Please help - fiance's mother ran up £1400 debt in his name

Loubie84

Hi,

My fiance just received a letter from a debt collection agency saying that an old credit card (that he had paid off years ago) had £1400 unpaid debt and that it had been passed on to the debt collection agency by the creditors.

This debt has been run up by his mother (I know, I can't quite believe it) without his knowledge on a card that he didn't even remember existed that is registered at his parents' address from when he used to live there - the debt agency traced him through a credit scoring company.

We're not even currently sure whether his parents can afford to pay this debt, but we're most concerned and upset about his credit score - we both had poor credit ratings and old debts that we had paid off through debt collection agencies when we were students years ago, and these have only just passed the 7 years mark and cleared off our records. We have worked so hard to improve our credit scores and I'm absolutely devastated as we are saving for a house deposit and hoped to get a mortgage in the next couple of years.

Is there anything we can do about this? We feel that he shouldn't be responsible for the debt but the card is in his name and so we think he will probably be held liable for it. The main thing is trying to get it removed from his credit history or the debt transferred to his mother, but we don't know if this is possible (I realise that this is potentially a fraud issue ut we don't want to get his mother in trouble, we just want her to be liable for the debt).

Please please help.

shop-to-drop

I think you will have to get the police involved or just pay it.

Loubie84

It's not the paying it - we can pay it at a stretch, but it's the effect on his credit rating that we need to know about - can we get this taken off his credit score?

whitewing

Unless you actually log it with the police, I can't see how you can show that it wasn't done with his permission. (This isn't legal advice, I don't have a clue). Personally, if it stops you being able to buy a house otherwise then I would report it, but very difficult to do of course.

Loubie84

We really don't want to do that so looks like we're just going to be stuck with this for the next 7 years. I can't believe this is happening to us, we're getting married next year and I'd hoped to buy a house the following year and possibly start a family. I'm absolutely devastated.

shop-to-drop

Have you checked his credit file? Just to be sure there are no more nasty surprises.

Loubie84

Trying to log on to Experian but we have used it before and he can't remember his login info or PIN so have to wait until Monday to phone them :-(

merlot123

shop-to-drop wrote: »

Have you checked his credit file? Just to be sure there are no more nasty surprises.

That is exactly as I was going to suggest.

OP, you can still start a family, you don't need to own a house for that.

I would seriously think about calling the police, just to get a crime number and then you can go to the credit card company and get the debt recovered from the mother. I doubt very much the police will do much in terms of prosecuting her, they may give her a caution or something, unless of course she has taken out more debt in your partners name.

merlot123

https://www.creditexpert.co.uk/MCCForgotPassword.aspx

You don't need the pin, you just need your email address.

sistafromanothermista

I agree with Merlot. Good luck on whatever you decide to do

erimus1

Loubie84 wrote: »

We really don't want to do that so looks like we're just going to be stuck with this for the next 7 years. I can't believe this is happening to us, we're getting married next year and I'd hoped to buy a house the following year and possibly start a family. I'm absolutely devastated.

It's six years, and I'm guessing that it's due to information on the National Hunter database for fraud prevention - lenders will do a search in this after the initial credit checks - you need to send a SAR to National Hunter. I would also get in touch with the underwriter and speak to them directly too, baring in mind that these cannot be refused by a computer and will be manually underwritten if a fraud marker has been found.