Joint account problem

gem4

Posting on behalf of a friend regarding a debt being repaid to a joint account.

Briefly - 2 joint accounts, one co-op privilege account with £7.50 mth subscription, overdrawn by £700+, and one co-op loan account.
One part of the 'joint' does a disappearing act over a year ago. Debt falls to other half (my friend) as he is the only person they can trace.
Regular standing order monthly pays £100 loan + £35 off overdraft (no more can be spared).

Privilege account has been frozen against use, but charges are still going on monthly. These are:-
Debit interest - 11.67 (and increasing)
Daily excess charge - 15.00
Service charge - 25.00
Subscription - 7.50 (and not able to use the services)
Therefore, £35 is being paid off the £700 debt per month but almost £60 a month is being added in charges.

Questions:-
Which, if any, of these charges are unlawful and can be claimed back?
Is there any way to stop them adding the charges every month as the account is frozen?
Is there any way to NOT have to pay the disappearing act's half of the debt?
Where do we start to try to sort the mess out?

Any advice gratefully received.
Thanks

anniecave

That sounds like a nightmare situation. If I was the friend, I would first of all phone up or better still arrange a personal appointment with the bank and explain the situation, including the details regarding the person who has disappeared. They should be able to reduce the interest and charges for a start. Is it clear who incurred the debt or what the loan was used for? Eg if the majority of the debt was for a car loan for example for the person who disappeared, even if it's in joint names, the bank may be willing to persue individually the person who has disappeared, and people are usually traceable, even if they try hard to disappear. Even if it's unclear what the responsibility is, if it was for general joint household expenses for example, the bank should be willing to be reasonable about repayment and perhaps helping with tracing the disappearing individual, unless your friend has agreed to take responsibility for the entire debt, then even so the bank should not be unreasonable.

gem4

Thanks AnnieC. The bank is being very unreasonable, they send statements and threatening letters every month. They have now even taken the other party's name off the account (or off the mail). Does anyone know if my friend is legally obliged to clear the joint debt, or can he demand that they try to find the disappearing party?

Bossyboots

gem4 wrote:

Thanks AnnieC. The bank is being very unreasonable, they send statements and threatening letters every month. They have now even taken the other party's name off the account (or off the mail). Does anyone know if my friend is legally obliged to clear the joint debt, or can he demand that they try to find the disappearing party?

He is legally obliged to clear the joint debt and the bank have no duty to try to find the other party. Signing up to the joint account would have been signing up to a joint a several liability so if your friend wants the other person to contribute, they will have do the looking themselves.

They won't have taken the other person's name off the account. They can't do that and if your friend was to stop paying as well, they would still both be liable for the interest accruing in the meantime.

littlestar1981

Oooh echoes almost exactly of my problem with my disappearing ex!!

I have a 2500 overdraft on a current account in jont names and i'm paying 40 interest a month.

What is the subscription? Is it some sort of DD? Your friend should be able to cancel that (my ex did, he cancelled our sofa DD without my auth and announced I was welcome to the 1k left on it since is in my name).

In my case I've decided to just pay the lot myself.... when I can (unless he turns up in the meantime) as it's affecting my credit rating having the financial association (it will be doing to your friend too). As someone has already said, joint accounts mean it's not 'half and half', either person can be chased for the entire amount due.

I'm posting this to keep it near the top, hopefully an expert will advise us both about whether any of these charges can be claimed back or whether the charges and/or interest can be frozen?

gem4

Thanks for that littlestar. I think the answer to my questions may be better answered on the debt forum but dont know how to link the post from one to the other. Hoping for an answer soon though. Service charge is for all the extra privileges, travel ins ect but its a rip off if they've made the account inactive. Gem x

littlestar1981

They should be able to stop those.