Friend's in an IVA; against his will!

Dabooka

Hi there, it's a bit complicated so I'll try and be brief.

A pal of mine has recently split with his wife, and are currently seperated seeeking a divorce. Part of their problems has been she has aquired just over £20,000 of debt on credit cards, along with a car loan and a joint overdraft (at max, but don't know amouont) and a joint loan, with a year left to pay. Don't know amount but it's about £140 / month.

She has decided before the split to go down the IVA route, as it was too late to try and get out of the hole. She came clean to my friend about this about 6 weeks ago, when it was all starting to unravel.

My pal's intention was to take on the mortgage himself which he can afford (the flat has basically no equity in it), continue the loan payment for the next twelve month and schip away at the overdraft. It all seemed too easy, and as you guessed it hasn't came off like that. It appears that their bank has since frozen the bank aco!!!! and loan, presumebaly because it's mentioned her IVA, and he wants to know how or if he could try and simply get her name take it off and go for sole liability on the remaining debt.

Lastly, and thanks in advance for any advice, a few words;

1. He's not leaving her with their debt; he paid her in cash for pretty much everything over the years, such as holidays, but she'd not pay off the accrued debt and fritter the one away.
2. Thi is my friend; if it was me I'd post as such, so I have limited additional information to hand but can find out. He's asked me to post as he knows I browse the forums.

Soryr about those last points, but I've read enough flames in the past off certain types, and just wanted to try and be honest and upfront from the start.

Charco_2

Not too sure taking the whole debt into his name is going to be his best option, speaking to the bank to get the account unfrozen would be the firsat place to start.

The reason is this. In the IVA, the ex-wife will be paying off a proportion of that debt anyway - say 35p in the £! This would mean your friend would then only need to pay the remaining 65p in the £ so 65% of the debt. He has his own credit rating, separate from the wife so he should just be vigilant to make sure that none of the flak from her ends up on his record - if he makes sure the debt is being paid as normal then they cant default him (or if they do he can have it removed).

If he doesn't care about the 35%/65% thing then im sure it wouldn't be a bother with the bank if he took on the debt (since he isn't entering an IVA the debt will need to be paid in full anyway) They might insist he takes out an entirely new loan to pay off the first one in full.

(i'm sure no-one here cares if it's you or your friend, why would you lie? Your pseudonym provides enough anonimity anyway)

Dabooka

Hi Charco, thanks for the reponse.

I've just got off the phone fomr him, and it's about £1400 over both loand and debt; he seems happy to take it on and continue with payments (I mis-understood about the loan having a year left), just toget the account opened up. He's hoping to stay on in the house and I suspect things such as utility DDs etc would start to bounce causing untold headaches! Also, he mentioned he'd discovered all of this when his credit card was blocked, so I assume they're all linked somehow?

I've mentioned the "new loan" possibility, so he's called them to try and sort it out. I suspect his credit rating might be in tatters too, but when this first came to light I suggested he get's his £2 reports (as I learned from this site, although he decided to sign up to the monthly one) and he thinks he's alright, which I wouldn't have thought would be the case. Would you know what he should look for, I'm worried he'll be seeing his cards and loans with a nice row of zeros and think everything's fine, but what should he look out for with relation to joint debts? Would they show up as normal, or are they marked differently? Any experiences or advice would be most welcome.

Re: Pseudonym; I totally agree, but I've seen some posters on the forums in the past being funny about threads based on friends situations. Just thought I'd clear it up from the off!

Charco_2

I wouldn't have a clue what to look for - never seen one myself.

Might be an idea to ask three floors up from here in the Debt Free Wannabee forum.

WHAT DOES A CREDIT REPORT LOOKK LIKE? Might be an idea for a new thread or article on here, or some kind of lessons in how to read the bloody thing!

As for getting the new loan, make sure it's a loan that suits HIS situation, he's not looking for a loan to suit the bank!
- No "sure why dont you take a few grand extra!?"
- No "What about PPI?"
- No sales pitches!