Family's fury as gambling addict mum, 76, blows £46,000 on slot machines after being given 20-year mortgage
JEAN MCLUCKIE, 76, will be left paying the loan back until she is 92, after the Bank of Scotland agreed to lend her the money.
Mark Anderson
A HORRIFIED daughter has told how her 76-year-old gambling addict mum blew £46,000 on slot machines – after being given a 20-year mortgage.
Jean McLuckie borrowed the money from Bank of Scotland against her modest, terraced home despite having no income to speak of.
Her daughter Carol Thomson, 52, said: “Mum now has a loan hanging over her head until she is 92.
She was previously mortgage-free.
“How can this possibly be construed as responsible lending? It is hard to understand.”
The family only discovered Jean’s addiction two years ago.
Carol, of East Kilbride, added: “My brother had noticed a mortgage payment coming out of mum’s account. As far as we were aware, the house had been fully paid for some years before.
“Mum then admitted she had a mortgage but was vague about the details.”
The problem emerged after a visit to the bank.
Jean, a retired factory worker, who survives on a small works pension and benefits, had managed to borrow £46,000 in just 18 months at interest rates of up to 27.8 per cent.
Carol, a resource manager, said: “Mum had gone to HBOS on at least eight occasions borrowing amounts like £15,000, £5000 and £7000.
“She told them the money was for various things like home improvements or holidays.
“She didn’t have any problems getting the money and when the mortgage department decided the level of equity against her home had reached a maximum, they passed her to the personal loans team who were able to give her £3000 at 27.8 per cent.
“The reason given for this rate of interest was that mum’s credit rating was so low it was all the bank could offer.
“But if they’d bothered to check her current account, they’d have seen that she was spending up to £300 a day at a high street bookies.”
Jean, also of East Kilbride, was blowing the cash on fruit machines. Carol said: “It’s so easy to do – you hand over your bank card in the bookies and they take £50 or £100.
“Mum was sitting playing slot machines at least three times a day and we had no idea it was getting out of hand.
“There’s no excuse for her actions and the hold gambling had on mum came as a complete surprise to all of us.”
The family took Jean to Gamblers Anonymous and thankfully she has managed to stop.
But they raised a complaint with Bank of Scotland, who sold the Halifax mortgage, and with the Financial Ombudsman Service as Jean is left paying £284 a month for 20 years.
Carol said: “I complained bitterly at the bank and asked why they kept lending to her.
“But they said that because mum had asked for the money, they had done nothing wrong.
“They continued to give her advances within weeks of the previous one and did not see any problem in lending money to a 72-year-old who’d be paying it back for 20 years.”
The bank said: “Mrs McLuckie’s further advance applications met the bank’s lending criteria and on each occasion, the bank enquired as to the reasons for the loans and was satisfied with the various explanations Mrs McLuckie gave.
“The Financial Ombudsman Service, which ruled in favour of the bank, noted that the bank could not have been expected to know that the customer had a gambling addiction and that it was reasonable for the bank to accept the explanations it had been given by Mrs McLuckie as to the purpose of the loans.
“The customer took out her original mortgage of £15,000 in April 2009, at the age of 72, and the mortgage term was 20 years.
“Although there is now an upper age limit of 75 years, Halifax did not have an upper age limit for mortgage lending at that time.
“Provided the loan was affordable on the customer’s post-retirement income, which it was, and that it met all other relevant criteria, which it did, then the mortgage could be offered.”
AN EXPERT'S VIEW
PETER MCGOWAN, an independent financial advisor with 28 years’ experience, was shocked to hear of Jean’s story.
It’s the first time I’ve heard of anyone being approved for a mortgage into their 90s.
It is difficult to see how the bank can justify giving someone that amount of money so quickly, especially at her age. It’s incredible.
It’s become increasingly difficult to get a mortgage in the current financial climate, even with a big deposit, as first-time buyers are finding out.
That makes this case all the more shocking.
Most banks will not lend beyond the age of 75 and will require evidence that a customer can afford the repayments.
The bank should have recognised there was a problem and the client should have been offered specialist advice from a debt councillor or independent financial advisor.
Equity release, where money tied up in a property can be freed up, would have been more appropriate.
The Financial Services Authority’s mantra is to treat customers fairly and that is surely called into question here.
