Joint loan - making other person pay

sarahj1986

Hello all

First off, there's some background to this here -

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5160722

I've successfully paid off the loan in my name as that had the highest interest rate and it now means I can concentrate on the outstanding joint loan.

Me and my ex partner split up last year. We had a 125% mortgage, which was a mortgage for the flat at £125,000 then an additional (unsecured) loan for £25,000. We sold up at £125,000 the price we paid, then had just under £20,000 bring returned to us. The agreement at the time was that we would split the £20k and then pay the loan off monthly, short term I was happy with this and at this point we were still on relatively good terms.

Once the sale progressed the ex became increasingly nasty and demanding more money into the joint account which surprised me as my share was more than enough to cover 50% of the bills/mortgage. When we split it was agreed the joint bank account was to be used for bills and mortgage payments only. A week before the sale completed she demanded more money saying the joint bank was close to £500 in the red which surprised me. At this point I'd not been keeping an eye on the account, which admittedly I should have done but I got suspicious so I went into the bank and got statements for the last 6 months, the point of which I'd last checked it myself (I knew she monitored it) and I found cash withdrawals, Groupon offers, eBay/PayPal payments, supermarket payments all totalling up to £2000! She had effectively been stealing my money, had she not spent that the joint account would have had well over £1000, nearly £2000 in it.

I kept my findings a secret from her. I played stupid like she expected me to and agreed to pay my share to any outstanding bills and that we would need to set up a direct debit for the loan as I wanted the joint account closed. The sale completed and I transferred the whole balance from the joint account into my own personal account and then closed the joint account all without telling her.

Now I admit I handled it wrong but I did what I needed to do to protect myself from her. Transferring all of the money and losing the joint account guaranteed she couldn't run up any debts/loans etc in my name as well as hers. I then got a constant barrage of abuse from her about the money. I didn't trust her to pay me her share of the monthly loan repayments so the money I'd taken I planned on using to pay off her half of the debt. She became incredibly threatening and once consulting a friend I gave her her half only. She was originally going to get a little big more as she paid off an old loan of mine afew years back however I decided to keep this back. So she now probably feels like I've swindled her out of this money.

When we were in the process of moving out she deliberately took a box of my processions. It contains nothing of any monetary value but great sentimental value as it's some of my family photos. She said she didn't take it on purpose as I was next to hers but the box was open so it's clear that looking in it she'd have known it was mine. She was refusing to give me this box back as I still had this money of hers and would only give it to her once I'd given her the money.

My last correspondence from her was just before Xmas, apparently she knew where I lived and was going to come round! I blocked her number and have since not heard anything from her.

She hasn't given me any money towards this loan. I set up a direct debit to pay it off. At £22,000 over 27 years it was £158 per month but I've increased this to £200 and I plan on further increasing it to £258 so £100 overpayment. This takes off something like 10 years and several thousand pounds of interest charges.

It's a big amount to be burdened with and I do plan on having it paid off within 10 years but I don't see why it's all down to me, the point I was trying to prove to her that I didn't trust her to pay her share has come true! I know the bank don't care who pays it as long as it's paid and I don't want it ruining my credit rating so I feel like I'm inbetween a rock and a hard place with it. She got over £7000 from the sale, I believe she moved in with her dad so I don't think she has all that much to pay out apart from her car, car insurance and phone bill. Before the sale she was clearly over spending as her mum had left her over £10k which she spent on jewellery, tattoos and other useless items as well as her half of the bills it totalled up way over her salary, this is no longer the problem for her as she no longer has any domestic bills or mortgage to pay.

Is there any way I can get her to pay her share? I can't afford costly legal fees and I don't want to default on payments as I want to keep my good credit rating. I feel like it's so unfair I have this burden while she gets away scot free, we both used the loan money now I'm left paying it back.

Is there a way forward for me?

Ps - sorry about the long rant!

Tixy

You are probably going to struggle, it may well be that she is not bothered about her credit rating and so has less to lose than you.

Do you have anything in writing from her about agreeing to pay half of the loan repayments? That she would pay that amount to you and you would pay the loan company?

You could try sending a letter threatening court action for half the amount of the repayments, assuming you know her address.
If that doesn't help I am not sure how likely it is that you would be successful in taking court action against her. It isn't expensive to file a court claim, but could get more costly if she successfully defends the claim.

sarahj1986

Hello Tixy,

The only "agreement" I have is via a text message from her agreeing to set up a direct debit for half the monthly repayments. I do believe she's at her dads, of which I know the address to so I can get letters too her.

