Cleaning up for parents. Loans + SOA Calculator

kylos

Yeah I saw a nice deal with Scottishpower last night, which covered boiler repairs, annual servicing etc; but there's a lot of negativity towards them if you look around. Also noticed boilers don't actually cost that much these days, they used to cost thousands but it seems they have become much cheaper?

What I meant by covering the boiler, is that British Gas has a policy that if the boiler was to blow up even though they've been servicing it annually, they would replace the boiler completely. Maybe there's some other terminology in there in the details I misunderstood or overlooked.. but that's something my Mother has always wanted. She's always liked to know that the boiler is well covered and there's good customer service, but in this day and age it's probably asking too much. If the new Home Emergency cover is covering all the heating, drains, pipes (etc), then there's really no need to have British Gas Homecare 400; which is their most expensive option at £38 per month.

Edit: This was a response to a deleted post after my previous

enthusiasticsaver

Homecare is just insurance. We have emergency savings to cover our boiler if it needs replacing and we get it serviced by a local plumber. Saved us a fortune and it is still going strong after 15 years.

I find it somewhat ironic your parents seem to be insured up to the hilt and not made any attempt to save on premiums etc but at the same time they have not made a plan to cover their most expensive asset, their house by not keeping on top of the mortgage.

Well done on getting rid of the sky protect and paying off the credit card.

kylos

Yeah lol, this is why I am here. Their priorities are a bit skewed. How much would a local plumber cost on average? Much of this has happened due to a sheer lack of communication. They had a couple of bad arguments in the past which basically encouraged my Mother not to talk to my Father about anything related to the bills. She did her part, he did his, but neither would come together and work as a team. Considering they've been together about 40 years, you'd think they would be able to work things like this out together. But nope, it's just how the relationship is.


Also I'm not sure how they can save anything towards an emergency fund at the moment. Maybe in the future when things have been paid off? But at the moment it's a bit of risk. I guess my Mother could put the money she would have put in to the British Gas homecare in to an emergency fund instead? But then you're relying on the fact the boiler won't break down for at least two years (if she was to put in £40 a month)

badmemory

I pay a local plumber only £75 for a service. Because he is local to me he does the service either before or after he does a bigger job. So look for one that maybe their neighbours use & are happy with. Interestingly enough a "local plumber" seems more capable of gettting parts for a boiler over 2 years old than the British Gas type ones are.


I suspect that the SOA is not accurate. The household income should be what the parents earn plus whatever the other adults contribute to the household. Whilst we would all like to house our adult children for free, for many of us that cannot be realistic. Once they are earning properly in these circumstances they will need to be contributing to all bills excluding mortgage. So that is food, utilities, insurances etc.


Just wonderiing if you are the "child" that is living away from home. If so you need to get your siblings involved, making assumptions here, that they are the 2 other adults.


To be honest I think you are going to be in for a daily battle, you have 4 people living in denial. Unless you can convince at least 2 & much better 3 that now is the time for action, you will lose the battle.


Do not under any circumstances accept any responsibility for any of the debt, do not agree to being a guarantor for any loans. You will lose your money & your family & incrediblily they will blame you because they didn't make the repayments they should!

kylos

Don't worry, I guarantee I won't become a guarantor for any of their loans. As for the other adults in the house, they were pretty much in the dark about what was going on financially, and my Father was too proud to come forward and admit he'd lost control.

The other adults in the house know what's going on and are very receptive to providing more towards bills to help clear some of this debt. After all, it's in their best interests for the future as well, to invest so to speak. For too long they weren't paying enough, but had they started paying more earlier, a lot of that would've been swallowed up by all the interest my Father had piled on himself.

With the awesome advice from you guys, the healing process has started and they've already cut back on many, many things. The next step would be to negotiate with Chelsea and just pray they will allow an extension on the mortgage (if it's needed, we still need to figure all that). My Father was in denial, while the others simply had no idea what was happening. So it's all good guys It's an upward trend I think. Some interesting months ahead as they try to cut back even more.