Elderbridge - Urgent help for vulnerable person

deanloco72

Hello everyone,

I am writing and asking for help as I am at a complete loss at where to start or how to proceed.

My nan who is a vulnerable adult who is approaching 75 asked me to check on her finances as I noticed something didn't seem right, she is working long hours and the money was going nowhere and I wanted to investigate. She simply works in the healthcare industry working in care homes for the last so many years and I want to try fix this for her

My nan has been paying £548 for the last 6 years, perhaps even since 2006 on a 'Secured' remortgagte that her late husband apparently has done, however she was unaware of this and it is in a joint account. I queried if she was aware of this and she said nope, she has basically been paying £548 and living her life.

I have queried this with Elderbridge and I have noticed that my nan has been paying £548 for the last so many years, The value of the account when opening was £44000, and they take a Interest payment of about 500 a month meaning she has been paying this off very slowly and she was unaware that this remortgage was taken out as there was no knowledge or need for this to be done.

I'm wondering if any of you guys can assist me in either getting this sorted as I would imagine if she's been paying a £44000 remortgage since 2006 then this should be clear by that but there is 36000 remaining!?

Thank you for any assistance in advance and I will respond ASAP.

They have wrote on the statement request letter "Your mortgage is a repayment mortgage"

Carried forward Balance: £36,972.36
Interest Charged During Statement period (6 years) £39,371.33 - Is this PPI?

I am losing my mind of the numbers I'm seeing and really need help, My nan is at breaking point after discovering this.
Link to statement:

[Deleted User]

Mortgages are typically taken over long periods, so you would only expect it to be paid off by now if she took a term that enabled her to do so. But looking at the payments, that's not what happened. A long term and high interest makes for an expensive loan.

The interest charged is the interest charged on the capital - it's not PPI.

She's also in arrears, which makes things worse.  Essentially, she needs to start paying much more towards the account. Firstly to clear the arrears, and then to make headway into the debt.

However, her first step needs to establish exactly what the mortgage was for and in whose name it is.

deanloco72

Deleted_User said:

Mortgages are typically taken over long periods, so you would only expect it to be paid off by now if she took a term that enabled her to do so. But looking at the payments, that's not what happened. A long term and high interest makes for an expensive loan.

The interest charged is the interest charged on the capital - it's not PPI.

She's also in arrears, which makes things worse.  Essentially, she needs to start paying much more towards the account. Firstly to clear the arrears, and then to make headway into the debt.

However, her first step needs to establish exactly what the mortgage was for and in whose name it is.

Thank you, 

The mortgage was taken out on her house we can only think of as it's the only house she owns and the name is in her late husband and her name (joint account) however she was unaware this was the case she has stated, she denies ever agreeing to this as such why she is upset

Brie

There's nothing to indicate that PPI is involved.  I suspect it is simply an excrutiatingly high interest rate if she has paid nearly £40k and only cleared £8k of debt.   

It's a bit of a long shot but the Elderbridge website I found refers to Firstplus mortgages/loans.  I believe they were/are part of Barclays so you might want to enquire there if Elderbridge aren't forthcoming.

http://www.elderbridge.co.uk/pages/complaints.html

deanloco72

Brie said:

There's nothing to indicate that PPI is involved.  I suspect it is simply an excrutiatingly high interest rate if she has paid nearly £40k and only cleared £8k of debt.   

It's a bit of a long shot but the Elderbridge website I found refers to Firstplus mortgages/loans.  I believe they were/are part of Barclays so you might want to enquire there if Elderbridge aren't forthcoming.

Hello Brie,

Thank you for your fast response.

Are high interest rates such as this allowed as I feel like she has been taken advantage of,  I'm trying to compose an email as you mentioned as I do believe this is via Firstplus 

Thank you so much again

[Deleted User]

Yes, high interest rates are the norm in higher risk borrowing, so no issue there. 

Grumpelstiltskin

When did this mortgage start?
When did her husband die?
Did he leave a will?
How was the house owned Tenants in Common or Joint Tenants?
How was it a joint account if she had no knowledge of it, did he forge her signature on the application?

You need to do some more research into the background of this,

Brie

Pay day loans used to advertise interest rates up to 5,000%.  Not allowed now of course.

But there's still plenty of credit cards with rates of 49% which would mean a loan of £40k would have about £20k in interest added per year.  

If your nan has been paying £500 a month in interest that's £6k a year interest which at a guess would put the APR under 20%.

Grumpelstiltskin

Edit.            What happened to the £44.000? Surely she must have had some idea of what he did with the money?

y3sitsm3

Brie said:

Pay day loans used to advertise interest rates up to 5,000%.  Not allowed now of course.

But there's still plenty of credit cards with rates of 49% which would mean a loan of £40k would have about £20k in interest added per year.  

If your nan has been paying £500 a month in interest that's £6k a year interest which at a guess would put the APR under 20%.

No, but to be clear there is no cap on how much interest can be charged by lenders as a whole. Only short-term lending had a cap placed on it. In theory, a personal loan going for over a year could still charge 5000% APR.

Shakin_Steve

Brie said:

There's nothing to indicate that PPI is involved.  I suspect it is simply an excrutiatingly high interest rate if she has paid nearly £40k and only cleared £8k of debt.   

It's a bit of a long shot but the Elderbridge website I found refers to Firstplus mortgages/loans.  I believe they were/are part of Barclays so you might want to enquire there if Elderbridge aren't forthcoming.

http://www.elderbridge.co.uk/pages/complaints.html

According to the reply from Elderbridge in this post loans pre 2008 and over £25K are unregulated.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6298153/first-plus-loan-now-elderbridge#latest