Hi,
I’ve recently discovered that my mum has allowed my younger sister to apply for credit using her name. Sister moved in surf mum following her divorce and I know that things have been tough for her financially.
She has three credit cards in my mom‘s name with a total debt of about 10 K. I have spoken to my mum about this at length over the last week and she is assured me that she gave full consent for this. She has also shown me that the payments come directly from my sisters bank and there is no actual cost to her. I was relieved to see that.
my mum is 74 but if very sound mind so I’m not concerned that she’s been duped or anything like that, however I am concerned about the liability on her. If anything happened to my sister then these debts will be the responsibility of my mum. That would be a problem.
my sister is mortified that I know about this. I don’t want to embarrass her or to make anyone feel uncomfortable but I do think that this is a situation that needs to be sorted out quickly. If I had the money I would pay these cards off and then allow my sister to pay me back. Sadly, that is just not an option for me at the moment
my mum has asked me to just leave it as she has no issue with it, however I feel very uncomfortable. Would it be appropriate for me to ask my sister to take out a life insurance policy that would pay the amount owed. That would at least give my mum a safeguard if anything were to happen to my sister?
Apparently my mum and sister have already discussed what would happen if the debt isn’t paid before mum passes away. In that instance my sister’s share of any inheritance would be reduced by the amount owed. There is nothing in writing regarding that, however I think they’re probably should be.
My partner understands my concern but thinks I should probably not get too involved. WWYD?