Probate loan advice

[LavenderLxx]

I’m currently waiting for probate to be granted so that we can access my Mum’s bank savings and sell her house.

Since she died 6 months ago I haven’t been working (I’m self employed) so money is a little bit tight! Mum’s bank won’t release any funds without the grant of probate which will probably be about 16 weeks wait.

I’ve seen online that there are financial institutions that offer probate loans secured against the estate - has anyone used one? Any recommendations? It would be for about £20,000 just to tide us over while I’ve not been working.

Thank you

Don’t do it! The interest fees are eye watering.

Agree with PP, don’t do it

Banks release monies before probate for certain costs IHT bills, funeral expenses. Have you checked online what monies they can release early and submitted any invoices for those costs? Taking out loans which have rediculous interest doesn’t seem to make any sense. You might be self employed what expenses are you facing that you need a loan for?

Can you not start working again?

Due to reasons I don’t want to share on here I’m unable to return to work at the present. None of my Mum’s estate can be accessed before probate is granted and as I’ve not been working for the last 6 months I’ve had to put lots of bills/purchases onto my credit card. A loan of £20,000 would easily pay the credit card plus allow us a bit of breathing room before I return to work and also pay for maintenance work that needs to be done on Mum’s house before we sell it

Everyone has already advised you it’s a bad idea OP

It might be tempting but you'll regret it.

When did you apply for probate? It's taking less than 16 weeks now , if it's not a complicated estate . We had ours within 3 weeks of applying .

I would ask your existing bank for an unsecured loan. We borrowed 10k from Lloyds unsecured for six months, all applied for online and with an interest rate half that of credit card. We do have regular income though. Do you have a partner with a regular income coming into a bank account?

As if you “just” need £20k you may find a bank doesn’t need security for it - but you’d need a good credit rating. Or eg if you have a mortgage ask for a mortgage repayment holiday for 6 months

A probate loan is generally to pay the inheritance tax (because you need to pay tax before you get probate). I haven’t seen them used just to advance payments to beneficiaries.

If the deceased has money in the bank you don’t need a probate loan for IHT the direct payment scheme allows banks to release moneys to pay IHT/ HMRC before the grant of probate is granted.