Father runs up debt in my name

wishus

This is one of the things that caused me and my first husband to split when he secretly took £13K of finance out in my name, so I can sympathise (and then I had all the guilt because a tendency to overspend, take risks and not plan for consequences was symptomatic of his bipolar, and I felt I wasn't understanding it that well).



I would not read into the situation that he doesn't care about you necessarily, but it's an awful situation when you find that suddenly you're the one who has to parent you both out of a situation. He may just be head in the sand about it, willing it away, rather than deliberately leaving it all on you, but I think you have to be prepared to take some "tough love" action to some degree, if only to protect yourself.


Regarding the actual debt on your record - don't panic. If you feel the creditor is not taking you seriously that the debt is not yours, complain to them. They have 8 weeks to rectify, then you take it to the financial ombudsman.


https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/your-rights/disputing-debts-with-creditors.aspx


If a CCJ has been raised in your name, once you have the issue resolved with the creditors as to whose debt it is, you can ask for the record to be rectified. Unfortunately that will involve a small fee, and you'll need to pay it. You don't have to, you can leave it until it expires, but that's why I never bought a new sofa when I actually wanted to. Ah well, saved me in the long run.


Fraud seems a harsh term, especially if your dad did use his own financial details to make the purchase. But he has been hiding the letters from you, which makes it hard after all this time to say it is just a mistake.



Because I know people who work in the same area of debt recovery, I can say it is unfortunately quite common for family members to land loved ones in the mess, and sadly it sometimes gets worse because that family member tries to help and shoulders the debt 'just this one time', which turns out to be not at all the last time. A few things to ponder as we don't know your full background circumstances. Have finances in the family or secret spending caused issues previously? Have you any siblings who have gone through similar? Anything about these catalogue spends that signifies impulsiveness (like tools that haven't really seen much use since they were bought, decorative items or hobby-related items rather than, say, a fridge because you had no fridge). You may feel like you should help dad clear his debts, but only you know whether this is likely to put an end to the matter once and for all.



Either way, you should not be left with this. Even if your dad is hoping you'll just deal with it, taking ownership of it himself will put you in a better position to do so, so maybe you can explain that to him.

qwerty2849949

@Thriftylass Sorry I may not have been clear I'm really new to all this kind of stuff, I never buy anything on credit or anything like that I just pay for everything upfront,

So what I think happened. Is that he made a account in my name with this company, He went on to order a bunch of items. He used a card registered in his name to set up the agreement.

Again I could be wrong about this, but I'm fairly certain that this is the way it happened.


@Wishus Thanks for understanding, I'd say my father has probably always done this and racked up debts in his own name giving him really bad credit, Ultimately putting him into a position where he cannot get any credit. Giving that I pay for everything up front I'd imagine before this my credit was neither good or bad, So that's why he could use me. I'd say my Dad thinks very short term and doesn't think long term about how he plans for stuff.

The items he brought were a load of random stuff nothing we needed. Which is a shame because over the past few years I've brought my parents everything the needed. For example a 2 weeks ago our wash machine packed up and I just went out and brought one for them, Not expecting to be paid back or anything like that.

ciderboy2009

OP - is there actually a county court judgment against you or just a default?

From what you've shown it may just be a default.

If so then you need to discover the date of the last payment on the account - the default was first registered in September 2012 so it's very close to being statute barred (if not already).

elsien

wishus wrote: »

Fraud seems a harsh term, especially if your dad did use his own financial details to make the purchase. But he has been hiding the letters from you, which makes it hard after all this time to say it is just a mistake.

.

Fraud is not a harsh term when dad has pretended to be the son to open an account and run up debt in his son's name. It's an accurate description of what has happened. You can't mistakenly open an account in someone elses name and using their details.
I'm sorry for the OP that this is what he has to deal with, but to manage that level of deception, Dad must have known what he was doing but has chosen to go ahead anyway. So any consequences should be on his head, not on the OPs.
So what was his answer when you confronted him about the debts?


I do think it's possible that when you challenge and say they are not yours (which I think you should do anyway, btw, not just if it's got to the court stage) the companies in question will want to know if it's been reported as a crime and what is being done about it. Because they need to have someone to chase for the payments. And I fail to see why it should be you carrying the can with a poor credit record because your dads actions have landed you in it.

wishus

elsien wrote: »

Fraud is not a harsh term when dad has pretended to be the son to open an account and run up debt in his son's name. It's an accurate description of what has happened. You can't mistakenly open an account in someone elses name and using their details.
I'm sorry for the OP that this is what he has to deal with, but to manage that level of deception, Dad must have known what he was doing but has chosen to go ahead anyway. So any consequences should be on his head, not on the OPs.
So what was his answer when you confronted him about the debts?


