Financial Advice needed.

Qdef

Hi

I'm having a few financial worries and am hoping for some advice as to what I can do.

Firstly let me give you some background information.

I am in the process of getting a divorce, this is because I discovered that my wife had signed my name on both secured and unsecured loans. I have also discovered that the original mortgage has been upped and the term increased.

I was married for 12 years and within that time left all the financial arrangements to my wife, I never saw any bank statements etc, and as far as I was aware everything was going well money wise.

(I know now that this trust and my own stupidity haven't helped my situation)

I discovered these debts when I received a telephone call from a company called Paragon Finance, telling me that I'd missed two payments and needed to pay over £1000 immediately to stop legal action being taken against me.

Long story short it turned out that my wife had signed my name on a £42,000 loan over 25 years.

Since I discovered this in December 2007 I have not made any payments to Paragon, that coupled with the two missed payments above means that they have not been paid since October 2007 (at least).

This company made so many harassing telephone calls to me that I started suffering from stress, so much so that the doctor signed me off from work for 8 weeks, and I lost over 5 stone in weight.

I went to see the CAB who contacted Paragon and failed to get any satisfaction from them, I was advised to see a solicitor and go to the police, which I did. The solicitor managed to get Paragon to stop contacting me and the police investigated the fraud.

My wife admitted signing my name on the Paragon loan but said she did it with my consent. The money from Paragon was paid into the joint account and immediately removed and placed into my wife's sole account however, because the money went into the joint account first the police decided that I must have known about this loan.

While all this was going on I discovered that my wife had signed my name on an unsecured NatWest loan.

I am paying this because of two reasons...

1. I bank with NatWest, and because of my credit report being so bad unable to open another bank account.

2. NatWest just take the money anyway.

I informed the branch staff of the fraud in January and was informed several times between January and July that they were investigating the fraud. I discovered in July that NatWest do not investigate these cases.

So....

I'm basically being asked to pay back the following

1. Mortgage (NatWest) £49,000
2. Paragon (Secured loan) £42,000 at least.
3. NatWest loan (Unsecured) £24,000.


My wife is on benefit and apparently cannot be made to pay anything back, as I work I will be expected to make these payments.

The house is up for sale but in the current financial crisis I've had no luck.

What I want to know is: what is my best course of action, should I see about an IVA or Bankruptcy, I don't live in the house any more but my wife does. I am currently renting a room from a friend because I cannot afford to rent somewhere of my own, which is something I need to do.


Thanks for reading

Steve

Verbatim

Sounds horrific Steve. You're doing the right things though getting CAB and police involved. I hope you can take the situation further with regard to the money coming into the joint account first and then into your wife's sole account. I think you should be able to persuade the police or at least the courts that this has not been to your benefit and done without your consent or knowledge, especially if you can show that your wife dealt with all the money. Don't give up on that.

In the meantime you could open another bank account and put all this in writing to Nat West so that there is written proof that there is a dispute.

crazyhazy

What a nightmare situation! Do you have any children? If not why is your wife continuing to live in the property but not contributing towards the mortgage etc?

RAS

Hi Steve

There is what the police believe and what the civil court believe. Remember criminal casses have to be proved beyond reasonable doubt - civil cases are on the balance of doubt.

Your secured debt is not covered by the Consumer Credit Act but I think you should speak NDl or CCCS for advice in the first instance and then to a lawyer.

With respect to the NAt west situation.

1. Advise Natwest that not further debit is can be made from the current account without both signatures.

2. Get yourself another basic bank account urgently, given your situation the least problematic might be the Co-op Cashmiser. There is no credit check on basic accounts. No overdraft or cheque boook but you get a card and can do DDs and SOs. Get you salary paid in there and then set up transfer to your Nat west mortgage from there. That will stop Natwest paying the loan from your current account.

3. Do a CCA request on the unsecured loan as soon as you have shifted your salary. If you can prove that you did not sign this, you are not liable.

4. Start re-claiming any charges or PPI on the bank account and secured loans ASAP.

5. Do a Subject Access Request on the secured loan if you have not done so already. This may provide evidence of the signatures on this loan and give you evidence to challenge it.

Debt charities lists here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help.