Loss of income due to bereavement and outstanding credit card bill

Old_Grey_Mare

My husband has just died and left me in a financially precarious situation. Until I can get a job I have no income at all apart from bereavement support allowance and hopefully £250 pounds per month from his private pension when it’s sorted out.

I have £2500 outstanding on two credit cards which I was due to pay off this year. I will not have funds to even pay the minimum amount on these cards as I will have to prioritise council tax, utilities etc.

I have £11,000 savings that I will have to live on until I can get a job and eventually sell the house.

Is it better to contact the credit card providers and ask them to freeze the interest for a few months or shall I cancel the direct debits and default. I was an hour into a phone call yesterday with one of the providers who was asking me questions about income and expenditure when I was cut off. 

Thanks for any advice.

sourcrates

Very sorry for your loss, these are all non priority debts, if you write to each company and explain your circumstances they will likely put your accounts "on hold" for a period of time, and ask you to update them say in 3/6 months time.

If you have DD`s set up, I would cancel them as a matter of course, you need to protect what income you do have.

Creditors, generally are understanding of such things, so don`t let the debts become your main focus here.

Keep_pedalling

Really sorry you find yourself in the horrible position. Is your home mortgaged?

Grumpelstiltskin

Hopefully you have learned one thing - do not phone these people under any circumstances.

If you can't afford to pay unsecured debts just stop paying them, do not answer any phone calls from them, do not worry about any threatening texts or E Mails from them, they are all empty threats.

Sort your self out, check any more benefits you may be able to claim, if you live alone claim single person's council tax deduction and then you can decide what to do about the credit cards.

Nothing terrible is going to happen if you don't pay the debts.

You are the most important thing now not the credit card companies.

Old_Grey_Mare

sourcrates said:

Very sorry for your loss, these are all non priority debts, if you write to each company and explain your circumstances they will likely put your accounts "on hold" for a period of time, and ask you to update them say in 3/6 months time.

If you have DD`s set up, I would cancel them as a matter of course, you need to protect what income you do have.

Creditors, generally are understanding of such things, so don`t let the debts become your main focus here.

Thank you. I will write to them as you suggest.

Old_Grey_Mare

Keep_pedalling said:

Really sorry you find yourself in the horrible position. Is your home mortgaged?

Thank you. No it isn’t mortgaged.

Keep_pedalling

Did your husband have any savings? If he did you should be able to get access to those without to obtain probate first, which would help with regard to things like funeral costs. 

There is a deaths, funerals and probate board where you can get advice and help in dealing with the estate if you need it.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/deaths-funerals-probate

RAS

Really sorry for your loss and the difficult circumstances. Just throwing out a thought that might give you more time to make and execute plans.

Did you husband belong to any trade organisations, or ever work in the armed forces? They might be able to help short-term?

It certainly will not be what you want at the moment, but going forward would you consider a lodger? Up to £7.5k tax free income, do it right and you can give a week's notice, but there are some costs. Maybe talk to FreeBear on the housing forum when you are ready? 

Keep_pedalling

Old_Grey_Mare said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Really sorry you find yourself in the horrible position. Is your home mortgaged?

Thank you. No it isn’t mortgaged.

That is good, I thought it might be as you said you would have to sell it. 

Brie

So sorry for your loss.  It must be a big shock even if it was anticipated for any reason.  

Just to add to what the others have said - focus on your priority payments which are those that keep you in your house and warm and fed and watered.  

If you have no income at all are there any benefits you can apply for?  You can do a preliminary check on "entitled to" and then check further with citizen's advice for more input.  
Benefits Calculator - entitledto - independent | accurate | reliable

Don't forget that his debts aren't your debts.  If there are any credit cards in his name you might contact the bereavement teams for those and advise them he has died.  Do be sure that you cancel any DDs or standing orders that he may have had in place so you get the best use of your money.  Any joint accounts are now yours and presumably the house is now going to be 100% yours as well instead of being something part of his estate.

Once things become a bit more stable (say a couple of months?) why not come back here and post a statement of accounts (SOA - look on one of the top stickies) and we'll see if we can help you squeeze any pennies in your budget. 

Old_Grey_Mare

RAS said:

Really sorry for your loss and the difficult circumstances. Just throwing out a thought that might give you more time to make and execute plans.

Did you husband belong to any trade organisations, or ever work in the armed forces? They might be able to help short-term?

It certainly will not be what you want at the moment, but going forward would you consider a lodger? Up to £7.5k tax free income, do it right and you can give a week's notice, but there are some costs. Maybe talk to FreeBear on the housing forum when you are ready? 

Thank you, I will look into this. It is a large house and I had been trying to persuade my husband to downsize for years but he refused.