Capquest & Shop Direct Finance

Dotsanddenis

I have just received a letter from Capquest addressed to my mum, who passed away in Feb'23, advising that her account with Shop Direct Finance had been taken over by Capquest & that there is an outstanding balance (although they haven't demanded any payment). Having been through all her paperwork when she died, finding no papers relating to this account (she was very organised with her paperwork) & having not received any communication from Shop Direct since she went into hospital in December '22,  I find it hard to believe that this is actually her debt/account. What should I do? Send a Provit letter? Anything else?

Martin_the_Unjust

Personally, having had dealings with Capquest in the dim and distant past I would be tempted to reveal the letter and mark it ‘not at this address’ and send it back.

retiredbanker1

Martin_the_Unjust said:

Personally, having had dealings with Capquest in the dim and distant past I would be tempted to reveal the letter and mark it ‘not at this address’ and send it back.

I think this is poor advice.
If the son is the executor of the estate and the creditors can prove there is an outstanding debt, if the estate has been distributed then the executor could be made personally liable.
Much better to send them a letter with copy of the death certificate and advise if there are any surplus funds available to repay or not.

sourcrates

As a first response, I would inform them of her passing, see what the reaction is, they may very well say they will just write the debt off and leave it at that.

If they respond asking about assets etc, then if you were the executor of her estate, you will have to deal with it officially, usually if the debts are greater than the assets, unsecured borrowing will be written off.