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?

Yes of course a ‘vulnerable’ person can overspend in this way. She got herself into a mess - having two cards made the mess bigger than it would otherwise have been.

Hopefully a sensible interest rate can be agreed to repay the balance as piling interest on at credit card rates will make matters worse.

POA is a good idea and no more credit cards unless they have low limits.

Op, how did you get on with the Bank?

I agree “vulnerable” if the person is SEN but a standard person? No.Especially one eho
has family. Most older widowed people are risk averse and know it’s wrong to do this because they evaluate the consequences.

Hi, we haven’t spoken to them yet. We’ve spent some time drafting the letter today we’ve asked a friend (they work in financial services) to check it for us.

Where have you got that data from- older widowed people being more risk averse?

She paid for roof repairs and vet bills. She could hardly be ignorant of the way credit cards work to the extent if not understanding that it needs to be paid back?

When someone has not managed household bills they don’t routinely turn to credit cards. They usually talk to loved ones about what to do.

Tbh they don't (routinely speak to relatives) as I know from 40 years working in a bank. But that doesn't mean the customer is automatically vulnerable either

There’s also a whole host of research about why older people are more financially risk averse. More likely to be men but women also find they would rather not spend too much as they worry about their future needs, leaving money for children and worrying about repayments on loans. They are more likely to save for what they need.

@GranPepper So do they all apply for two credit cards and max them out then? As I’ve just said, most older people are risk averse. They don’t like debt.

No, different people are different. Some are risk averse. Some are less risk averse. Age isn't the defining factor in my observation/experience.

@GranPepper A large amount of research says it is. For the reasons outlined. Leaving something for family, no time or earnings to pay it off and a preference to have savings for own needs. That seems what the majority do because they don’t want the stress of credit on a limited income. Of course not everyone is the same but people in work borrow more. Understandably.

I can only repeat my observation/experience from 40 years in banking. Some people were risk averse. Some were not. Age was not the defining factor. Attitude to risk was.

Research says otherwise. Attitude (risk averse) and age are linked.

You've made your point. I've told you my point. There's no point going round in circles so I won't bother to do so.

Could you share some of the links regarding the research on here? I’d like to take a look

Not great at links but lots of universities. Age uk looked at it in detail but over 10 years ago. They found the same attributes I described but did find there was unsecured debt in the older population but concluded very few elderly people use credit to meet an unexpected expense. People aged 50 would take a different view. Older people with a mortgage were 5 times more likely to have problem debts but obviously most aged 75 don’t have one. The report also said problem debt can build up quickly but problem debt was mostly experienced by the 50 plus group transitioning from employment to retirement. So at 75, DM is fairly unusual if the research is accurate!

However your best course of action is to look at ageuk.org.uk They have researched the issues faced when there is unsecured debt and suggest how you can get help and advice. There is a pdf you can download and they have advice phone numbers. Obviously talking through the issues will help and get the POA sorted out.

Same!
'Vulnerable' is a word that's thrown around so much now.
The OPs mum sounds completely sound of mind. She chose to max out one CC and then chose to reach for the second one.
Yes a banking glitch sent two but no one forced her to spend and max out the second one.

She chose to spend money that wasn't hers. So she needs to pay it back.

So much misinformation on this thread and your post is a good example.

We can all form an opinion of OP's mum spending on both cards, however that doesn't mean that it's not irresponsible of the bank to have given her two cards.

I can't imagine a scenario where a bank would deliberately issue two cards on the same day. It just doesn't make any sense and must have been a mistake.

There are lots of reasons why people might struggle to manage their spending. Giving OP's mum access to the additional 4k was the banks error. People who are desperate will use what ever money they can access, which for OP's mum was the 4k sitting on the duplicated card.

I think that it will be very difficult for the bank to justify their position on this. It's unlikely that they will wipe the debt, but it doesn't look as though that is what the OP is looking for.

Any research on average risk doesn't matter in this context - vulnerability is assessed on a case by case basis, not on average statistics.

I'd be interested to read the bank's good reason to issue 2 credit cards in one day.

I’d be interested to know the DM spent to max on 2 credit cards believing she had applied for one. I’m not sure she ever wanted one. She obviously had more to buy than one £4000 would cover.

All of that info was detailed in the thread?