Credit Card Collection Agency after death

Keep_pedalling

Silvertabby said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Silvertabby said:

Kimbooley said:

Silvertabby said:

Kimbooley said:

Torry_Quine said:

You absolutely don't have any liability to pay. The funeral has first right to any money and only if there's any after this do creditors get paid. it sounds like there's not any so the debt dies with her 

Hi there. We have the funeral costs covered, so the £1700 in her current account she specifically wanted to be given to her partner (not married) after her death, but ive just read that if this debt is to be paid PLUS any benefits that were paid before she died (PIP, disability etc) need to be repaid, then I’m terrified of sending the money to her partner for fear of being left with nothing in which to pay off any remaining debts etc. 

I feel far too young to be dealing with this to be honest. It’s all so stressful at the worst time of your life  

When you say that you have the funeral costs covered, do you mean that your mother-in-law had a pre-paid plan, or that you have paid for the funeral yourselves?  If the former, then that could complicate things, as the £1700 will then be up for grabs for paying debts.  Re-payment of benefits first, then the credit card.

If you have paid for the funeral yourselves, then really the best way round this would be to use the £1700 to re-imburse yourselves then you can safely tell P&C to do one as the estate was insolvent after payment (or part payment) of the funeral fees.

No, she didn’t have a pre paid plan but she had put money away in a savings account which she transferred to my wife’s current account with the reference of “Funeral” About a month before she died. 

Then, strictly speaking, the £1700 is up for grabs, I'm afraid.  Before making any payments, you will have to ensure that you have a complete list of all debts - including DWP, anything still owing on the car, any outstanding utility/rent  bills, etc, as well as the credit card debt.

Once you have a full list - bearing in mind that DWP could take months to get back to you - then be careful that you pay (or part pay) the debts in accordance with the very strict pecking order set down by law.  At this point, you may find Citizen's Advice helpful.

I know this sounds stressful, but that's only because it will drag on for a while.  Don't stand for any nonsence from P&C - if they hassle you for payment, just tell them that the Estate is unlikely to cover all known debts, but if they want to hurry things along by taking over the administration, then they are welcome to do so.  They'll soon back off.

I do not agree. The estate is insolvent ant the first call on the money in her account if the funeral expenses. I know the OP said that those expenses have been covered and they want that money to go to her partner, but there is no reason it should not be paid to whoever arranged the funeral. If they want to make a gift of the same amount to the partner then that is up to them.

No one should try to administer an insolvent estate. You should not go beyond sorting a funeral as far as finances are concerned, then simply write to all creditors explaining that the estate is insolvent and that no one is administering it. 

I would not wait for anything from Phillips & Cohen, just send them a letter informing them that the estate is insolvent ant that there is no administrator, that should be the end of it.

That would work if P&C accept the insolvency claim, but what if they push it?  I don't think the OP would be comfortable trying to cover up the transfer of funeral funds from the m-in-l's account to OP's wife's account just before she died.  

I don’t see how they can push it, they don’t have any visibility of the deceased persons assets as there will be no probate and therefor no public records. Funeral costs are significantly above the total assets and the law is clear that they take priority over unsecured creditors.

Silvertabby

Keep_pedalling said:

Silvertabby said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Silvertabby said:

Kimbooley said:

Silvertabby said:

Kimbooley said:

Torry_Quine said:

You absolutely don't have any liability to pay. The funeral has first right to any money and only if there's any after this do creditors get paid. it sounds like there's not any so the debt dies with her 

Hi there. We have the funeral costs covered, so the £1700 in her current account she specifically wanted to be given to her partner (not married) after her death, but ive just read that if this debt is to be paid PLUS any benefits that were paid before she died (PIP, disability etc) need to be repaid, then I’m terrified of sending the money to her partner for fear of being left with nothing in which to pay off any remaining debts etc. 

I feel far too young to be dealing with this to be honest. It’s all so stressful at the worst time of your life  

When you say that you have the funeral costs covered, do you mean that your mother-in-law had a pre-paid plan, or that you have paid for the funeral yourselves?  If the former, then that could complicate things, as the £1700 will then be up for grabs for paying debts.  Re-payment of benefits first, then the credit card.

If you have paid for the funeral yourselves, then really the best way round this would be to use the £1700 to re-imburse yourselves then you can safely tell P&C to do one as the estate was insolvent after payment (or part payment) of the funeral fees.

No, she didn’t have a pre paid plan but she had put money away in a savings account which she transferred to my wife’s current account with the reference of “Funeral” About a month before she died. 

Then, strictly speaking, the £1700 is up for grabs, I'm afraid.  Before making any payments, you will have to ensure that you have a complete list of all debts - including DWP, anything still owing on the car, any outstanding utility/rent  bills, etc, as well as the credit card debt.

