Outstanding credit card debt - now in a care home.

SilasMarner

Good Afternoon,
A family member of mine has moved into a care home. He has little income after fees et al, no savings and a 12k credit card debt over 3 cards. He tells me that a family member has phoned the individual credit card providers, explained the situation and has their agreement to cancel the debts. To me, this seems unlikely on the strength of a phone call. I would appreciate the views of someone who has experience in this arena. Thanks for reading.

born_again

Does said person have POA to speak for the person in the care home?

fatbelly

I was going to suggest moving this to debt free wannabe on the strength of the title but it sounds like this person has taken advice, done the right thing and been successful.

Nothing more to say except well done

elsien

If they have capacity around their finances, then where they live is not relevant. They still owe the money and normal debt processes/solutions would generally apply.
Debt companies may have given up because  chasing people in care homes is not necessarily a good look. Having experience of people in this situation in mental health unit where creditors  haven’t given up chasing that easily I would definitely want confirmation that the debt has been cancelled rather than just being put on hold.

SilasMarner

Thank you for your replies. No POA - but account holder was probably present at the call.  I didn't think it would be that easy TBH. Cancellation may be confirmed - but until I saw the paperwork I would be a little cynical as to where this went after the phone calls. 

retiredbanker1

Credit card companies will know personal information such as DOB and they can take a view on whether they can get their monies back.
If the card issuer is also their bank they can see what income goes into their account.

Whether a family member (with customer authority) or say CAB ring on their behalf the back office procedure will be the same.

sourcrates

My Brother ended up in a care home after suffering a stroke that relieved him of the majority of his capacity to understand anything but the most basic of instructions, this happened overnight, so shows how quickly life can change for any of us.

I had authority to act on his financial matters, which is different to a POA or a deputyship.

He had debts on credit cards a loan etc, I wrote to each lender, enclosing medical evidence of lack of capacity etc, and each one took the decision to write the debts off with immediate effect.

Now as to whether anyone could achieve that result after just a phone call, I would not like to say, in the vast majority of cases they would need to see proof of what you are telling them.

elsien

 Although just to flag up that a third-party authority ends when someone loses capacity.
Because they no longer have the ability to monitor or cancel it.  

RAS

Similar to sourcrates with £25k debt and no assets,  the partner rang and the creditor advised that if the situation didn't improve, they'd "just have to close the account."

Agreed to hold off all action for 6 months and await update. When medics advised there was no chance of working again and lacked capacity to make financial decisions, hold was extended until guardianship was granted. Now written off.

SilasMarner

Thanks for all your replies. Really helpful. From your views it seems highly likely that the debt has been cancelled or at least put into abeyance. 

RAS

Once someone is appointed guardian, they might want to send an update on the medical and financial situation.