Will they find me...?

DishWasher

First of all, I know this isn't really in the spirit of MoneySaving, and it is likely to turn into a fairly long post. So sorry on both of these counts. However, as a long-time-lurker, most MoneySavers seem to be a helpful bunch, so here goes...


About two and a half years ago I moved house and haven't told anybody official that I have. The main reason for this is to escape joint debts run up by my ex-DW. Now I know that I am jointly liable for these debts, but my ex was a bit if a rascal and led me to believe that she wasn't using credit cards which I thought all had a zero balance (so I wasn't concerned by not receiving statements - but in reality, they were being sent and she hid them from me) and that she was making payments for loans from her bank account.

As it turns out, she was using the credit cards and diverting the loan payments into another bank account - basically paying to set up a new home with her new chap, so when she left me she had a nice new home to go to, paid for by our joint credit cards and loan repayments.

Anyway, this is beside the point and her moving out was definately the right thing for both of us - I certainly don't want sympathy for this as my life is much better now than it ever was when we were together.

However... shortly after she left, I started to see bills, reminders and demands for accounts I knew nothing about. Maybe about £5.5k in total, the biggest single amounts being £1.5k-£2k.

As we had rented a house together, I wanted a clean break, so when she moved out I found a smaller house to rent and had planned to move before the debts became obvious to me.

So, I did a very naughty thing and moved house and haven't advised anybody official of this. I had no debt of my own, so had nothing to pay; I haven't changed the address on my bank account - I have just stopped paper statements and ask for cards to be sent to a branch; my contract mobile phone is managed paper-free too, so both of these have carried on without the need to change my address.

In 2.5 years, I have applied for no credit at all (although I do pay for my car insurance monthly at my new address) so I guess my credit files are empty.

I will be going to USA on holiday at the start of next year and would like to take a credit card with me. I have no intention of lying to my existing bank about my address, so my plan is to open a new bank account, then at the start of next year apply for a credit card.

However, if I do this my credit files will be updated with personal data like my date of birth (which can't be there just now for my new address as I haven't told anyone - unless my car insurer checks/updates/reports).

So, my question (at last!) is: if I apply for a new bank account (probably a basic Yorkshire Bank one due to the emptiness of my credit file) and my date of birth is added to my new credit file, will my old creditors be able to search and find this link (ie name and date of birth) and then find my new address? Are they likely to do this?

I know I have run away from my responsibilities as I was liable for the debts, even though they were completely out of my control and I knew nothing about them. If I knew my ex's new address, I would quite happily pass it on to the creditors; but I don't.

Thanks for any help.

DishWasher

Sorry! I have just pressed submit and have seen how long this post is!!

Is there a prize for the longest debut post ever? (Just asking...!!!)

LilacPixie

hehe dunno but i ramble alot too.

firstly credit cards cannot be in joint names so did she open an account in your name?? Loans can be joint but did you sign for them or did she forge your details??

In answer to your question yes creditors can search your details and find a link to your new address

why don't you get a copy of your credit file and see exactly what the position is. surley if you didn't open the accounts and were unaware they existed then you could raise a fraud report and possible criminal prosecution

DishWasher

Thank you!

The credit card was in my name, but ex had a card with her name on it. The card had a zero balance and we had agreed (I thought!) not to use it - which is why I wasn't too concerned by not seeing statements. Unbeknown to me, she was using the card and then hiding the statements from me

Why didn't we just close the account and cut up the cards? I suppose I wanted to keep it "just in case" and I had no reason at all to suspect that ex would have been spending on it, just as I didn't know about her new bloke.

Loan was joint, but payments came from her account - she stopped paying this and, I presume, used the payments to fund her new life.

What are the chances that the debtors will - after more than 2.5 years - search credit files for someone with my name and date of birth to find the link?

postingalwaysposting

You say you credit file is clear have you searched all three? If the credit card was in your name it will still be in your name and thus on your credit file, the loan will be too. If anything is updated on your credit file the creditors can and will find you, after 2.5years the debts are still enforcable. I would get copys of your credit files and go from there but it may not be a pretty site.

LilacPixie

it is not unusual to see posts here about DCA's chasing alledged debtors after 10-12 years so yep after 2.5 years it is certainly possible.

poorandindenial

Hi just one thing, you will struggle to get a bank account of any kind if you aren't on the electorol register for your area. If you update this then you are easier to trace. I know you can tick the box that says 'don't make me public' or something to that effect but I am not sure whether this would prevent the CRAs from knowing you had moved.