Once you have a full list - bearing in mind that DWP could take months to get back to you - then be careful that you pay (or part pay) the debts in accordance with the very strict pecking order set down by law.  At this point, you may find Citizen's Advice helpful.

I know this sounds stressful, but that's only because it will drag on for a while.  Don't stand for any nonsence from P&C - if they hassle you for payment, just tell them that the Estate is unlikely to cover all known debts, but if they want to hurry things along by taking over the administration, then they are welcome to do so.  They'll soon back off.

I do not agree. The estate is insolvent ant the first call on the money in her account if the funeral expenses. I know the OP said that those expenses have been covered and they want that money to go to her partner, but there is no reason it should not be paid to whoever arranged the funeral. If they want to make a gift of the same amount to the partner then that is up to them.

No one should try to administer an insolvent estate. You should not go beyond sorting a funeral as far as finances are concerned, then simply write to all creditors explaining that the estate is insolvent and that no one is administering it. 

I would not wait for anything from Phillips & Cohen, just send them a letter informing them that the estate is insolvent ant that there is no administrator, that should be the end of it.

That would work if P&C accept the insolvency claim, but what if they push it?  I don't think the OP would be comfortable trying to cover up the transfer of funeral funds from the m-in-l's account to OP's wife's account just before she died.  

I don’t see how they can push it, they don’t have any visibility of the deceased persons assets as there will be no probate and therefor no public records. Funeral costs are significantly above the total assets and the law is clear that they take priority over unsecured creditors.

Yes, but my point is that if you include the money transferred to the daughter just a month before she died, which was specifically for funeral expenses, then morally speaking the estate was the amount transferred plus the £1700 left in the bank.  

74jax

P & C were amazing with me. Mams electric company - NPower - passed her debt to them. I had a call every 3 months or so to ask where I was in selling accounts. If tell them, they'd make a note and call in another 3 months.
Every call was quick, could we settle yet, no OK they'll call back. 
Around 14 months after her death we settled it. But that was with a solvent estate. Every call I was asked if there was money in the estate to settle it. 

Don't pay any bills until you have paid the funeral. If nothing then is left, wrote advising its an insolvent estate. 

Remember people only tend to write bad reviews, P&C were great with me, but I have put that on a review as I didn't think to at the time. 

Keep_pedalling

Silvertabby said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Silvertabby said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Silvertabby said:

Kimbooley said:

Silvertabby said:

Kimbooley said:

Torry_Quine said:

You absolutely don't have any liability to pay. The funeral has first right to any money and only if there's any after this do creditors get paid. it sounds like there's not any so the debt dies with her 

Hi there. We have the funeral costs covered, so the £1700 in her current account she specifically wanted to be given to her partner (not married) after her death, but ive just read that if this debt is to be paid PLUS any benefits that were paid before she died (PIP, disability etc) need to be repaid, then I’m terrified of sending the money to her partner for fear of being left with nothing in which to pay off any remaining debts etc. 

I feel far too young to be dealing with this to be honest. It’s all so stressful at the worst time of your life  

When you say that you have the funeral costs covered, do you mean that your mother-in-law had a pre-paid plan, or that you have paid for the funeral yourselves?  If the former, then that could complicate things, as the £1700 will then be up for grabs for paying debts.  Re-payment of benefits first, then the credit card.

If you have paid for the funeral yourselves, then really the best way round this would be to use the £1700 to re-imburse yourselves then you can safely tell P&C to do one as the estate was insolvent after payment (or part payment) of the funeral fees.

No, she didn’t have a pre paid plan but she had put money away in a savings account which she transferred to my wife’s current account with the reference of “Funeral” About a month before she died. 

Then, strictly speaking, the £1700 is up for grabs, I'm afraid.  Before making any payments, you will have to ensure that you have a complete list of all debts - including DWP, anything still owing on the car, any outstanding utility/rent  bills, etc, as well as the credit card debt.

Once you have a full list - bearing in mind that DWP could take months to get back to you - then be careful that you pay (or part pay) the debts in accordance with the very strict pecking order set down by law.  At this point, you may find Citizen's Advice helpful.

I know this sounds stressful, but that's only because it will drag on for a while.  Don't stand for any nonsence from P&C - if they hassle you for payment, just tell them that the Estate is unlikely to cover all known debts, but if they want to hurry things along by taking over the administration, then they are welcome to do so.  They'll soon back off.

I do not agree. The estate is insolvent ant the first call on the money in her account if the funeral expenses. I know the OP said that those expenses have been covered and they want that money to go to her partner, but there is no reason it should not be paid to whoever arranged the funeral. If they want to make a gift of the same amount to the partner then that is up to them.

