Estranged Husband still running up debts-help

Peterpan18

My sister’s hubby walked out on her about 6+ years ago after conning her into putting her house (that she owned for 6 years before they met) into joint names by re mortgaging, maxing out her credit cards and getting her to be a guarantor for the HP on his car. Since then somehow he has continued to get credit and the Bailiffs have attended her house more than once. Last year Amigo succeeded in court to get a £4,000 charge against her house for a loan he had taken out with his mother as guarantor, another long story. There are at least 3 debt collection agencies chasing him for debts and today another Bailiff letter has arrived he is obviously still obtaining credit by deception and is therefore, I assume, committing fraud. I need to know if there is a way to stop him or at least stop his creditors taking any more equity out of my sister’s house that he has never financially contributed too. Yes my sister has not helped the situation by putting head in sand and, with respect not being “sharp” enough to deal with this over past years. Needs sorting now and looks like I will have to do it so any guidance/advice is welcome.
Thanks in advance.

Candyapple

Well it's not your sister's house if her (ex)husband owns half of it.

What were the terms of their divorce regarding assets / financial side of things?

Unfortunately as your sister still is financially linked to him (by the mortgage) until she sells up / buys him out then he can continue doing what he likes.

elsien

How was she conned into adding him to the house and being a guarantor?
Unless you are saying she was misled or coerced in some way about what she was doing then it more likely falls into the realms of a very unwise decision rather than fraud.
Whose name is on the house deeds now? When they split up did they divorce and was there any financial agreement in place?
If he is still obtaining credit, is the new credit in his name only and they're coming to her because of the house being a joint asset, or are you suggesting that he's using her name/details to defraud the system?

Peterpan18

They are not divorced he keeps moving and does not acknowledge service. She has paid a solicitor to serv papers x 2 and nothing has come of it I am about to help her divorce him by the 5 year desertion rule and also to try to get a property order at the same time. Whilst he is named on the deeds it has now been established he has no financial interest in the house, just his name on the mortgage because the lender will not remove it.
She cant sell up as the cost is prohibitive (also the £4,000 second charge) and he needs to be located and to respond to correspondence with regard to the house sale, unless a property order is granted.
My concern is to try and stop him getting any more credit by deception at the moment.

National_Debtline

Hi Peterpan18,

Peterpan18 wrote: »

My sister’s hubby walked out on her about 6+ years ago after conning her into putting her house (that she owned for 6 years before they met) into joint names by re mortgaging, maxing out her credit cards and getting her to be a guarantor for the HP on his car. Since then somehow he has continued to get credit and the Bailiffs have attended her house more than once. Have the bailiffs ever been inside her home? The majority of bailiffs can only come inside through open or unlocked access or by invitation, so if they haven’t been inside before – tell her not to let them in. And if the debt is in his sole name she can complain to the bailiff office and ask them to stop visiting. Last year Amigo succeeded in court to get a £4,000 charge against her house for a loan he had taken out with his mother as guarantor, another long story. There are at least 3 debt collection agencies chasing him for debts and today another Bailiff letter has arrived he is obviously still obtaining credit by deception and is therefore, I assume, committing fraud. Is the new credit in joint names, your sister’s name or his sole name? If it is his sole name, I am afraid there isn’t much you can do. But if he is fraudulently using your sisters name, or adding her jointly without her consent then you are right, that is an issue of fraud. It needs to be reported to Action Fraud and a complaint registered to each creditor with her crime reference number. She can put a CIFAS alert on her credit file to make it harder to obtain credit in her name and she can challenge these debts through a complaint. I need to know if there is a way to stop him or at least stop his creditors taking any more equity out of my sister’s house that he has never financially contributed too. Unfortunately, because he is now jointly named on the property, there is a risk of more CCJ’s and more charging orders against ‘his half’ of the house, for the debts that are not being maintained. Yes my sister has not helped the situation by putting head in sand and, with respect not being “sharp” enough to deal with this over past years. Needs sorting now and looks like I will have to do it so any guidance/advice is welcome. If she has been the victim of financial abuse in this relationship she will need specialist legal advice.
Thanks in advance.

