Advice Needed on how to approach a serious problem...

NoTB

Hi everybody,

Firstly, thank you for taking the time to read this. 

Let me give you a bit of background - 

My father doesn't like technology and is very old-school in terms of money. Had no debt, no contracts, nothing. He paid with cash and if he couldn't pay cash he wouldn't buy it. The only debt he has ever had was his mortgage which was paid off in 2018. 
In 2018, I was buying my first home with my partner. We were examining our credit files one evening when my father dropped by for a visit. He was intrigued by what we were doing and what his score was. I signed him up to Experian using my second email address as he claimed it would be easier than him trying to remember logins etc. We signed him up and he had a 999 rating - low and behold, the only two entries were his (now closed mortgage) and his bank account from 1994. No other debt.
He has always been anti-debt and rammed home to my brothers and I the importance of staying debt free.

In late 2018 my father bought a house in cash, with the share of the sale of the family home after splitting from my mother. My father and I lost touch for over year due to disputes around the new wife and her involvement.
Not long after moving into the new home with his new wife, my step-mother's mother died and it was claimed that she was leaving her (and her 3 other siblings £15,000 each). Now the interesting thing was, there was no evidence at all of her being able to afford £15k, never mind £60k. She was living in rented accommodation having never bought her own home as she couldn't afford it. She didn't go into care as she also couldn't afford it. 
*Remember from above, that I had used my second email to sign him up to Experian.
Looking back when investigating my suspicions, in late 2018, early 2019, I received an avalanche of emails stating new alerts were added to the credit file. I presumed that his ways of being anti-debt had changed after moving into a new house. He wanted to fix it up etc. However in 2020 as the months went on, I started getting emails about negative marks on the credit file. *My step-mother lost her job in 2020, two months after losing her job are when the emails started*. 

After my father and I began speaking again we were talking and my brother was in the process of buying a car on finance. My father freaked at the D-word (i.e. Debt). Lectured him about the importance of being debt free, buy a used car in cash etc etc etc. So, remembering these emails, I didn't want to outright ask him about the emails from Experian, so I asked him if he would consider any debt to finance purchases for the new house. He was adamant he would never have debt - never had any, would never get any. 

So alarm bells were immediately ringing for me so when I went home that evening I logged into Experian and was I shocked. 9 credit accounts totalling an amount of .... £14,900... all defaulted.... to my fathers previous address.... Remember above, the £15k inheritance my step mother received? These accounts were taken out within days of each other, a mix of credit cards and store cards; all with my fathers old address and were about 2 weeks before he moved from that address to his new one. All of them are now with different debt collectors.
My father categorically didn't take these out and has absolutely no idea about these defaults. My step-mother knows he isn't technologically savvy enough to check his credit file, or ever need to.

Is there anybody I can report this to or advice on how to go about raising this with him? I am also conscious I viewed his credit file which can be classed as an offence and my worry is here that when my step mother is caught out, she uses that against me.

Any help or advice is very much appreciated. 

-NoTB

finalfantasist

The police aren't likely to be interested in you re-accessing your father's credit file after being alerted via email to something going on, especially if the victim isn't interested in pressing charges.  To be fair, they're probably not going to be all that interested in the alleged fraud committed by your stepmother either.

I don't see any way to approach your father other than being honest.  You received emails about negative data being recorded and were concerned so took a look.  Either be honest with him or just keep quiet and move on.

MalMonroe

I'm finding this all very strange. 

For one, you and your brother are adults now and surely shouldn't still be being lectured to by your Dad!! Good Lord. Whilst I do agree that it's not good to be in debt, I also feel that we all raise our children to the best of our ability and then set them free to live their own lives. It's none of your Dad's business who does and does not get into debt - why would anyone even tell him?

Secondly, if your step-mother's mother's situation had been assessed prior to her death and she needed to go into a care home but didn't have any finances, her place would have been paid for by the Local Authority and they would have also managed her pension. She wouldn't have just been left.

And third, why isn't your Dad's current address on any of his Credit Reports? He seems to be so meticulous about every other aspect of his finances. Isn't he on the electoral roll? But in any case, CRAs can get people's current addresses from Royal Mail.

Sorry but I'm finding this all a bit hard to swallow.

However, if it is true, what you need to do is show your Dad his credit file and then report your stepmother to the police. Who on earth cares what your stepmother does after that?? She's not the mafia. Is she?

If we are accepting that this story is true, then you know what to do. 

PixelPound

Your email account was used with your fathers permission as a means of communication, I don't think there is an issue with that, though you may wish to let him know you've been getting alerts and what it means.

Then there is the fraud issue. At some point they are going to start chasing your father, they could get CCJ's against him which whilst from the terms of credit is not an issue for him, they could then enforce it and put charges on his house so that if the house was sold, they would get paid then.

Get a list of all these accounts, your father would then need to report the crime, and then provide information to creditors. It is those companies that have been defrauded out of money, but no reason why your father should be liable. It is probably better to do it now than in a few years time. 

jonesMUFCforever

Quote MalMonroe
'If we are accepting that this story is true, then you know what to do.' 

Indeed.

yksi

Do we understand correctly here - you suspect that your stepmother lied about a £15k inheritance and actually just took out £15k worth of debt, fraudulently, in your father's name, trashing his credit history and putting his house at risk?

