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?

If I had the money I would however I don’t have that sort of money spare. I am taking over the monthly payments though

If your DM can't get an interest free balance transfer offer, can you get one instead? And she pay you back for the payments?

I think a lot of posters don’t understand what irresponsible lending is and what the OP is hoping for in terms of support for her mother.

im about to take out a new mortgage so I don’t want to apply right now. It’s definitely something I’ll consider after I’ve moved though

Good point. It's probably also worth waiting to see what the bank says about your DMs case. No point taking the debt on yourself if they're willing to agree an interest free repayment plan with her.

Either way i’ll make the monthly payments on card number 2

No because balance transfers have to be in the same name of the credit card you are leaving and the new one. You can't balance transfer to a third party (even a member of your own family). How would the DM have paid for her new roof/vet bills without access to the credit?

She wouldn’t have been able to

So she's borrowed money then. There's a Govt backed website (moneyhelper.org) or Stepchange. But I'd speak to the lender first. How did she apply for the credit card/s? Online/phone/branch or a combination? Have you cobsidered asking her to request her credit file? An online search should tell you which of the 3 main credit reference agencies the lender reports info to. Also, some online banking apps have a link to your credit report and show whether your credit rating is excellent/good/poor; items affecting your credit score.

I would complain and see where it gets you. She has obviously been confused when 2 card arrived with practically the same details. And we all know how easy it is to rack up these debts, little here, little there and before you know it you have hit your limit.

Are you able to transfer both balances to another 0% interest card?

Have you thought about becoming her power of attorney? You can do for health or finance or both. But you need to do it while she is still of sound mind

I think some posters don’t understand that even taking into consideration DM’s age, the fact that the 2 cards was the company’s mistake, OP won’t get much out of them other than a repayment plan and possibly a small goodwill reduction.

She may get a repayment plan with no interest and possibly some of the accumulated interest written off.

I mean I work in banking and would describe myself as a conduct risk and consumer duty SME. I definitely think it’s worthwhile them pursuing this. I’ve seen the ombudsman rule in the customers favour for a lot less.
She needs to lean on the double credit limit being irresponsible.

Hi op, I work for a bank and can give you a view on how they'll treat this kind of complaint as I worked in complaints and dealt with ombudsman submissions for a time. This might well be a mistake but unless they have something in their T&Cs not allowing two cards they'll likely not uphold it. If you have medical evidence your mum is vulnerable they might take that into account but her being 75 and a widow really isn't considered sufficient vulnerability to write off 4k of spending. Something like dementia, psychosis or bipolar disorder might be.

You can take your complaint to the ombudsman once you have their decision. Make sure you have as much information and evidence possible. It's free and you would be as well doing that but I'll be honest, I don't like your chances with the information you've given. Your mum having gotten to this age and never having managed her own finances is very much a choice.

I'm afraid I agree. I worked in banking for about 40 years and handled complaints for many of those years (not to FOS stage but I routinely checked FOS website to check out their decisions. In fact, I still do from time to time out of interest). There's info on FOS website about irresponsible lending if you want to look at it. A PP suggested you look into POA (obvs your DM would have to consent). I think that's a good idea.

You can certainly argue the vulnerability point and you may get one credit card wiped.
if a credit limit of £4000 was determined to be the maximum, then it is clear that the bank would not have effectively allowed her to have £8000 credit.
I am not sure that your mum can argue she didn’t notice she was using two cards to the maximum and didn’t realise they were separate.

OP - ignore what most people here say about vulnerability, just because it was your mums choice not to take any previous interest in finances, does not mean she is not vulnerable.

Your mum has several markers that can potentially make her vulnerable (age, bereavement, inexperience). When those are present, it is up to the institution to show why they do not consider your mum vulnerable.

Just to clarify, we’re not looking for any of it to be written off, just the interest reduced/removed

I've also worked in a bank and we had a vulnerable /elderly customer care line.

If the OP clearly explains that the card was received in error, and her mum was confused and vulnerable, I think the bank will help with a lower interest repayment plan

In the event that the bank doesn't help OP.

Shop around .

You could get your mum to take out a low interest loan and pay off the high interest credit cards with it. Then cancel the credit cards.That's one example

You say that she was under financial stress just before and after your father's death. How would she have managed to pay for the roof repairs and the vet's bill this without the £8000 combined credit limit on the two credit cards? Would she have need to ask her children for the money? Would you have been able to help her?

Now that your father's estate is sorted, is there some money now available to help pay these off?

I also work for a large well known bank ( HSBC). There is no way two cards would have been deliberately issued and this is clearly an error on the bank's part. It's actually quite a significant error - imagine if it had been a 20k loan!

I would be very very surprised if the bank don't offer support with this - it's very very bad practice based on the details that you have shared. I do agree that it wasn't wise to use the cards but that does not impact the fact they lent irresponsibly

Of course your bank would have a vulnerable customer line. This has come into being in past few years. It isn't actually established that the bank made an error. It would need to be investigated to establish whether they did by checking records/speaking to the customer. The DM may be vulnerable. We also don't know that for certain. Equality law is clear that age is a protected characteristic so you can't make assumptions that someone is vulnerable just because they are 75. In fact, it's probably unlawful to do so. There may be other factors that make the customer vulnerable however. The bank may well help but anything they offer will depend on the customer's individual circumstances. I wish the DM and OP well.

Trust me, bereavement and grief following the death of your beloved life partner, not only makes you extremely vulnerable but also slightly insane.
It's an achievement to figure out which way is up some days.

Does a “vulnerable” person really spend up to the limit on two cards, one of which she didn’t want? I think she needed the money and spent it. I agree it’s foolish but she needed the roof repaired and I bet that cost more than £4000. My DM would never have kept the second card she didn’t want. That’s the real issue. She could have returned it but I think she needed the money.