My partner debt before she met me - how will this effect me

[vesuvious]

Hello

 

My partner moved in with me in january this year and Red debt collection Services working on behalf of Lowell portfolio 1 LTD have sent a letter to my address. The origional creditor was with t mobile who are claiming she owes over £1000 from around 3 years ago (there is an email address for tmobile but there are 3 companies mentioned).

 

The letter states that if my partner doesnt get in touch a licensed home visit agent will attend my home and legal proceedings will commence with the aim of balifs if they get a court order.

 

Now i met my partner last year in july and i do not have anything to do with this debt as it is 3 years ago; i didnt even know my partner then.

 

How does the law stand in relation to my assets, which i can prove i have paid for everything in my flat and my partner and child are not on the tenancy agreement.

 

Another area of concern is that i am disabled and unable to work and my partner is my carer. I really could do without this hasle, and am in the process of trying to find alternative accomodation.

 

My partner has other creditors, who have not located her yet

 

I have not responded to their letter either verbal or writtern.

 

What i want to know is can they take any of my assets, now and if no and we get married in the future, have they the right to claim my property in my flat.

 

Thirdy if my partner has to do a capital expenditure calculation and we are at the moment claiming as a couple. does all the income we recieve have to be declared?????? how does it work.

[diskmandave]

What i want to know is can they take any of my assets, now and if no and we get married in the future, have they the right to claim my property in my flat.

The answer to this is quite simply NO.

 

Debt collectors have no more legal power than the milkman, if you got into arrears with the milk bill would the milkman come and do a repossession ? I think not!

 

And regardless of whether or not you get married these debts are in your partners sole name and remain her responsibility no matter what some DCA tries to fob you off with. A licensed home visit agent is nothing more than a posh name for a debt collector.

 

If my partner has to do a capital expenditure calculation and we are at the moment claiming as a couple. does all the income we recieve have to be declared??????

Absolutely not. As previously stated regardless of whether or not you're married if a debt's in your partners sole name, it's her sole responsibility and your income doesn't enter the equation.

 

Have you considered contacting National Debtline or the Consumer Credit Counselling Service, their advice is second to none and free, they are both registered charities..

 

National Debtline, for FREE CONFIDENTIAL and INDEPENDENT ADVICE call 0808 808 4000

 

CCCS - Free Debt Advice from the UK's Leading Debt Charity

 

Good luck & best wishes, Dave.

[DickSpannerQC]

I do not agree.

 

Income of both parties does need to be declared as your partners income is obviously assisting towards the bills. You can hardly claim that 100% of all bills and expenditure are met by you and she does not pay anything towards any of them.

 

CAB income/expenditure forms always quote total income and they are the experts in these matters!!!

 

Hope that makes sense.

[Hopeful1]

 

Have you considered contacting National Debtline or the Consumer Credit Counselling Service, their advice is second to none and free, they are both registered charities..

 

National Debtline, for FREE CONFIDENTIAL and INDEPENDENT ADVICE call 0808 808 4000

 

CCCS - Free Debt Advice from the UK's Leading Debt Charity

 

Good luck & best wishes, Dave.

 

As Dave has said, it is worth contacting the above charities. They will assist with the expenditure sheet. They will help your partner to work out a repayment plan for her debts that she can afford, if that's what she wants to do. If what she can afford is £1 per month, then so be it. I am assuming, but may be wrong, that you receive benefits which they will not be entitled to either.

 

Regardless of who owns what, no DCA is entitled to enter your property without being invited. They will say such things to intimidate and pressure people.

 

Let us know how you get on.

 

Best wishes

[FLWLSW]

CAB income/expenditure forms always quote total income and they are the experts in these matters!!!

 

 

I did not find that to be the case. One year dealing with Cab was equal to two posts worth of advice i recieved here. Mention CAB to a DCA and you dont get any response, metion CAG and the phone goes down quicker than ......insert own analogy here.

[dave]

Is that really true?

