Life and Death? It happens to us all

Death comes to us all eventually and when it does there is always more than just the personal loss to deal with. Recently a member of staff lost her mother and ended up with a close up personal experience of the way Banks work.

As an experienced member of staff (and aware her mother’s estate was neither large nor complicated) she was able to deal with things but wanted (as a non Lawyer) to have firsthand experience from a layman’s perspective and so went into the local branch to report her mother’s death.

The advisor she spoke to said that she had to call their bereavement services department and the lady at the other end of the phone wanted to speak directly to our employee. She wasn’t interested in the needs of our staff member, or that she had suffered bereavement, but only really in selling their services. She proceeded to ask about the mother’s assets and said a Grant of Probate would be required (which is correct). However she then went into a fairly hard sell on using a company called ITC. Apart from saying how difficult it would be to deal with things personally she was told that ITC would visit her at home and their charges would be 1% of the estate’s value whereas a solicitor would charge between 4 and 6% of the estate as well as charging a fee of something in the region of £250 +VAT per hour. The lady was very persistent and, had she not known any better, our staff member may well have believed everything she was being told.

Unfortunately, having declined their services, she had to battle to get any information from the Bank for probate purposes after this and it even took them six to eight weeks to provide the probate valuations and just as long again to settle the funeral account (both were only dealt with after an official complaint had been filed). Was this the price for not instructing the bank? Possibly, but as they take just as long to provide the information when we write in a professional capacity, probably not. We have even had reason to complain to this particular bank on a professional level when, for the fifth time of asking, they failed to close an account and provide the funds to us for inclusion in the estate. They eventually apologised but, frankly, in the case of a bereaved individual we really do not think this is good enough.

Do not think you are being mercenary by asking both your Solicitor and your bank for a quote to deal with probate for you and do bear in mind that your Solicitor is the trained professional! Very often a Solicitor will be happy to help you with only parts of the process if that is what you require. Interesting!

Alternatives to Bankruptcy

We have recently posted an item on our BLOG advising about alternatives to Bankruptcy and that Brooks & Partners work with a prominent Debt Management Company in this respect. That same company are able to help with obtaining what may be a substantial refund of premiums on Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) in the event this has been mis sold! Over the years PPI has been added to many Loan and Credit Card Agreements but incorrectly and there has been huge success in reclaiming in excess of £400,000 over the past 6 months for the debt management company clients. This has provided a welcome and unexpected wind fall for many of their clients.


A report carried out by the Citizens Advice Bureau has revealed that this kind of insurance can add 20% or more to the total amount to be repaid on a Credit Agreement.

With the mis selling practice wide spread isn’t it time you took a look at your Credit Card or Loan Agreements. You could be in line for a refund of premiums even if the Loan or Credit Card has been repaid in full within the last six years.

For further information and a review please contact Vickie Lennard or Michael Brooks on 01276 681217 or by e-mail: vickie@brooks-partners.co.uk or Michael@brooks-partners.co.uk

Sport Relief? No just relief it was all over!

On 21st March, in aid of Sport Relief 2010, the “Brooks Babes” consisting of Shirah Real, Kate Brooks & Nikki Miller set out on a 6 mile journey, and when we say journey, we mean run!

The weather was uncharacteristically kind and turned out to be one of the warmest days of the year so far, which managed to cause a certain amount of “distress” during the third mile but, no doubt, was an enormous improvement on the hail that accompanied Race for Life 2009!

The girls all said how much they enjoyed the morning and that there was a wonderful atmosphere amongst all those taking part. One of our young ladies (being just a little competitive by nature) managed to clear the course in 45 minutes (well done Kate) with Nikki and Shirah coming in not long after at 50 and 57 minutes.

Given that between the three of them, there was a hamstring injury, sore calf muscles and an undiagnosed strain on the knee (all this before the race) the morning was a great success and the “Brooks Babes” thoroughly enjoyed taking part. Most importantly they raised £300 for Sport Relief, congratulations girls and well done!