Rob is ex merchant Navy and lives with his partner. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's some years ago and is currently undergoing treatment for cancer. His wife Carol contacted us due to a number of debts that had built up over the years and she was under a lot of stress caring for Rob and dealing with constant telephone calls and correspondence from creditors.

When Rob was first diagnosed they had sold their property to their son and daughter and rented it back from them but the freehold remained in Rob's name. Bankruptcy was not an option for them, so as they had some disposable income, we negotiated monthly repayments with creditors. This continued until the 6 month review when we agreed to ask for Rob's debts to be written off on the grounds of his ill health. We collected all evidence needed which included a Debt and Mental Health Evidence form and letters from the palliative care team which gave full details of Rob's condition and his inability to manage his finances.

Two of his debts were with a major high street bank and totaled £20,000. We had already complained to them over a number of errors on their part when we negotiated monthly repayments. In reply to our request for the debts to be written off Rob and Carol received a letter from Solicitors acting on behalf of the Bank asking for payment within seven days. When we spoke to the solicitors they said they would be applying for a County Court Judgement and eventually a charging order as they had completed a property search and said Rob owned a property. It was explained to them that they only owned the freehold which was subject to a lease of 999 years and therefore of no value. They said they did not care and would be going ahead with CCJ. All of this was causing Carol a great deal of stress as she tried to deal with Rob's illness and also her own ill health.

We wrote letters of complaint to the bank regarding how the situation was been handled and made numerous telephone calls to them. After a number of weeks they agreed that the solicitors had acted inappropriately and they agreed to write off the £20,000 debt. They also sent a letter of apology to Rob and Carol.