Partner being chased for ex's debt

SammySmithy

Hi, hope some one can offer advice on this one as it is worrying me sick.

To put you in the picture:

Six years ago my boyfriend was engaged to another woman and one night she broke down and told him she was over 15K in debt and could not pay it off. The outcome was that they cancelled the wedding and used what they had saved so far to pay off the debts plus my boyfriend took out a loan for 10K and used a further 2k on his credit card to sort out the situation. 2 months later he found her in bed with another man who she had been seeing for almost a year! She went off with him and the last my boyfriend heard was that they were living/working in Australia. Shortly after that he went to work in Greece (and closed down his bank account and all the direct debits that were paying the loans/CC cards). I met him a year later and shortly after that, he moved into my home where we have been for the last 4 years.

My boyfriend officially closed his bank account in March 2003, but once his ex left he stopped having his wages paid into that account as she had access to it. So officially the six year period (to be able to claim statute barred) is up next March but looking at his final account statement, it appears that the bank stopped honouring his DD's some time before that (proberly when his wages stopped going in) as the last credit card payment request was just under £600, and as he had 2K on his card, I am guessing that was quite a few months worth of missed payments they were trying to claim. So when would the 6 year period start from, the time he closed his account or the time the first payment was refused by the bank?

Also, I am really worried about my boyfriends method of dealing with this problem, he wants me just to send them back unopened and say not at this address! I am really worried about doing that but he refuses to pay back money that he took out for his ex while she gets away scot free. The house and all the utilities are in my name only (as it was my house before we met) but I did put him on the electoral role. He says for me to just say we have split up now and if needs must he will move out until his 6 year period is up. I can understand why he is bitter and angry but I am not sure his way is the right way to deal with it and every day he gets more letters arriving which I have hidden while I work out what to do because if he gets hold if them he will just return them to sender!

Please help, so worried I can't sleep or eat as I don't want him to get into any more trouble than he may already be in.

Thanks

Sam

GeorgeUK

Hi Sam

Looks like you bf has had a tough time of it but he shouldn't have put himself in debt to help someone else - hard to do when it's one you love.

The statute barred date starts from the date the last payment was made. If he knows when this was then you should hopefully be able to work out the statute barred date. Unfortunately, that may not be the end of it. If one of his creditors has taken him to court and a CCJ has been issued, these i believe can last indefinately. 6 years after a CCJ is issued, they would need to go back to court for permission to enforce the debt.

This site should be able to tell him if a CCJ has been issued agianst him http://www.registry-trust.org.uk/

(Never used it myself so don't know what details are required - if it asks for his address i don't know if this info is available to DCA's etc so may be worth asking others)

It may not be the right wat yo deal with it, but the damage is already done to his credit score. It'll take a few years to get it back into shape. Just make sure you don't have any joint accounts with him or anything as a link like that will have an impact on your credit score too.

immoral_angeluk

The debt become statute barred from 6 years after the date of default. This isn't when the bank stopping honouring the direct debits, and you'll need to look on his credit report to find out exactly when this will have been issued if he doesn't know or didn't recieve anything in the post about it.

SammySmithy

Thank you for your replies.

I had a look on that site but I need to study it more as I am not sure what each search is for and which is best. Also I do not want to have to put my address down for anything connected to him.

He knows it was silly what he did for his ex, but he honestly thought they would be married and he was doing what was best for both of them. It is a shame he had to learn the hard way.

I am just worried that by sending back all the DCA letters saying that he no longer lives with me will get him into real trouble if he gets found out. He has no credit now, not even a bank account (he has a building society type book account only).

Just one thing that I am not sure of, does the statute barred start from the date the last payment was made (when his bank stopped honouring his DD's) or from when the default was issued (which is why we need to check his credit file).

Thanks for all your help

Sammy

Conor_3

SammySmithy wrote: »

I am just worried that by sending back all the DCA letters saying that he no longer lives with me will get him into real trouble if he gets found out.

It'll get you into trouble as well. Is he registered on the electoral roll at your address as he's required to be?

GeorgeUK

The statute barred date starts from when the last payment was made.

SammySmithy

Thank you both for taking the the time to help me. My boyfriend is registered on the electrol role but we have no other joint finances or bank accounts, the house and all the bills are in my name.

I tried to speak to him tonight about this issue but he gets so angry about it, he is adamant that he is not paying a penny because of what his (insert lots of obscenities!) ex did to him. He seems quite prepared to just move out for 7 months if needs be because as far as he is concerned, if he is not living here, then they cant make him pay and it is his debt not mine.

I did mention that he is still registered on the electrol role for my address and he pointed out that had we genuinely had split up, I would not have removed him, I would just have waited until the next one was out and not put his name on it, which is true as it didn't occur to me that you were meant to keep it updated.

He wont check his credit report or the CCJ registry as he does not want to say he lives here. I really do not know what to do for the best, he wants all the letters returned to sender (the DCA's) with a 'no longer living here' note attached, I just want it all to go away as we really wanted to buy a house next year so we could start a family. How on earth can we get to the 7 month statute barred point without acknowledging the debts?

Please help I am scared and have not been able to eat all day as I just feel sick to the stomach.

Sammy

Conor_3

Well he's being stupid. They already know he lives there - its on the electoral roll which is free for anyone to look at. Getting a credit report or looking at the CCJ register isn't acknowledging the debt. You can only do that by replying to letters sent from the DCAs.

There's nothing to stop you getting his credit report if you're that worried about it.

SammySmithy

Conor wrote: »

Well he's being stupid. They already know he lives there - its on the electoral roll which is free for anyone to look at. Getting a credit report or looking at the CCJ register isn't acknowledging the debt. You can only do that by replying to letters sent from the DCAs.

There's nothing to stop you getting his credit report if you're that worried about it.

I agree with you, he is being silly and thank you for replying to me.

He wont let me apply for his credit report as he would have to give my address as his current address and he says as far as the DCA is concerned, we split up 6 months ago and no longer lives here! So searching using this address would contradict that.

He still says that if I can't lie (I am too honest for my own good) he will move out so that I don't have to lie when I say he no longer lives here.

I guess for all they know we could have split up 6 months ago and if that were the case he would still show as living here as this years forms have not been sent out yet.

I am just worried they have other ways of tracking people down.

(a desperate) Sammy x

LilacPixie

The do sammy, it isn't unheard of for DCA's to call or write to neighbours asking if Mr XYZ still lives next door.

Your OH needs to stop being pig headed. Get his credit file, find out when or if the debts become statue barred and then deal with it from there.

GeorgeUK

Sam

If the debt has been passed on to a debt collection agency, he could also request a copy of his Credit Agreement (CCA). Not too sure what to advise you as it is (probably) getting close to the statute barred date but he doesn't know the details of the debt - when they will become statute barred or if there is a CCJ agianst the debt. If there is no CCJ and the DCA can't produce a copy of the CCA, then the debt is unenforcable.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=578486

At the end of the day, there isn't much you can do if he is adamant about not even looking at these letters.

If he thinks the debt has been passed to a DCA instead of the original creditor still owning the debt, he could do a subject access request (SAR) to get the last 6 years worth of information the hold on him (max £10 fee). From this he should see when the last "payment" was made towards the debt. It won't of course tell him if he has a CCJ against that debt.

good luck