I do think it's possible that when you challenge and say they are not yours (which I think you should do anyway, btw, not just if it's got to the court stage) the companies in question will want to know if it's been reported as a crime and what is being done about it. Because they need to have someone to chase for the payments. And I fail to see why it should be you carrying the can with a poor credit record because your dad 's actions have landed you in it.

I know I'm agreeing with you, just helping to explain this is in fact what it is.

spadoosh

Ill keep it as simple as possible.

Youve got two options.

Report it as fraud. The debt will be disassociated from you. Any CCJ's/defaults will be removed and youll look like youve never been near the company. Your dad would be at risk of prosecution.

Dont report it as fraud. That means you accept the debt. That means you either need to pay the debt or i suppose you could choose not to. At this stage it will already be negatively effecting your credit rating. If its got to CCJ/default stage most of the damage is done. They can (probably) still chase you for payment and this can end up being deducted from your wages.



The same thing has happened to me. Only found out when we where applying for a mortgage to be told it was refused as there was a default on credit file. It was a bit of a step down going from being excited to buying your first house to thinking youve got no chance of getting credit for several years.

I kind of took a 3rd option, which you might want to pursue. We quickly realised what had happened a relative had opened a credit account in OHs name. We did have a lot on our side though. First mistake was allowing someone who wouldve been 17 at the time (provable by birth certificate) to open a credit account, they didnt have a leg to stand on from that.

But in the interest of fairness we explain the situation to them as best we could without dropping anyone immediately in it. We told them it was a fraudulent account and that they where pretty stuck if they wanted to see their money ever again. At this point i made the offer of settling the original debt (so deducted all the charges etc) on the basis that they reported it to the credit reference agencies as fraud as such no association with us. And that they dont try to recover further amount nor seek action for the fraudulent activity. A month later and it had all dissapeared.

We really did have them bent over a barrel though. We couldve gone whole hog, not paid a thing and had it deleted really easily with the fraud option but naturally that opens the prosecution route which we where trying to avoid. Plus i suspect them getting there money helped motivate them to act more quickly.

Your best outcome will be the latter option i suspect but it will depend on how the company want to deal with it.

qwerty2849949

@elsien I haven't yet, Like he knows I know but I haven't given him some kind of ultimatum or anything like that. I know he can't really afford to pay it. He knows I won't report it to the police or anything like that, I know I should as what he has done is wrong but this is a very tough position to be in. That's why I'm trying to fully understand the situation that I'm in and then deciding what's best to do, instead of diving in to whatever decision I make and regretting it later on.

Mrs_Ryan

boo_star wrote: »

https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report-a-fraud/how-to-report-a-fraud

Bear in mind that doing this may well end up with your father being arrested, charged and possibly convicted for the offence.

Doubt it. My brother did this to my parents to the tune of well into 5 figures- mum reported him and he got not so much as a caution. They just are not interested in cases of family fraud- they just kept heavily hinting mum knew about it when in fact she had no idea.

PixelPound

Catalogues such as Studio etc won't necessarily need card as ID when signing up, you can order stuff and pay via a variety of methods. Fraud would be difficult to prove too, because it's the same address - it is feasible for someone to order stuff have it delivered and the father sign for it (e.g. son out at work). If you reported it as fraud, the police would most likely just give a CRN (How do you prove fraud when its the same address) any investigation Cabot did would probably along the lines of Studio delivered goods to the correct address in good faith so deemed not fraud and still liable.

Legal Advice would need to be sought if fraud was needed to be proved. However the fact that the OP does not want to report his father, then the other option is to see how it can be paid.

The price will have gone up significantly because studio will have added interest and charges for recovery. As the default is now in Cabots name, they will have bought it, and there will be costs, fees, and interest added as per the Civil Procedure Rules. It could go up further with enforcement due to non payment if bailiff warrant was issued or Attachment of Earning request done.

baldelectrician

You also have the option of baliffs calling at your home and taking your stuff, clamping your car if this is not dealt with

You need see the bigger picture.