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My Father-in-law died just over two years ago and around the second anniversary of his death my Mother-in-law received a letter from Phillips & Cohen Associates Ltd.
They offered their sincere condolences following the death of Mr xxxxxxx and informed "The Estate of the late Mr xxxxxxx" that they were there to help and could offer "specialist" advice. Oh and they wanted some money, but that was merely an afterthought, barely worth mentioning really and nothing to worry about, just a trifling matter....
Apparently his Morgan Stanley Platinum card had an outstanding balance and they were authorised by Morgan Stanley to collect this sum.
I was passed the letter and I telephoned them and asked if they knew that Mr xxxxxxx had actually died over two years ago and that the estate had been disbursed.
They did not.
They did however ask if there were any relatives willing to take on the debt, by which of course they meant "pay" the debt.
I suggested that they were out of time, given that they really should have made this request within six months of receiving the death certificate.
Since then I have received three further telephone calls. One was merely a repeat of the telephone call I made to them, informing me that the money was owed and needed to be paid, although they did concede that their request had no force in law. The second was offering a reduction of some £900 off the total sum apparently owing and the third to suggest instalments as a way of easing the burden for any relatives willing to pay this bill.
After today, I don't think they will be calling again however.
Morgan Stanley sent a Statutory Default Notice for this account too, as it was not paid fast enough apparently. He was one month behind (well, that and dead of course!) and they went for the default.
I do not advocate irresponsibility toward borrowing or debt but it appears to me that they should look again at their lending criteria and ensure they have adequate cover for this one inescapable eventuality.
I really did not think the debt recovery business could sink any lower.
I was wrong.
They offered their sincere condolences following the death of Mr xxxxxxx and informed "The Estate of the late Mr xxxxxxx" that they were there to help and could offer "specialist" advice. Oh and they wanted some money, but that was merely an afterthought, barely worth mentioning really and nothing to worry about, just a trifling matter....
Apparently his Morgan Stanley Platinum card had an outstanding balance and they were authorised by Morgan Stanley to collect this sum.
I was passed the letter and I telephoned them and asked if they knew that Mr xxxxxxx had actually died over two years ago and that the estate had been disbursed.
They did not.
They did however ask if there were any relatives willing to take on the debt, by which of course they meant "pay" the debt.
I suggested that they were out of time, given that they really should have made this request within six months of receiving the death certificate.
Since then I have received three further telephone calls. One was merely a repeat of the telephone call I made to them, informing me that the money was owed and needed to be paid, although they did concede that their request had no force in law. The second was offering a reduction of some £900 off the total sum apparently owing and the third to suggest instalments as a way of easing the burden for any relatives willing to pay this bill.
After today, I don't think they will be calling again however.
Morgan Stanley sent a Statutory Default Notice for this account too, as it was not paid fast enough apparently. He was one month behind (well, that and dead of course!) and they went for the default.
I do not advocate irresponsibility toward borrowing or debt but it appears to me that they should look again at their lending criteria and ensure they have adequate cover for this one inescapable eventuality.
I really did not think the debt recovery business could sink any lower.
I was wrong.
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