Advice needed on Dad's debt

hectoriess3000

Hi All
My dad is 64 at the end of this year and if he is to be believed he will have just finished paying off his mortgage. He works self employed but has somehow managed to get himself into substantial debt.

He has taken out a £10,000 loan for a woman who used him and left him with the loan after promising to pay the installments :mad: . He has also amassed a credit card debt of about £12,000 :eek: , think he just done this when he has been out of work and living beyond his means. A few times us children have helped him out to pay the odd bill but now we all have families of our own and can't afford to help. I am currently on maternity leave and only just paying my bills let alone dads.

I only found out about the credit card debt when I stumbled across the bill. I had a lengthy chat with him and he says this is all the debt he has!! I have tried to get him to sort out the credit card to no avail. I have given him the best deals going to shift the debt onto interest free as he is paying top dollar interest so he will never clear the debt.

Is there anyway I can sort things out for him as he keeps burying his head in the sand hoping the problem will go away. I live about 200 miles from my dad but hopefully he will be visiting in a couple of weeks so I am really going to tackle him and try and get things sorted. I will be grateful for any ideas. Many Thanks

hypno06

sadly, however much you want to help, if your Dad insists on burying his head in the sand, you can't yank it out yourself.

Perhaps show him this site - talk excitedly about the fab ideas that are on here etc?

Tell him you are concerned, and that you will do what you can, but that he HAS to take those first steps himself and be honest about the situation. It won't go away, sadly, but he has to have his own lightbulb moment.

Good luck x

stapeley

yes make him look through this site !

(Land_of)_Maz

Hi there, sounds like a difficult position to be in....

Is your dad due any retirement or some other kind of payout anytime soon that will help him get out of this pickle.

If he's webbed up then he could definately do worse than check out the site, if not the forums, as they aren't for everyone!

(although they should be compulsary!!!)

hectoriess3000

Hi thanks for the replies, my dad can just about work a mobile phone let alone a computer. No payouts due soon either which is a shame. I just feel so helpless as I know I could arrange his finances so he could clear the debt if only he would let me. I just don't want him to end up in such a mess he has to sell the home he has lived in for over thirty years.