IVA Help

dibba66

A previous partner took out a loan of £26 000 to pay off her credit cards etc. in 2004. I have noticed on my credit reference file from Experian that this is shown as a joint account. I believe that I may have unwittingly signed the proposal form for this loan without knowing the full implications (i.e. I thought I was signing for delivery of the cheque - unbelievable, but true). This was not my debt!
I have contacted GE Capital, the lenders, who assure me they have a form with my signature on it. My question is based on the assumption that the signature was not fraudulently obtained (a possibility which I have not discounted) and that the debt is half mine.
I have not lived with this person for three years but believe that she got into further financial difficulties and took out an IVA. If so, I believe this would have about three years to run. My enquiries with GE reveal that the outstanding debt is about £22000 and that this is being paid off at £70 per month.
The thing is, if the loan is listed as a joint account, how could my former partner have secured an iva without any reference to me? Wouldn't GE expect me to service the account in some way too?
Assuming this is an iva, what would the impact of this be on my credit reference file in future. I recently married and am worried about opening a joint bank account, mortgage etc. with my wife who has a very good credit history (so do I apart from this blemish).
Should I pursue GE for my signature, or my former partner to remonstrate, or am I better leaving well alone. My fear would be having to pay out money that I currently don't pay, to service a debt that, morally at least, is not mine since the bulk of it was accumulated before I came onto the scene.
Your help would be appreciated.

poppyg_2

Hi Dibba

I don't really know what to suggest. Is it possible that she got the loan in joint names as it was the only way she could borrow such a large sum? Doing this without your permission was pretty disgraceful, illegal I assume, I am guessing she thought she could pay it all back on time and that'd you'd never need to know but even so :mad:

Is there any chance you can get in touch with the ex and find out about it? If you're still on speaking terms? At least one thing is she's not being claiming you are partly responsible for it, looks like she has got the IVA to include all of this debt but even so, I do find it really beyond belief :eek: that she sneakily borrowed this amount behind your back and used your name, I'm sure most people wouldn't dream of doing this

Have you spoken to your wife about the situation?

poppyg_2

PS I would definitely ask to see a copy of the form you supposedly signed so that you can see if your signature was copied and if it was, surely could see a solicitor about this - anyone had any experience of this?????

dibba66

Thanks. I am at a loss to understand how she could have sorted an iva without reference to me if the loan was in joint names. Surely if GE believed I was partly responsible for the debt, the iva would have been refused on the grounds that my wage could have covered the original loan payments?

dibba66

Also, I wonder if the process of requesting to see the signature would alert GE to the fact that I am (as far as they are concerned) financially solvent? Wouldn't providing them with my current address open a can of worms, so to speak, especially since iva payments appear to be being made? What I don't want is for them to come asking me to pay part of this debt - asking for the sinature would mean providing my address.

poppyg_2

That's a fair point, I just don't know what to suggest, can anyone elde help?????

I also don't understand the point you have made about how she could get the IVA without any reference at all to you, unless she explained to them you're no longer together and that she is actually soleyl responsible for the debt?

It really doesn't seem fair that your credit is being affected because of this. Maybe you could speak to your ex, I'm sure there must be some way that this can be disputed and taken off your credit file, it just seems so wrong, I just can't believe she did it in the first place, such an abuse of trust

poppyg_2

I think the fact she has included this debt in her IVA indicates she is not wanting to involve you in any way, I think you should try and contact her and see what she says - is this possible?

I guess if she was trying to land you in it she would've said only half of the debt was hers, sounds like maybe she was absolutely desperate when she got the initial loan and doing a joint one was the only way she could think of to get the money, what a shame (for yours and her sake) that she didn't contact one of the charities and sort a DMP before it got to this stage.

dibba66

Bumping this up for purely selfish reasons. I NEED HELP!!

RAS

hello folks