Elderbridge - Urgent help for vulnerable person

Brie

I guess it's not so much that the interest was high but that the payments were so low.  You said that £548 was being paid each month and £500 was interest.  so in the 6 years that you know she has been paying she's only cleared less the £3500 while paying £36k in interest. 

it will be interesting to hear what's in the SAR and if there is any indication that she was aware of the loan or if they had even discussed it with her at any point after her husband's death.

sourcrates

Interest rates are stupidly high on loans of this nature, they are also usually variable as well, add to that the arrears on the account, the charges for those arrears plus interest, and its looking like a sorry state of affairs.

You are 100% doing the right thing here, you can speculate till the cows come home, but making the SAR request should tell you more, and also when the complaint is looked into, you should get a rundown of events prior to issuing of the monies as well.

Please keep us updated as to progress of the complaint, I for one would be interested in the outcome.

elsien

deanloco72 said:

Hello everyone,

I have just spoken to Elderbridge and I have confirmed that this is not by 'Firstplus' this was done by "London Scottish" The SAR will have everything including notes.

They have informed me that the remortgage does look 'normal' however he states that it looks like something is not right. 

They have informed us that the annum interest is at 14.5% which he stated is extremely high for a loan of this sort and he has sent an official request to suppress the interest going forward due to the amounts of money paid. 

The mortgage was taken out in 2006 for £45,600 and the total amount of money paid since is a shocking £107,700 in total.

They have told me the correct procedure by making a complaint to see where that gets me and at worst case to contact the Ombudsman Service

Does £107,700 in total with £36,000 remaining for a £44,000 Mortgage seem high to everyone else? Can anyone issue general advice

We will wait on also wait the SAR before we begin the complaints process. 

The call handler seemed stunned almost to the point that he was unhappy with this.

So was it a remortgage to pay off a sum owing, and there’s not thousands gone awol? 

Has your mother not been getting annual statements from them? 

And going from your OP, other than being older, are there any  factors that do put her into a vulnerable adult category as age in and of itself generally does not. 

Keep_pedalling

deanloco72 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

deanloco72 said:

Question - Will the SAR reveal what bank the money was paid into? 

I've found out what my Grandad also had a life insurance plan via 'Scottish Widows' which apparently covers the cost of the mortgage in the event of death but nothing has happened, another thing for me to check!

Blimey, it sounds like she has been paying years of interest because she was unaware of the policy. Did anyone try to administer his estate at the time?

If you don’t already have it she really needs to make a lasting power of attorney giving you authority to help manage her finances.

It does sound like that! - I don't think so, I just know that she owns the house as a joint tenant with him.

That's a good idea!

What would you recommend yourself mate?  Trying to cover all bases!

I would look into that insurance policy, for whatever reason you mother failed to claim it so hopefully it should still be claimable. 

y3sitsm3

Brie said:

I guess it's not so much that the interest was high but that the payments were so low.  You said that £548 was being paid each month and £500 was interest.  so in the 6 years that you know she has been paying she's only cleared less the £3500 while paying £36k in interest. 

it will be interesting to hear what's in the SAR and if there is any indication that she was aware of the loan or if they had even discussed it with her at any point after her husband's death.

Why would they discuss it with her?  The payments were coming from a previously joint account that she converted to a sole account after her husbands death.

There was no reason to discuss anything with her, they were being paid and perhaps more importantly had no idea what was going on.

That is perhaps the crux of the problem, she took over the previously joint account without questioning any of the payments coming out of it.

Brie

y3sitsm3 said:

Brie said:

it will be interesting to hear what's in the SAR and if there is any indication that she was aware of the loan or if they had even discussed it with her at any point after her husband's death.

Why would they discuss it with her?  The payments were coming from a previously joint account that she converted to a sole account after her husbands death.

There was no reason to discuss anything with her, they were being paid and perhaps more importantly had no idea what was going on.

That is perhaps the crux of the problem, she took over the previously joint account without questioning any of the payments coming out of it.

I quite agree - why would they?  But also why would they not communicate with a customer for how many years??  I get annual statements from anyone with whom I have financial dealings.  I would hope that this company would do the same.  If not, why not?  If they weren't aware of the husband's death then perhaps they were still addressing correspondence to him.  If so, why wouldn't she (or someone) question it?

Hopefully the SARs will reveal all.

edinburgher

Without meaning to be gloomy, they're under no obligation to disclose personal information relating to your grandfather now that he is deceased. Here's hoping they interpret broadly that information relates to him and your grandmother and you get some answers.

elsien

I’m going to ask again, has your mother really had no paperwork or annual statements since her husband’s death, either in his name or hers? 

p00hsticks

elsien said:

I’m going to ask again, has your mother really had no paperwork or annual statements since her husband’s death, either in his name or hers? 

Grandmother, not mother.

The OP has posted photos of what appear to be statements in their initial post.

Jami74

elsien said:

I’m going to ask again, has your mother really had no paperwork or annual statements since her husband’s death, either in his name or hers? 

Sometimes people bury their heads in the sand, especially if they weren't really that involved in the finances and are grieving. Maybe she did receive paperwork and just shoved it in a drawer or threw it away. Maybe several years ago she was aware that their mortgage contract had changed but hadn't thought to question it over the years and now forgets the details. Obviously we are all in disbelief that she hasn't had annual statements and acted on them sooner and I'm sure we all hope that the company is found at fault and she can stop paying out each month, but if she was my Grandmother I wouldn't be grilling her in an accusatory tone.