Paying off ex's debts for last 12 years

Felicity1234

Hi everyone

Last resort - can anyone offer advice? I'll be brief.

My ex-husband and I got into approximately £17,500 of joint debt 13 years ago and soon after we divorced. All the debts are in joint names. As part of the divorce, he agreed to pay me a lump sum, regular monthly debt payments and child support. The amount he owes me personally is approx £9k plus 8 years child support and I have court documentation to this effect. To cut a long story short, I've not had a penny from him and rather than maintain contact with his child - he disappeared. I spent £7k settling the divorce, hiring trace agents, going to court on custody and going to court on the debts. I also acquired a default and CCJ which are due to come off my record at the end of this year. The last contact I had was 4 years ago when I carried out an attachment of earnings order on him but he left the job a day before the order went through. The CSA have given up the case - they're basically not willing to continue trying to find him as he constantly evades me, and other debt collectors chasing him. He even moved to Spain for 6 months to avoid collectors.

I am a single parent and have been paying approximately £280 per month to the joint debts to three main banks - the HSBC, Halifax and HFC. I have written to the banks on three occasions and explained the situation but they have been unwilling to chase my ex whilst I pay the debts. The current estimated outstanding debt is approx £9k. I've been paying the debts that long, they no longer show up on my credit rating.

The reason I didn't go down the bankruptcy route was because I want to be a solicitor and you can't qualify if you've been bankrupt. Now I find that because I am still paying off the joint debts, I can no longer afford to continue my solicitor training, which has put my career in jeopardy.

I don't think about how it has affected my life because I think it would seriously depress me if I dwelled on it - my daughter and I have suffered greatly due to being left with this debt, we have lived in poverty the last 8 years.

My questions:

1. As the debts no longer show up on my credit rating - if I stop paying them and disappear ie. not provide my address when I move in a couple of months - would I get away with it not affecting my credit rating (my judgments are removed at the end of this year).

2. Is there a solution with the banks that I haven't covered? Do they have to take into account my ex, should they, is there any case law? I pay the HSBC £58 a month and they charge me £38 in interest on that for a 'managed' loan. Is there any way I can dispute this? I can prove that I have solely paid them on a regular basis for the last ten years.

Any other advice is much appreciated. Thanks so much.

Felicity x

RAS

Felicity

You will appreciate that joint and several liability means that you were both fully liable for the whole debt.

Please start by doing a Subject Access Request for all your creditors. That will produce the documents you need to challenge the banks.

That managed loan may well include a very costly insurance policy, for example.

sp1987

If I remember correctly the SRA forms ask if you have ever received a CCJ, as much as if you have one that is no longer valid.

It may be worth giving the SRA a ring regarding this. I know a practising certificate is suspended whilst a solicitor is bankrupt.

I would be wanting to confirm exactly how they view the CCJ's. I know you have to declare them but I do not know what comes of them or whether it is just an exercise in honest declaration and some formalities. You may be better off letting the CCJ's happen from the lenders (if they do) enabling you to fund your training if the SRA are more concerned with declarations than implications of the money management. If you cannot afford to finance the joint loans and do your training anyway I think it would be helpful to you to contact them because you are in catch 22 anyway. One you cannot afford the training if you are clearing the loans not to have CCJS and two if you completed the training you still have these loans and CCJs anyway.

How far in are you, degree, LPC?

I know you only asked for advice on the loans themselves but considering you are in a very specific situation that most people are not in, I'm not sure whether the above may help you.

mrsb83_2

You'll have to disclose all CCJs and your credit report as part of your application to be admitted as a student member of the Law Society, which you need to do to begin an LPC course.

"Disappearing" would be viewed as an act of dishonesty, and would seriously impact upon your being admitted as a solicitor. Also your details would be held on a publicly available list, and so I think you'd find it difficult to hide from your creditors.

I'd be looking at the possible mis-selling of the loan first.

Felicity1234

RAS wrote: »

Felicity

You will appreciate that joint and several liability means that you were both fully liable for the whole debt.

Please start by doing a Subject Access Request for all your creditors. That will produce the documents you need to challenge the banks.

That managed loan may well include a very costly insurance policy, for example.

Hi Ras - what is a Subject Access Request? None of the loans have any insurance.

Felicity1234

sp1987 wrote: »

If I remember correctly the SRA forms ask if you have ever received a CCJ, as much as if you have one that is no longer valid.

It may be worth giving the SRA a ring regarding this. I know a practising certificate is suspended whilst a solicitor is bankrupt.

I would be wanting to confirm exactly how they view the CCJ's. I know you have to declare them but I do not know what comes of them or whether it is just an exercise in honest declaration and some formalities. You may be better off letting the CCJ's happen from the lenders (if they do) enabling you to fund your training if the SRA are more concerned with declarations than implications of the money management. If you cannot afford to finance the joint loans and do your training anyway I think it would be helpful to you to contact them because you are in catch 22 anyway. One you cannot afford the training if you are clearing the loans not to have CCJS and two if you completed the training you still have these loans and CCJs anyway.

How far in are you, degree, LPC?

I know you only asked for advice on the loans themselves but considering you are in a very specific situation that most people are not in, I'm not sure whether the above may help you.

Hi SP1987, thanks for the reply. I did speak to the SRA before I took my degree and they were ok with the ccj and loans, bankruptcy rules you out. I can afford to repay the joint debts - they're not actually in arrears anymore and the one ccj i have is to come off my record in Nov this year and a default off my record in Oct this year. My gripe is that my ex has not paid a penny for the joint debts and he is at the moment untraceable which means I am handling the loans myself - if I don't pay they come after me because I'm the responsible one! And I'm being charged ridiculous interest.

I finished my degree two years ago, I have another 5 years to do the lpc and have a place at a university to start this year, which I deferred until next year. I can't afford it, and that's because I'm paying off debts which were in joint names. I've slogged my guts out to get the 2:1 and worked in law firms for seven years and it has come to this. Oooh, I'm mad! x

Felicity1234

mrsb83 wrote: »

You'll have to disclose all CCJs and your credit report as part of your application to be admitted as a student member of the Law Society, which you need to do to begin an LPC course.

"Disappearing" would be viewed as an act of dishonesty, and would seriously impact upon your being admitted as a solicitor. Also your details would be held on a publicly available list, and so I think you'd find it difficult to hide from your creditors.

I'd be looking at the possible mis-selling of the loan first.

Thanks Mrsb83 - my ex has changed his name several times to evade paying the debts and as the loans no longer show on my credit record, I was thinking well, if I moved, changed my name, the debts would be written off - they wouldn't bother pursuing me given the length of time the loans have been in existence and the bad history going back ten years. I used to work for a number of years as a debt collector so understand how banks assess bad debt and I'm guessing the parameters for assessment have decreased in recent years.

Saying that, yes, it is dishonest and I know that it would be wrong, but when I calculate the amount - well, I haven't to be fair as it would be too upsetting - that I have paid and am still paying in interest alone, the banks are quite frankly taking me for a ride. They've not been considerate with charges when it comes to repayment of debts as a single parent, they've screwed me and my daughter over the last x amount of years despite my regular contact with them about the situation so I do feel very much like giving them the two fingered salute! In all fairness though, I doubt I would disappear, I admit I am not that sort of person and couldn't imagine not paying someone back what I owed - it just sucks that because of serious mistakes I made when I was younger, I'm paying for them now. x