Is it possible to sue an ex for using a credit card without permission?

mum_to_two

My current partner split from his ex 5 years ago. He left the property they jointly owned and left her and their daughter living there. At the time, his head was all over the place and when she asked him if she could use his credit card to pay her MOT bill, he agreed. He went living back with his mum and dad and had a very turbulent time and actually forgot she had his credit card! Around 15-18 months later, he realised the card was still active and was horrified to see that she had basically “maxed it out”. He confronted her about this and she basically told him it was tough and she had no intention of repaying the money! He cancelled the card and took out a loan to repay the debt.
He is now back on track and cant believe he has been so naive.
Can anything be done about this? Can he sue her for the money, or is it just a case of him having to learn from his mistake? He has now obtained copies of every single statement which proves beyond doubt that it was her who used the card (even paying her brothers and fathers business bills with it!). Any advice would be welcome
Thank you

izools

If she was using his card and his PIN with his permission initially then he has broken the T&C of the account by sharing his card and / or his PIN with a third party.

Unfortunately in this instance the bank would take a dim view of his actions and not support a fraud claim.

If he had ordered a second cardholder on the account and she had a card with her name printed on it which she was using, this would not be considered a breach of T&C on the account but would still be considered tacit agreement on his part for her to use the card, especially if he were to choose not to cancel the second card holder.

Unfortunately in either instance it seems the credit card company would not support a fraud claim and therefore the same would count in a court of law.

If however she had stolen the card then this would be out and out fraud and he would be able to claim the money back from his credit card provider, so long as she didn't know his PIN - if she did, they would consider this negligence on his part.

Finally, the time he had let it slip unreported would be considered negligent. He should have been checking the account for unrecognised transactions every single month and reporting them at the first sign of trouble.

Unfortunately in this instance it seems he would be at a loss to be able to do anything.

The fact he was going through "a tough time" unfortunately wouldn't count. If he wasn't in a fit state to be checking his accounts every month he should have closed them and / or cancelled any cards held on them.

Sorry to be the bearer of news you might not want to hear.

grumbler

I don't see any problem with taking this to a court and IMO the chances of winning are pretty high.

guesswho2000

grumbler wrote: »

I don't see any problem with taking this to a court and IMO the chances of winning are pretty high.

I agree with izools on this, I expect that any chance of winning a court case are slim at best; unless she's stolen the card or somehow fraudulently gained use of it, it's his issue unfortunately, especially considering the time that's passed.

SailorSam

This story was on the news tonight, not exactly the same as you Op, but the guy stole £30k and got 12mths suspended for 2yrs.

http://www.itv.com/news/granada/story/2013-02-22/man-sentenced-after-sneaking-into-ex-wifes-house/

izools

SailorSam wrote: »

This story was on the news tonight, not exactly the same as you Op, but the guy stole £30k and got 12mths suspended for 2yrs.

http://www.itv.com/news/granada/story/2013-02-22/man-sentenced-after-sneaking-into-ex-wifes-house/

The circumstances would have to be identical to be able to consider this case precedent, however.

opinions4u

He'd probably win a civil case. That doesn't mean he'd get the money back though.

DreamerV

I wonder if the threat of court action would be enough for her to set up a payment plan back to him...

Enterprise_1701C

She obviously did this out of spite, he told her she could use it to pay the MOT, this was not permission to max it out.

This case has nothing to do with the credit card people, everything to do with his ex.

How much is it? Small Claims go up to 10,000 now, or will do soon (can't recall which it is), it has to be worth going online and filling out a form to try to get the money back, I get the impression she would not want a problem with her credit rating.

zerog

Enterprise_1701C wrote: »

She obviously did this out of spite, he told her she could use it to pay the MOT, this was not permission to max it out.

This case has nothing to do with the credit card people, everything to do with his ex.

How much is it? Small Claims go up to 10,000 now, or will do soon (can't recall which it is), it has to be worth going online and filling out a form to try to get the money back, I get the impression she would not want a problem with her credit rating.

Yes exactly, it doesn't matter that he broke the card's T&Cs, because he is not saying that he shouldn't have to pay the card off.

Not the best analogy but if you got robbed because you didn't fit a lock on your door, then your insurance might not pay up but you could still take the thief to court and get your stuff back.

mum_to_two

Thank you for all your comments and suggestions so far.
The amount we are talking about is £5k. Not really in the same league as the guy who stole £30k, but in principal is the same. She had permission to use the card for one transaction amounting to less than £200 - not to max it out to £5k.
Im not sure how she would react to court action, or the threat of it (probably just another excuse for him not to see his daughter ), but he's beyond her reaction now.
I deal with court claims with my job. If he went ahead with this himself, would this just be a case of having to complete an N1 form?