Options for dealing with debts

Shezz

Hi bit of backgound info

My MIL is in dept, my father in law died suddenly 5 years ago, and although he said he had insurance we found out that the insurance he took out was for accidental death, hence they refused to pay out,

As they had loans in both names at the time of death, it was passed over to my MIL to pay off, however she has been really struggling to pay it.

She was conned out of her home (but that's a completely different story) and now has to rent,

she is only on a pension and has been going through a money dept agency to pay the depts off, the agency of course is taking money from her for this service out of the money they calculate each year that they say she could afford. She is sick with worry all the time about this,

Question

I think the only way to get her out of this is to make her go bankrupt, of course I will pay for this as no way has my MIL got the money to do so, she wont need to get anymore loans or anything, she is 75 and of course if she does need anything we will do what we can, I must stress that she did not tell us about these loans when he died, and only come clean about them a little while ago as I questioned her as I knew something was wrong.

Is bankruptcy the best way to go to help her or is there any other way we can get rid of this dept.

sourcrates

Hi,


She should not be using a fee charging debt management comapany when she could be using a free debt charity ?

She needs to stop using this company straight away as they are just fleesing her, she could pay her creditors herself for nothing, these companies just take advantage of vunerable people.

We need to see an SOA for her, then we can recomend options, available here :


http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php


how much debt is owed, and to whom ?


If you dont mind, i`ll move this post to the debt free wannabe forum, where it will be seen more.

fatbelly

Sourcrates - she was conned out of her home and rents now.

Definitely ditch the debt management company

Definitely worth looking at insolvency. How much debt does she have in total?

elsien

Is it just the state pension? Has she had a benefits check to see if she's entitled to anything else that she's not claiming at present?

Shezz

Have been looking for this thread for ages, though I posted it elsewhere, thankyou of your replies,
I'm gutted how much she has been taken for a ride since her husband died.

she is on a state pension but she also gets income support for rent which literally just takes her just over the tax threshold by about a hundred pound, so has to pay tax.

Having lost her home to some unscrupulous people, not being able to get legal aid to fight her case, not being able to afford to take them to court herself, she lost around 45000.00 good old UK how they look after their own pensioners, what a joke

Anyway, I think I will see about her going insolvent, she owes around total 6000.00 ish, this may not seem a lot to you and me, but to her it is a devastating amount. and

Thank you for your replys

TripleH

That amount sounds like a DRO maybe?

Shezz

TripleH wrote: »

That amount sounds like a DRO maybe?

Hi sorry what's a DRO (Debt recovery organisation) is it

Minkym00

A DRO is a debt relief order. Similar to bankruptcy but designed for people with debts less than £20,000. It’s a lot cheaper too.

See here https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/debt-solutions/debt-relief-orders/

fatbelly

fatbelly wrote: »

How much debt does she have in total?

Shezz wrote: »

Anyway, I think I will see about her going insolvent, she owes around total 6000.00 ish, this may not seem a lot to you and me, but to her it is a devastating amount.

TripleH wrote: »

That amount sounds like a DRO maybe?

Minky beat me to the reply. Yes, as long as she meets the following criteria and she lives in England or Wales there is a cut-down form of bankruptcy called a DRO available to her:

Basic Criteria for a debt relief order :

•Must not be a homeowner,

• Debts less than £20,000,

• Can have a car worth up to £1000,

• No other assets of more than £1000,

• Must have £50 or less left at month end, after all essential payments have been made (not inc debt repayments),

• Cannot have had a DRO in last 6 years.

Citizens advice and stepchange do most of them

Shezz

Hi all

I was going to go down the route of making her Bankrupt, but am now going to be looking into DRO as advised.

So thank you for advice