newlywed to a debt disaster area. Help please!

purplefiona

Heloo! I got married last month and having finally changed my name I have put all of our wedding cheques made out to my husband and me into my account yesterday only to come downstairs (with a massive hangover) to find a letter from my bank saying that after credit checks on him we can't have a joint account. People keep asking me how married life is and I keep saying... mainly paperwork.

Will I get charged for trying to put cheques into my account that are not for me?

I need to get back on with claiming back some mis-sold PPI and charges etc for him but I'm so very tired and also tired of banks etc. I also seem to be some kind of paying member of CreditExpert but I've never managed to look at my credit file. How depressing.

I have taken on a lot of his unpaid-for-two-years credit cards on 0 percent deals, I'm just doing the final battle now with EGG whose online security is very tight and I've had to reset it. My question is- how do I improve his credit file? Supposing the credit cards are all paid off- when will they forget he ever had them? He gets bank charges every single month without fail.

What does one do when one's husband cannot even open a bank account? What will we do about mortgages etc?

Floss

You need to post on the DFW board (Debt-Free Wanabee) for more specialist help - however, he needs to open a new basic bank account, have his wages paid into there, and stop using the account with charges. Then you need to look at starting the reclaim process.

Congratulations on the marriage, by the way!

Floss x

skint_chick

First things first - your bank might return the cheques as they're made payable to both of you but they shouldn't charge you for this - it's not like bouncing a cheque - as long as you haven't already spent the money! Although you might get lucky and the cashier processing them may not notice;)

Next thing - why are you taking on his debts? Is he going to contribute to paying them off - if he has a job he should be giving you a fair contribution to his debt and household expenses. You didn't say if you were renting or living with family but I would hope he is paying his way in that respect. Plenty of married people keep their own accounts for different reasons -my OH also has bad credit and a selection of defaults and debt collection people chasing him:mad: and it makes me angry that he didn't just pick up the phone and talk to them instead of hoping they might forget he owed them money but in every other respect he is a good husband so I helped him draw up a budget and every time he gets paid he transfers a certain amount to me to cover his share of the bills. This could work for you too - you need to discuss how to move forward.

You need him to acknowledge that he wants to sort this out - maybe he doesn't know how and will appreciate your help but if he won't pay bills even when he can't that's a different problem entirely. If he will accept your help suggest he signs up for the free trial of Experian to see what state his credit files in. He probably has defaults if he hasn't paid his cards - myybe even CCJs and if so you want to avoid being financially associated with him to protect your credit score. If you write to the credit reference agencies and ask them to remove the financial association you created when you applied for the joint account that should do the trick:D

A mortgage will depend on what's on his credit file - missed payments, defaults etc almost certainly mean a larger deposit is needed along with a higher interest rate and a stricter lending policy so for now you're best to get his debts cleared and then concentrate on building a savings pot. He needs to look through his statements and find out why he's getting bank charges - how he can amend his outgoings to fit his income and avoid further charges. After everything is settled it takes 6 years for his credit file to clear so it's not a life destroying issue:rolleyes: just a minor glitch.

There are PPI reclaiming templates on this forum that I've used with success and the budget planner is really useful. If he won't talk to you suggets he gives National Debtline or CCCS a call to talk to an anonymous stranger. You need to encourage him to participate in sorting his mess out or it will happen again - find some way of doing this without pressuring him or arguing about it - I actually found it easier to email my OH because at first I couldn't talk to him without getting really angry and upset. Once you start it gets easier, the getting some money back from PPI and using part of it for a small treat inspired my OH to sit down and look at his budget.

Good luck and keep us updated

Miss-Moneypenny_7

if the cheques are made out to both of you they can not go into your sole account, they must go into an account with both your names on.

were you applying for a full on current account? it might be wiser to set up a basic savings account or basic bank account (with no credit facility) to enable you to cash the cheques, but in terms of a joint current account I would personally wait until your husbands credit position improves otherwise it could affect your credit report.

keep sole accounts for now and as Floss stated get your husband to set up a basic account for his wages etc.

hope this helps x

Oldernotwiser

Floss wrote: »

Congratulations on the marriage, by the way!

Floss x

Given the scenario described, sympathy might be more appropriate than congratulations!

oystercatcher

Be cautious about paying off debts for your husband.
I paid off my husbands debts just after we married thinking all our money was 'joint' and it would save overall to not be paying interest.
Five years later I have just found out that he has accumulated more debts. I'm not even sure of the extent of them. I'm definitely not paying these! I'm not even sure if the marriage will last now....

Hope you have better luck with your new hubby.

peachyprice

I would seriously re-consider opening a joint current account while his credit file is in a state, it will cause damage to your as soon as you are financially linked.

For the short term I would advise opening a joint non-credit reported savings account to cash the wedding cheques in, then embark on helping him clear his debts.

Your bank has actually done you a favour.

fernliebee

I've probably committed fraud by doing this but my husband and I don't have any need for a joint account, we share all our money but we have seperate accounts and this has worked fine for 10 years so we saw no need to change it.

Anyway, when we got married we got quite a few cheques made out to both of us, we asked close family if they minded changing them for one of our names, and that was fine and they didn't mind at all as they are very close family I know it wasn't a prob. However two of them were from family who live abroad and it would have been a logistic nightmare to arrange so I asked them and they said it was fine to just cross out 1 name and put their initials next to it. They were both for under £50 and apparently cheques for under this amount are not checked in the same way, anyway, they both went through fine.

As I say looking back we probably shouldn't have done this for some reason, though at the time it seemed fine as we had permission iyswim. Ooops, hope I won't get in trouble now! :0

I'm sure someone will be able to advise on the legality of this.

Any

Hi,

When I got married we got cheques in both our names and as we didn't have a joint account in those names my hubby put them in his account and we were fine.

It depends who you bank with. Try it, and if it won't work they will just return it back to you.

If he is in such a debt (it's not as much about the debt, but failure to manage it), DO NOT open any account in both names. If you do, his name will appear on your credit report as "financial associate" and whatever you apply for from that moment will mean credit check on you AND HIM. So basically it will damage your credit rating.

chalkie99

purplefiona wrote: »

I got married last month


What does one do when one's husband cannot even open a bank account? What will we do about mortgages etc?

These are questions you should have asked before last month!

purplefiona

chalkie99 wrote: »

These are questions you should have asked before last month!

hey! i did ask- I knew about the debts. Didn't think it would affect getting a joint A/C though.....He has MH problems tied up with cash.
Don't worry BTW he isn't able to rack up any more debt nor remotely interested in doing so.
he will begin to pay off the debt, but I just want the monthly default charges and PPI charges to stop adding to the bill(s). Which is why I'm taking them for now.

He has improved vastly from a person who could not enter a bank to someone who manages his money online and can now puts cheques in. Baby steps.

Thanks for the credit file advice