Bank chased us for late daughter’s £11k car debt
OUR daughter unexpectedly died in August, aged 43, leaving two children, 17 and 14 and — despite having a well-paid job — lots of debts, which we are trying to sort out.
She and her husband were separated and their decree absolute would have been through in September.
She had a lazy boyfriend who didn’t work. He had two children and persuaded her to buy a seven-seater SUV so they could all go out together (they never did). He loved to pose in this car and drive it although he hadn’t passed his test.
The car was bought on a four-year loan with Santander Consumer Finance. It cost £496.18 per month with a final payment of £14,675.78 payable at the end.
She had paid off about 12 months of instalments. When she died, we ended the agreement and the car was taken away for auction.
We then received a letter saying that her estate needs to pay £11,284.41 for the early termination of the agreement.
We have written to Santander explaining that there is no money in her account. Her only ‘estate’ is her share of the family home, where her husband is now living, taking care of the children, the younger of whom is disabled.
He will be selling the house after Christmas and buying a smaller one, but this is problematic as her creditors will all want a share of the proceeds.
We took out £15,000 of loans to get her out of some debts three weeks before she died and are ourselves in debt for £30,000.
J. H., Warrington, Lancs. Christmas for many means fun and frivolous spending but for others can be the time when debt worries become overwhelming. You and any others with problems should contact the debt advice charity step-Change (stepchange.org).
santander has confirmed to me that it will not be chasing any debt.
the £11,284 was based on the original outstanding loan. Once the car was sold at auction there was £4,035 left to pay.
But after confirming there is no estate, aside from her share of the family house, santander has now written this off.
a spokesman says: ‘We are sorry to hear about the passing of mrs h. and send our condolences to her family.’
the bank had already confirmed to you that you were not personally liable for any debt.
this is a vital point. it is the estate of the deceased person that is liable for debts and not their kin.
if there is no estate, then the debt dies with the person.
any debt collection firm which tried to bully you into paying from your own resources would be breaking the law.
the issue with the house is complex and will depend on how it was owned with her husband, the equity in it and whether any debts are secured against it.
this is why i suggested you speak to stepchange for personal help.
it is the role of executors to arrange payments, but there is a clear order in which debts must be paid — and that is not just to the firm which shouts the loudest.
National Debtline, a debt advice charity run by the money advice trust, has an excellent fact sheet called ‘Debts after death’.
You can find it at national debtline.org. TWO people, unknown to me, registered a Power of Attorney (POA) on my Plusnet account. Plusnet is now refusing to take any instructions from me.
The telecoms firm emailed in November to say the POA had been authorised.
Then it emailed again to say there was an issue on my account. I phoned the next day but was told it could not speak to me because of the POA.
M. H., South Shields. YOU were initially contacted by a senior services team member who assured you there had not been a data breach. You then received a follow-up letter where they got your first name wrong — leading you to assume, quite reasonably, that something was still wrong with your account.
i asked Plusnet to take a closer look and can confirm that everything is now in order.
the POa has now been applied to a different customer, who shares your name.
i understand your concern that such an error can happen. Plusnet has paid you £100 as a goodwill gesture. MY HUSBAND has banked with the Chiswick branch of NatWest for more than 40 years.
He is being charged £25 per year for a safe deposit box.
Since 2018 we have been trying to establish what it is holding and trying to get it back.
He has also requested that his branch be transferred to Bognor Regis where we now live and for it to be converted to a joint account, as I deal with his finances, although he can approve and sign for things. We have written and we have phoned.
We have been told there is no need to transfer our accounts to a different branch but we cannot get a response to our enquiries about the safe deposit box.
J. C., Bognor Regis, W. Sussex. NatWEst has finally returned the contents of the safe deposit box to you.
a spokesman apologised for the lack of service: ‘We will be refunding the last four years of charges and offering a further £150 compensation.’
he tells me that a community banker is working with you to help with your other requests regarding your husband’s account.