You have to ask why the bank continued to lend within such a short period of time when she needed money more and more quickly.
But at the end of the day, the bank have a security on the house so they know whatever happens, they will get their money.”
Jean McLuckie borrowed the money from Bank of Scotland against her modest, terraced home despite having no income to speak of.
Her daughter Carol Thomson, 52, said: “Mum now has a loan hanging over her head until she is 92.
She was previously mortgage-free.
“How can this possibly be construed as responsible lending? It is hard to understand.”
The family only discovered Jean’s addiction two years ago.
Carol, of East Kilbride, added: “My brother had noticed a mortgage payment coming out of mum’s account. As far as we were aware, the house had been fully paid for some years before.
“Mum then admitted she had a mortgage but was vague about the details.”
The problem emerged after a visit to the bank.
Jean, a retired factory worker, who survives on a small works pension and benefits, had managed to borrow £46,000 in just 18 months at interest rates of up to 27.8 per cent.
Carol, a resource manager, said: “Mum had gone to HBOS on at least eight occasions borrowing amounts like £15,000, £5000 and £7000.
“She told them the money was for various things like home improvements or holidays.
“She didn’t have any problems getting the money and when the mortgage department decided the level of equity against her home had reached a maximum, they passed her to the personal loans team who were able to give her £3000 at 27.8 per cent.
“The reason given for this rate of interest was that mum’s credit rating was so low it was all the bank could offer.
“But if they’d bothered to check her current account, they’d have seen that she was spending up to £300 a day at a high street bookies.”
Jean, also of East Kilbride, was blowing the cash on fruit machines. Carol said: “It’s so easy to do – you hand over your bank card in the bookies and they take £50 or £100.
“Mum was sitting playing slot machines at least three times a day and we had no idea it was getting out of hand.
“There’s no excuse for her actions and the hold gambling had on mum came as a complete surprise to all of us.”
The family took Jean to Gamblers Anonymous and thankfully she has managed to stop.
But they raised a complaint with Bank of Scotland, who sold the Halifax mortgage, and with the Financial Ombudsman Service as Jean is left paying £284 a month for 20 years.
Carol said: “I complained bitterly at the bank and asked why they kept lending to her.
“But they said that because mum had asked for the money, they had done nothing wrong.
“They continued to give her advances within weeks of the previous one and did not see any problem in lending money to a 72-year-old who’d be paying it back for 20 years.”
The bank said: “Mrs McLuckie’s further advance applications met the bank’s lending criteria and on each occasion, the bank enquired as to the reasons for the loans and was satisfied with the various explanations Mrs McLuckie gave.
“The Financial Ombudsman Service, which ruled in favour of the bank, noted that the bank could not have been expected to know that the customer had a gambling addiction and that it was reasonable for the bank to accept the explanations it had been given by Mrs McLuckie as to the purpose of the loans.
“The customer took out her original mortgage of £15,000 in April 2009, at the age of 72, and the mortgage term was 20 years.
“Although there is now an upper age limit of 75 years, Halifax did not have an upper age limit for mortgage lending at that time.
“Provided the loan was affordable on the customer’s post-retirement income, which it was, and that it met all other relevant criteria, which it did, then the mortgage could be offered.”
AN EXPERT'S VIEW
PETER MCGOWAN, an independent financial advisor with 28 years’ experience, was shocked to hear of Jean’s story.
It’s the first time I’ve heard of anyone being approved for a mortgage into their 90s.
It is difficult to see how the bank can justify giving someone that amount of money so quickly, especially at her age. It’s incredible.
It’s become increasingly difficult to get a mortgage in the current financial climate, even with a big deposit, as first-time buyers are finding out.
That makes this case all the more shocking.
Most banks will not lend beyond the age of 75 and will require evidence that a customer can afford the repayments.
The bank should have recognised there was a problem and the client should have been offered specialist advice from a debt councillor or independent financial advisor.
Equity release, where money tied up in a property can be freed up, would have been more appropriate.
The Financial Services Authority’s mantra is to treat customers fairly and that is surely called into question here.
You have to ask why the bank continued to lend within such a short period of time when she needed money more and more quickly.
But at the end of the day, the bank have a security on the house so they know whatever happens, they will get their money.”
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