There is no guaranteed way of making yourself invisible and if your ex-DW knows where you live now I can't see her keeping that info quiet for long (given her past performance).

EDIT to add: I agree with LP, you need to get a look at your credit reference files, although this will then give them the new adress to work with.

DishWasher

Thanks everybody - this is really helpful.

I am on the electoral register at my new address. I guess I have two credit files just now - an empty one from my current address and a rather messy one at my old address. I would very much like to keep these separate. By the time I come to apply for a bank account I will have been living at my current address for 3+ years, so the bank shouldn't ask for a previous address.

I know the debts are still enforceable - and I also know that I am liable for them. It just really sticks in my throat that I would be paying for my ex to set up her new home.

So my thinking was to let my old credit file just sit there and avoid all links to my new address. So if a creditor checks my old credit file, it will look like I have just disappeared.

What concerns me is that if I apply for a bank account and give my date of birth, that this will be added to my new credit file. Although there still wouldn't be a link to my old address.

However, if any of my creditors then did a general search of the CRA's database for people called DishWasher with my DoB, then the match would cause a link to be created.

Or do I just sit tight for another three years until 6 years have passed? I could quite easily do this - it is only for convenience that I have been looking at a credit card for my holiday next year.

thanks again - MoneySavers are fab!!

newmee

don't know what to say really except that I had a similar situation when my ex left me and the baby. He has a lways been !!!!!! with money and he walked all over me...no sympathy required, great lesson learned!!....
The moral of my story is that I was upfront with the banks / creditors from day 1 before a payment was even missed..HOWEVER...they helped me NOT AT ALL and in the end I just sold the house and paid it all off. However to this day ( 6 - 7 yrs ago!) I can't get credit, despite having checked my file and it all being paid off. Moral of the story...is it worth being honest? Maybe NOT in MY case.....also, keep ya money / finances to yaself (ooooh, the cynic!)

Conor_3

DishWasher wrote: »

So, I did a very naughty thing and moved house and haven't advised anybody official of this. I had no debt of my own, so had nothing to pay; I haven't changed the address on my bank account - I have just stopped paper statements and ask for cards to be sent to a branch; my contract mobile phone is managed paper-free too, so both of these have carried on without the need to change my address.

In 2.5 years, I have applied for no credit at all (although I do pay for my car insurance monthly at my new address) so I guess my credit files are empty.

I will be going to USA on holiday at the start of next year and would like to take a credit card with me. I have no intention of lying to my existing bank about my address, so my plan is to open a new bank account, then at the start of next year apply for a credit card.

However, if I do this my credit files will be updated with personal data like my date of birth (which can't be there just now for my new address as I haven't told anyone - unless my car insurer checks/updates/reports).

So, my question (at last!) is: if I apply for a new bank account (probably a basic Yorkshire Bank one due to the emptiness of my credit file) and my date of birth is added to my new credit file, will my old creditors be able to search and find this link (ie name and date of birth) and then find my new address? Are they likely to do this?

I know I have run away from my responsibilities as I was liable for the debts, even though they were completely out of my control and I knew nothing about them. If I knew my ex's new address, I would quite happily pass it on to the creditors; but I don't.

Thanks for any help.

So what name is the council tax bill for the property in? What name are the water rates in? What name is the electricity in?

If your driving licence doesn't have the correct address on, that's a criminal offence. Not completing the electoral roll request that pops through the letter box is a criminal offence.

If you apply for a new bank account, it'll have your new address on and that'll go on your credit file as linked to your old one - . Likewise any credit card. YOU DO NOT GET A NEW CREDIT FILE. Chances are it already is if you got your car insurance on monthly payments.

How are you going to go on holiday to the USA when you're not going to pass the security checks because the dates and data for your residence are incorrect?

Mind you, you could simply carry on with the same fraudulent intent you have been for the past 2 1/2 years. Why not just go find your local Romanian gang and get a dodgy passport and driving licence in another name?

purple12

To be honest, I think it's likely you will be found - they can be remarkably persistant. I did a kind of similar thing when I was young and foolish - except I left the country (it was only a couple of hundred pounds debt at the time and I just didn't consider it).
I came back, rented a flat, opened a bank account with no reference to the previous address - and I got a letter from the debt collection agencies after about 5.5 years. To be honest, in a way, it was almost a relief because I always suspected they'd find me!
Of course, I had thousands to pay back but I've done that and now have a mortgage.
So they are very persistent - the intervening time is when the bank is selling the debts to collection agencies and some of the collection agencies are much more aggressive in finding debtors than banks.