Zinc Recoveries - advice please !

mcncfca

Several years ago my wife's self-employed business (not a company) suffered cash flow problems due to clients not paying her. As a result of this she ceased trading but ended up with an unpaid debt to Nat West in excess of £30K.
I was not married to her at the time, so am unaware of the actual circumstances, but she agreed a monthly payment of £10 (yes £10 !), which I believe she has regularly paid.
She has recently been telephoned out of the blue by Zinc Recoveries, who I presume bought the debt from Nat West. She gave our home address to the caller, and she subsequently received a letter from Zinc asking for a "financial statement", listing income/expenditure/debts to be prepared.
Presumably by giving our address Zinc may now find out that she is married, and I'm concerned that I may be liable in some way, if only because of the fact that she lives we me ?
She's had a mini-breakdown and earns no money. I fund 99% of her expenditure.
Should we respond to the letter simply pointing out that she has no income ? Should we ignore it ? Should we say that she is now living with her parents ? Can the debt be written off ?
Help / advice please !

sourcrates

Hi,


Welcome to the forum.



What was the original debt to Natwest for, was it a loan ?


First of all, please stop giving out personal information to strangers over the phone, its never a good idea.

Second, your wifes debts are hers, and hers alone, you are no more liable for them than the postman or your next door neighbor, debt does not transfer between anyone, it is the sole responsibility of the debtor, no one else.

The debt cannot be declared statute barred, as by your own admission, she has been paying £10 a month to it, and just because its an old debt does not give you grounds for writing it off.

In answer to your question, yes, you should respond to them, but by sending them this letter :


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2607247/letter-when-you-know-nothing-about-about-the-debt-aka-prove-it-letter


People cannot just phone or write to you out of the blue, demanding payment for a debt without the provision of some kind of evidence of liability, its a legal obligation.

Send them the letter in the above link, and see how they respond to that, stay off the phone to these people, do everything in writing from now on, this is a step by step process, which will evolve as we find out what they know about the debt.


Post back when you get a response.

mcncfca

Many thanks for your help. The debt was in fact in relation to an overdraft.

mcncfca

Dear Sourcrates, my other concern was that having agreed a payment plan some years ago before we were married, I'm worried that Zinc may now seek to revise the plan once they learn that my wife's circumstances have changed ?

sourcrates

mcncfca wrote: »

Dear Sourcrates, my other concern was that having agreed a payment plan some years ago before we were married, I'm worried that Zinc may now seek to revise the plan once they learn that my wife's circumstances have changed ?

That was then, this is now, circumstances do change.


Wait and see what evidence they come back to you with first, its a tad more difficult with an OD as you do not have any written agreements, so evidence would be in the form of bank statements etc.


Relax for now, Zinc may not know the history of the debt and Natwest may not have any records either, how old is the debt again ?

mcncfca

Many thanks. I believe about 7-8 years.....

sourcrates

mcncfca wrote: »

Many thanks. I believe about 7-8 years.....

Worst case scenario here, they come back to you with proof of liability, you would work out a budget, and pay whats affordable, even if that was only £1 a month.


Affordability is everything these days, as long as you can back up your figures with a copy of your budget.


If she has no income, then there are steps you can take to ask the DCA to write off the debt,



But as i said before, one step at a time.