{"id":1044,"date":"2025-04-22T18:51:41","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T18:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/?p=1044"},"modified":"2025-04-23T01:22:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T01:22:55","slug":"mum-of-two-took-own-life-after-mortgage-payments-shot-up-by-500-a-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/mum-of-two-took-own-life-after-mortgage-payments-shot-up-by-500-a-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Mum-of-two took own life \u2018after mortgage payments shot up by \u00a3500 a month\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\"Amy\t<\/div>
Amy Evans and her mother Kathleen Moore, with other family members (Picture: Amy Evans\/SWNS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A mum-of-two killed herself after her mortgage<\/a> payments rose by \u00a3500 a month and her application for benefits was turned down, her daughter has said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kathleen Moore, 60, spent the last four years struggling to make her payments after they shot up due to rising interest rates on her interest only loan.<\/p>\n

She had osteoporosis, which hindered how much she could work<\/a> as a dog sitter, and she was too young to retire and receive her pension.<\/p>\n

Kathleen applied for personal independence payment (PIP) and universal credit but was told she didn’t meet the criteria due to her age and the fact she had a mortgage.<\/p>\n

Daughter Amy Evans, 37, said her mum tried to work at least 30 hours a month and rented out rooms in her home to try and make the mortgage payments but still had to rely on foodbanks.<\/p>\n

Amy said her mum would often talk about was her money problems but didn’t let on how bad it was.<\/p>\n

She said she was \u2018devastated\u2019 when she got the call to say she had taken her own life in August 2024.<\/p>\n

Now she is petitioning to see more financial and mental health support for those over 60 – including a review into the eligibility criteria for Universal Credit and PIP.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Amy\t<\/div>
Amy said her mum tried to work at least 30 hours a month and rented out rooms to try and make the mortgage payments but still had to rely on foodbanks (Picture: Amy Evans\/SWNS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Amy, a cleaner, from Lowestoft, Suffolk, said: \u2018She’d talk about money so much.<\/p>\n

\u2018It consumed her – the worry – for such a resilient person.<\/p>\n

\u2018She wasn’t entitled to universal credit because she had a mortgage. She wasn’t poorly enough for PIP. Everywhere she turned there were no answers.<\/p>\n

\u2018If someone had helped – she’d still be here.\u2019<\/p>\n

Amy said she noticed her mum started stressing about money after becoming single four years ago.<\/p>\n

She said: \u2018She was with her partner for 10 years and they went their separate ways. It made it difficult for my mum financially.<\/p>\n

\u2018The interest rates went up. I think her mortgage went up from \u00a3100 to \u00a3600-a-month.\u2019<\/p>\n

Amy said she offered to let her mum stay with her if she needed to, but described how she was \u2018proud\u2019 and wanted to stay in her own home.<\/p>\n

Amy said: \u2018It took a lot for her to ask for help – I think she was ashamed.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Amy\t<\/div>
Amy said she noticed her mum started stressing about money after becoming single four years ago (Picture: Amy Evans\/SWNS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She said the family did not realise how bad things were because whenever things seemed to \u2018dip\u2019 she always appeared to \u2018get back on her feet\u2019.<\/p>\n

That realisation came crashing down when Amy got the call on August 15 last year to say her mum had ended her life.<\/p>\n

Amy said: \u2018It wasn’t really until she’d gone that we looked at all the paperwork and saw how desperate she’d become.<\/p>\n

\u2018She could never really make ends meet. She got desperate and bought into loan sharks. She was so worried all the time about having a roof over her head.\u2019<\/p>\n

Now Amy is calling for a review into the eligibility criteria for universal credit and personal independence payment (PIP) to ensure individuals aged 60 and over who are self-employed, carers, or single without dependents are no longer \u2018unfairly\u2019 excluded from vital financial support.<\/p>\n

She also wants to see a dedicated mental health counselling service for those aged 60 and over.<\/p>\n

Amy said: \u2018She needed a financial solution. Someone to talk to could have changed what she was planning.\u2019<\/p>\n

Paying tribute to her mum, she recalled how she \u2018was the life and soul of most parties when she was younger\u2019 and \u2018was very resilient\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018I hope the petition will save someone else,\u2019 she added.<\/p>\n

Amy\u2019s petition can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\tNeed support?\t\t\t<\/h2>\n
\n

For emotional support, you can call the Samaritans<\/a> 24-hour helpline on 116 123<\/strong>, email jo@samaritans.org<\/a>, visit a Samaritans branch in person<\/a> or go to the Samaritans website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Their HOPELINE247 <\/a>is open every day of the year, 24 hours a day. You can call 0800 068 4141, text 88247 or email: pat@papyrus-uk.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amy Evans and her mother Kathleen Moore, with other family […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cost-of-living"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1044"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1050,"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044\/revisions\/1050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}