Elderly neighbour credit card debt

EssexHebridean

Create an opening for her to speak to you regardless - you only have the carer's word for it that they have been asked to raise it and you don't want to cause embarrassment. You should also confirm that she is happy with you seeking advice here - you can obviously be very clear that it is completely anonymous and nobody can in any way connect it to her. 

If it is unsecured consumer debt then her owning her home is entirely unrelated. The bigger question though is whether it is a legitimate debt or whether she is being "fished" by a debt collection company. 

If she does ask you to get involved, then I suggest posting back here once you have proper and official sight of the document in question, as there will be questions to ask to direct the best way to proceed. 

p00hsticks

Golactico said:

 She has no close family or friends of her own and I think her husband's family sort her utility bills out of a sense of moral obligation - I am aware that they don't get on with her and would have no interest in assisting her with this debt. The house she lives in is mortgage free and in her and her husband's name.

Perhaps it would be helpful to explore what benefits she might be entitled to that she is not claiming. 
As her husband is now in a care home they are treated as separate households for benefit purposes so depending on the level of her state pension she might be entitled to pension credit, which would passport her to a number of other benefits. 
Also if she is having carers coming in, she may be elegible for Attendance Allowance, which is not means tested.

p00hsticks

EssexHebridean said:

If it is unsecured consumer debt then her owning her home is entirely unrelated. 

Whether or not the debt is secured, as the property is apparently owned by both the estranged husband and wife (it;s not clear whether jointly or as tenants in common) then as the husband has lost capacity, unless there is a PoA in place for him and the PoA holders (the relatives ?) agree that it would be in his best interests (which I suspect is unlikely) then I'm not sure that anything could be done with regard to things like equity release. 

EssexHebridean

p00hsticks said:

EssexHebridean said:

If it is unsecured consumer debt then her owning her home is entirely unrelated. 

Whether or not the debt is secured, as the property is apparently owned by both the estranged husband and wife (it;s not clear whether jointly or as tenants in common) then as the husband has lost capacity, unless there is a PoA in place for him and the PoA holders (the relatives ?) agree that it would be in his best interests (which I suspect is unlikely) then I'm not sure that anything could be done with regard to things like equity release. 

The impression I had was that the OP was in essence asking if the creditors could go after the lady's home - which of course for unsecured debt, they cannot. That was the only aspect I was referring to. 

Grumpy_chap

This type of query crops up from time to time.
Do not get involved.
If the neighbour requests you to provide assistance, the best thing you can do is to have the details of local organisations that can provide proper, independent review and advice on the situation - CAB, Stepchange, Help the Aged or such like.  They will be able to assess that any debts are genuine and need repaying (not time-barred for example).
Supporting the neighbour to contact the appropriate organisations will also help preserve your friendship and avoid any confidentiality / conflict of interest matters.  The appropriate charities may also be able to review the overall position and ensure that the neighbour is receiving all income / benefits that they should be receiving.

Golactico

Many thanks for all the practical advice. I had decided to heed the general advice that making contact would only make things worse. However, I have Googled the debt agency that sent the letter who are Cabot Financial. They have a 4 star Trust pilot rating with many recent 5 Star reviews from people saying how helpful and sympathetic they were with their debt issues. I'm back to not knowing what to do for the best now. Take my word for it - once back from hospital, this lady will be looking to me to help her with this, as there is no-one else.

EssexHebridean

First thing is going to be to be sure that she is definitely aware that the debt actually belongs to her.
Second will be to gently find out when she believes it was incurred - she may not know/remember. 

You probably need to establish exactly what the letters she is getting are - they might be standard fishing-trip letters just looking for anyone who might be daft enough to pay, but on the flip side it could be that she's had a letter before action. The first can be ignored, the second needs attention. There's all sorts of other possibilities as well - hence really it's better that as and when she does approach you to assist her, you check that she is happy that you ask questions of us on here, and then you can come back to us with further information and we will be able to give more targeted help. 

Right now though - there isn't anything you can do, as you haven't been asked to help by the person herself. 

Do NOT be tempted to call Cabot - you risk making this lady's situation worse! 

Golactico

I'm grateful for the suggestion that this might be a 'fishing' exercise by the debt agents. Her name is not what you'd call unusual and the company may have adopted a scattergun approach to try to find someone else with the same name. From what I know of this lady, it was a surprise to me that she would have run up such a debt. The letter mentions that the credit card was with MBNA. This seems slightly odd too as she is very of her generation and I'd imagine that if she did take a credit card out (surprising in itself), it would be through her own bank, which is one of the traditional 'big four'. I realise that I need to have a chat with her before doing anything.

sourcrates

Best to establish what the debt is, and its status first, so send the prove-it letter as a first option.

See what comes back, as Essex says, we don`t know the debts status as yet or even if its hers.

If it turns out it is her debt, and its enforceable, then as Cabot are a large debt purchasing company, who buy old debts for a fraction of their face value, get this lady to write to Cabot, telling them the debt is unaffordable, and she has no disposable income with which to pay this, she can register on Cabot`s website, fill in a basic budget, and if that budget shows a deficit, then they won`t expect her to pay anything.

Use the affordability angle to get them to reassess the account with a view to taking a commercial decision to write off the balance or at the very least not pursue it any longer.

We have had quite a few success stories by doing this.

EssexHebridean

Best to find out first that the debt actually "belongs" to the lady in question, though isn't it, and come to that make sure it isn't stature barred too - it doesn't seem that we have any certainty on either of those points at the moment allowing that all the OP is going on is a fleeting sight of a letter? Otherwise surely there is a potential risk of acknowledging the debt inadvertently?