Loneshark Threatening Brother and his Family?

sdavies13

Thanks again for the words of advice. The loan shark has shown my brother an agreement signed by his wife. On the recording he has of his "chat" with this man the guy says SiL told him her husband was good to cover the debt if she couldn't so he expects my brother to pay up as she promised. One of the new "debtors" has said they have a signed agreement but nothing has been shown yet. They have also said they will send some men to collect the money this week... Reading on the web I see a partner is not responsible for a spouse's debts unless those debts are in joint names. I have told him this but he said it won't stop him being put in hospital. I have told my brother I will book some leave and come down to the police station with him. Fear he is in such an emotional mess he may not be telling the police the right things or listening to them (he isn't a very good listener). I wouldn't know if the wife is behind it all but it does appear she has been skimming money from his business for sometime (he thought his money was down due to the economy but appears more was happening than just that). I think he has closed his eyes to many indicators because he didn't want to believe his wife and the mother of his child could do such things. I have had suspicions, and have said such to him from time to time, but he has always said I am just paranoid like my Dad. Brother has even found a Western Union money transfer to Thailand for £6000 from before Christmas. This is a time when they were struggling to pay the bills and I lent him some money to pay the taxman, VAT and to get his van fitted with a catalytic converter! I have also told my brother not to do anything stupid as if he did you can guarantee his wife will be back like a shot to sell the house and get the proceeds and their daughter (plus his son from a previous) would not see a penny!

custardy

go_cat wrote: »

What name is the debt in - if your SIL the loanshark needs pointing to her wherever she may be

these are unlikely to be the tye of people doing credit searches

Darlyd

OH NOOO!!

Sounds like your brother was an easy target to be ripped off, Can your brother and child come stay with you/your sister for the time being to be safe? I don't think these people will let down, they are after money whether it is all made up/fake or real, they will not leave him alone, the important thing is to make sure they are kept safe at all times.

Also the police, they have to take this seriously, she has stolen money, seek legal advice from a solicitor.

But please make sure they are kept safe, this all seems so fishy, and reminds me of an elderly client of mine who met a Thailand lady when he went there years ago, she came over here, they married had a son, and she ripped him off, just shy of hundred k. I was very surprised to see him again to be honest, as his new wife was his carer. I don't know what happened to her, he had to move with his son to live with his daughter down London as he lost his house. Bless him..

sdavies13

Been to the police today and they have taken all the details. They have warned due to the nature of the threat they can only treat it as harrasment.

More people have popped up saying SiL owes them money and they want my brother to repay it.

Brother contacted the government's illegal money lending team who have taken all the details. However they have warned that there is a four week backlog of cases.

They said my brother's situation is not all that unusual.

So he is closing down his business. We have contacted his mortgage company who are going to send out some forms that need to be filled in and they will assess his situation (because of the threats he cannot work and if he cannot work he has no income to pay bills).

He and his daughter will move in with me on the short term. They cannot stay here long term though as I don't live too far from where he does and if someone spotted him or followed her home...

He is also talking about selling his house at auction and moving away from the area. Auction as he has built his own extension but is unable to complete it (the wife took the money set aside for this). Moving away is a shame as we have both lived in this area for over 40 years!

Gigglepig

What an awful situation.

In addition to the posts above about how to handle the sharks, maybe your brother also needs to confront the ex.

You mention a 6k money transfer (of money taken from the business?) and in your later post, that the ex took money which was for finishing an extension.
Has he got a divorce settlement with his ex? If they were married for a while, she would be entitled to a share of the house? Perhaps he should get legal advice to make sure any money she took when she left will count towards her share in the house ?

sassyblue

It could also be likely that the wife does not owe them anything but is behind all this to try and get some more money out of your brother....... I can't see how the police are only treating this as harrassment?!

Make sure your brother doesn't pay them a penny, l'd tell them l want everything in writing and original copies to keep in order to arrange a bank loan to repay them, they won't do much to him if they think they're going to be repaid just string them along until you can get Citizens Advice, your local MP or police involved.

There's more advice here:
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_money/money_management_index_ew/action_your_creditor_can_take_index_ew/harassment_by_creditors.htm

sdavies13

My brother is still (currently) married to his wife.

She flew out to Thailand but is not answering the phone number he has for her. She went out there to resolve some family problem which we now suspect isn't true.

My brother did discuss going out there to get to the bottom of this but have been advised against this due to the sticky legal situation.

So many things have gone missing, not only money and jewellery but also the marriage certificate, birth certificates, passports, bank details, etc. So there could also (potentially) be identity fraud or illegal immigration involved. Who knows.

My current suspicion (my brother doesn't believe this is the case but I have always been the suspicious one) is she has been involved in gambling (she always talked about her friends and their gambling habits but she always talked down about them) and lost a lot of money then borrowed money to try and win it back digging herself deeper. As soon as she started getting threatened and couldn't borrow anymore she made her excuses and fled the country (taking what little was left).

I have spoken to the local MP about this but my brother does not want to speak to him as he is worried it will be blown up and be in the news.

He and his daughter are staying with me a couple of days and we have arranged somewhere else for them to stay for the longer term.

However my brother has decided he doesn't want to live around here any longer so the next plan will be I will pay to have his extension finished and certificated then we will put his house on the market. Once sold he will buy somewhere else for him and his daughter to live long term. Though this depends on if his mortgage company or any other bills will hold off until resolved (if they all insist on full payments then that would eat into any money I have available to finish his building work, sadly I do not have bottomless pockets).

Problem obviously is his wife may be entitled to half of the house and some of the money she has taken (like the skimming from his books) is almost impossible to prove. So this will need a lot of work.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

rent the house out. short term leases, no dss, untill your repayed what costs you have incurred from completion of extension and safety inspection certificate and he has means to pay the mortgage and also live off some of it.

as for threats he needs a dictophone with mic attachment to his phone so he can record clearly the threats.

have something handy by the door so if anyone trys barges in you can remove them with REASONABLE FORCE.

tell the shark him or anyone associated with him and his practaces are not to come to the property, buisiness or relatives and that if he does turn up he would be arrested or anyone associated with be arrested for tresspass and harrasment threats to kill, and trying to obtain monies by way of manace.
make sure its recorded and barraged with threats let them carry on and then hang up and imeadiatly call the police.

yvonne13_2

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

rent the house out. short term leases, no dss, untill your repayed what costs you have incurred from completion of extension and safety inspection certificate and he has means to pay the mortgage and also live off some of it.

as for threats he needs a dictophone with mic attachment to his phone so he can record clearly the threats.

have something handy by the door so if anyone trys barges in you can remove them with REASONABLE FORCE.

tell the shark him or anyone associated with him and his practaces are not to come to the property, buisiness or relatives and that if he does turn up he would be arrested or anyone associated with be arrested for tresspass and harrasment threats to kill, and trying to obtain monies by way of manace.
make sure its recorded and barraged with threats let them carry on and then hang up and imeadiatly call the police.

But if he rented out the house wouldn't that be putting strangers lives in danger? I don't think a loan shark is going to care who is in the house all they are interested in is there money.

tight_scotsman

Tell your brother to get out of there now.
Unless the authuryties are going to act. i recon his best bet is for the scumbags to be convicted. your brother being a star witness and getting on the witness protection programm.

That way he and his daughter can have a fresh start .

Sorry if this seemes a wee bit over the top but if he does not pay these people he will need to look over his shoulder for a very long time.
Even even if he does pay these maggots they will only come back for more.

Im sorry if this sounds over the top but you did ask for some advice.

As someone from from not such an affluent part of glasgow its the best i can offer,


Good luck and hope everything works out ok