lied about job on loan form £27000 in debt

cosmic_girl

naijapower wrote: »

Pure rubbish. mental health doesnt void a crime.
He would be sectioned under the mental health act.
Be advised that OP has acknowledged that he knowingly lied. Mental excuse cannot be used on this occassion.

Behave yourself :mad::mad::mad: !!!! Do you know anything about the Mental Health Act ..... from your post I would say no. Sometimes people do things in desperation .... the fact is, although the OP did wrong, he is now trying to do right ...... and he certainly would NOT get detained for it.

Good luck, hope you manage to sort things out x

[Deleted User]

Geesh! So much advice and misinformation here...the OP now thinks he's going to spend life behind bars or be sectioned. Sectioned?!?! For heaven's sake...

Look OP, there are no two ways about this: what you did was commit fraud. It is a criminal offence: obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception.

In terms of mental health, the legal test is very simple: did you knowingly engage in lying on your application to get the loan, or did you lie because of your mental health?

From everything you've said on here, your mental health condition did not cause you to lie. You may suffer from a mental health condition, but that didn't cause you to lie or to apply for the loan.

Mental health ('insanity' defences) in criminal law are really only for situations where the defendant is acting in an automaton state; e.g. they had no idea what they were doing. I'm afraid that you clearly did. Worse still - and I'm not going to express an opinion on it as I don't want to be an accessory to the crime - you've posted publically how you lied and knew about what you were getting into. Whether you try and delete the post is up to you, but if a bank did want to encourage a prosecution against you, there's clear evidence of your guilt on this forum!

So, what to do next?

Well, firstly, it's very honarable that you've put your hand up and acknowledged there's a problem.

I wouldn't accept the CAB's advice that 'it's the banks' fault', because I can assure you that the banks won't agree. Responsible lending does not = have to make checks. There is an element of trust involved. If you were 10 years old then yes, they might be irresponsible in not raising an eyebrow, but I'm guessing you're not, so I wouldn't suggest going down that route.

What I would suggest is speaking to the CAB and seeing if you can make token payments. I very much doubt it's in anyone's interests to tell the loan company that you never had a job in the first place - they might just say that you've now found yourself out of work.

That's certainly the argument I would spin - I doubt they will ask for retrospective proof you were working at the time of the application.

Above all, don't panic, but from now on...be honest...!

naijapower

Very informative post by bunglejemson. I am happy you see where i am coming from. My reference to mental health act earlier was cos someone posted that OP would escaped unpunished due to his mental condition.
I stated that this is incorrect cos people can get sectioned under mental health act and significantly in OP's case, mental health cannot be used as an excuse as it is obvious he knowingly lied

sp1987

The OP must also consider that whilst claiming income support he had ''capital'' of £27,000 or at least over £6,000 at points where the loan payments were paid to him, which I assume remained undeclared. This means at such a time he was committing benefit fraud by not declaring his assets. The fact the monies came from loans probably won't make a difference as benefits do not take debts into account when calculating entitlements. He would have had x amount in his bank accounts which they would expect him to declare and use to sustain himself prior to claiming state benefits.

This seems to by quite a more complex issue than just having debts he cannot repay.

I would advise the OP to get specific advice on this issue from a solicitor (legal aid) as there is nothing to suggest he was mentally incapable of knowing what he was doing. The fact he was depressed would be mitigating circumstances, not a complete defence by reason of insanity.
The OP should also consider the implications of fraud on a possible bankruptcty application and would need advice on this.

gizmo111

I know somebody in a similar situation who hasn't worked for years and built up around £30K on cards and loans, lying on every application. The OR wasn't happy but never took it any further, and never imposed any BRU/BRO. This was just a year ago.
There would be no benefit ti the bank/card company to persue this as fraud as the OP still wouldn't have the money to apy them.
Yes he does wrong and admitted it, he can't change the past and he can't afford the debts. The worry will not be helping his mental state. Do as CAB say and consider bankruptcy, but don't beat yourself up about it. Also claim whatever benefit you and your family are entitled to.
Hope you are feeling better soon, and the future feels a bit brighter.