Loan for 83 year old

Shelley_08

My father in law recently passed away and we found out that he was talked into taking out a loan for a Kirby vacuum cleaner for £2500 three years ago. We have since found out that these cleaners go for approximately £1500 so he paid well over the odds for this. He still owes over £800 on this loan. What can we legally do about this company as he could not afford the repayments on this loan, and do we have to pay off the remainder of the loan?

[Deleted User]

The balance will be paid from his estate, assuming there are sufficient funds. You don't need to pay it yourself.

What wrongdoing are you alleging against the company?

foxy-stoat

If there is money left over in the Estate then you have to pay that - it matters not that the interest on the loan made the vacuum £1000 more expensive - just look at some eye watering interest rates for car finance.

bengalknights

You could sell the vacuum which would add funds to estate to help clear any debts.

foxy-stoat

If you are the executors of the Estate then you SHOULD sell all possessions to clear remaining debts....unless this was bought for a business - they are industrial kit so no idea why the average Joe 6 Pack will want a vacuum cleaner that costs more than a small car.

breaking_free

I once knew a Kirby sales person. My understanding from him was that they sold them for as much as they could get - there wasn't a set price. If a customer baulked at the £2,500 price tag the sales person would drop the price to get the sale.

Shelley_08

we are concerned that an 83 year old was allowed a loan even though he did not have the funds to pay it back.

fwor

Shelley_08 wrote: »

we are concerned that an 83 year old was allowed a loan even though he did not have the funds to pay it back.

The problem here is that you seem to be suggesting that an 83 year old should be treated some other way than, say, a 43 year old.

If he told them that he was capable of repaying the money then they don't seem to have done anything wrong.

Of course if you have proof that he was coerced into buying something that he did not want or could not afford then it would be a different matter, but quoting his age alone should not be enough.

When I get to 83 I certainly won't want anyone telling me what I can and can't buy purely on the basis of how old I am!

As others have said - the debt should get paid out of his estate, and if there isn't £800 left in the estate after other higher priority claims on it, the £800 won't get repaid.

LadyDee

Shelley_08 wrote: »

My father in law recently passed away and we found out that he was talked into taking out a loan for a Kirby vacuum cleaner for £2500 three years ago. We have since found out that these cleaners go for approximately £1500 so he paid well over the odds for this. He still owes over £800 on this loan. What can we legally do about this company as he could not afford the repayments on this loan, and do we have to pay off the remainder of the loan?

Send the company a copy of the Death Certificate and tell them the loan will be paid from remaining assets (if any) after Probate, and settlement of any funeral expenses and taxes. You are not legally or morally responsible for his debts (unless you were a guarantor for the loan of course).

Any company that allows its salesmen to sell a heavy-duty industrial vacuum cleaner to an 83 year-old deserves all the bad press it gets in my opinion. Just how much vacuuming can an 83 year-old need to do? Indeed, there are very few individuals of any age who need one of these machines.

amblonia

I understand about the possible legal implication, but if it were me I would ensure to the best of my ability that the company receives no further payment for said machine.
Communicate by all means with them, but point out to them that the passing of your dear father-in-law is a much greater loss to you and the family, than a lousy £800 to the company. If the company has any feeling and for that matter business common sense, they would write-off the debt rather than bad publicity.