If so I think I would take him aside and just say you've gotten email alerts, you checked why, and "someone" has taken out masses of debt in his name. Once he has calmed down, emphasise that these sorts of things are almost always done by someone close to them who knows their date of birth and also has access to his mail. Let him figure it out.

Jami74

NoTB said:

Thanks again for your advice, I think I will sit down with him within the week.

You seem pretty sure that it is your Dads new wife who has taken credit out in his name. Could it be anyone else? I know you are suspicious because you didn't like her and then she inherited money from someone who appeared not to have much. Could it be your mother? Or your brother? I'm not intending to be nasty, but from his point of view his own wife probably won't be suspect number 1. Probably would be a good idea to remind him that you signed him up together to see his credit files on your email and there are lots of notifications coming through, give him the log in details and let him check.

MovingForwards

NoTB said:

nic_c said:

Your email account was used with your fathers permission as a means of communication, I don't think there is an issue with that, though you may wish to let him know you've been getting alerts and what it means.

Then there is the fraud issue. At some point they are going to start chasing your father, they could get CCJ's against him which whilst from the terms of credit is not an issue for him, they could then enforce it and put charges on his house so that if the house was sold, they would get paid then.

Get a list of all these accounts, your father would then need to report the crime, and then provide information to creditors. It is those companies that have been defrauded out of money, but no reason why your father should be liable. It is probably better to do it now than in a few years time. 

Thank you for the decent reply unlike the ridiculousness of the other reply who thought they were some big pompous a-hole offering up nothing more than accusations of lies than help. 

In terms of CCJ's, we are in Scotland (don't know if this matters), how long does this usually take to reach this point as I note they have been outstanding for quite a while already. 

Thanks again for your advice, I think I will sit down with him within the week.

It's 5 years for debt limitation in Scotland. If proceedings are not commenced within that time, then they can't do it after 5 years.

NoTB

yksi said:

Do we understand correctly here - you suspect that your stepmother lied about a £15k inheritance and actually just took out £15k worth of debt, fraudulently, in your father's name, trashing his credit history and putting his house at risk?

If so I think I would take him aside and just say you've gotten email alerts, you checked why, and "someone" has taken out masses of debt in his name. Once he has calmed down, emphasise that these sorts of things are almost always done by someone close to them who knows their date of birth and also has access to his mail. Let him figure it out.

Hi yksi,

This is exactly the issue. While we don't have concrete proof it was her but there are numerous things pointing to her.

There are numerous 'hard searches' on his profile - all within days of each other and all around the time of her mothers death and to the old address of my father when they were moving to the new house soon. Clearly somebody trying to get as much credit as quickly as they could. The amount that was taken out in credit cards in the short space of time near-enough matches that of her so called inheritance. The only thing we could do is once he knows about the situation, get a copy of the statements to find out where the money was spent. She has claimed she used the money to buy the upgrades for the house (i.e. kitchen appliances etc.) so had she used the credit cards in related retailers then this would hopefully be enough evidence for him.

Thanks for your helpful reply.

NoTB

Jami74 said:

NoTB said:

Thanks again for your advice, I think I will sit down with him within the week.

You seem pretty sure that it is your Dads new wife who has taken credit out in his name. Could it be anyone else? I know you are suspicious because you didn't like her and then she inherited money from someone who appeared not to have much. Could it be your mother? Or your brother? I'm not intending to be nasty, but from his point of view his own wife probably won't be suspect number 1. Probably would be a good idea to remind him that you signed him up together to see his credit files on your email and there are lots of notifications coming through, give him the log in details and let him check.

This is the thing, we are not 100% sure it is her. There are just too many 'conveniences' that point to her but again, it may just be that. It's not that I didn't like her so am blinded by hatred - we just didn't/don't see eye to eye but are completely amicable with each other. Completely agree that when things come to a head, he is absolutely not going to point the finger at her initially but like I said, too many conveniences point to her and I think he will agree once the evidence is laid out in front of him.

NoTB

MovingForwards said:

NoTB said:

nic_c said:

Your email account was used with your fathers permission as a means of communication, I don't think there is an issue with that, though you may wish to let him know you've been getting alerts and what it means.

Then there is the fraud issue. At some point they are going to start chasing your father, they could get CCJ's against him which whilst from the terms of credit is not an issue for him, they could then enforce it and put charges on his house so that if the house was sold, they would get paid then.

Get a list of all these accounts, your father would then need to report the crime, and then provide information to creditors. It is those companies that have been defrauded out of money, but no reason why your father should be liable. It is probably better to do it now than in a few years time. 

Thank you for the decent reply unlike the ridiculousness of the other reply who thought they were some big pompous a-hole offering up nothing more than accusations of lies than help. 

In terms of CCJ's, we are in Scotland (don't know if this matters), how long does this usually take to reach this point as I note they have been outstanding for quite a while already. 

Thanks again for your advice, I think I will sit down with him within the week.

It's 5 years for debt limitation in Scotland. If proceedings are not commenced within that time, then they can't do it after 5 years.

Thanks for your reply. In terms of the proceedings, is there a threshold at which creditors will look to pursue or initiate sequestration proceedings? I read you must owe at least £3k but is this likely as I can imagine it is an expensive process. I suppose the question is how likely is a creditor to pursue this for a debt just over the threshold? Reason for asking is that three of the accounts currently have balances of £3k or more according to his file.