I don't know where to start

monstermuncher

I've had a bad run of debt, and dealt with it by burying my head in the sand. I'm getting it sorted now, last year I took all my post (unopened, obviously) down to my Mum's and we all went through it, she gave me a loan to settle them and we did, a couple were defaulted but we settled.

I'd missed two, one was a catalogue bill for £734 (just missed it off the list) and one was for an account that I couldn't pay. They'd said it had been transferred to a debt collection agency, but the debt collection agency had never heard of me. On my credit file it's still showing as owed to the original company.

I'd been getting letters and phone calls about the catalogue, and plucked up the courage to phone and set up a payment plan. They were actually lovely.

My ex husband's father rang my Mum today, saying he's been getting phone calls from debt collection agencies looking for me (including variations of my name, and one using just my middle name and previous surname) saying I owed money, and that I'd used him as a guarantor on loans.

He was apparently really aggressive, and when my Mum said she can't believe I'd use him as a guarantor replied "well she has" and then ended up slamming the phone down.

I would never do anything like that, and I'd never use an alias to take out a loan. As far as I'm aware, everything that I owed has been paid off.

I don't know who they are, or why they're ringing him (or where they got his number from) or what they think I owe. They won't give him any details, they won't even give him a phone number.

I don't know what to do about this. I thought things were getting better for me and it just seems more and more stuff comes out of the woodwork and I'm destined to be stuck in this forever.

I always thought it was so stupid when people committed suicide because of debt, but I can see the appeal now. It's impossible to get away from, it's affecting other people, and it's making people think I've done awful things that I would never even contemplate.

toots82

Hi,

I'm new n clueless but didn't want to read n run. Take a deep breath hon, yeah its awful but if u know u didn't do this its a whole lot better than knowing u did n it catching up with u iyswim. I don't know where to start but am sure someone will be along soon who does.
xxxxx

monstermuncher

Thanks for replying.

I didn't change my address with the bank and the mobile phone company and other things when I moved a few years ago, because I'm paperless billing and do it all online.

I'm wondering if they've sent bank statements out and the people who bought the house have done stuff in my name using that as ID? I've got access to my credit file though. there's nothing on there that I'm not aware of, and only 2 things that aren't settled (unless you count the overdraft and the small bill that I can't find who to pay it to) I don't know what else it could be.

Tixy

Are you at all on speaking terms with ex or his dad?

Most guarantor loans pay the loan into the guarantor's bank account. And they report to the credit reference agencies files of the guarantor not the person who wants the loan.

Even if you'd wanted to get out a loan and give his name as a guarantor it would be near impossible without him knowing about it (I'm sure you didn't do it).

All you can say to him is that you have no knowledge of any debts that would be contacting him. Tell him you've never used him as a guarantor and never used his address or phone number to obtain any credit.

If you can talk to him further you could suggest he got copies of his credit files to see if there is anything on them which would help him identify who is trying to contact him. Presumably he has had no letters at all?

tescomilk

monstermuncher wrote: »

I always thought it was so stupid when people committed suicide because of debt, but I can see the appeal now. It's impossible to get away from, it's affecting other people, and it's making people think I've done awful things that I would never even contemplate.

Nothing you could ever do is worth Suicide. Certainly not a 3rd party debt collection company ...don't worry we'll help you sort all this out :money:

monstermuncher wrote: »

My ex husband's father rang my Mum today, saying he's been getting phone calls from debt collection agencies looking for me (including variations of my name, and one using just my middle name and previous surname) saying I owed money, and that I'd used him as a guarantor on loans.

He was apparently really aggressive, and when my Mum said she can't believe I'd use him as a guarantor replied "well she has" and then ended up slamming the phone down.

What is likely happened here is Debt Collection Agencies have tried to trace you via whatever means possible. They don't care about the Data Protection Act and not being the brightest people in the world often make mistakes or mix up similar names/data.

I would imagine perhaps they have got a copy of say an old Tenancy agreement (or your husbands) and some how linked his father's name. Anyway this is what you need to do:

• Contact your Ex Father-in-law and ask them the name of the company who rang him?
• ..if he doesn't know ask him to let you know if they ring again.
• Tell him you never took out a loan with him as guarantor and ask him if he believes that then why hasn't he had anything in writing? :rotfl:

Once you have the name then come back on here for the next steps...

monstermuncher

I was on speaking terms with my ex husband, but then when we sold our house he kept all the money and moved to Australia, ignoring repeated attempts to get my share (we disputed the amount, but even he admitted that he owed me something) I've now got no way of contacting him.

