Friends Husband passed away with credit card debt, any advice appreciated

credcrunch

If the credit card was taken out before April 2007 there is a good chance the debt is unenforceable.

This is because 75% of credit agreements do not comply with the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and/or the credit card company would be unable to produce the original signed credit agreement. This means that a court cannot enforce the debt if they try to sue for it. However there is growing publicity of this, the credit companies will know which of their agreements are not fully compliant and will not want alot of noise to be made about it.

There are snake oil salesmen out there who will take a 25% fee to tell you this but all you need to do is make a Subject Access Reequest under the Data Protection Act for a copy of the credit agreement. Then write to them again asking them to write off the debt.

DSmiffy

Thanks for all the advice, I will be approaching the credit card company this week and will request a copy of the credit agreement as suggested.

Will let you know how I get on, hopefully it will help someone else

Strapped

If a house is owned as joint tennants, then the deceased's share will pass to the survivor automatically - importantly, NOT forming part of the deceased's "estate" - so cc companies can NOT make a claim against it. HTH.

DSmiffy

credcrunch wrote: »

If the credit card was taken out before April 2007 there is a good chance the debt is unenforceable.

This is because 75% of credit agreements do not comply with the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and/or the credit card company would be unable to produce the original signed credit agreement. This means that a court cannot enforce the debt if they try to sue for it. However there is growing publicity of this, the credit companies will know which of their agreements are not fully compliant and will not want alot of noise to be made about it.

There are snake oil salesmen out there who will take a 25% fee to tell you this but all you need to do is make a Subject Access Reequest under the Data Protection Act for a copy of the credit agreement. Then write to them again asking them to write off the debt.

have just been to the branch today to inform them of my dad's death and asked if the debt on the credit card was payable. The assistant rang card services whilst we were there and said that now someone will be ringing from the "estates department" to let us know what happens next.

If I quote this Consumer Credit Act of 1974 and tell them I think the debt is unenforceable, is that the right way to approach it? Or should I just act daft and see what happens.?

HD840

I have read with interest and something occurs to me....I know it is probably a separate forum/thread but do the same rules apply to Inland Revenue debt in the sole name of the deceased if no estate to cover the debt.
I cannot believe that IR just write it off.

zpacey

krystal-divination wrote: »

When my father passed away i had to continue paying his bills and his credit card (not much on it) i was told the debt does not die its paid by next of kin or estate.

~~ K ~~ x

My husband passed away 2 years ago, he had no estate/savings/life insurance etc, but he had loans and credit cards in his sole name. I wrote them and all they asked was for me to send the death cert and all the debts were written off.

CLAPTON

Strapped wrote: »

If a house is owned as joint tennants, then the deceased's share will pass to the survivor automatically - importantly, NOT forming part of the deceased's "estate" - so cc companies can NOT make a claim against it. HTH.

this is not the case.. it used to be assumed to be true but more recently several court cases have overturned this and debts are collected from half the house even if joint tenants.

CLAPTON

HD840 wrote: »

I have read with interest and something occurs to me....I know it is probably a separate forum/thread but do the same rules apply to Inland Revenue debt in the sole name of the deceased if no estate to cover the debt.
I cannot believe that IR just write it off.

if there is genuinely no estate, then yes they write it off... who else is expected to pay it?

JimmyTheWig

NickX wrote: »

Out of interest, who told you that the debt should be paid by next of kin ? I hope it wasn't a solicitor that said this.

If there is an estate that can afford to pay the debt and the next of kin is set to inherit this estate, surely there is logic that says the next of kin should just pay the bill? If the bills go unpaid the estate will get hit by charges and interest and the next of kin will lose out in the end.

Mozette

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

If there is an estate that can afford to pay the debt and the next of kin is set to inherit this estate, surely there is logic that says the next of kin should just pay the bill? If the bills go unpaid the estate will get hit by charges and interest and the next of kin will lose out in the end.

The estate is legally responsible, not the next of kin. The deceased may have left it all to the dogs home, so why then would the next of kin pay?