Joint Account / Divorce Issues - If left alone my credit score will be in ruins

BittyTang

I recently got in touch with Natwest because my joint account with my ex-wife is at the limit of its overdraft. I am & have been paying the minimum payments for the past 18 months whilst we are going through our financial separation but this looks like it could take some considerable time yet. To date I have paid nearly £3k in interest & my ex-wife should be liable for half but she is refusing to pay anything.

I emailed the bank and in a nutshell they responded: "Unfortunately, joint account holders are jointly liable for the outstanding balance. This means that we would look to pursue both parties for the outstanding balance owed to us. If the account is not maintained, we would reach out to both parties."

I understand we are jointly liable, I also understand that if the account isn’t maintained that they will pursue both my ex-wife and I. The problem isn’t that, it’s that my ex-wife does not care how having missed payments affects her credit file where as I do, which she uses against me in the sense she knows that I will make the payments if she doesn’t.

I am trapped between a rock [Natwest] and a hard place [ex-wife] and I don't know what I can do about it apart from going down the legal route which I am, which could take another year at the rate this is going.

NatWest is effective holding me to ransom here and there is sweet jack I can do about it!!

The bank are saying there isn’t a solution but there very well should be one, because I am not the first person in this situation and I won’t be the last and NatWest are cashing in on this & thousands of others misery who are in the same situation. The overdraft is £9,000, I can't pay this off because I will lose it & she should be responsible for half. There is no point just paying off my half as the interest will rack up again over the next 12 months & when the separation is sorted the judge may very well say that we each still owe half of the debt, not taking into account what I have already paid, a scenario I have seen a couple of times with friends who have been divorced & gone through a financial separation.

[Deleted User]

They're not holding you to ransom, but to the terms you agreed to. All they want is their money back and have no interest in any relationship issues.

If your credit file is important to you, I would look to pay it off as soon as you can. Don't be dragged down by a point of principle.

Thrugelmir

Argue for 50% of the interest/capital repayments you make to be accounted for in the financial consent order. Have you mentioned this to your family solicitor? 

Little point in getting frustrated with the bank. As it's your problem to resolve with your ex. Not theirs. Suffered a similar issue myself during my divorce. Ultimately cost me money though getting through the entire process quicker was worth the expense. Just for relieving the stress and moving on with my life. 

Emmia

As well as getting the debt & payments recognised in the financial order, I'd have the account frozen so your soon to be ex wife can't spend your payments.

Edit, if it's your only account, get another one set up for your salary etc., first - Monzo can be opened really quickly.

MalMonroe

I agree with Emmia. When my husband left to home to be with his new partner the first thing he did was freeze our joint account. I didn't even know that that was a possibility and was shocked when I came to use it to find out I couldn't. Fortunately everything worked out well for me but if you can freeze the account, I would. 

kaMelo

BittyTang said:

I recently got in touch with Natwest because my joint account with my ex-wife is at the limit of its overdraft. I am & have been paying the minimum payments for the past 18 months whilst we are going through our financial separation but this looks like it could take some considerable time yet. To date I have paid nearly £3k in interest & my ex-wife should be liable for half but she is refusing to pay anything.

I emailed the bank and in a nutshell they responded: "Unfortunately, joint account holders are jointly liable for the outstanding balance. This means that we would look to pursue both parties for the outstanding balance owed to us. If the account is not maintained, we would reach out to both parties."

I understand we are jointly liable, I also understand that if the account isn’t maintained that they will pursue both my ex-wife and I. The problem isn’t that, it’s that my ex-wife does not care how having missed payments affects her credit file where as I do, which she uses against me in the sense she knows that I will make the payments if she doesn’t.

I am trapped between a rock [Natwest] and a hard place [ex-wife] and I don't know what I can do about it apart from going down the legal route which I am, which could take another year at the rate this is going.

NatWest is effective holding me to ransom here and there is sweet jack I can do about it!!

The bank are saying there isn’t a solution but there very well should be one, because I am not the first person in this situation and I won’t be the last and NatWest are cashing in on this & thousands of others misery who are in the same situation. The overdraft is £9,000, I can't pay this off because I will lose it & she should be responsible for half. There is no point just paying off my half as the interest will rack up again over the next 12 months & when the separation is sorted the judge may very well say that we each still owe half of the debt, not taking into account what I have already paid, a scenario I have seen a couple of times with friends who have been divorced & gone through a financial separation.

There are solutions and NatWest actually have some information on what to do and how they can help in exactly your current scenario.

https://personal.natwest.com/personal/life-moments/separation-and-divorce.html


Either party to a joint account can put a freeze in it. It won't help with current balances but it will prevent new debts being run up.
 

BittyTang

Hi ya, 

The account isn't frozen but neither of us are using the account. It is the interest on the account that is added each month that keeps rolling the account up to the overdraft limit.

I will argue for half of the interest & my solicitor is aware of this issue.

I know these were the terms agreed to but this was a very long time ago. I have no problem paying the money back but it's not all any debt to pay back.

I just would have thought that under these circumstances the bank would have had to freeze the interest.

I am just venting, I have a decent 999/999 credit score & I would rather this wasn't ruined over this. Which is why I am still making the min payments but it's just annoying.

[Deleted User]

Your 999 score is worthless unfortunately.

Lenders don't see it but they do see how you manage your credit, including being deep into your overdraft and making only minimum payments, which makes you very high risk.

Thrugelmir

BittyTang said:

I am just venting, I have a decent 999/999 credit score & I would rather this wasn't ruined over this. Which is why I am still making the min payments but it's just annoying.

Clear the debt and there's no interest to pay. Would improve your credit rating too. 

colsten

Think about it: if the bank would freeze the interest if there's a dispute between account holders, all account holders would register a dispute!

Your issue is not with Natwest but with your partner, and you have to try and recover the share she should pay as part of your financial separation. 

You should try and get rid of that overdraft asap as overdrafts are more or less the most expensive way of borrowing. Can you get a balance transfer card, or a loan, in your name only, with which to pay off the O/D? https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/cut-overdraft-costs/

Sadly, Natwest is one of the dinosaurs which require the agreement of both account holders for the closure of a joint account. Don't forget to put into your separation agreement that she needs to agree to the closure as soon as the overdraft is paid off, at the latest.

kaMelo

colsten said:

Sadly, Natwest is one of the dinosaurs which require the agreement of both account holders for the closure of a joint account. Don't forget to put into your separation agreement that she needs to agree to the closure as soon as the overdraft is paid off, at the latest.

Aside from the fact there is an overdraft which will prevent the account being closed, Is there any provider that, in the absence of a court judgement, would close an account on the say so of only one party?