MBNA/Virgin Wants my wife to pay

chattychappy

Yes

wigglebeena wrote: »

Reasonable? What has that got to do with it? He wants to know if it's LEGAL for them to make these demands - not an irrelevant personal value-judgement.

Reasonable IS a LEGAL concept ... If a lender acts reasonably in making requests, and a borrower acts unreasonably in refusing them, then any discretion is likely to go against a borrower in a hearing.

He then wrote "Your sdvice would be greatly appreciated" - suggesting he wanted more than just one word legal answers.

By the way, here are some "one word" legal answers (from a lawyer):

Can they ask for this information? : YES
Do I have to give it them? : NO
Isn't it a breach of the Data Protection Act?: NO (it isn't)
or Something??? ...

The point is this advice is not helpful. "NO" he doesn't have to give it to them. But then they are less likely to do a deal.... and then what?

The OP has borrowed money and can't afford to pay, even with his wife's help. MBNA want to know about this wife's situation before doing a deal. I think their request is REASONABLE (an objective concept in law) in the circumstances and given she cannot pay it is in his interests to disclose the information.

freeoffers

chattychappy wrote: »

The OP has borrowed money and can't afford to pay, .

exactly. The OP. Yes, it is reasonable to ask for information on his wife an yes it is reasonable to tell them nothing because it is OP's debt. Whether his wife can afford to pay or not may be relevant to the creditors but his wife may feel different if she doesnt want to help pay it.
The point is you do not have to give them such information.

chattychappy

Yes

freeoffers wrote: »

exactly. The OP. Yes, it is reasonable to ask for information on his wife an yes it is reasonable to tell them nothing because it is OP's debt. Whether his wife can afford to pay or not may be relevant to the creditors but his wife may feel different if she doesnt want to help pay it.
The point is you do not have to give them such information.

Well we disagree on " reasonable to tell them nothing" about the OP's wife. It depends on whether their financial affairs are separate. If they are, then I think it should be enough to say this. Else I think they are reasonable to expect to find out about the OP's wife's situation and how the various shared expenses are (or will be) apportioned. If the OP is paying more than his share of these, then it is legitimate for MBNA to know her income. Because if she an afford to pay her share but isn't, then why should the OP cover this instead of paying MBNA.

Of course, legally MBNA almost certainly have no claim on the wife - but the OP's starting point is that he's contacted them in order to make an arrangement.

freeoffers

chattychappy wrote: »

Well we disagree on " reasonable to tell them nothing" about the OP's wife. It depends on whether their financial affairs are separate. If they are, then I think it should be enough to say this. Else I think they are reasonable to expect to find out about the OP's wife's situation and how the various shared expenses are (or will be) apportioned. If the OP is paying more than his share of these, then it is legitimate for MBNA to know her income. Because if she an afford to pay her share but isn't, then why should the OP cover this instead of paying MBNA.

Of course, legally MBNA almost certainly have no claim on the wife - but the OP's starting point is that he's contacted them in order to make an arrangement.

Decent points made. I know of couples where the man is paying all the utilities plus half the mortgage and i guess from a creditors point of view they would wonder why this would be the case when some of that money could be used to pay his debts instead of a dispropotionate share. I'm not saying OP situation is the same though, just using it as an example.