Irresponsible lending? Mums credit cards

[Orangefantastic]

Hi,

Ive just discovered that mum is in a bit of a mess! She’s 75, widowed 2 years ago and for the first time is having to manage her finances. ( dad always did it)

in Sep 2023 she applied for a credit card with a well known high street bank. She says that when she applied there was an error message and she assumed that it hadn’t worked. She applied again immediately and was accepted for £4K limit with an introductory 0% period. A week later 2 cards arrived. Same product etc. it appears that both applications went through and she basically ended up with 2 identical cards, each except the same credit limit. There is a one digit difference between her customer numbers. I can only assume that this was a system error and that only one card should have been issued.

fast forward to now and mum has a balance on each card of almost 4K. She’s panicking. The interest free period is about to expire and her payments will rocket to over £200 per month.

now I’m all for personal responsibility, and I do wish that mum has spoken to me earlier, however she’s an elderly vulnerable woman and I think that issuing 2 cards was irresponsible, even if it was in error.

I think that we need to complain. I’m not expecting the debt to be written off- she’s spent the money after all, however I think it’s reasonable to ask them to reduce it remove the interest if the card was issued in error. Do you think this is an example of irresponsible lending?

Surely she would have been offered one card with an 8k limit then? It’s exactly the same product

What has she spent it on op?

What did they FORCE her to buy?

nobody has mentioned the money being refunded so your analogy doesn’t make sense!

My argument is there should be governance in place to identify the customer was issued what sounds like identical accounts on the same day which would be against protocol.

Due to potentially age and also life events the customer could be classed as vulnerable - not all elderly people are but obviously it varies individual to individual. If these 2 areas are deemed as a likely reason to the irresponsible spending I would imagine the bank admit some fault and either write off some debt best case scenario or alternatively would set up a payment plan with interest frozen or reduced.

Well what are you complaining about then? You agree that she should pay all the money back? No issue then!

Do you have a financial power of attorney? I have worked for banks in the past whose fraud prevention wouldn’t have allowed two cards to be issued at the same time so it sounds like an error.

banks are normally willing to help so I would definitely speak to them. They also do a lot of financial education. Maybe your mum can attend some sessions to become more financially savvy

What difference would that have made? She'd still have spent £8k either way. At the end of the day, she could have cancelled one of the cards when it arrived and she didn't, she chose to spend outside her means.

The bank is not at fault here, outside of the initial glitch which your mother should have made them aware of.

Yes it may well be irresponsible lending. Give StepChange a call- they can advise. You may be able to get some of it written off.

She had quite a long regarding dad’s financial affairs being sorted. She also had to fund a roof repair. Her dog was very ill too with no insurance so she used some of it for this. I think that she’s got into a bit of a spiral and so used the cards to prop herself up. I wish she’d asked for help earlier

No, because she applied twice.
Generally you are not given the absolute max limit as a first step. Besides, it should have been blatantly obvious there were 2 accounts just as soon as she reached the £4K mark and could keep spending

Sorry for in depth posts this is my job at a bank looking into issues like this 😅

She did spend the money OP and presumably understood it needed to be paid back.

It’s a mess but no one made her spend the money

Read my initial post please.

I think that some posters are being unnecessarily harsh about an elderly woman who hasn’t handled finances before and has got herself into a bit of bother. Presumably her late husband dealt with tradespeople and vet bills.

Hopefully the bank will agree to freeze the interest for a while as a goodwill gesture.

But couldn't she have just not used the second credit card?

If the bank posted me two credit cards in error, I would tell them I don't want the second one.

Ignore the outraged Daily Mail posters. You won't get any useful or correct advice from them. 😂

Yes, the bank has clearly made a mistake.

I'd speak to a specialist debt adviser before speaking to the bank and see what steps they advise you to take.

My initial thought is to ask the bank for copies of the two credit agreements that she signed. 🤔

Well I can't speak for anyone else but actually I have a lot of sympathy for the elderly woman here.
That doesn’t mean I think the bank are at fault though - which was the question being asked

If they wouldn’t have given her £8k on one card based on her financial position, it’s irresponsible to have given it across 2 cards. My bet is that there is a system delay that didn’t register that she’d already applied.

Yes wrong, and she shouldn’t have spent it. However, I think you could have a chance if you go down their formal complaints route using buzz words such as vulnerable and consumer duty.

Your mum has some responsibility.

But it is no harm to ring the bank and ask for help. Even if they don't get rid of the whole debt they might agree to lower repayments per month.

Some banks have enhanced customer care support lines for vulnerable and elderly people. Check to see if her bank has that.

A significant number of older women have been kept out of managing household finances by their husbands. I think it is a relic of by-gone times. She may well have not fully understood how credit and credit cards work. I would contact the bank as I think she is vulnerable, in a way that someone who has been used to managing money over a lifetime may not be. Good luck.

She applied online and would have clicked the agreements twice.

The fact that she thought the first one didn’t work was then rather undermined by her using both cards.

Hopefully the bank can do something about the interest - perhaps change it to a personal loan or similar.

Op definitely ring and ask the bank for help. They will give help to vulnerable customers.

Perhaps the best thing to do is for your mum to contact Stepchange and ask them to help in getting the interest frozen. Then to make an arrangement to pay the debt off without incurring charges