if she does not receive a satisfactory response:


http://financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm


Dennis
@natdebtline

CakeCrusader

Your poor mum, she must have been incredibly upset already

My father used to get loans from these, and I know that they are written off if their customer dies (I helped my sister sort out his estate), so there's no way they should have asked her to pay the outstanding amount. Dennis has some good advice. I hope your mum manages to get this sorted.

Skivey

thats some brill news. Thank you for your replies. Yes it was a traumatic time as he was only 29.

Ill pass on the info you have provided and will return with the outcome.

Matt

TonyMMM

They aren't written off - the person's estate becomes liable to pay any outstanding debts when someone dies. But if the person leaves nothing , then the debt doesn't get paid.

If he left any cash or other assets, then whoever dealt with his estate should have looked at the debts, once funeral expenses had been paid.

Gaz83

CakeCrusader wrote: »

I know that they are written off if their customer dies (I helped my sister sort out his estate)

Whilst I have every sympathy with the OP, I'm not sure this is true.

I'm pretty sure the debt will fall into the estate of a deceased person, and will need to be settled from the estate (assuming the funds are there to do so).

poppasmurf_bewdley

Gaz83 wrote: »

Whilst I have every sympathy with the OP, I'm not sure this is true.

I'm pretty sure the debt will fall into the estate of a deceased person, and will need to be settled from the estate (assuming the funds are there to do so).

I can't see someone who needed to get a Provident loan will have left an estate of any sort - unless there was a property involved.

MacMickster

National_Debtline wrote: »

It sounds here as though your mother dealt with what I would call a rogue agent, and for all we know this person may no longer be employed by Provident.

It is always possible that a rogue agent simply pocketed the cash from the OP's mum, whilst correctly informing Provident of the client's death, with the loan then correctly written off by the company with no knowledge of the payment made.

I would certainly be making a formal complaint to Provident.

CakeCrusader

I was told (by the Provident agent) that they have insurance to cover deaths, and there certainly wasn't enough in my father's estate to repay the full cost of the loans (he wouldn't have used them otherwise. The agent knew my father was dying and his last loan was given to him two weeks before his death, so they are totally irresponsible lenders IMO). They never asked us to pay it back, and it was used to pay for his funeral.

You need to get in touch with them, Skivey as I don't believe asking for it to be paid back is standard practice.

Skivey

After some research after this post and given my mother the details posted, she contacted the shop where he worked to find out what the loan company was called and it was called http://www.loansathome4u.co.uk

My mother called them up to enquire about their practices and then informed them of the situation. They were actually quite shocked and have so far been quite sympathetic to the whole situation.

My brother had no assets, he had a small council flat and a part time job that kept him going for money, so I guess a couple of id say 'small' loans helped him through. The amount that is in question is about £700 so its not even a small amount.

Just to add, although this isn't relevant, my brother was fostered at a very young age by my parents and was looked after up until his death. I always considered him to be my brother and my parents always considered him to be his son. The liability for his financial debts should in no way have been any responsibility of my mother. Im glad she realised that.

Matt

PeacefulWaters

CakeCrusader wrote: »

The agent knew my father was dying and his last loan was given to him two weeks before his death, so they are totally irresponsible lenders IMO). They never asked us to pay it back, and it was used to pay for his funeral.

The agent did you all a big favour.

Harsh to slag them off in these circumstances.