Help Needed!!!

Shopaholic10_2

Hi all,

I have been around these boards for a number of years and have used this place as inspiration to sort my debt out, I managed to pay off £18,000 in 18 months and have now been debt free for almost 3 years.

Unfortunately my friend is now in a really tricky situation and I don't have the knowledge to be able to help her so my first thought was to see if you guys could offer some advice.....

She is a single mum of 2 children under 4 and has been left in a terrible mess by her 'ex' husband. He took a loan out while they were still together for £25,000 and unfortunately my friend signed as guarentor for the loan (a stupid thing to do and she now knows it). He has never paid the loan and the company have now filed a CCJ against them both.

The main issue is that my friend has about £7,000 in a savings account (in her sole name) that doesn't actually belong to her, the money belongs to her mum and dad (who due to loosing their business and having insufficient ID can't get bank accounts). She is really concerned now that the company chasing her for the debt will be able to access this money and take it from her, it's the only money that her mum and dad have and would be a disaster if they lost it.... bringing me on to a couple of questions....

1. Could this company get information on the amount of money my friend has in savings?

2. Could they take this money away from her?

3. What would be the next step my friend should take?

Any help would be really appreciated and I'm sorry for the long post but wanted to try and give you the most information I could.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post.

gonzo127

unfortunatly i dont know about the laws on being a garentor's so cant help on any advice there

however i am a bit confused about the parents not having enough ID for a bank account, just sounds a bit strange as no driving license? no passport? no utility bills? anyways it might be worth them looking into a BASIC bank account which do not require any credit checks as they do not give a overdraft, so might be worth looking at for them as i do not expect they need as much ID to open

second you NEED to find out if the savings account is held by the same company that did the loan, or is 'related' at all, if it is she needs to move it ASAP just to be sure as banks can offset debt repayments against your bank account i am sure someone will be along to post the link showing which banks are linked with which companies so that should help

Shopaholic10_2

Hi gonzo127, thanks for your reply.

I realise that the no 'ID' sounds strange but neither of them have a driving licence or a passport and previously when they have tried to open savings accounts with banks they have required photo ID.

gonzo127

well one thing to do might be to suggest they use some of the £7000 savings to get a passport? it should only cost them ~£100 total to get one of them a passport which would help with these types of things, just a thought

JasX

Shopaholic10 wrote: »

Hi gonzo127, thanks for your reply.

I realise that the no 'ID' sounds strange but neither of them have a driving licence or a passport and previously when they have tried to open savings accounts with banks they have required photo ID.

Different banks take different forms of ID, they must be able to come up with 'something' if they shop around (eg some take OAP travel passes or a letter confirming right to benefits, letters from the tax man etc...)

maybe this helps but check individual banks websites:

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&q=WEB_Identificationproofforbanks280308.doc&meta=cr%3DcountryUK|countryGB&aq=f&oq=WEB_Identificationproofforbanks280308.doc&fp=698b2be80cf6bcd7

http://www.natwest.com/personal/current-accounts/g2/id-required.ashx

http://www.rbs.co.uk/business/current-accounts/g1/current-account/apply-docs.ashx

JasX

PS if you can post which company the loan is with and which company the savings are with someone should be able to advise if they are related and able to take it without notice under 'offsetting'

danthemoneysavingman

gonzo127 wrote: »

...i am sure someone will be along to post the link showing which banks are linked with which companies so that should help

look at this article:
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/savings-and-banking/article.html?in_article_id=440726&in_page_id=7

Shopaholic10_2

Thanks to you all for your replies, I have asked my friend to look into who the loan is with and I'll post as soon as I know. Really grateful for all your help so far, I certainly know more than I did this morning.

Shopaholic10_2

Right, the loan is with MBNA and her savings are in the Alliance and Leicester, could they take the money in that 'setting off' thing?

JasX

Shopaholic10 wrote: »

Right, the loan is with MBNA and her savings are in the Alliance and Leicester, could they take the money in that 'setting off' thing?

They're separate, i'm 99.999% sure Bank of America doesn't have their hands in Banco Santander's pockets so the money should be quite safe.

Best to get the parents their own account as a long term fix tho

Shopaholic10_2

That's great, thanks JasX, I'll advise her to get it sorted longer term but at least it's safe for the short term and she can stop panicing!

Again, thanks to all for your help.