Am I liable for my husbands debts?

sussexlass

Hi I am new to this forum so I hope you can help.

My husband (63) has been unemployed for 15 months and has around £30,000 on credit cards run up when he was self employed for 3 years. He had an income protection insurance which paid 3 of his cards for a year and 1 card had insurance that covered the payments. These insurances have now stopped so he is writing cheques to pay the cards (about £800) from our joint account which only has my salary going into it (£1500 a month). the overdraft is now rapidly increasing.
The house is in my name and the mortgage finishes in 15 months.
Can anybody tell me if I am liable for any of these debts? Do I take a loan out to cover the cards secured on the house? He just wants to bury his head in the sand and thinks they will disappear and upto now refuses to contact the credit card companies.!!!

Any advice would be appreciated.

southernscouser

Hi there sussexlass and welcome to MSE and the DFW forum.

OK firstly as long as the debts are in his name only then you are not liable for them.

I would also try and avoid securing the debts on your property. Turning unsecured debt into secured debt carries risks.

Have a read through this thread. If you would like to post a SOA then please do but also give the CCCS a ring. They are a registered charity and don't charge for their services. If anything they can just offer you free impartial, professional advice.

Broken_hearted

No you arn't liable and if the house is in your name it's safe.

itsarichmansworld

I have done the secured loan route hence why I am instupid amounts of debt, DO NOT DO IT!

Its like a lead balloon round your neck take ss' advice do a soa and we'll see if we can help you (which I'm sure we can)

Oh and welcome to our wee forum

zzzLazyDaisy

southernscouser wrote:

Hi there sussexlass and welcome to MSE and the DFW forum.

OK firstly as long as the debts are in his name only then you are not liable for them.

That is true. But equally, as long as the bank account is in joint names he is entitled to keep writing cheques. OP is jointly liable for the resulting overdraft. Unfortunately 'jointly' doesn't mean equal shares, it means that both are equally responsible and the bank can enforce the whole debt against whoever is best able to pay it. So in reality she is responsible for his debts as far as the overdraft is concerned.

She might wish to consider opening a new account in her own name, and having her salary, DD's etc transferred to that account. Alternatively, if she is willing to accept full responsibility for the overdraft, she can have his name taken off the joint account, but that does need his written agreement.

Once OP's finances are totally separate, then she can seek advice for her husband, based on HIS income, assets and outgoings, which would include a share of the joint outgoings such as food and utility bills etc.

It is a nightmare being married to someone who id in debt and sticking their head in the sand, but she needs to protect herself and her home.

CLAPTON

assuming all the debts are in his name only and not jointly, then he should stop paying the CCs, write to each creditor explaining he is unemployed and can only pay them a nominal £1 a month to show he accepts responsibility for the debts but simply isn't able to pay.

if he isnt willing to do this then take zzzlazy advice, open a new bank a/c in your own name and shift all your income to it and your own DDs. remove your name from the joint a/c (unfortunately you may have to clear the overdraft first) and let him deal with the consequences, but hopefully this won't be necessary.

do this asap otherwise the OD will grow and you are equally responsible for this. don't get any CCs or loans (secured or unsecured) in your name to clear his debts. its better he sorts this out asap
why isn't he doing some sort of work?

sussexlass

Many thanks for all your replies, they are very helpfull. My husband has recently been asked to sell for an Irish company but it is commission only. It will take a few months to get off the ground so he has no definate income to fund his CC. Great !!
Thanks southernscouser I will contact CCCS (ironic my husband is a scouser !!....)