18 year old nephew in financial difficulty

[Deleted User]

Hey people! Feel like an owl here, mentioned to a family member about this forum, and now I’m being asked to ask another question lol

Okay, so I have an autistic nephew (for reasons he can’t use the forum himself, so I’m doing the asking).

basically, he has set himself up, and is in a serious financial badship, for some unknown reason, he has managed to apply and get 3 mobile phone contracts , all around 8 months old now (so there’s no way of returning these handsets), he done it because he wasn’t happy with the handsets he had, a Samsung s10, then an iPhone 11, then iPhone 11 Pro, the lender was sky mobile, now, he doesn’t earn a huge amount, and has been recently furloughed with 80% of his wage.

he defaulted on all three in January, and sky have now sold the accounts to a debt collector.

would this be classed as inappropriate lending by sky? Setting up handset loans for well over £2500 in total, knowing he was on a limited wage? And having three in general is a bit extreme, surely they should of done further checks? Has he any way out of this? Or is it a case of him having to have my sister help him to clear the balance?.

thanks I’m advance, bit of a tricky one .

tommyedinburgh

No, it was irresponsible consuming on the part of your nephew. 

[Deleted User]

tommyedinburgh said:

No, it was irresponsible consuming on the part of your nephew. 

As expected 👍

tommyedinburgh

It is a frustration for all involved but there is no getting away from it.

[Deleted User]

tommyedinburgh said:

It is a frustration for all involved but there is no getting away from it.

Yep! It’s happened , silly really.

Willing2Learn

@[Deleted User] 

It could be argued that Sky kept giving a customer new credit without taking into account the vulnerability of your nephew.

FOS : Unaffordable lending


Make a written complaint.  If they do not uphold the complaint, then the matter could be escalated to the FOS

eskbanker

Willing2Learn said:

It could be argued that Sky kept giving a customer new credit without taking into account the vulnerability of your nephew.

Only if it could be demonstrated that they were aware (or reasonably should have been aware) of his vulnerability, surely?

PaulW922

If he has three handsets including at least two high spec ones (the iPhones) he could sell them to help pay down the debt? Once a debt is defaulted you can often negotiate a settlement figure with the lender. 
I must admit it is a little surprising that Sky allows three accounts in the same name to be opened like this but I am not convinced that this will be classed irresponsible. Maybe you could contact Sky Mobile on his behalf, explain his situation and see what they will do to settle the debt?

penners324

1 would argue the s10 is a higher spec than the iPhones....

Willing2Learn

I would think that the OPs nephew will prefer my suggestion....

Willing2Learn

@ OP

Request:

Please could you post these types of threads in the DFW board.  As I keep getting verbals from those on the forum who disagree with members applying the relevant legislation correctly.

Thanks