What will the consequesnces

[owler81]

Hi Everyone,

So, hear me out....
Mum passed away 4 months ago. She was 82 and in very poor health for the last 5 years of her life. 3 years ago she took out 2 credit cards and got into a mess. We didn't know about this until a while afterwards. She struggled and the card providers ( one in particular) was quite aggressive in their approach. Disgusting really.

we are in the process of sorting her estate. The sale of her flat will generate some money and this has been split across me and my 2 siblings. The expectation is that the two credit card debts will be settled from this - the amounts are £2700 and £3100.

What would happen if we just ignored them and refuse to pay? We feel like we want to take a stand. Please be assured that this is not an attempt at increasing our inheritance - we have already agreed that we would donate the money to Macmillan.

I know that in theory we should settle the debts, but what would happen with relatively small debts, such as these if we just ignore them?

What did your mum spend the £5k+ on?

I worked in debt collection (on the legal side) for many years. One of my clients was one of Irelands main banks. When a debtor died the bank wrote off the debt. We never ever pursued Executors, the legal costs weren't worth it.

OP, I would re-iterate that the debtor is deceased and leave it at that.

Perhaps your mum had the same fierce independence with the credit card companies and embroidered her financial credibility. If you didn't realise she was struggling, with a strong relationship with her, how can a stranger on the other side of computer screen know?

You need to pay the debts out of the estate. That is your duty and you are not acting morally if you try to get out of it.

It may well be that you feel the credit card companies themselves acted wrongly in the way they dealt with your mother and her situation, but that is a separate issue. Complain to them separately if you wish, or highlight "credit given vulnerable elderly people" in the media or whatever, but your own moral duty is to repay the debt, since there is money in the estate to do this.

If there was absolutely no money at all (eg. if your mother lived on state pension only, was renting, and had no savings) then you wouldn't be held responsible for the debts (assuming the debt was in her name only) - although the credit company might try to persuade you otherwise. This is the only reason for not paying the debt, but "no money" is not the case here.

I cannot understand why you think you have the moral high ground against the credit companies when you are planning to lie/act immorally yourself?

This. My mum is 76 this year. Does her banking and shopping online, knows what to look out for as regards scammers, flies abroad to holiday on her own etc etc. It's only a few years younger than your mum was when she took her cards out. My mum manages her own finances. BUT, my sister and I have power of attorney. She requested that we all arrange that a couple of years ago whilst she was still fit and well, so that if she DOES become infirm or vulnerable we would be able to sort her finances out for her. If she takes a credit card out now and runs up debt on it that's entirely on her, she's an independent person. She can either pay it off or it would just get paid out of her estate if she died. The minute she ISN'T capable we would be setting the power of attorney into action and then the debt would be on US to manage before she died.

Either way the debt is getting paid. I don't really understand the idea that debts shouldn't be paid if the money is there to pay them.

That is your duty and you are not acting morally if you try to get out of it.

you want to talk about credit card companies and morals in the same sentence....

The probate and copy of will are publicly available and financial institutions will almost certainly have some kind of "subscription" to be able to view and download multiple probate details.

Executors are personally liable for not doing the job properly, so the bank could well come after the executors in years to come if they find out that there were assets that could have paid the debts.

The OP can't tell the bank that there are no assets to pay the debt as that is clearly fraudulent.

All they can do, in their capacity as executors, is make a formal complaint to the bank in the hope of getting the debts written off, but everything they say/write has to be entirely truthful and factual.

If you truly believe the credit card providers (is it a bank/s?) have not followed the relevant affordability checks and/or have loaned money to your Mum irresponsibly, then as executor, you are perfectly within your rights to make a complaint to that effect. Only after you have been through the provider's complaints process can you take it to the FOS if you disagree with the outcome.
So do that OP - make a complaint, and see what happens.

Looks like this is one of those threads where OP has pissed off because she doesn’t like the replies…

They'll know because to sell the flat the executors will need probate, and to get that they'll need to provide details of the value of the estate. Once obtained, the grant of probate (and will if there is one) become a matter of public record and anyone can look them up to see how much the estate was worth and who inherited it.

Xx d rf

She borrowed the money and no doubt spent it all. Unless she was senile, she knew what she was doing. You can't remove all autonomy from people just because they are old. If you thought she was vulnerable, why didn't you organise a LPA and monitor her finances?