Funeral Directors charging interest

[splendid]

Just been to the Funeral Directors with my mum-in-law to pay a further £500.
She came out the office in tears saying they will now be charging £35.00 per month interest.

Funeral was on the 8th October costing £3,300 she has a further £800 to pay.

I have informed them we are waiting for pensions etc 2 weeks ago.

I think this is totally unacceptable and have lost themselves a lot of future business. We have had no letters from them whatsoever

I do know it can be up to 6 months collect the monies from pensions etc.

Can they do this

Any advice is greatly appreciated

Thank you

[enquirer]

Re: Funeral Directors charging interest

It all depends on the terms of the contract. Was payment agreed to be over a specified period at a particular rate?

[enaid]

Re: Funeral Directors charging interest

Hi I am sorry about your loss and that you are having further upset from the Funeral Directors. I am sure if they are charging interest on the outstanding amount then it will be in the contract that was signed.
There is a thing now called the budgeting loan that can help with funeral costs if certain criteria is met by your mum in law details here https://www.gov.uk/budgeting-loans
It is an interest free loan and gives a fair amount of time to repay. Other than that I really don't think i can help you further but someone else will be along to give further advice if they can.

[QCKate]

Re: Funeral Directors charging interest

Just been to the Funeral Directors with my mum-in-law to pay a further £500.
She came out the office in tears saying they will now be charging £35.00 per month interest.

Funeral was on the 8th October costing £3,300 she has a further £800 to pay.

I have informed them we are waiting for pensions etc 2 weeks ago.

I think this is totally unacceptable and have lost themselves a lot of future business. We have had no letters from them whatsoever

I do know it can be up to 6 months collect the monies from pensions etc.

Can they do this



Any advice is greatly appreciated

Thank you

Sorry to hear about this, it must be very distressing. Are they members of the National Association of Funeral Directors ( www.nafd.org.uk ) or British Institute of Funeral Directors ( www.bifd.org.uk ) ?? If so you can read about their code of practice. Unfortunately there is no other regulation of these businesses. If they are part of a group (like the Coop or Dignity) you should contact there Head Office to complain.

QCK

[splendid]

Re: Funeral Directors charging interest

Thank you for the replies

They are a member of one of the above.

We do have the money but not till January of which they know.
The way they have dealt with this goes against their codes of practice.
I will have to write a letter

thanks all

[teaboy2]

Re: Funeral Directors charging interest

Can you post up the terms and conditions of the contract? Was it a finance agreement? If so have they a credit license? Because as far as am aware, they are not permitted to charge any interest for the provision of a service, unless it is paid for via finance. Which means they would need either a credit license or a 3rd party finance company which will have paid the funeral directors and you'd be paying monthly repayments including monthly interest like you would any other loan.

Also the interest seems steep to me, you owe what £800 well £35 per month amonts to £420 over 12 months, so thats 42% on top off what you currently owe!

[splendid]

Re: Funeral Directors charging interest

No it's not finance

it states in the t&c that it must be paid within 30 days of funeral(unless written conformation ) but even so are they not obliged to send a reminder or even remind me on a visit by myself not wait till the widow actually gets the courage to go in the place with a payment

im at home now and do not have the t&c with me but I can get them if needed

Interesting if they are not allowed to charge interest, but it does state they will in t&c so maybe they can

[teaboy2]

Re: Funeral Directors charging interest

No they can not, certainly not at the amount they are charging as it would amount to a penalty in law, all they can charge is late payment fees under a service contract as far as am aware! Any interest they would be permitted to would be 8% but that would likely only be applied in court!

Put it this way, if you bought a a sofa paid 50% upfront and the rest on a payment plan agreed with the seller, then all the seller would be entitled to would be the other 50%, nothing more, unless payments are late where they can then charge a small late payment fee cover costs of contacting and extra time spend administering the account.

Now Key Question. Did say what would happen and amount (or interest) they would charge upon late payment in the original signed contracts terms and conditions? Be percise type the terms up if need be, as the more percise you are about the terms the more we will have to go on when it comes to giving you the advice you need, which you can then slap in the funeral directors face!!