Iva's, gambling and debt collection...

Worried_lady_3

Hello, I have never joined a forum before, but from having read other entries on here, I hope someone can help or advise me.I have been married for 7 years and 5 years ago I discovered that my husband was a gambler. He was very upset at his situation and we took out a loan each to consolidate the debts. 2 years ago he admited to me that he was still gambling - the credit cards of his that I had taken away he had replaced by reporting them stolen. He was so mortified at his situation that we took out an additional mortgage on my property (I had bought the house a few years before we married and the deeds etc are in my maiden name). The other loans were completely paid off and I thought everything was ticking over. I had been trying to open his mail, but with many banks offering paperless statements etc it was difficult to find out what was going on. In my heart of hearts I knew that he probably hadn't stopped but I so wanted to believe him. At the end of February this year, he admitted that he was in way over his head. He now attends GA meetings and last week an IVA was approved. We are lucky that the house is in my name as otherwise the house would have needed to be sold. Whilst in conversation however with the insolvency practitioner, she mentioned that she could not guarantee that Debt collection agencies or balliffs would not be in touch - either by phone or in person as sometimes it can take a while for the IVA information to reach all parties concerned if the banks have already 'sold' the debt on. We don't know if the debts had been sold on! Would this info come by letter?I am now in a constant panic. I had hoped that the IVA would stop everything. Next week we are supposed to be on holiday and I have my family staying at our house in our absence. They were against my marriage to start with and there is no way on earth that I can tell them what has been happening. I am terrified that someone will door-knock whilst I am away. Can anyone tell me what happens with an agency or balliff as this is totally outside of my comfort zone? Is there any way of finding out about the ownership of the debt or someone to contact to pre-empt a problem? I'd be reallly grateful.Thank you.

Merlot

Firstly welcome to the board.

Insolvency practitioner? Are you paying for these services and for the IVA, if so, please re-think, there are debt charities out there like CCCS or Payplan who can help you free of charge.

Someone else will be along in a mo with the other answers, I know very little about baliffs etc.

southernscouser

Merlot wrote: »

Insolvency practitioner? Are you paying for these services and for the IVA, if so, please re-think, there are debt charities out there like CCCS or Payplan who can help you free of charge.

Just to clarify that Merlot is right in someone like the CCCS can offer you free advice, however you will still need to pay a practionier to setup the IVA.


Have you had any county court judgements (CCJ's) issued to you or your husband? If not ballifs cannot seize goods from you.

cfnc

In an IVA there are always fees but will be taken out of the agreed monthly payment to the IP. Only DMPs can be free from the charities CCCS ect.

You may get letters but just forward them onto the IP who will deal with them. As long as the debts are not joint there is no was that baliffs or debt collectors can take any action on the debts included in the IVA.

I am surprised that your house has not been taken into consideration as your husband will have a benefical interest in it even though it is totally in your name. But that is good news!

Try and relax now as your husband if he keeps to the IVA is safe from his creditors.

CFNC

Worried_lady_3

Thanks for your help everyone! To answer a couple of the questions...My husband has signed that he has no beneficial interest in the property even if we were to split up. This was queried by the creditors, but he stood firm. He spoke to one of the Debtfree people as seen on the tv initially but the IP we spoke to in person felt that the amount we would be paying each month could be alot less than we had been quoted. It was agreed in the end that payments would be £200 less a month than we had been quoted by the Debtfree people. Any letters we receive we will forward to the IP immediately, my main concern is someone door knocking when we are away. Can anyone tell me the period of time between letter and door knocking?
Thanks everso. I have tried speaking to the IP but they weren't able to tell me who 'owned' the debt to check that no-one would call.
Thanks again.

tostao

debt collectors rarely call, unless they are based locally, and have the people in your area to do it.
data protection stops them discussing your business with anyone else, in the unlikely event that someone called.
hope this helps

waddy_2

im so sorry about your current situation and im even sorrier that i cant really be of any help as i too dont know much about this sort of thing. i am also new to all this so i sympathise greatly. but i couldnt just read your posting and not offer at least some moral support. i posted my problem just yesterday and already these lovely people are offering advice and just talking about it takes a huge weight off. sorry i cant be any help but im sure others in this forum will be able to . good luck. x

Marker_2

Hi Worried Lady - Cant offer any advice about the debt as the debt my OH accrued through gambling is not a deal breaker, he was good enough to gamble money we had rather than off the cards.

Though I cant offer help with the debts, have you looked into getting your OH excluded from all casino halls and online sites. Might be worth doing if not already done. You have the choice of excluding for a minumum of 6 months to life! If your OH is serious about sorting out his problems it only takes a email or letter to self exclude.

Good Luck with everything, it took 3 years for my OH to wake up and realise he will loose everything if he doesnt sort himself out, infact he did loose us for a bit, but thats another story

Worried_lady_3

Thanks to everyone. It is great to have someone out there listening to me for a change! I have rung every casino in the area and my husband is now listed as not being allowed in. The staff I spoke to were very supportive which I found quite surprising! I have also spoken to the local betting shops but they cannot exclude him as he uses cash and does not have an account based there. I have also downloaded filter software onto the PC to try an cover that angle too. I'm mentally exhausted with all of this! I've joined the GA forum this week too and have found support there as well.

Thanks everyone! I'm so grateful for the help.

Marker_2

Worried_lady wrote: »

Thanks to everyone. It is great to have someone out there listening to me for a change! I have rung every casino in the area and my husband is now listed as not being allowed in. The staff I spoke to were very supportive which I found quite surprising! I have also spoken to the local betting shops but they cannot exclude him as he uses cash and does not have an account based there. I have also downloaded filter software onto the PC to try an cover that angle too. I'm mentally exhausted with all of this! I've joined the GA forum this week too and have found support there as well.

Thanks everyone! I'm so grateful for the help.

Lol, you may see me on there too Casinos et all have a duty to protect their customers from getting into debt because of gambling. There is a write up for it which most casinos have as part of their t&c's. I trawled the web for hours the day he finally admitted 'he had a problem'.

I would check the betting chops again, even if he does pay via cash they still have a duty of care.

Good Luck with it all though, it is hard, but as long as he puts the effort in to sorting out the debts and staying away from gambling things will come out on top.

If ever you need to talk though please feel free to PM me! x

Marker_2

Hey just wondering how your doing?x