Secured loan taken out by wife without my knowlege

potlessduetowife!

It seems that my wife has taken out a secured loan on the house without telling me. She used someone to forge my signature on the loan application.

The repayments have not been made and now the loan company are taking me to court through non-payment.

My (now ex) wife is refusing to pay any money and it looks like the entire debt is my responsibility.

I have no proof that the loan was obtained fraudulently and I've been told that Court proceedings would most likely fail.

To my way of thinking, the loan company have not made the proper checks and should therefore be liable. They disagree!

Two questions:

1) Do I have any way of fighting the loan company?
2) Is my ex not liable for at least half of the debt?

Any help gratefully received.

reehsetin

cant you go to the police, she obtained money by deception didnt she

jonesMUFCforever

You have to report this to the police.
They will interview you and your ex and should investigate the matter.
I would certainly be taking legal advice.
Did the loan monies go through a joint account at all? or did it go through her account.
Most loan companies make cheques out in joint names and would have to be paid into a joint account.
You need someone like a solicitor to make these investigations on your behalf.

Bossyboots

I suspect the loan will be a joint and several liability meaning that you both have responsibility for the whole loan and if one defaults they can still chase the other for it all. You ex has liability for the whole debt, as do you, but for whatever reason they clearly think that you are the easier target.

You can fight the loan company. The most obvious thing to do is employ a hand writing expert to examine the loan document and a specimen of your signature. That costs a lot of money though. However, if you report it to the police and can persuade them to take action, they may well do this and the findings can be produced in the civil proceedings.

I think it really boils down to two options. Pay the loan or report the crime. I think the civil courts would want to know why you hadn't reported it and that will weaken your claim that you did not sign the agreement.