My sons debts- Could I be liable? Very worried please help

ConcernedParent_2

Hi all this is the first time I have ever participated on an internet forum so please forgive and poor forum ettiquate, I will try to explain my situation the best I can and I hope you nice people can advise me.

I am a 68 year old widower living on my modest pension and some wages from my little weekend job, my mortgage is paid so I own the home that I live in.
I have a 31 year old son who moved out on bad terms about a year ago over an ongoing argument. (which was not financially related)
Our contact is only when absolutely necessary and kept brief.
He calls over once a week to collect his mail and things, but often he will call in on Saturday mornings so we don't see eachother.
My son was always a considerate man but since moving out he has become increasingly reckless and volatile.
About 3 years ago he had an IVA but kept a "sneaky" credit card.
After he moved out of my house about a year ago he began spending on that credit card and racked up around £3000, in debt, soon after he simply stopped paying the credit card company back (I believe it was either capital One or MBNA), after a few months the debt was then passed on to a company called the FPC, and I was plagued by phone calls and he was recievent about 5 letters a week from them, he has not paid them a penny.
FPC passed the debt on to a company called Fredrickson debt recovery, just as with FPC I was bombarded with phonecalls, there were piles of letters from them and he still has not paid them a penny. I have confronted him about this, and his attitude is terrible he thinks that as he no longer lives here he can get away with not paying because they will have to find him first, despite the stress it is causing me on top of poor health.
I am just worried that one day I will have bailififfs knocking on my door (as he still uses this as his registered address) or that my car may be taken away, as a man who has never been in serious debt I have no experience of this sort of thing and it is quite frightening, to the point where I am losing sleep.
(I only know about all the debt because he will often leave the letters blatantly lying on the coffee table, and he talks quite openly about it)

The second thing I am worried about is his mobile phone bill.
Just before he moved out I quite foolishly got him a contract phone under my name as he couldnt get on because of his IVA, it was for a Samsung Galaxy S4 and he agreed to pay me £33 per month (plus any excess) if I took it out in my name, so far he has kept his word despite the fact that we no longer speak on friendly terms, but this month he has racked up a massive £411 bill, I'v asked him what he is going to do about it, he said he isn't going to pay as he cant afford it, and just let them cut the phone off.
I know I will be chased for the debt, (the £411, plus the 10 months or so still left on the contract) and I am worried sick, I can't afford to pay all that money back, what can I do? would I be able to negotiate with vodafone to pay the £411 in managable chunks?
What will the consiquences be for myself and my son over both of these debts? Although I don't speak to my son, I still love him very much and I'm worried for him as much as I am myself.
Its such a mess and I don't know what to do.
I hope I can get some advice on the best way to resolve this, thanks for reading, if there is anything that I have explained poorly, please ask me to clarify and I will explain, also any other information I may have neglected to mention.
Thanks in advance.
Baz

Lensman_2

Hi Baz.

Welcome to internet forums. I am very sorry indeed that your first post had to be about such weighty matters.

On reading your post I am left with a couple of conclusions.

1. Your son is delinquent. Leaving you to deal with his responsibilities is out of order. Does he know that you have sleepless nights over this?
2. The credit card debt will not result in you losing your car. Yes, you may get bailiffs knocking on your door but you will need to tell them that you are not the person they are looking for. They will go away.
3. The mobile phone bill is yours to deal with. Phone the provider and explain the circumstances. Tell them to cut the agreement off. Buy him a pay as you go card and tell him he is on his own now. Yes, Vodafone will agree a monthly fee that should be within your means to pay back.

There seems to be a subtext here that your son is either punishing you for some transgression (real of just perceived). Or he has gone off the rails a bit and is being seriously irresponsible. Either way I think you should give some thought to that.

Failing all else, tell him he is no longer allowed to use your address. He is certainly taking advantage of your hospitality and probably has no idea what that is costing you. Pull him up.

[Deleted User]

There's good news and bad news.

The good news is, you are not liable for the Credit Card debts, as you are not (I'm assuming) a signatory to the agreement.

I suggest you simply return any letters relating to them, having marked them "NOT AT THIS ADDRESS".

The bad news is, you are liable for the mobile phone bill, because you took it out in your name.

If you can't cancel the phone contract (which I'm thinking you can't because, from what you've posted, it appears it's still got some months to run), can you reduce the tariff, or maybe have it capped, to prevent your son from running up huge bills?

Mojisola

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

I suggest you simply return any letters relating to them, having marked them "NOT AT THIS ADDRESS".

I would start returning all the post addressed to him and change the locks so that he can't come into your house.

Tell him to contact all the people sending post and give them a new address.

DCFC79

What an awful situation to be in, Im digusted your son has done this. Some good advice has been posted, hope you get it sorted.

Monkeyballs

Hi Baz,

I'm really sorry to hear that you've found yourself in this predicament.

As others have already mentioned you are not liable for any debt incurred in his name and agree with others that you should do RTS on his post...

As for the phone contract, speak to Vodafone. Personally if it was me I wouldn't try to pay it off to re-enable the line as he'll probably do it again so cancel and try to agree some type of payment arrangement with Vodafone if you want to show willing as a parent you can order a free sim from any of the service providers websites I believe.

Having a wild stab in the dark I'm guessing it's an iPhone on a £35 pcm contract? Any chance of getting the phone back and selling it to pay towards the bill?

MB

jmhgibson123

how awful for you, as others have said the credit card debt is nothing to do with you, but just be careful he does not try and get any other credit in your name...i know he is your son but he does not sound too much of a nice person, if he has no intention of paying the phone bill, i suggest you ask for the phone back to sell to compensate for the bill samsung s4 fetch around £150-200 . and in all honesty even though he is your son i would tell he needs to notify everyone of his change in address as you will no longer hold mail for him you can just return it as not at this address, i hope you get it sorted soon.

HappyMJ

I'd be ringing the mobile supplier and get them to cancel the SIM and transfer the contract to a new SIM that they send you. Then at the very least you could use it for the next 10 months. You can get a new number if you don't want his calls.

tiny_courageous

You have been well advised by the above posters. I would also advise you to check your credit report to ensure that your son has not taken out any credit in your name.

kazwookie

Sorry to hear of your troubles, you have good advise ^^^

I personally would see if the mobile provider can 'cut off' your son's number.

At his age tell him to get a phone sorted himself.

Send all letters RTS

Powered_By_Pies

There is (was?) A Vodafone company rep account who posts on here on occasion, you might be able to search for their previous posts on other forum threads and see if you can contact them directly via the use of this forum's private messaging service. They might be able to take a look into this for you, as I'm not sure what they'd say about a contract being taken out effectively under proxy (I.e it's in your name but you signed for it on your sons' behalf).

A complete guess but they might be able to transfer the account to his name exclusively, removing your details entirely. I can't guarantee that though so don't take my word for it, but good luck nonetheless.