My senior Mother in law is constantly taking out pay day loans from multiple sources. Over the years my husband and I along with his brother and HIS wife have bailed her out. This is putting strains on us because we barely get by and are trying to save for our own first home. With their SS money, they have more than enough to pay the mortgage pay the insurance premiums and food with money left over. I know we can't stop her from taking a $300 pay day loan here and there. The problem is that she goes and gets many payday loans from many outlets. She is behind 3 months in mortgage 3 months in insurance payments and My father in law is without insurance right now and needs cancer treatment. I know that we can't control her gross money mismanagement, however we we hoping that there was some hope out there that will allow us to prevent her from getting multiple payday loans as a time. THIS would be a big help because this will allow her to not owe thousands of dollars in payday loans and we would all be able to assist with the bare minimum.
If there are specific elder statutes addressing financial abuse, there might be an opportunity for law enforcement to become involved and go after the payday loan companies. If there are any congressional or senate hearings on this issue, providing names of these companies would allow subpoenas to be issued and reps would have to appear publicly to address their actions. It's not an ideal solution, more like chipping away at the exploitation iceberg.
Another really long shot is getting PPOs (injunctions) against each of the payday loan suppliers to prevent them from contacting her, via e-mail, phone, text, mail, and any other method. It would probably be a unique application of injunctive relief, but it's worth a try.
I think the only way you can stop her though is to take over her finances, even if she is lucid. However, it could be argued that her mere behavior is not representative of responsible behavior and warrants intervention.
Do you think a heart-to-heart talk with her would work? With 3 months delinquency in her mortgage, she's approaching the stage at which foreclosure notices would be sent, if they haven't already. Would she understand that she could lose the house through foreclosure?
I wouldn't normally advocate for guardianship, but in this case I think it's warranted. Your FIL is going to need insurance for cancer treatment, and that merits stepping in and taking control of your MIL regardless of how much she objects.
Another thought is to take FIL to his bank, set up a separate account and have his SS directly deposited to that account. Don't tell MIL. At least there would be some money to make mortgage and insurance payments.
However, I do think there's some emotional and mental addiction involved in this kind of spending and use of money that goes beyond just helping them out. There was a theory I learned in economics but I can't recall the name of it - it addresses spending money just to make one feel good. With FIL's cancer, that might be part of her need to spend money.
Example, if she is buying things for herself, that money from payday she is now paying double for items. That nice sweater that was on sale for $35 was actually $70 if she used the payday money.
You need to stop paying these loans....worst case her credit gets so bad she vacant get loans.
FedEx Kinkos as well as many others have computers available for use; maybe that's where she's going.
After I took over his finances I found out that he had 7 payday loans at 7 different payday loan stores!!!!
I think you need to give them an ultimatum, either they hand over their finances to you or no more money.