[diskmandave]

mention CAG and the phone goes down quicker than ......insert own analogy here.

Is that really true?

Ohhh, absolutely yes!

[diskmandave]

I do not agree.

 

Income of both parties does need to be declared as your partners income is obviously assisting towards the bills. You can hardly claim that 100% of all bills and expenditure are met by you and she does not pay anything towards any of them.

 

CAB income/expenditure forms always quote total income and they are the experts in these matters!!!

 

Hope that makes sense.

A debtor is solely responsible for debts in his/her own name, any new partner months/years down the line cannot be held jointly responsible even by virtue of marriage.

[gizmo111]

I have not responded to their letter either verbal or writtern.

 

Are you saying they have written to you about your partners debt?

[FLWLSW]

Is that really true?

 

I found i got quite biased advice from the CAB and at one point they recommended an IVA based only on the info i have provided here. CAG has the reputation whereby DCA`s do pay a lot more attention if you say you are recieving advice from them. The statistics and the posts speak for themselves. If the CAB recieved as many quieries and had as many returning customers ( for want of a better word) you wouldnt be able to get an appt till next Christmas.

[maggieboo]

I have debts that go back 10 years, met my partner 7 years ago, therefore I had my debts before I even knew him.

 

CAB used to advise me, but once my daughter and i moved in with my partner, CAB said that he had to take 1/2 of the responsbility for my debts as because we shared our lives together we therefore had to share my debts, and if my partner was going to accept responsbility for my daughter then he had to accept joint responbility for my debts.

 

We did not agree with CAB and they refused to help and advise me. They would only help if my partner shared my debts that were nothing to do with him and incurred before we even knew each other. They also said that he would have to give up all his credit cards and enter into repayment programmes with them. (honestly, they did!)

 

I decided to deal with things myself. After phoning the National Debtline for help to get me started on my own, they advised me what diskmandave has posted earlier:

 

A debtor is solely responsible for debts in his/her own name, any new partner months/years down the line cannot be held jointly responsible even by virtue of marriage.

 

I do not have my name on any of the household bills and the mortgage is in my partners name only. I moved into his house.

 

Our agreement of looking after things is that we each take responsbility for our own personal finances, he pays all the house bills, I run the house, cook, clean, chase after kids etc. Works fine for us.

 

When I was required to complete Income & expenditure forms, I listed my wages, tax credits, child benefit on as my total income, and then for my expenses I listed car expenses, mobile phone expenses, food, clothing, groceries for myself and my daughter, an allowance for haircuts for myself and daughter, a small amount for unexpected payments throughout the year such as birthday presents. To deal with the fact that I lived with someone I also put into my expenses a contribution towards partners mortgage and my contribution towards household bills.

 

This was never queried (other than the usual pay more or else!). As far as I can see this showed an accurate picture of how much money I had available to pay token payments, and my partners income didn't even need to be mentioned.

 

As for bailiffs coming round, well they can't just turn up. Bailiffs would only be involved if the matter went to court and you lost and then failed to pay whatever the court instructed you to pay! (correct me if i'm wrong).

 

Hope this helps!

 

Maggieboo

[babybear39]

Subscribing...

 

You do not take your debt responsibilities jointly with you into a new relationship. They are yours soley, for you, and you alone, to deal with. Ignore the BS from the DCAs, they're just tryigng to scare you and CAB have given the wrong advice

[Mrs_Ryan]

I have been in the same situation.

 

1st Credit said they were going to put a charge on the property which my partner solely owns - the debt is from long, long before I even knew him. They also threatened to take his car and the stuff in the house (which belongs to him) I told them they couldnt do that, to which they got shirty and said they could.

 

Thanks to all you lovely CAGgers, I discovered they couldnt, chucked that at them and also may have threatened that if they so much tried to take a thing Id have them arrested for theft. They have now crawled off with their sorry tail between thier sorry legs

 

Moral of the story - they cant take anything that doesnt belong to your partner!