Grandma's creditors are calling me to collect her debt. Any advice?
So far, I've gotten two phone calls from credit card companies telling me that my grandma asked them to call me because I handle her finances. All I do is make sure her phone bills are paid. Her credit card debt is over my head. The only thing I've even seen or known about was a Capital One card with 16k on it and a bank card who just told me had 2k on it. Neither one of them's ever going to be paid. Mom has no money in her account because she keeps getting cash out and not knowing where she's spending it (I've already stopped her debit card because someone else besides her was using it, but it wasn't fraud cause she let them) All I'm trying to do is keep money in the account so she can afford to live in a DECENT home, but it leaves just as quickly as social security goes in.
So, my question is can these creditors really expect a payment? Her account may only have on average 300 bucks a month and she only gets paid in a pension & social security. However, there's no money for a lawyer because she keeps getting out waay to much cash. I live on $80 cash for myself. I give my grandma a few hundred as her initial budget...spends it, then goes to get more. Then when her auto-bills come out the account is overdrawn.
I don't want to be responsible for her d**n credit cards. Legally, I'm not but I don't want them calling me either.
8 Answers
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best of luck.
l
Smart - not to commingle funds - keep that up. BTW, NEVER sign for anything on their cards, some old CC agreements had a clause that stated if anyone used the card, they were liable for the balance.
But besides that, it sounds like you have a mom and a grandmom who can't manage money. And, yes, the creditors do expect to get paid. The sheriff can show up at your door eventually. You must keep your own funds separate and have an official arrangment in place for being paid as a caregiver. They could consider bankruptcy if reputable debt consolidation/credit counseling and ADHERENCE to a budget they recommend does not happen. If they are not capable of living on a budget, and are hemorrhagining cash to late fees and overdraft fees, protect yourself first, before going to their aid via POA or guardianships, and maybe, depending on what the fees are, ask the bank to switch to NOT paying overdrafts. That limits the fees somewhat depending on how it is set up. How are you keeping utilities on? Are they using any local food pantries for groceries, etc.?
Anyway, I would rather them take 10% of her pension. It's not much. Neither is 10% of her entire income. After calculating her WHOLE income it, it would be like $197 a month. That would be okay if it were for 1 credit card, but there might be more than 2 out there. I haven't had anyone else call me yet. I don't want to chase this but it's probably no good to wait for them to call me either.