Joint Account

cs101

I have been declared BR but had joint account with my OH and it is 5K overdrawn. The bank is demanding the amount from my OH now,which we cannot afford to pay. What shall she do.

Advice needed please

cs101

Anyone there please

fermi

If your OH was a joint signatory on the account then she is liable for the full amount under the rules of "Joint and Several Liability".

See:

http://www.payplan.com/debt-library/joint-and-several-liability.php

and

http://www.debtquestions.co.uk/legal_jointseveral.php

She must find a way to pay the debt or come to a payment arrangement/plan with the bank.

Free advice on how to manage debts like these can be obtained from the charitable advice organisations.

[SIZE=-1] You can contact:
[/SIZE]

• [SIZE=-1] Your local CAB Office and ask to speak to a 'money advisor'.[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=-1]The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) - Tel: 0800 138 1111 [/SIZE]
• [SIZE=-1]National Debtline - Tel: 0808 808 4000 [/SIZE]
• [SIZE=-1]Payplan - Tel: 0800 917 7823.[/SIZE]

They can advise on the best way to approach/tackle this.

cs101

Thanks fermi for your advice.

What action can the bank take and how long will this take if OH does nothing on it.
Thanks again

fermi

cs101 wrote: »

Thanks fermi for your advice.

What action can the bank take and how long will this take if OH does nothing on it.
Thanks again

That is very much a "How long is a piece of string?" question.

• The bank may start writing/calling and may be prepared to negotiate.
• It may get passed onto their collections department.
• It may get passed on to an external Debt Collection Agency.
• You will probably get lots of initially empty threats concerning legal action.
• Eventually (a long may down the line) legal action may be taken if a fair schedule of payments taking into account you real income/expenditure is not negotiated.

It's expensive for the bank to take you to court, so they will probably try lots of other stuff for quite a long time before it comes to this.

The best thing is to talk both to the bank, and to the free advice agencies in my previous post. Between the two of those you should be able to work something reasonable out.

savagevixen

We were in similar position and I went bankrupt. In total we owed @£27000, but a large percentage of this was in my husbands name. Mine was @£6000-7000. The judge asked if I prefered an Administration Order.

Who is an Administration Order suitable for?

An Administration Order may be an appropriate solution for you if you owe less than £5,000 in total and you have received a County Court Judgement.

How does an Administration Order work?

The first step in an Administration Order is to make an application to the court. (For information on how to do this, contact your local CAB - www.nacab.org.uk has contact details for all bureaux.) You will need to show that you are unable to pay your debts and that you have a County Court Judgement against you.

The court will make an order based upon what you can afford. It will state the amount you are to pay each month and the period that the arrangement will last. Often the court states that you must make the payments until your debts are cleared in full although you may only pay back a percentage. The order may also state that the amount you repay each month is reviewed from time to time.

Monthly payments are made to the court and then distributed to your creditors.
Advantages of an Administration Order:
You only have to make one monthly payment.
The payment you make is based on what you can afford.
Once the order is in place your creditors cannot take any action against you.

Disadvantages of an Administration Order:

The court charges you for this service - the fee may be anything up to 10% of your total debt and is taken before payments to your creditors are made.
If you miss a payment the arrangement may fail.
You can only apply for an order if you owe less than £5,000 and have a County Court Judgement.

Although, my debt was above £5000 the judge was more than happy to consider it, but as I did not have anyone chasing me or a CCJ, it was not an option.
It maybe/become a suitable option for your wife.

cs101

Thanks fermi :T

Will ask OH to contact CCCS

cs101

Thank u savagevixen:T


Indeed very good advice