No one should try to administer an insolvent estate. You should not go beyond sorting a funeral as far as finances are concerned, then simply write to all creditors explaining that the estate is insolvent and that no one is administering it. 

I would not wait for anything from Phillips & Cohen, just send them a letter informing them that the estate is insolvent ant that there is no administrator, that should be the end of it.

That would work if P&C accept the insolvency claim, but what if they push it?  I don't think the OP would be comfortable trying to cover up the transfer of funeral funds from the m-in-l's account to OP's wife's account just before she died.  

I don’t see how they can push it, they don’t have any visibility of the deceased persons assets as there will be no probate and therefor no public records. Funeral costs are significantly above the total assets and the law is clear that they take priority over unsecured creditors.

Yes, but my point is that if you include the money transferred to the daughter just a month before she died, which was specifically for funeral expenses, then morally speaking the estate was the amount transferred plus the £1700 left in the bank.  

That will teach me not to read all the OPs posts, I missed that vital piece of info.

molerat

Kimbooley said:

As for the car, there’s £3k left on it but we will settle that privately with our own money with the finance company and take ownership.

How much is the car worth ?  What type of finance is it ?

If you pay off the outstanding finance the estate still owns the value of the car less the £3K you paid off.

doodling

Hi,

From what has been said it seems like it should just be a simple matter of finding out the balance on the card and paying it.

If you are confident of the balance then just pay it. If you are not sure of the exact balance then pay most of it.

I would pay by cheque with a covering letter. Keep a copy and get proof of posting, just in case it goes astray.

If there is any confusion as to who you should pay then call them and get clarity. Make lots of notes about the call (or record it), again just in case they forget what you have been told.

sheramber

When my husband died his credit card ( AE) debt was passed to their  solicitors to deal with despite the fact I phoned up to pay it.

I had to wait for them to contact me.

The amount was the amount outstanding and I phoned up and paid over the phone.

Kimbooley

Hi all, thank you for your replies. Sorry for the delay in coming back to you, been a busy week with funeral arrangements etc. 

After many, many phone calls to the CC company I have confirmed they have finally passed mums file to Philips and Cohen despite tthem still refusing to confirm how much is owed. (I know exactly how much was in her statement three days before she died but hey ho) 

Philips and Cohen said they still don’t have the file loaded onto their system and can’t tell me how long this will take and basically just be patient and wait for a letter. Not helpful. But I’m just very keen to see if they add any random extra charges on to what I know she owed in her final days...! 

I’ll pay it ASAP but I wish this was a more efficient way of handling it. It seems ridiculous that the CC company wouldn’t just take payment but there we go. 

Thanks for advice all! 

Silvertabby

Kimbooley said:

Hi all, thank you for your replies. Sorry for the delay in coming back to you, been a busy week with funeral arrangements etc. 

After many, many phone calls to the CC company I have confirmed they have finally passed mums file to Philips and Cohen despite tthem still refusing to confirm how much is owed. (I know exactly how much was in her statement three days before she died but hey ho) 

Philips and Cohen said they still don’t have the file loaded onto their system and can’t tell me how long this will take and basically just be patient and wait for a letter. Not helpful. But I’m just very keen to see if they add any random extra charges on to what I know she owed in her final days...! 

I’ll pay it ASAP but I wish this was a more efficient way of handling it. It seems ridiculous that the CC company wouldn’t just take payment but there we go. 

Thanks for advice all! 

What a faff.  I wonder if it is the CC Co policy to immediately sell off these accounts - probably at a loss - to save on the admin process?

Kimbooley

Silvertabby said:

Kimbooley said:

Hi all, thank you for your replies. Sorry for the delay in coming back to you, been a busy week with funeral arrangements etc. 

After many, many phone calls to the CC company I have confirmed they have finally passed mums file to Philips and Cohen despite tthem still refusing to confirm how much is owed. (I know exactly how much was in her statement three days before she died but hey ho) 

Philips and Cohen said they still don’t have the file loaded onto their system and can’t tell me how long this will take and basically just be patient and wait for a letter. Not helpful. But I’m just very keen to see if they add any random extra charges on to what I know she owed in her final days...! 

I’ll pay it ASAP but I wish this was a more efficient way of handling it. It seems ridiculous that the CC company wouldn’t just take payment but there we go. 

Thanks for advice all! 

What a faff.  I wonder if it is the CC Co policy to immediately sell off these accounts - probably at a loss - to save on the admin process?

It wouldn’t surprise me - the CC folk flat out refused to even give me the figure to pay when I notified of them her death saying I wasn’t the account holder and it didn’t matter if I was next if Kin and executor of estate. Absolute nonsense surely? I’m glad I saw a recent statement before she died so I wrote down the figure she owed so that if the debt collectors increase that figure I’ll call them out on their bs.