Help for my parents

CreditCardJunkie

Hi, 
I'm hoping the wise folks on here can give some good advice. Over 15 years ago my parents took out an unsecured 15k loan from Paragon. At that time they were in a substantial amount of debt in lots of unsecured debt. 
When everything came to a head they remortgaged their house to pay off all the debts. Paragon wouldn't let them settle this debt, something to do with the small print. My parents decided from then on to make token payments of £10 per month. The debt was sold on to capquest and they have been paying the token payments for 15 years and the debt is still 21k. 
My parents own their home and both suffer from ill health, they are concerned that if they passed away this debt would be taken from their estate - is this the case? Or can anything be done? 

Thanks for reading. 

Matt8888

This is money that they owe. Why should it not be taken from their estate?

sourcrates

The clue is in the words "unsecured", should any money be left in their estate after all essential bills have been paid, then Capquest may get what is left.

Anyway, lets see if we can help your folks out a bit whilst there still aound shall we.

They should try to level the playing field somewhat, get them to make a request under section 77/79 consumer credit act, for a copy of their original credit agreement, the creditor is oblighed to supply it, otherwise they lose their rights to enforce this account through the courts, after 15 odd years, it may be difficult for them to comply.

This would help your folks in two ways, first, the account will be put on hold whilst this is actioned, however long that may be.

Second, if they can`t provide the correct legal paperwork, then they can just stop paying and walk away should they wish to, or, they can use that to their advantage to settle the debt once and for all very cheap.

Information and template letter here :

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/sampleletters/Pages/Information-about-your-agreement-under-the-Consumer-Credit-Act-(sole-name).aspx

CreditCardJunkie

Matt8888 said:

This is money that they owe. Why should it not be taken from their estate?

If that's your take why should people get debts written off after 6 years if they don't pay at all? They wanted to settle the debt at the time for what was owed and the company wouldn't let them. 
For every £150 they were paying, £70 was interest. 

CreditCardJunkie

sourcrates said:

The clue is in the words "unsecured", should any money be left in their estate after all essential bills have been paid, then Capquest may get what is left.

Anyway, lets see if we can help your folks out a bit whilst there still aound shall we.

They should try to level the playing field somewhat, get them to make a request under section 77/79 consumer credit act, for a copy of their original credit agreement, the creditor is oblighed to supply it, otherwise they lose their rights to enforce this account through the courts, after 15 odd years, it may be difficult for them to comply.

This would help your folks in two ways, first, the account will be put on hold whilst this is actioned, however long that may be.

Second, if they can`t provide the correct legal paperwork, then they can just stop paying and walk away should they wish to, or, they can use that to their advantage to settle the debt once and for all very cheap.

Information and template letter here :

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/sampleletters/Pages/Information-about-your-agreement-under-the-Consumer-Credit-Act-(sole-name).aspx

Thank you so much, really appreciate your help. 

John_

CreditCardJunkie said:

Matt8888 said:

This is money that they owe. Why should it not be taken from their estate?

If that's your take why should people get debts written off after 6 years if they don't pay at all? They wanted to settle the debt at the time for what was owed and the company wouldn't let them. 
For every £150 they were paying, £70 was interest. 

They shouldn’t, it’s an anachronistic law that ought to be done away with.

Taking it from their estate seems like a fair outcome, it means that they never pay it back themselves, and the only ill-effect is someone missing out on some money that they never earned anyway.

sharpe106

CreditCardJunkie said:

Matt8888 said:

This is money that they owe. Why should it not be taken from their estate?

If that's your take why should people get debts written off after 6 years if they don't pay at all? They wanted to settle the debt at the time for what was owed and the company wouldn't let them. 
For every £150 they were paying, £70 was interest. 

Without knowing what was in the small print we don’t know why the company would not let them settle it. Although it seems rather strange to have that in the small print.

Galloglass

They shouldn’t, it’s an anachronistic law that ought to be done away with.

It's so anachronistic, it is present in almost every developed legislation. 

But the original basis of the law goes back to the Magna Carta and in essence it says that if you think you have a claim, get into court ASAP or lose the right to the debt. 15 years is just taking the ****

It's a good law that has past the test of time.