Husband facing custodial sentence - what about debts?

ilikenoodles

Hi all,

My husband is currently on the warned list to appear at court some time this month. His solicitor has said he will definitely be doing a custodial sentence - somewhere between 2.5 and 6 years.

On Wednesday he took out a personal loan for £3000, so that he could pay of both our credit cards and get us out of our overdraft in our joint account.

I wasn't consulted about this prior (:mad:) and the loan is entirely in his name.

What I'd like to know is - do his debts become mine when he goes to prison? Is it possible to 'freeze' the loan payments (yet still make the odd payment whenever I can)/phone bill until he comes out of prison?

I'm not currently working at the minute so all of this is giving me a massive headache I could do without! The husband's boss has said that he will have a job to go back to once he's released, which is brilliant, but that doesn't really help in the meantime.

I've tried and tried to find an answer on the internet but failed at every hurdle!
Thanks very much in advance.

~Beanie~

ilikenoodles wrote: »

What I'd like to know is - do his debts become mine when he goes to prison? Is it possible to 'freeze' the loan payments (yet still make the odd payment whenever I can)/phone bill until he comes out of prison?

No, his debts definitely don't become yours once he goes to prison. I doubt that the loan company will freeze anything seeing as he hasn't even had it a week yet! And what phone bill do you mean?

Thrifty_Pixie

out if interest: so he told the lenders he was going to prison and they still lent him money? i find this hard to believe. if he 'omitted' to tell them and he defaults on the payments i think it would be considered fraud as he knew he'd have no way to pay the debt.

as to your question: i haven't heard of debts being written off or transferred due to prison sentences, but maybe someone else here has. was it a secured loan? do you own a house?

ilikenoodles

The phone bill I was referring to is his mobile one. I don't see much point in paying for a phone that won't be used for however long a period, even if the bill isn't too expensive.

It's an unsecured loan. We don't own any property.

Hadn't thought of the possibility of fraud being involved in obtaining the loan - I'll be having (even more) stern words with him when he gets back from work today and look into how to correct it with the bank.

Sigh!

Dogger69

He will need to manage his debts in the same way anyone else would - asking for lower payments until he is able to manage them again.

Excellent point by Thrifty Pixie - he has obtained a pecuniary advantage by deception - an offence which may attract a custodial sentence.

I honestly wouldn't rely on his job still being there in a few years time.

Naf

If he hasn't been sentenced, legally he can't know that he'll have no way to pay, can he?

tinkerbell28

I don't think this will work well for him at all. If he knew he was taking a loan which a high chance he couldn't pay it back.

He may face further criminal charges especially in light of already doing something serious enough to warrant possible prison.

Dogger69

Naf wrote: »

If he hasn't been sentenced, legally he can't know that he'll have no way to pay, can he?

Seems pretty clear to me, given that solicitors are instructed to advise on the law:

ilikenoodles wrote: »

His solicitor has said he will definitely be doing a custodial sentence - somewhere between 2.5 and 6 years.

newbutold

If the loan is with the bank which you hold your joint account with, I would be very weary paying money into the account after he defaults.

If it was me I would be removing myself of any joint accounts & opening a bank account in my own new. Preferably before he a) defaults and b) goes to prison, as more than likely he will need to sign the paperwork required to take your name of the bank accounts.

In answer to the original question, debts in sole names cannot, even on death, pass to someone else. Unless of course someone agreed to be guarantor for the debt in the first place.

SailorSam

It sounds to me as if it may have been a carefully thought out plan, ......... get a loan which i want have to pay 'cos i'll be in jail.
After what the Solicitor has said he's pretty certain he's going down so he knew he wouldn't be here to make the repayments.
I hope the loan isn't from one of those Mickey Mouse places that don't take No for an answer.

JimBobJones

It's not illegal as this isn't one of the security questions on a loan application, not telling a loan company something they haven't asked isn't a crime and the CCA is quite clear it is the creditors responsibility to check ensure they are not lending money someone cannot pay back.

There will be no fraud charge for this loan. However it will default and very quickly go to a CCJ. If he goes to prison for 6 years it will be statute barred when he comes out and nearly off his credit file.

My advice would be to not pay anything towards it, you are not liable for it, they cannot pursue him for it because he's in no position to pay. What will happen is the creditor will get a CCJ for payments be reviewed for payments after your husbands release, that is of course if he's released within 6 years, if he's not its automatically statute barred and nothing is to be paid.

The CCJ will be applied for anyway in this situation, this is why I've advised to pay nothing towards it.