Relative keeps missing payments
 

My aunt, who cannot manage to keep money by for paying Virgin, gets cut off every single month because she lets it build up and up until they lose patience. Like today, she got cut off again. I logged into her MVM account, and she owes over £120 to them, and there was a yellow banner saying she was at risk of being disconnected.

Will Virgin eventually run out of patience with her and tell her to sling her hook as a customer? This is a pattern that has been going on since 2010. I keep offering to put the DD on my bank account but she refuses. At a loss as to what I can do to get it through her thick skull that messing them around like this all the time will only end badly for her.

Re: Relative keeps missing payments
 

You need to chill out and get on with you're life .. your aunt is an adult i would presume . let her get on with it ...

Re: Relative keeps missing payments
 

Sometimes you just have to let people live with the consequences of their actions.

If she is vulnerable and needs a phone line for emergency contacts then I believe there are ways of protecting a phone line but as far as anything else, ie internet or TV then she is the only one who can decide what she wants. TV can be free and access to the internet is not a necessity.

Maybe VM cutting her off is what your Aunt needs to make her reassess her priorities.

Re: Relative keeps missing payments
 

If she can't afford it then convince her to change to a cheaper package or even one of the ridiculously cheap ADSL deals that are out there. If she can afford it and just doesn't keep on top of it then stop helping her, perhaps being disconnected completely will prompt her to get her act together.

Re: Relative keeps missing payments
 

What ever you do don't stick her services on your bank account!!! It is her bill/problem not yours.

Re: Relative keeps missing payments
 

I fully agree with you there.

Re: Relative keeps missing payments
 

It sounds like she is having problems paying bills and VM may not be the only one she is having issues with. She really may need some help here, even if she doesn't think so.

I guess it depends on how close your family are, but perhaps a family meeting to see if she needs assistance with bills and debt may help.

Some people don't always have the money to pay off bills every month and if they leave things for a month or two, things can quickly stack up and get out of control, ie paying for everything on credit cards and letting debt mount up on them. Clearly there is a problem if its been going on since 2010.

Depending on her area, there are official people to help, like Citizens advice, local council may be able to help, debt advisory line, Samaritans etc.

If she does pay VM sometimes, its unlikely they'll cut her off, but it will impact her credit score with the credit reference agencies like Experian and Equifax. If it were me, I would suggest to her paying for a credit report from each of the main credit agencies, they cost about £5 each, to find out what's going on.

Re: Relative keeps missing payments
 

A free credit report can be had for free from this company:

https://www.noddle.co.uk