Utilities and others

Debtless_2

Hi all my BR is going well, but just need some advice.

i put united utilities into my br as the final demand came through in my name only, the origonal bill was in mine and my partners name, after shooing off wescot a few times they have sent another demand in my partners name, so i have had to set up a payment plan for this now my question is since the final demand was in my name is there anyway to get out of paying it, doubtfull i know but always worth a try.

2ndly my Halifax joint account was in my br and yesterday me and my partner got a final demand for the outstanding amount, so i rang them up and after being put through to god knows how many departments i finally get tolf to ignore the letter, i mentioned that my partner was not BR and they said the account has been passed to them for closing so she should ignore the letter as well, he said that when 1 person on a joint acc goes BR then the account is closed and cleared irrelevant of the other person.

skylight

Debtless - not sure about the utilities, depends all on how you applied for the account in the first place.

As to Halifax, whomever you spoke to knows nothing. Halifax are one of the cruelest and nastiest when it comes to debts. They are correct that the account itself is now closed. But as your OH has not been declared BR, he is solely and completely liable for the debt itself. Halifax will not let this drop and debt will not be cleared. Of course, there is always the chance the person on the phone knows sweet FA and wiped the account in error, but I doubt it. Just expect this one to come back at some point.

Debtless_2

yeah i thought it wouldn't get cleared, anyway with halifax/tsb i will submit a claim for charges since thats the reason it got so bad, and if i get them back i will submit a final offer and see if they accept since my OH has no income of her own. as for water bill i think it first came through in joint names.

skylight

I did that with some joint accounts! Claimed back the charges (2 still ongoing) on accounts OH now "owns". What's really odd is that I went BR 8 months ago and none of the joint debts have actually written to OH asking for money yet. So they are not being paid right now. Although I believe that they have held them until the OFT makes a decision. It would help, charges are over half the total amounts.