Joint Debts

abitworried

I was hoping for a bit of advice.....

my DH has 3 outstanding loans with 2 different ex partners. 2 were taken out in 2004 and 1 was taken out in 2006. They are all in arrears and up until this point we were unaware of the actual amounts outstanding. It is only through checking Equifax tonight we have managed to get figures, dates etc as he has been totally burying his head in the sand. We dont have contact with either of the ex's so what is the state of play with going about sorting out repayments etc as in theory he actually owes half the balances shown.

Many thanks.

Sea78

I think that even if in theory he owes half, if he's unwilling/unable to contact the exes he'll have to pay the majority himself. However, it might be worth seeing if they are with DCAs and if they are willing to come to an arrangement - does he know where the exes live? Has he discussed the loans with them at all?

Sea xx

CRANKY40

In reality I think you will find that the minute he makes himself known he will become liable for the whole of these debts. Joint signing means joint liability and the companies will chase whichever party they can find. They don't buy the "half each" thing.

When my mum kindly left my dad with a pile of jointly aquired debt when she left him, my dad had to pay the lot off, including paying of their overdraft before he could make it his own single account, during which time, theoretically, my mum could have accessed the account and run up more debt.

Unfortunately, joint liability means exactly what it says.

abitworried

We don't have contact but we could find out where they live...

It just seems very unfair that he is going to become fully liable for a loan as soon as he contacts them to sort out a repayment...if we gave them her address would they chase her too?

Sea78

I think they could do - but it would depend. Do you kno wwhat circumstances she's in now? Would it really not be possible to contact her to see if she'd be willing to pay, or if there are any major issues that would cause problems for her?

fermi

Creditors or DCA's will chase whoever they feel is most likely to make payments to them.

And unfortunately, yes, joint loans means "Joint & Several Liability".

See: Joint and Several Liability

If you can contact the ex OH's and try to sort something out then that would be the best idea. But these things can be difficult.

abitworried

They're almost definitely both working, neither have kids or mortgages (1 lives back with parents and 1 is in an army married quarter) so really there should be no problems with them paying too - but somehow I don't see it is going to be as simple as that. Perhaps if I got him to get copies of the relevant CCA's (i've learnt something from here!) we'll have evidence that they are also responsible to present to them.