Father in Law told my Mum that I'd ruined his son's life, and now I'm ruining his so I doubt he'd appreciate any contact with me. I could send a letter, but he wouldn't believe me.

I don't know why any debt collectors would be contacting him, everything has been settled. What else could it be? Could there be debts that aren't on my credit file?

There was a dispute with my car insurance a year ago (I cancelled it, they renewed it and tried to keep taking it) but that's not a loan and certainly not in any way related to my ex father in law.

My ex and his Dad have the same name, so I do wonder if that's causing some confusion and there is an unknown joint debt.

I just don't think I have any though!

Tixy

Could be some joint debt from you and ex. Would sound more likely than this. And if they have the same names its no uncommon for debt collectors to mix them up/confuse identities/chase the wrong one (or more likely both).

Difficult though if you don't know have any details and don't know of any joint debts. Which of your credit files have you checked? if not all 3 just might be worth checking the others in case it throws up anything that you can't see on the ones you have looked at.
(the 2 are callcredit (now noddle), equifax and experian (aka credit expert).

Aside from that there doesn't seem much to do - but try not to worry about it. And if ex father in law calls you/mum again just say you have no idea what it relates to but if he can find out who is calling and what creditor the debt relates to you will see if you can investigate.

monstermuncher

I've just checked Experian, how much does it cost to check Equifax and Noddle?

This has come less than a week after a very close friend of mine has died, who's also my best friend's husband. It upsets me that he knows about the death, and is still behaving like this.

When I had to sign so the sale of the house could go through, he hadn't been told that I'd been down to do it and was banging on my front door and then bedroom window at 11pm trying to 'remind' me. I live alone, in a pretty rough area and didn't know it was him until afterwards. I was absolutely terrified, he's not really a person I want to speak to at the moment!

Tixy

Equifax - You can either get the £2 statutory report (online or by post) or sign up for a free trial (free if you cancel within 30days).
Noddle is now free.

Of course if he's not a very nice person, once you've checked your files are free from issues you could just leave him to be hassled.

monstermuncher

It's not so much that he's not a nice person, he's fiercely protective of his son which is, I guess, a good quality.

It does mean though, that he's totally blind to his faults and believes whatever he's told. My ex is a liar, not in a nasty way but that he wants everyone to think he's wonderful. I've no doubt that he's lied about me during the divorce, and his Dad will have believed every word so now I'm the devil.

We were in quite a lot of debt when we were together. We were both naive and stupid, and lived beyond our means. Had we been more careful early on in the relationship, when we were earning more we would have been comfortable, with at least £2k leftover after bills per month.

We were both in denial about it, and it wasn't until we split up that we were able to face up to our mistakes and deal with them individually. Selling the house wiped out all the joint debt, but we both took away stuff in our own name. I took the dogs with me and had to move to a shared house, and he stayed with his family living rent free so as a percentage of income, he did better than me. He gave the debt he'd taken in his own name as a reason that he wouldn't pay me half of the equity in the house, and I told him that I'd also taken debt away and that's as far as we got.

It seems from his Dad's rant (she's ruined my son's life, and now she's trying to ruin mine) that ALL the debt accumulated during the marriage (I haven't taken out anything since we split 3 years ago) was my fault. That would mean his son was either incredibly weak willed or just an idiot, but that's their conclusion regardless.

Although I think the way he's behaving is awful, I don't think it's fair to leave him to deal with it, especially if it somehow linked to me.

I can't get my Noddle report today because my bank card is in my married name and address, I'll get that changed next week.

Equifax just doesn't seem to want to work. I log in and it tells me my credit report is free, I click on that link and it asks for card details, and then tells me it was declined.

I'm thinking of writing ex father in law a letter (I don't want to see or speak to him) explaining that I don't know what this refers to, if he can get as much information as possible and send it on to me, or just give them my phone number (probably not address, they sound like they might be dodgy).

monstermuncher

I think the worst thing is, I was in the middle of a PPI claim about a joint loan. I didn't want to talk to him during it, what I really wanted was to get a refund, and send him his share so he'd know that I would never have been anything other than unfair.

Now this happens, and I'm accused of being a hell of a lot more than 'unfair'.