The trouble is that I don't want to see her or for her to know where I'm living at all which at the moment she doesn't know. She was a verbally, mentally and at times physically abusive partner so I'm thinking that if repaying the loan by myself is the cost of my freedom away from her then it's worth it. I just hoped i could do something about getting her to pay her share but I think it's going to be near on impossible

glentoran99

sarahj1986 wrote: »

Hello all

First off, there's some background to this here -

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5160722

I've successfully paid off the loan in my name as that had the highest interest rate and it now means I can concentrate on the outstanding joint loan.

Me and my ex partner split up last year. We had a 125% mortgage, which was a mortgage for the flat at £125,000 then an additional (unsecured) loan for £25,000. We sold up at £125,000 the price we paid, then had just under £20,000 bring returned to us. The agreement at the time was that we would split the £20k and then pay the loan off monthly, short term I was happy with this and at this point we were still on relatively good terms.

Once the sale progressed the ex became increasingly nasty and demanding more money into the joint account which surprised me as my share was more than enough to cover 50% of the bills/mortgage. When we split it was agreed the joint bank account was to be used for bills and mortgage payments only. A week before the sale completed she demanded more money saying the joint bank was close to £500 in the red which surprised me. At this point I'd not been keeping an eye on the account, which admittedly I should have done but I got suspicious so I went into the bank and got statements for the last 6 months, the point of which I'd last checked it myself (I knew she monitored it) and I found cash withdrawals, Groupon offers, eBay/PayPal payments, supermarket payments all totalling up to £2000! She had effectively been stealing my money, had she not spent that the joint account would have had well over £1000, nearly £2000 in it.

I kept my findings a secret from her. I played stupid like she expected me to and agreed to pay my share to any outstanding bills and that we would need to set up a direct debit for the loan as I wanted the joint account closed. The sale completed and I transferred the whole balance from the joint account into my own personal account and then closed the joint account all without telling her.

Now I admit I handled it wrong but I did what I needed to do to protect myself from her. Transferring all of the money and losing the joint account guaranteed she couldn't run up any debts/loans etc in my name as well as hers. I then got a constant barrage of abuse from her about the money. I didn't trust her to pay me her share of the monthly loan repayments so the money I'd taken I planned on using to pay off her half of the debt. She became incredibly threatening and once consulting a friend I gave her her half only. She was originally going to get a little big more as she paid off an old loan of mine afew years back however I decided to keep this back. So she now probably feels like I've swindled her out of this money.

When we were in the process of moving out she deliberately took a box of my processions. It contains nothing of any monetary value but great sentimental value as it's some of my family photos. She said she didn't take it on purpose as I was next to hers but the box was open so it's clear that looking in it she'd have known it was mine. She was refusing to give me this box back as I still had this money of hers and would only give it to her once I'd given her the money.

My last correspondence from her was just before Xmas, apparently she knew where I lived and was going to come round! I blocked her number and have since not heard anything from her.

She hasn't given me any money towards this loan. I set up a direct debit to pay it off. At £22,000 over 27 years it was £158 per month but I've increased this to £200 and I plan on further increasing it to £258 so £100 overpayment. This takes off something like 10 years and several thousand pounds of interest charges.

It's a big amount to be burdened with and I do plan on having it paid off within 10 years but I don't see why it's all down to me, the point I was trying to prove to her that I didn't trust her to pay her share has come true! I know the bank don't care who pays it as long as it's paid and I don't want it ruining my credit rating so I feel like I'm inbetween a rock and a hard place with it. She got over £7000 from the sale, I believe she moved in with her dad so I don't think she has all that much to pay out apart from her car, car insurance and phone bill. Before the sale she was clearly over spending as her mum had left her over £10k which she spent on jewellery, tattoos and other useless items as well as her half of the bills it totalled up way over her salary, this is no longer the problem for her as she no longer has any domestic bills or mortgage to pay.

Is there any way I can get her to pay her share? I can't afford costly legal fees and I don't want to default on payments as I want to keep my good credit rating. I feel like it's so unfair I have this burden while she gets away scot free, we both used the loan money now I'm left paying it back.

Is there a way forward for me?

Ps - sorry about the long rant!

side note, 7.5% interest, anyway you can get a cheaper interest rate?