Re: Personal loan €15k, serious illness, bank threatening commital order
The sister should engage a solicitor to represent her. The solicitor can compile the evidence showing inability to pay. The solicitor can forward this information to their opposite number. If the Bank will not agree to drop the application, then, on the date, the solicitor can appear ( preferably with an up to date medical report) confirming the evidence.
My understanding is that a debtor will not be imprisoned for being unable to pay the debt. I have always understood that committal follows only wilful failure and neglect - i.e the person has the means to pay but declines.
I think its important to step back from the emotional aspects of individual cases. Debtors have very often lied in the past about their true circumstances, regarding the whole thing as a huge game. Many debtors I have come across in the past had opportunities to do a "deal" on the debt by, e.g., borrowing from family or friends and offering a settlement figure to end the traumatic stress of being involved in a Court case. But chose not to. This is, of course, not necessarily the case in this instance.
I remember one particular case where a debtor strung the whole process out for months on end, there was clear evidence that she had the means but lacked the willingness to discharge her debt and she did not appear for any Court hearing but paid on the day the Gardai came to arrest her. It does happen.
mf