Hi, thank you for the advice - we'll give them a call. Also thank you for the words of sympathy. I hope that you're beginning to come to terms with the loss. I was fairly prepared for the emotional aspect of bereavement (in as much as you can be), but I've really been taken by how physically demanding grief can be. However I am starting to feel a sense of peace and calm which is good.

Hello. My father died two months ago and following on from this my mother made a claim for a DWP funeral expenses payment. Initially the claim was denied as they deemed my mother wasn't in receipt of a qualifying benefit at the material time. She was and had submitted evidence of this benefit with her original application. Following a phone call to the DWP my mother re-submitted evidence of the qualifying benefit by email and the decision was reconsidered. She's received a letter and has been awarded a sum but it is reduced as they've said that there was money in my father's account that could have been used to pay towards funeral expenses. However this sum of money was Direct Payment money that my father received and could only be used in order to pay for his social care. When he died we had instructions from Social Services that we were to use this sum of money to pay any outstanding invoices for care and then return this money to social services. When my mother applied for the funeral payment she attached a copy of a letter from Social Services with these instructions, a copy of my fathers final bank statement and also made a note on the application form that this money in the account was not my father's to do with as he wished. On this basis I have the following questions: 1) Does anyone on this forum know enough about the rules to advise whether my mother has solid grounds to appeal this decision? 2) If she were to appeal and fail, would she lose the amount already awarded? 3) My understanding is that as this matter has already been subject to an internal DWP reconsideration process that any further reconsideration would have to be carried out as an independent appeal procedure - is this a formal process? Is it in person? Would we need representation? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

My Dad passed away recently. He died without leaving a will. He did not own any property, had no cash or assests. On his death he had a basic bank account which contained a few hundred pounds of Social Services, Direct payment money - ring-fenced to pay for his social care only. I contacted the bank and they were willing to administer and close down the account without the need to apply for a grant of administration. The money in this account has been repaid to social services and the account closed down. There are no assets - only personal possessions. The most valuable item is an MP3 player worth maybe £30. His funeral expenses have been divided out amongst the family. Unfortunately he left unpaid debts which he'd been making token payments on for a few years since he retired on health grounds. All of the debts in question are in his name only. I've been writing to his creditors with a copy of the death certificate and a simple letter explaining that the estate is insolvent. Today I've had a letter from a company called Assisted Probate Services. They've been instructed by their client - Experto Credite (who were handling one of my dad's debt on behalf of Barclays). The letter is asking for details of my father's executor with the aim of recovering the debt from his estate. I am wondering how to handle this letter. I am minded either to ignore it: it is addressed to the executor (technically as there is no Will, there is no nominated executor) or reply with a short letter explaining the circumstances. Another reason for writing to them is that I am assuming this company is associated with a debt collecting company and so might resort to their tactics like phone calls and threatening to call in person - so part of the letter would be to withdraw permission for them to call or visit. Alternatively is there anything else I should do? Thank you in advance.

Thnaks for the advice guys! I'm gonna post off my DPA letter today. It just makes me really mad that Abbey simply don't care. In December I started recieving 46 pounds a week in carer's allowance. Abbey were just happy for me to pay the whole lot into my account to repay the amount of the debt which had put me over my agreed overdraft. They didn't care that was all the income I had and might want to live! Wish me luck!

Hi! I wonder if anyone can offer me some advice. Back in October 2006 I had a situation where due to financial problems (caused by having to give up work to become a carer for my disabled father) 6 direct debits failed and 3 were re-presented so I ended up with a 315 quid debt. Basically I talked to them over the phone and they reversed a couple of the charges, but not all. Recently the informed me that they would be withdrawing my overdraft which is really going to hit me hard. What I really wanna do is reclaim the various charges that Abbey have made over the years. I just wanted to know if by having a couple of the charges reversed (a drop in the ocean) have I waived any right to make a claim?

Thnaks for the reply - I'm gonna get on it. Do you know if it is reasonable in the initial letter to banks to request that they stop putting any further charges on my account - or wouls I have to go thropugh this process a second time - it's just that when I spoke to the bank they said that they would continue to keep adding charges.

Hi! What a relief to find you guys! I had the shock of my life today. I was expecting to be a few quid over my 500 quid o/d limit with Abbey on my current account and got the shock of my life when I found I was actually a total of 1,260.53 o/d (ie 760.50 past my authorised limit). My money management skills are not the best but I haven't been on a wild spendning spree. Most of this 760.53 debt is direct debit returned charges and then attendant charges that the bank cares to apply. My situation is that I have had to give up work to become a carer to my father and I had to live off my savings whilst I am waiting for my beneift payments to start - which are delayed. I accept that I could have acted sooner, but I'm already contemplating life on a much reduced income there is no way I can deal with an extra 760.53 of debt. I called Abbey to explain and all they could say was that I should sort it now because even more charges were pending. Do you think this is reasonable? Do you think it would be worth my while sending the letter in the blank temples file? I have in the first instance asked for my statements going back a couple of months to track down the charges.