Money Problems

X-man

OK here goes.......

My father passed away recently, leaving my mum widowed. He was the one who dealt with all their finances and I now have the task of sorting them out.

My father had cancer and in the last month of his life, in his confused state of mind, took out a loan to pay off his credit card debts in what I can only assume, was an effort to hide them from mum.(They were covered by PPI, which meant they would have been paid off in the event of his death). My mum was distressed at the time and jointly signed the agreement not fully understanding what she was signing for. She is now left faced with the repayment of this loan. Unfortunately, there was no payment protection insurance on the loan. In an effort by my father to cover the loan repayments in the event of his death, he attempted to take out insurance afterwards, not realising that he would actually be taking out a second loan for the same amount. Fortunately, or unfortunately, this second loan agreement was incorrectly signed, so the money for the second loan was never transferred.

Whilst sorting through his finances, I found that he had no life insurance policy and had re-mortgaged the house on at least on ocassion, which now leaves my mum with a mortgage to pay for a further eight years. She is a pensioner and can ill afford the motgage repayments never mind the loan repayment as well.

Between us, after re-arranging all her finances, I am sure we can find a way to pay the mortgage so she doesn't have to sell the house but the loan is an extra burden which was unforseen. The terms and conditions of the loan quite clearly state that in the event of death the joint signatory will be responsible for repayment of the loan. Considering that the loan is less than two months old, what are my options?

Thanks for any advice.

jonesMUFCforever

Sorry for your bereavement.
I have only bad news I'm afraid.
She signed for a joint loan and that is what she has.

The only thing I can suggest is that you ask the bank to lengthen the term of the loan to reduce the repayments (interest paid of course will increase over the years).

Just one thing to consider - does he/did he have any work related pension provision?
Sometimes work will pay a lump sum equivalent of up to 2 years salary if he had only recently retired.