Advice for my friend

jackie_w

Hello there,


My friend and her hubby are about to split up, they one a little boy aged 5.

They are up to their eyes in debt, and my friend is worried incase she is going to lose her house.

They are both working, but, my friend cannot pay all the debts on her own.
There is no equity on their house (of if there is, it is very little), there are a couple of loans, and I think one of them might even have the house as security. He is a self employed taxi driver.

I have told her that all the debts would need to be split (is this correct), and I have also said that as long as the mortgage is paid, and any loan which has the house as an interest is paid, she can contact all her other creditors and make payment arrangements. She knows her hubby would have to give her some money every month for child maintenance.

I dont think she will get any benefits etc because, she is on about £24k at the moment.

have I given her the correct info. Is there anything else she should know?
Can she be forced to give up her house?

OliveOyl_2

You or she can check whether she'd be entitled to any benefits, I'm not sure of the web-site, but the information is on the main part of MSE.com

She really needs to know more figures. Itemise the debts, work out how much it will cost to stay in the same house to find out if it is feasible (sp)

It's a tough time for her, but she has a good friend in you, and she'll be able to glean much more info from this site. I'm certain more knowledgable peeps will be along soon with advice.;)

chevalier

She will be liable for any debts that are in her name, whether or not they BOTH ran them up. And the same for OH. Any joint debts should be paid by both. But if she does have his debt in her name, then whilst he has a moral obligation to pay it, he doesn't HAVE to.

These things should be sorted out by the divorce lawyer. The most important debts to keep paid are mortgate, secured loans and council tax. Any other unsecured lending will have to take a back seat. I would suggest that she contact either CCCS or Payplan to talk this through with people who offer FREE IMPARTIAL advice.

regards
chev

chevalier

ps she can plug her income and outgoings into www.entitledto.co.uk to see if she in entitled to any help when she and hubby split up. No chance of them going to relate and trying to sort it?
chev

jackie_w

Thanks every one for your advice.

I seen her last night and this is what she has told me.

the mortgage is approx £80,000
She has a secured loan against this, and an unsecure loan which she pays through her mortgage. Im afraid Im not sure how much these 2 loans are for.
The payment for these 3 combined is £500.

She has another 2 loans which are also in joint names which totals to approx £350. One is for approx £11500, im not sure how much the other one is for.

These are the only things is joint names.

In her own name, she has debts totalling to approx £15000, and these are all unsecured.

I think in total once she splits the joint debts, she will have approx £30,000 worth of debt in her own name:eek: .

At the moment, the mortgage is in joint names, and she thinks she will have to get it transferred into her own name, because her hubby will want his name off the mortgage, so he can get somewhere of her own.

She currently earns £24,000 pa, she gets the minimum tax credit which is about £550 I think, and the family allowance which is about £75 i think.

She has checked entitledto.com, but, she has been advised she wont get anymore benefits.

She is hoping that her hubby will pay her approx £250 child maintentance per month, but, she doesnt know if she will get this much.

She is really really worried about this because obviously she wants desperatly to keep the roof over her head for herself and her son.

Can anyone give me anymore advice for her with these figures?

I told her if the worse came to the worse, she would need to move out of the house, and in her with dad (which she really doesnt want to do, however), pay off all her debts, and then buy a house in a couple of years.

Jackie

CLAPTON

it would be better to get your friend to come here.

however it essential she does a full SOA (read the sticky at the top of the threads.
but before making any hasty decisions she need to work out
a. her monthly income
b. a full list of her spending after the break up .. this to include all the mortgage and secured debts but not the unsecured.. remember she will be paying all the utility bills etc etc. and she must include an average of all the yearly and one off bills (car tax, insurance servicing etc if she has a car, hoildays, presents, xmas costs, clothes etc)
c. a full list of the unsecured debts .. i.e. amount, APR and minimumj monthly repayments

only after she has done this can she see whether she can afford to live in the house.