Littlewoods refused payment plan...

[wetwipesareus]

My Dad is 85
He and my Mum had a littkewoods catalogue.
They paid £150 a month
My mum passed away and Dad had to pay for funeral (mum had no insurance )
So now he just has the one pension and they have stopped his pension credit as he is slightly over the threshold.

I wrote a email to the specialist department explaining mum died and he could no longer afford the £150
I asked if we could set up a p/p for £80 a month
They said no
This was their reply

Would he get into trouble if we just pay the £80 a month ?
He's never missed a payment in 20 years

Whose name is the debt in?

Remember that will include sentimental jewellery etc. OP can you not put it on a 0% card or get a personal loan to clear it?

I would just ignore them and pay the £80, in fact I would probably pay half of that. The worst that can happen is his credit rating will be affected but it's unlikely he is going to be looking to take on any financial products anyway.

Sorry for late reply
Catalogue is in both names
Unfortunately I can't get a loan or help with the payments as I have zero credit history
I get defined for the basics
I deffo wouldn't get a loan
I just think they could be more sympathetic

Edited

Contact Step change or CAB.

Did your father get help with funeral costs?

I'm looking at this help but you have to claim within 6 months of the funeral. Pension credit is one of the qualifying benefits which it sounds like your parents were on at the time.

https://www.gov.uk/funeral-payments

If it is possible to claim it would help.

No he didn't get any help
He doesn't get pension credit only pension

What will stepchange do ?
Will he have to go to an appointment?
As he isn't up to anything like that at the minute

When you say in your OP that your father's Pension Credit has been stopped - he didn't receive it at the time your mother died?

Bad advice, if you don't pay them the full amount that they are legally quite within their rights to charge, they will pass it over to debt recovery, the debt will shoot up and then the bailiffs will be knocking at the door.

It was the wrong plan IMHO to ask to reduce to £80 long term, you should have asked for a reduced amount or break from repayments for a few months whilst finances stabilised and things were settled, they would be much more likely be agree to that.

They are not doing anything wrong, the HP catalogue model they operate is unchanged sine the 1920s as a way of letting poorer families spread the cost of items out.

@LovingCritic we did ask if we could have a payment break but he would still have to catch up and regardless he can't afford it now without the other income
So payment break or not he still can't afford it

@Winter2020 no they did a review beginning of the year and his pension was over £2 too much a week to get pension credit
So they stopped it

Money saving expert Debt Free Wannabe forum is a good place for specific debt advice. One route is to stop paying anything. The debt will then be defaulted in time- the interest is then frozen which is why default can be helpful. Your father then makes an offer he can afford such as £5 each week. This is backed up with a budget plan which Stepchange or Christians Against Poverty (CAP) could help him to work out.

Companies then think carefully about taking the debt to court as if £5 each week is all your father can afford then it is all that the court will award - so the company are wasting their time and money taking it to court.

Stepchange or Christians Against Poverty can help your father to get a payment plan that he can afford.

If by chance the account is in your Dad's name tell them he is suffering financial hardship (use those words) and offer £x a month. You will need to send them a statement of his incomings and outgoings to show he can't afford more. If you offer more than this please make sure he can afford the amount offered every month, so build in money for haircuts, birthdays, entertainment etc.

Thankyou
It's just been so frustrating trying to deal with them.
I thought they would rather £80 a month than someone not paying or letting it default /go to debt collection agency
Apparently not

It's probably like others have said that all or most of that £80 will go on interest without reducing the debt much at all. No hope of the debt being repaid in a reasonable number of years but no resolution to write it off either.

They might not be allowed to agree to keep someone in perpetual debt either. I know credit cards now have to write to you to tell you and up your payments or cancel your cards if they consider you to be in persistent debt.

Have you been able to see a statement to find out what the interest is each month?

A catalogue cannot be in 'both' names, that's not a thing

They have froze the interest.
It was meant to be over £200 a month
They said the £150 was the lowest the can go

Can he get an interest free credit card and pay the lot off, then put the £80 a month towards that?

I would cancel the direct debit, that's in your control. Wait to be contacted and they'll have to accept £80 he will probably get a black mark against his credit rating, but he is not likely to need credit again I wouldn't think.

Explain that £150 would result in financial hardship.
that seems to be a trigger phrase

As a pp says, I've never seen a catalogue in joint names, so I presume it's in his name or he wouldn't need to repay his late wife's debt.

I'd definitely get him to speak to a debt counselling service and see it they can help.

Finally I'd be making sure he won't - or can't- continue making purchases from them.

According to my dad when they signed up they had to put if they had a wife etc and how much there income was
So I assume it meant it was both of theirs

Also the reason the balance was so High is because they put a few large items (cooker etc ) on bnpl and didn't realise if every penny was repaid they would get the full interest added
For example cooker was £450
BNPl with interest says £880
They paid £240
But still got the interest

They got confused and stupidly didn't ask for help

I was thinking something similar.