Elderly mother hoarding cash

Deedeb

Hi. Any advice as have discovered my 80 yr old mother has 25k in cash in her home which she has been saving for many years to pay  off her mortgage. She has always hoarded money and has always  refusesd to listen to advice. I have now discovered Santander have issued court proceedings to repossess house if she doesn’t pay as they won’t extend her mortgage. The stress has made her physically ill so I have agreed to try and bank it in my own account, add a bit to it and pay the mortgage off. She has signed a temporary ordinary power of attorney and  have a bank statment proving she has pension income. Will I need other proof of where it came from? Thank you

MorningcoffeeIV

Deedeb said:

Hi. Any advice as have discovered my 80 yr old mother has 25k in cash in her home which she has been saving for many years to pay  off her mortgage. She has always hoarded money and has always  refusesd to listen to advice. I have now discovered Santander have issued court proceedings to repossess house if she doesn’t pay as they won’t extend her mortgage. The stress has made her physically ill so I have agreed to try and bank it in my own account, add a bit to it and pay the mortgage off. She has signed a temporary ordinary power of attorney and  have a bank statment proving she has pension income. Will I need other proof of where it came from? Thank you

More than likely.  The bank will want to know how so much cash has been acquired and over what period.  Someone having a pension doesn't answer those questions.

[Deleted User]

Given the seriousness of the situation, I would be tempted to visit a local branch (with the POA) and explain the situation with a view to depositing the funds directly against her mortgage account.

If this works, you can resolve the matter - if not then you can see what next steps to take and can also show the court (if needed) that you're working to resolution without the court needing to agree the repossession. 

Slinky

Well presumably a lot of it will be in out of date notes if she's been hoarding it for years. Hopefully that will give some credence to the explanation.  I would suggest you make an appointment for you both at a Santander branch and go along with all the evidence you can manage. Would make more sense to me, than trying to pay it into your own account.

mebu60

As @Slinky suggests, I too thought make an appointment at a Santander branch, either together or solo with LPA, and arrange to pay in the £25k over the counter plus a cheque from yourself for the balance required to redeem the mortgage. 

retiredbanker1

How long has she been saving this money? Is it all the new Polymer notes or are there the out of date paper notes?

Either way paying this amount of cash into any bank account is bound to raise suspicion - I agree about making an appointment with the nearest Santander branch - take the PoA with you and see what they have to say?

Has she not made any repayments or is it interest only mortgage?

Keep_pedalling

Have to agree with the above, do not try and feed it into your own account, as this may lead to you account being locked due to suspicious deposits. Might be worth speaking to age concern for advice as well.

How much is owed on the mortgage?

born_again

Deedeb said:

Hi. Any advice as have discovered my 80 yr old mother has 25k in cash in her home which she has been saving for many years to pay  off her mortgage. She has always hoarded money and has always  refusesd to listen to advice. I have now discovered Santander have issued court proceedings to repossess house if she doesn’t pay as they won’t extend her mortgage. The stress has made her physically ill so I have agreed to try and bank it in my own account, add a bit to it and pay the mortgage off. She has signed a temporary ordinary power of attorney and  have a bank statment proving she has pension income. Will I need other proof of where it came from? Thank you

Don't.

Surely as she has a mortgage, she must have a bank account?

Take the advice given above.

Paying into your own account in such a way is going to open up a whole can or worms you do not want.

Section62

mebu60 said:

As Slinky suggests, I too thought make an appointment at a Santander branch, either together or solo with LPA, and arrange to pay in the £25k over the counter plus a cheque from yourself for the balance required to redeem the mortgage. 

For clarity I think it worth saying that I wouldn't take that amount of cash to a branch in one go without having made arrangments already - there is a fairly high chance of the staff refusing to accept the deposit, in which case there will be the risk involved in carrying that amount of cash on the way home in addition to that on the way to the bank.

Bigwheels1111

I have 7 bank accounts, I would spread the payments between them.
ie pay in 1k at the post office, 1k at a bank and 1k at another.
Then transfer them all into one account.
Did this with 20k after selling a car.
No bank asked for any proof.
Helped knowing a bank manager.

xylophone

If you have PoA you should be able to have access to her bank/BS  account(s) and it should be to an account in her name that the money is paid.

How has she been making mortgage payments up to now?

And her household bills?

I would think that you should make an appointment at her bank so that you can explain the situation.