In-laws in debt - advice needed

baciamiancora

Hi!

Basically, my in-laws are in £70k+ of unsecured debt (some dating back to the eighties!) and my FIL has been burying his head in the sand. As a result, they are defaulting left, right and centre and have a CCJ. He has literally been hiding the paperwork. Neither work - MIL is recently disabled and he cares for her. Husband and I have already been through their spending and slashed what we can - utilities, etc - and sorted benefit entitlements. But they just buy crap on credit cards. My plan is to get them to ring their creditors and ask for nominal payments, and then get them to go to CAP / StepChange. Am I missing anything? FIL struggles with his mental health since MIL’s illness, so even though they haven’t had a LBM yet I don’t think, I feel obliged to shove them as hard as we can.

Grumpelstiltskin

Do they own their own house and have equity or do they rent?

The answer to that will give a starting point.

baciamiancora

Sorry, forgot to say they own their house but I suspect they have remortgaged multiple times, and I know it’s currently interest-only. I need to get a sense of any equity as a next step, I guess.

Willing2Learn

Get them to complete an SOA. Seeing their full financial statement, in all its glory, might give them the motivation they require to amend their spending habits.

D_M_E

Have they tried sending a CCA to each creditor, particularly the older ones?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5983527/old-debt-passed-on&highlight=cca

sourcrates

Any credit agreement dating from the 80`s, especially credit cards, will most likley be unenforcable now, basically because i doubt they would have the nessessary "prescribed terms" to reproduce for you.


Thats what 99% of CCA requests fall down on prior to 2007.


Its a good idea to send to all their creditors (bank accounts are excluded, unless certain terms and dates apply).

enthusiasticsaver

I would say tell them to contact stepchange although sourcrates makes a good point by saying some of the debts may be unenforceable. The house situation is more worrying if they are interest only. When is the mortgage due to finish and how much is outstanding? You also need to know the equity as this will determine whether bankruptcy is the way to go.

Ultimately though this will need to be sorted by them and if they have not had their LBM they may just carry on buying on credit even if you sort out their current debts. Would they be willing to relinquish their credit cards and just use debit cards? Do you or your partner have POA for them as it sounds like you should in view of their health.

baciamiancora

I’m going to push them to look into the enforceability aspect and contact a relevant charity. Not sure how long the mortgage has left to run - need to check this out.

I really would like to get POA because I agree re continuing spending. Not sure how easy this will be.

WhenIam64

but I suspect they have remortgaged multiple times

Not sure how long the mortgage has left to run - need to check this out.

You should be able to get most of this information from the title deeds via the Land Registry as it will show all charges on it. You may not get the information from the mortgage company as there will be data protection issues. LR does not have this issue.

Have a look at some of @eggbox 's posts as he/she has a lot on knowledge in this area.

baciamiancora

So it gets worse. They have a £260k interest-only mortgage that has ~10 years left. Their house is probably worth ~£320k. They haven’t informed their mortgage company of their change of circumstances, either.

...And all my FIL keeps doing is Googling “living on a boat”. My MIL is disabled!

[Deleted User]

or maybe he is googling ' living on a boat' because at some level he knows the house will go.


I know from experience that pensioners are not always savvy with money and also have parents in debt, not to the extent of becoming homeless.


In your shoes the main thing is to sort a plan for the mortgage as there is no getting away from the fact that is urgent. It maybe they have to downsize to clear the loan or go into rented if necessary.


Non secured debts just write to the creditors offering a SOA and a £1. If the money isn't there what can they do.