Mothers Debt

letmeinplease

Hi I was wondering if anyone could offer me some advice on debt that my mother has run up over the past few years. The situation is

she is 70 and retired on about £400 a month
lives in a council house (rent paid by council)
has 2 credit cards with about £7000 on each £14k debt total one card around 18% interest another 27%
has been bankrupt before (a number of years ago)

As you can guess she is terible with her money. I have advised her to apply for the credit cards with 6.9% balance transfers for the life of the transfer, then to go for the 2010 pay off by credit cards, I am also getting her to go through all her statements for late payment charges (im sure there are many of them)

She is pround and doesn't want to declare herself bankrupt again,

My questions are:-

Should she claim the credit card charges for late payments first then move to a 6.9% or other credit card (if she can get one) or does it not really matter?

Should she ask to go on some kind of payment plan?

Can you call the credit card company and say I can't afford the payments and ask them to halve the debt ;0)

are there other options?

any help would be greatly appreciated as she cxan't even afford the interest at the minute and is getting no where.... Oh and I can't pay it either, just out of priciple!!!!, ive told her 100 times!

Help

NekoZombie

I personally think she should go BR again, especially if she has no savings and doesn't own a property. I can't see how she can feasibly pay it off, especially at her age and with such a low income. Sorry - I know my view won't be popular.

Richard_S

I'll combine ts_aly and Neko's Posts,

I think she should run up as much debt as she possibly can and then declare bankruptcy.

More seriously the following is standard advice:

Your first port of call should be to contact one of the Debt Charities; see links below. Their services are free; they have no vested interest to serve; their advisors are professionally trained and the advice they give will be objective and in your best interests only. CCCS operate a system of telephone appointments that are designed to be flexible and don’t require you to attend an office based interview. At the CAB you will need to make an appointment with a specialist Financial Advisor; other advisors may not have the specialist knowledge you’ll need.

http://www.cccs.co.uk/

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index.htm

If you’re advised that bankruptcy is the most suitable solution to your financial problems then we can offer the best support and anecdotal advice that you’ll find anywhere on the Web.

For more specific advice and support, in an environment that is managed by people with first hand experience of bankruptcy, and moderated to ensure that no deliberately inflammatory or abusive posts are made then please visit:

http://bankruptcysupportersclub.co.uk/default.aspx

Just remember, as desperate as you may feel at the moment, we have all experienced what you are going through at the moment and with the right support and advice things will improve. It’s not an easy route to take but it is a route that will put you back in control of your life rather than just reacting to events.

This is a pro forma response but it's an essential starting point.

Any other questions please post again,

Kind regards

Richard

backontheup

NekoZombie wrote: »

I personally think she should go BR again, especially if she has no savings and doesn't own a property. I can't see how she can feasibly pay it off, especially at her age and with such a low income. Sorry - I know my view won't be popular.

Agree totally. She is never going to pay this debt off.

letmeinplease

:j
Thanks for all your advice...i will feed back your help to her

One question i have however, she does have some valuable belongings. For example rings, necklaces and ornaments etc. Could these be repossesed by the credit card companies?

Thanks for any help

fiveyearplan

How would they know she had them?

backontheup

letmeinplease wrote: »

:j
Thanks for all your advice...i will feed back your help to her

One question i have however, she does have some valuable belongings. For example rings, necklaces and ornaments etc. Could these be repossesed by the credit card companies?

Thanks for any help

Are their reciepts on her cards for lots of items that cost more than £1000? if not, to reiterate the previous poster - how are they going to know? It is extremely unlikely that they would send anyone round to her home.

Hope it all works out OK - bankruptcy has changed quite a bit since she did it before.

Goodvibes

ts_aly2000 wrote: »

If she doesn't have any assets then my advice would be to run up as much debt as humanly possible and to enjoy herself. Send her on holiday, get her anything she wants.

No, seriously. I'm not joking. It's precisely what we did with a family member who was dying. Absolutely anything they wanted, they had.

Where companies like RBS and HSBC are making £billions in profit at our expense, then why on earth not. Let her have a fantastic time. It's not as if they can do anything about it.

Would the judge look unfavorably on this with the bankruptcy? We still have quite a lot left on my OH's CC's and could use the money to be honest. (Obviously!)

He was worried that he might get put in prison for it though.

Any help would be appreciated!

GV

Richard_S

Goodvibes wrote: »

Would the judge look unfavorably on this with the bankruptcy? We still have quite a lot left on my OH's CC's and could use the money to be honest. (Obviously!)

He was worried that he might get put in prison for it though.

Any help would be appreciated!

GV

Hi GV,

Ironically, it's not the judge who judges, or is that a paradox not an irony ; it's the O.R who judges.

There's no question of a prison sentence though; it's not a criminal act. We paid for a holiday just before and just after our bankruptcy and it was queried but never caused a problem.

If you need to spend money on essential items as opposed to luxuries then who can criticise you for that?

Richard

Goodvibes

Richard_S wrote: »

Hi GV,

Ironically, it's not the judge who judges, or is that a paradox not an irony ; it's the O.R who judges.

There's no question of a prison sentence though; it's not a criminal act. We paid for a holiday just before and just after our bankruptcy and it was queried but never caused a problem.

If you need to spend money on essential items as opposed to luxuries then who can criticise you for that?

Richard

Thanks Richard!!!:kisses3:

You've made my day! My kids have all grown out of their coats and shoes - I can go out tomorrow and get something to clothe them!

GV

Richard_S

Thanks ts_aly,

You said what I was thinking.

I was just too daft with my user name to say anything too controversial. I always get the feeling that our O.R is "breathing down my neck" reading everyting I post, waiting for me to admit to a priceless art collection.:rolleyes: :rolleyes: