Debt collectors rights to see your bank statement

MartBear

Hi,

Ok I'll make this short. Me and my wife have a mortgage shortfall of about £10,000. Its been passed to a collection agency.

WE currently pay £5 a month, which is manageable, but not more than that as my wife is disabled and I'm out of work for ill health myself, and have since become her carer. So money is tight.

We did an income and expenditure form and showed we could afford the £5, but also told them we had been offered £2000 from a family member, if that would clear the debt at discount. If not, it will be kept by the family member.

They've said this is ok, but want a fresh income and expenditure form first to see if there's any other way. Are they then able to ask to view our bank statements?

The reason I ask, is because our bank statements show more money than we actually have.I have an elderly father who plays games on his ipad. He spends money on said games, but doesn't like having his card attached to his account. So it's attached to my card instead and he transfers 50 pound or so to my account each month so it's paid for.

We also have £3000 saving, which is again my fathers, as his daughter is a scrounger and always tries to get money from him and guilts and pressures him... the easiest way to stop it, was that the money was put resting in our account.

I also do my dads food shopping, and run errands for my mother of similar nature, so money is always going in and out for that. I'm concerned that if they ask to see the bank statement, they'd feel what was said about our financial situation was untrue (it's not. We scrimp and save all the time... some months we have an extra 20-30 left, so it goes in savings for a bad day or a day out with our son. But never a lot)

What seemed positive, when they said they could accept it with a new I&E form suddenly got me concerned and I'm hoping for advice.

Thanks in advance

Carrot007

They have none.


They also do no have to believe you and will often decide you are not telling the truth if you want to keep it to yourself.


The fact is, if the savings is in your account it is not your fathers (unless you both have signed something and then you can send them that). There are better ways to organise such things.



I feel you are just making things hard for yourself. Can you not be an additional card holder on his credit card to buy things?


Either way if you want an easy life you should probably give it to them and explain things (I have been there). They may not agree but in court your father could surely back you up?

Dean000000

Eh? Are you sure? £5 a month?

Just carry on paying that, you’ll be long dead before that debt is cleared.....

MartBear

Well we were happy to pay £5 a month for the rest of time, but i we can clear the debt, then it's good to get rid of it. Things are unlikely to change in our lives, as my wifes condition is degenerative, but if they did change and we got a bit more money behind us in 10 years or so... it would be nice to think we could do something with it, and not have it taken up by a debt we accrued due to ill health


As for making things harder on myself by looking after things for my parents, it's never been an issue. Its actually made things really easy, until now... I never expected anyone to look at my bank account, cause we never have money of our own. if i'd known, I'd probably have taken the savings out by now, and not done any transfers for my mother or father for 3 months, so 3 months of statements would back it all up and show a clear picture of what we have

poppasmurf_bewdley

Purely as a matter of interest, as your wife is disabled and you are out of work, what have the DWP and your local council said about this extra money going into your account?

Exodi

So from reading your post, I can't see that they've actually asked for your statements but just want a fresh I&E form? I think you shouldn't worry.

And being honest, having £3,000 in savings that is your fathers makes me sceptical so I'd imagine if they did find out this fact, they wouldn't be easily convinced. He could just put it in an ISA for the exact same effect but be earning interest.

(Curiously, from the sounds of it, you keep this in your current account with your normal outgoings)

sourcrates

Your financial affairs are your own business and no one else’s.

Just because they chase bad debt doesn’t give them any special powers, they have non whatsoever, no more rights or privilege than you or I do.

You simply refuse to divulge anything you don’t want to, and keep on paying whatever your budget allows.

MartBear

Exodi wrote: »

So from reading your post, I can't see that they've actually asked for your statements but just want a fresh I&E form? I think you shouldn't worry.

And being honest, having £3,000 in savings that is your fathers makes me sceptical so I'd imagine if they did find out this fact, they wouldn't be easily convinced. He could just put it in an ISA for the exact same effect but be earning interest.

(Curiously, from the sounds of it, you keep this in your current account with your normal outgoings)

It's kept in our saving account, which is attached to our current account (we put £10 a month in, so they'd see we have that account and surely ask). It's kept there, so my dad can have access when he needs it, but it's not in his account to just transfer money in the middle of a visit from his daughter begging for money


But it's all sorted now anyway. Thanks everyone for advice and comments. I managed to speak with them at length. I showed them my bank accounts, explained the situation with money from my parents and coinciding shopping charges, and showed them the savings and the original transfer from my father to back it all up.

Everything was fine, I think I just got myself stressed because I have admittedly handled it all unusually. Going to look at getting another account set up, that can be shared with my parents, to purely manage their funds as required. Save me this headache in the future

Thanks again, everyone