Joint bank Account

Julie_mcewen

I moved in with my partner 2 years ago,
I had bad credit so the mortgage was only in his name, (this was a stroke of luck in the end)
But i wanted to make sure that if we split up nastily i was still entitled to half if i wanted it so we opened a joint account to pay the bills and all the bills were in my name.
After a year and a half I couldnt stand living with him any more so left, I didnt want my share of the house so he was happy to stay, everything was fine it was a mutual decision no hard feelings.
The bills were still being paid out of the joint account but it was slightly in the overdraft.
He eventually lost his job and stopped paying money into it and now its over the overdraft and the bank wont let me take my name off it.

does any one have any solutions??

RayWolfe

No.
Unfortunately you are jointly and severally responsible for the account and any overdraft on it. You both need to present yourselves to the bank and agree that when any debts are cleared the account can have your name removed.

Poosmate

Unfortunately I got stung like this.

You must try to get that account closed as soon as possible and disassociate yourself from your ex. I know he's lost his job but is he holding his hands up to the debt? Will he accept responsibility for it?

The only thing I can suggest if you are both still talking amicably is to visit the bank and explain the situation. You may need to cut your losses and offer to accept half of the debt (as it's jointly in your name) and put it down to experience.

My ex ran up a debt of £5k in our joint account and left me destitute. The bank HFC (robbing heartless bar stewards) would do nothing for me. They knew he was taking the money out and they knew I was paying it in and there was nothing I could do about it. I begged them to freeze the account but they wouldn't. I told them I may as well just give him the money instead of paying it in to them. In the end I told them I wasn't going to pay anymore so they threatened me with an attachment of earnings. I stopped paying and explained in writing to their head office exactly why I wasn't paying anymore. In the end they accepted a full and final settlement from me of about £2.8k and removed me from the account.

Sorry I don't know what else to suggest. I hope you can get it sorted.

Best wishes

Poo

RayWolfe

Poosmate wrote: »

You may need to cut your losses and offer to accept half of the debt (as it's jointly in your name) and put it down to experience.

It's worse than that. As I said earlier the responsibility is "jointly and severally" which means that if one party don't pay, the other party is responsible for the lot, not half!

Julie_mcewen

hI
I took your advice and the bank were most helpful.
My ex already owed them quite abit from things like loans and current accounts etc anyway.
they quite happily accepted a letter from bioth of us saying that he takes full responsilbilty for the full amount owed and they have closed the joint account with all debt being transfered to him.
the only other thing is now am i still going to be affected by his bad credit?

SwitchyChick

Martin's advice is:
"If you split up with someone you've joint finances with, once the accounts are separated, always write to the credit reference agencies and ask for a notice of 'disassociation', to stop their credit history affecting yours in the future".
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/credit-rating-credit-score
Good luck!