Protecting myself from partners debt

Epona

Greetings all,

I can see a storm coming, and would appreciate your help to minimise the damage.

Briefly, my partner and I have a mortgage together, and substantial positive equity on the house. Some years ago he got into trouble with debts built up on credit cards and found himself unable to make minimum repayments. I agreed that he could have a secured loan attatched to the mortgage, over a shorter period, to enable him to get straight. The agreement between us was that he would make paying off this debt a priority whatever else happened, and that there would be no more building up debts on credit cards. Maybe a wrong decision, but at the time I badly wanted to keep the relationship together.

Several years later I have become concerned about his finances again. He left his PDA on next to the computer the other day and I could see payment reminders on that day for 7 credit cards - now I bet they've not all got £2.50 each on them. I also noticed the other day a letter from a solicitors in his post. I've looked up the solicitors on the net and they specialise in debt recovery. I have since found another envelope from them in the recycling pile, buried with the other one. There was also a message on the answerphone to ring one of his credit card companys 'urgently'.

I'm going to tackle him about this tonight when he gets in. This time I'm not so keen on keeping the relationship together, and would appeciate some advise on keeping my assests out of the hands of his creditors. Obviously I don't know a great deal of detail yet but can anyone point me in the right direction?

With many thanks in advance for your help.

Epona

CLAPTON

if the debts are in his name then you are not responsible for them

has the secured loan been paid off or not and was it a joint loan?

except for the mortgage do you have any joint accounts?

its possible that his creditors could apply for a charging order on the house but thats usually along way down the line.

as you are financially linked to him via the mortage its likely that if he has a poor credit record then that will adversely affect yours.

JohalaReewi

Been there, got the T shirt. Basically, if the secured load was attached to the mortgage it is probably in joint names so you are both liable for the debt (as well as for the mortage). So the morgage company can come after either of you for the money.

Any debts in your partner's name only are his debts and you are not liable.

Your partner is likely to have a dreadful credit history and because you are both financially linked (via the mortgage), your credit history will be impacted.

If your partner has CCJs, which he doesn't pay, they are likely to become a charge on the house. Not as bad as it sounds because it is only on his share of the house and they usually don't force you to sell the house. Can be a problem if you want to remortgage.

If you have lots of savings and your partner has lots of debt, and you separate/divorce, you are likely to lose half your savings. If you are really unlucky, you could also inherit half his debt if it can be shown that you have gained benefit, or the debt was run up to support the family.

Perhaps you could have a chat with Citizens Advice Bureau or National Debtline?