help phone in abusive ex's name

somuchdebtimdrowning

My mental health has deteriorated and i panicked opening this letter thinking i missed important correspondence from the banks, I have a letter for my ex whos now in prison) she has not paid her o2 bill as she is in prison -i have a phone (under her name (it was how she controlled me in the relationship) which i pay for but its in her name. i called o2 to try and cancel my but they said only the account holder can cancel it not me. They said she would need to call from prison herself. 

She has also not paid her own phone bill which now means o2 will want to collect her unpaid amount.  what should i do? im scared it will affect me later if i just cancel the contract via my own direct debit. i am happy to pay for my own but i cant cancell something i dont own.

DullGreyGuy

Stop paying, its her problem.

Get a new sim, pay for that, put it in the phone. 

tacpot12

You have tried to cancel the direct debit with the firm that takes it and they will not take an instruction from you, so I think it is quite reasonable that you cancel the instruction at your bank.  

You need to pass on the letter to your ex. You can ask someone else to do this if you think it might be difficult. You shoudl save the amount of the DD payment until the SIM stops working, and then pass this (via a third-party) to your ex who can use it pay anything that was owed for your contract. 

MikeJXE

It's not your phone and not your contract so cancel the direct debit, like DullGreyGuy says it's not your problem 

Either borrow the phone and get you own sim (thus your own contract) or get yourself your own phone and contract 

savergrant

Hi, how long have you had the phone? If you are out of your minimum term you can text pac to 65075 or stac to 75075 to notify them you want to change provider. Pac will allow you to keep your number, stac will get you a new number. If you are in your minimum term there will be an exit fee which they will quote to you in their text reply. It may save hassle in the long run.

savergrant

Sorry, to answer your concerns, when you say 'ex' were you married or in a civil partnership? If so has it legally ended? If your relationship no longer has any legal standing her debts/defaults should not effect your credit worthiness. You can just return her mail to sender, possibly writing last known address hmp z on it.  However if you have a financial connection such as joint tenancy or joint account you should seek advice on ending the connection.

somuchdebtimdrowning

DullGreyGuy & savergrant All done just waiting for a code to transfer my number.
@savergrant i am out of the  minimum term and tried the pac code transfer and then when i called o2 they refused to switch the number to my new sim as im not the account holder. they said she was the one that has to give me permission to keep my number ..... this cant be true!
we were never in a civil partnership or married but we were joint tenants on our mortgage. When she couldnt pay her half i bought her out. i have filed for financial dissaciation on experian after her poor credit started to affect mine. 
Thanks ill do that with all future letters
tacpot12 for my own saftey i cannot pass on any information, however o2 gave me a email prisonsupport@o2.com they told me to email her court papers or proof of improsentment. even after i explained i am not the one that had these details and couldnt get them. i even directed them to the metpolice page so they could see i wasnt lieing. However after 2 hours on the phone i can tell you...... dont waste your time. email them. i emailed them with the DV charity details , and the situation and they stopped letters coming to my address for her. They asked for a forwarding address and i explained i dont know what prison facility she is being held in. part one done ! now to get my number back looks like this process will be a long one.....if anyone knows of any other way of getting my number back please do let me know 

savergrant

Glad to hear some things are sorted.  Do you still have the original sim and is it still working? You should be able to text the letters pac to 65075 from the sim and get one sent to you, unless the sim has been deactivated or reported for suspicious use. Unfortunately it would have been better to do this before talking to o2 as technically it is a personal number in someone else's name so not yours.
If you don't know where your ex is being held, has she been convicted or remanded by a court?  If so I would put last known address HM Court Service onto her mail  and return it to senders.  There will be a record that she is in custody and not in the community.