Laura
@natdebtline

Candyapple

Peterpan18 wrote: »

They are not divorced he keeps moving and does not acknowledge service. She has paid a solicitor to serv papers x 2 and nothing has come of it I am about to help her divorce him by the 5 year desertion rule and also to try to get a property order at the same time. Whilst he is named on the deeds it has now been established he has no financial interest in the house, just his name on the mortgage because the lender will not remove it.
She cant sell up as the cost is prohibitive (also the £4,000 second charge) and he needs to be located and to respond to correspondence with regard to the house sale, unless a property order is granted.
My concern is to try and stop him getting any more credit by deception at the moment.

I wouldn't be so sure of that. He owns half the house so regardless of him not paying a penny towards it or who did what, your sister added him to the deeds so he owns half the house and you can bet your bottom dollar that he will want a cut of the profits.

You nor your sister can't stop him from applying for anything / taking out further loans because he's not doing anything wrong.

The only way to resolve it is:

a) get divorced and sort out how the house is going to be split financially (it's a marital asset)

b) your sister sells up and takes her share to rent or buy another property, he can do whatever he wants with his share. Any charges made to the house will come out of any equity, think of it as a penalty for your sister's slackness in not sorting this earlier.

c) After the divorce is finalised and the house sold - your sister can then apply to get herself financially disassociated from her ex on her credit files by filling out the forms below. Note she can only do this once the house has been sold/ mortgage paid off and her ex's name off the deeds, otherwise they will remain linked.

Equifax:
https://help.clearscore.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/215/9/how-do-i-remove-a-financial-connection

Experian:
http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/questions/askjames285.html

Call Credit:
http://www.callcredit.co.uk/consumer-solutions/help/how-to-issue-a-notice-of-disassociation

Peterpan18

elsien wrote: »

How was she conned into adding him to the house and being a guarantor?
Unless you are saying she was misled or coerced in some way about what she was doing then it more likely falls into the realms of a very unwise decision rather than fraud.
Whose name is on the house deeds now? When they split up did they divorce and was there any financial agreement in place?
If he is still obtaining credit, is the new credit in his name only and they're coming to her because of the house being a joint asset, or are you suggesting that he's using her name/details to defraud the system?

She loved him and believed him and he took advantage of that and then walked out once he had exhausted her credit and good nature (stupidity).
They have been apart some years now and not yet divorced (I have taken charge of that now) but he is still obtaining credit and the only way he is doing this is making false declarations. The outcome of this is they trace him back to sisters house and she has to deal with it all.
I answered the deeds question in my previous post, he just walked out and never returned so no financial arrangements have been made. Credit obtained since is in his name but he has used his mother as a guarantor and that resulted in the £4,000 charge on sisters house that is being looked at by the Financial Ombudsman for being outside the scope of the loan agreement.

Peterpan18

Laura
@natdebtline
Thank you for your input, there is no doubt sister has been very naive in marrying this con man and even worse by burying her head in the sand.
At the court case the one question that caused an adjournment was whether he had a financial interest or was "name only" with regard to the property deeds. It was decided that he "may" have an interest by virtue he lived there for a couple of years.
My main concern here is to protect my sister and her house that she has worked so hard to keep for the sake of her children (none from this marriage).
I feel the best thing is to apply for a divorce (5 year living apart) and try to get a property order at the same time, she has no money in reserve for this due to ill health and awaiting surgery so I will find the £550 just to get him detached from her and try sort this mess out.
I dont think he has used her name but has used the address to get further credit, I just wanted to find a way of alerting lenders to his history and the situation so as he could not longer get credit anywhere.
Will forget him and concentrate on my sisters well being.
Sorry Laura, never answered the Bailiff question-no they have not been in the house and have accepted the council tax letter (25% reduction for one person) as proof he no longer lives there. They have been very good in there dealings with my sister to their credit.

