taking my name off joint account in o/d?

mookett

Hi

I have recently divorced my ex, but we still have a joint account, which is still his main current account. It's very overdrawn (£4500), and as far as I am aware I can't remove myself from it because of that. He accepts that the overdraft is his responsbility and would be happy for me to remove myself from it if I could. I'm quite worried about it, obviously.

Any suggestions/experience?

Thanks in advance...

dzug1

Difficult.

The bank are not going to want to know unless the overdraft is paid off - reason being they have a second person to pursue for the money owed.

Can you ex get a loan/another account in his sole name to transfer the overdraft to?

mrcow

You can't take your name off a joint account.

It's a joint account.

If you want to close it, then that's another matter - but both of you will have to do so.

And you'll need a way of transferring the overdraft (ie. he'll have to be able to open an account with a £4500 overdraft which is very unlikely right now).

You need to get saving between you and clear this debt.

mookett

Thanks.

He might be able to get something else, but to be honest his credit rating is so poor I very much doubt it.

I understand what you are saying mrcow, but he has run up this debt solely by himself, mainly since we split up, and so I'm not going to pay any of it for him. I'm aware that the bank might make us pay it off and I guess it's possible that relations between us could get to the point where he makes me pay off half his debt, but it's unlikely.

Thanks for making it clear though.

jambosans

mookett wrote: »

I understand what you are saying mrcow, but he has run up this debt solely by himself, mainly since we split up, and so I'm not going to pay any of it for him. I'm aware that the bank might make us pay it off and I guess it's possible that relations between us could get to the point where he makes me pay off half his debt, but it's unlikely.

I'm afraid the bank will not see it like that. It doesn't matter which party has run up the debt, being a joint bank account, you are both equally liable for the entire amount. You would have to go through the courts (I would imagine) to prove that it is his debt, as legally, the debt belongs to both of you.

mookett

No, I know they won't see it like that, I understand that as far as they are concerned we are both liable. As far as the two of us are concerned, he is fully liable (he's on £55k, I'm a lone parent living mainly on tax credits and child maintenance) and wouldn't dream of asking me to pay it back, so if the bank ask for it back he'd have to sort it out. However, I'm not naive enough to think that the situation couldn't change and all of a sudden he could ask me to pay half (even though it was run up after we separated).

Short of paying it all off myself (yeah, right!!) and then closing the account, there is nothing I can actually do though?

davethorp

You really should have got the account closed or frozen when you split up especially as you have such a large source of joint credit. Hindsight is a wonderful thing though.

Regrettably as others have said you are both jointly liable for the debt irrespective of who did the actual spending (and the bank will likely know who did the spending from the card used but they wont care).

Can you ask the bank to put a hold on the account? Should prevent any further spending if there is still some overdraft available. Failing that get them to knock the OD limit down to match the current level (again no good if it is already maxed out)

EDIT - he really needs to open an individual account and stop using a joint account when your finances are no longer joint. If he cant get a full account there are some very good basic accounts out there offering more or less the same that full accounts do (barclays, RBS, natwest, yorkshire bank and Lloyds TSB for example)

fifipat

When I separated my ex was removed from the joint account and I kept the account. He had to go to the bank to sign forms to do this but it is possible. Originally it had been his current account.

jambosans

mookett wrote: »

Short of paying it all off myself (yeah, right!!) and then closing the account, there is nothing I can actually do though?

Other than paying it off, or perhaps taking your ex to court to legally accept the entire debt as his own, there is nothing you can actually do.

mookett

davethorp wrote: »

Can you ask the bank to put a hold on the account? Should prevent any further spending if there is still some overdraft available. Failing that get them to knock the OD limit down to match the current level (again no good if it is already maxed out)

I went to the bank a while ago but as others have said, there is nothing they will do. I just thought I'd come here in case someone else knew of another way! Thanks...

mookett

jambosans wrote: »

Other than paying it off, or perhaps taking your ex to court to legally accept the entire debt as his own, there is nothing you can actually do.

Thank you. I suspected as much but I just thought I'd double check. I'm NEVER, EVER having a joint account again!