Unsecured debt recovery

witchdoc187 · March 28, 2018

My sister's husband has run up some credit card debts. He took out an additional £15k as cash which he put towards the purchase of a house together when he knew he was going to lose his job. The house is entirely in her name but she is scared that as he has no assets they will come for the house because he used that cash to purchase it. Although nothing is in her name debt wise can they make a judgement on this and force a sale if they can proove what happened?

roydo · March 28, 2018

witchdoc187 said:
My sister's husband has run up some credit card debts. He took out an additional £15k as cash which he put towards the purchase of a house together when he knew he was going to lose his job. The house is entirely in her name but she is scared that as he has no assets they will come for the house because he used that cash to purchase it. Although nothing is in her name debt wise can they make a judgement on this and force a sale if they can proove what happened?

Doubt it. The debt is the Husbands issue. Debts are not registered against an address.

Unless he has been an absolute beaut and done stuff behind her back.

Give Stepchange a call.

JimmyJeffers · March 28, 2018

witchdoc187 said:
My sister's husband has run up some credit card debts. He took out an additional £15k as cash which he put towards the purchase of a house together when he knew he was going to lose his job. The house is entirely in her name but she is scared that as he has no assets they will come for the house because he used that cash to purchase it. Although nothing is in her name debt wise can they make a judgement on this and force a sale if they can proove what happened?

Oooft. This is a bit of a minefield. I don’t think so though but I’d have to look into it more. If one of his individual credit card debts is over £5000 then a creditor can issue a statutory demand but this is fairly unusual. Also a creditor may apply a charging order on the property. Have a look on the national debtline website for more info. The fact that the debt is in his name and the property in hers would mean that a creditor would have to jump through hoops to get to the stage where her property is under threat. Is he making minimum payments? He won’t be able to get a DRO or go bankrupt I imagine due to him using that cash to give to someone else. I’ll do some research and have a look.

Groucho · March 28, 2018

witchdoc187 said:
He took out an additional £15k as cash which he put towards the purchase of a house together when he knew he was going to lose his job.

Silly sausage

roydo · March 28, 2018

Groucho said:
Silly sausage

Indeed.

Deleted member 28206 · March 28, 2018

witchdoc187 said:
My sister's husband has run up some credit card debts. He took out an additional £15k as cash which he put towards the purchase of a house together when he knew he was going to lose his job. The house is entirely in her name but she is scared that as he has no assets they will come for the house because he used that cash to purchase it. Although nothing is in her name debt wise can they make a judgement on this and force a sale if they can proove what happened?

No, it’s all on him. There will be a linked address/person on her credit report though which she can get removed.

JimmyJeffers · March 28, 2018

roydo said:
Indeed.

That’s what I thought initially but it may work out better, in the short term at least. Better than defaulting on mortgage payments. He’ll end up with CCJs etc but a credit card debt is no where near as bad

ArtetaMagic · March 28, 2018

witchdoc187 said:
My sister's husband has run up some credit card debts. He took out an additional £15k as cash which he put towards the purchase of a house together when he knew he was going to lose his job. The house is entirely in her name but she is scared that as he has no assets they will come for the house because he used that cash to purchase it. Although nothing is in her name debt wise can they make a judgement on this and force a sale if they can proove what happened?

She need not worry

roydo · March 28, 2018

JimmyJeffers said:
That’s what I thought initially but it may work out better, in the short term at least. Better than defaulting on mortgage payments. He’ll end up with CCJs etc but a credit card debt is no where near as bad

£15000 credit card debt will become a CCJ in the blink of an eye if he doesnt speak to the lender.

JimmyJeffers · March 28, 2018

roydo said:
£15000 credit card debt will become a CCJ in the blink of an eye if he doesnt speak to the lender.

Aye his credit rating is screwed but a ccj is easy enough to deal with. Sometimes it’s easier to negotiate repayment. Also it depends on how many credit cards the debt is shared over.

witchdoc187 · March 28, 2018

JimmyJeffers said:
Aye his credit rating is screwed but a ccj is easy enough to deal with. Sometimes it’s easier to negotiate repayment. Also it depends on how many credit cards the debt is shared over.

I think it's several cards if what he is saying is true. In total he said a couple are over £5k. I don't think he is in any position to make minimum payments for the foreseeable future

Khalekan · March 28, 2018

witchdoc187 said:
My sister's husband has run up some credit card debts. He took out an additional £15k as cash which he put towards the purchase of a house together when he knew he was going to lose his job. The house is entirely in her name but she is scared that as he has no assets they will come for the house because he used that cash to purchase it. Although nothing is in her name debt wise can they make a judgement on this and force a sale if they can proove what happened?

No.

They cannot force judgement against your sister because of this

But as others have indicated, it is vital your brother in law does not ignore this problem.

Tell him to speak to the credit card companies.

If he cannot meet his repayments they will default and pass the debt on to a debt recovery company.

Contrary to public perception, these people are, in the main, civil and courteous and will set a reasonable monthly repayment figure based on income and expenditure.

They will also make offers of reduced settlement figures as time goes by......and if their financial situation improves, your sister and her spouse might only have to pay between 50% to 75% of the debt.

Also, get him to go on the Martin Lewis website.....there is a message board on there where people whom have lived through similiar experiences.....including yours truly when a gambling addiction brought him to the brink...exchange tales and offer advice about the various charities which offer professional advice to people caught in this trap.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=76

Hope this helps.

Good luck to your family.

sageyefc · March 28, 2018

I'll look out for him on 'can't pay we'll take it away'

JimmyJeffers · March 28, 2018

witchdoc187 said:
I think it's several cards if what he is saying is true. In total he said a couple are over £5k. I don't think he is in any position to make minimum payments for the foreseeable future

Contact step change if he is fairly confident on dealing with things over the phone or citizens advice do f2f debt appointments, they can be contacted ed by phone as well. As most people have said, the sooner he starts dealing with this the easier it is for debt advisers to work with. Is is work situation going to change?

Joey66 · March 28, 2018

JimmyJeffers said:
Contact step change if he is fairly confident on dealing with things over the phone or citizens advice do f2f debt appointments, they can be contacted ed by phone as well. As most people have said, the sooner he starts dealing with this the easier it is for debt advisers to work with. Is is work situation going to change?

I know someone who deliberately put the debt in his wife's name put all the furniture upstairs bar the receipt of his stuff to buy time with the bailiffs he was in a rented house though......