Candyapple

Peterpan18 wrote: »

Laura
@natdebtline
Thank you for your input, there is no doubt sister has been very naive in marrying this con man and even worse by burying her head in the sand.
At the court case the one question that caused an adjournment was whether he had a financial interest or was "name only" with regard to the property deeds. It was decided that he "may" have an interest by virtue he lived there for a couple of years.
My main concern here is to protect my sister and her house that she has worked so hard to keep for the sake of her children (none from this marriage).
I feel the best thing is to apply for a divorce (5 year living apart) and try to get a property order at the same time, she has no money in reserve for this due to ill health and awaiting surgery so I will find the £550 just to get him detached from her and try sort this mess out.
I dont think he has used her name but has used the address to get further credit, I just wanted to find a way of alerting lenders to his history and the situation so as he could not longer get credit anywhere.
Will forget him and concentrate on my sisters well being.

Did I miss something? What court case is this relating to?

You are being too emotional about this. It's not just your sister's house. It's your sister and her ex-husband's house.

Regardless of whether your sister has paid all of the mortgage and he hasn't paid a penny - the courts will still start from a 50-50 split standing point.

Which means that if she wants to remove him from her financial life - she either needs to sell the house and split the profits OR buy him out. There is no other option.

Does your sister have the funds to buy him out?

As already stated there is no way to alert lenders about him / the situation apart from writing 'not known at this address' for any letters that come in his name to the house / informing any bailiffs or debt collectors that he doesn't live there. That is it. You can't pre-empt anything.

Peterpan18

Candyapple wrote: »

Did I miss something? What court case is this relating to?

You are being too emotional about this. It's not just your sister's house. It's your sister and her ex-husband's house.

Regardless of whether your sister has paid all of the mortgage and he hasn't paid a penny - the courts will still start from a 50-50 split standing point.

Which means that if she wants to remove him from her financial life - she either needs to sell the house and split the profits OR buy him out. There is no other option.

Does your sister have the funds to buy him out?



As already stated there is no way to alert lenders about him / the situation apart from writing 'not known at this address' for any letters that come in his name to the house / informing any bailiffs or debt collectors that he doesn't live there. That is it. You can't pre-empt anything.

Yes, line 6 of my original post "Last year Amigo succeeded in court to get a £4,000 charge against her house for a loan he had taken out".

As I said in a previous post, even the court could not "JUST" make that decision without an adjournment for further information from the Land Registry and even then it was not as clear cut as you make it sound. A name can be on a property deeds in 2 forms legal interest or beneficial interest, and in this case the court decided he had a small beneficial interest for his 3 years of residency compared to my sisters 21 years of residency and ownership, 10 of that before they met and married.

Me emotional??? No just angry for what he is STILL putting my sick baby sister through!! If she wasn't so ill she might have the chance and money to buy him off but she is not and to sell would leave her short of £4,000 second charge made by Amigo that and the associated cost of selling she could not buy again.

As regard "no other option" I suggest you read the help leaflet for form D8 with regard to a property order, the divorce hearing takes the whole situation into account and then decides, it is not cut and dried.

National_Debtline

Hello again,


This is a complicated matter and I can understand that you may want to challenge any further securities that may be made against your sisters property. Realistically, I think this is quite specialist issue and you will need some legal advice.


Because he is named on the property I can see why other posters feel a charging order should be able to be secured easily. However, based on the circumstances, and what you have said about the charging order hearing being adjourned., it may not be that straight forward. There could be issues of undue influence, abuse etc. And it is possible they may have secured the charge under his beneficial interest (which can be done under S2 of the Charging Orders Act 1979, and done under the case of Walton v Allman). Challenging this is likely to go beyond the Ombudsman and you'll need a solicitor.


The only other thing I can suggest to help is a CIFAS alert on your sister's credit file which may help stop him using her address (a fraud warning is then placed against the address and will be flagged up if applications are made using that address). She can also report her concerns to Action Fraud about him fraudulently using her address but I am afraid that is all that can be done.


Laura
@natdebtline