My husband is being chased for a mortgage shortfall. We have been follwing the advice given on this site. What I want to know is that this all happened years before I even met my husband but will I be dragged into it? Will my salary be taken into consideration? Will the assets in my name (including a mortgage!) be at risk? We keep our finances seperate so I dont know where I stand on this.

Thanks

-- anon (anon@anon.com), May 08, 2002

Answers

Hi Anon,

You have no worries whatsoever. The solicitor, bank, building society or any financial institution have no right to ask you anything as this was not connected to you in any way at all. I am in a similar position with my fiance (he was repossessed in 1993 whilst still with his ex-wife) in that I own the house, the car etc. but we are following this fantastic site fighting to put Bradford & Bingley to strict proof of the debt - something they are finding increasingly difficult to do and are taking longer to answer questions raised. Keep everything in your name and the parasites chasing cannot touch it, even savings - and have no right to ask for it.

-- Chris (chris@anon.co.uk), May 08, 2002.

Does that mean that when i eventually fill in the I&E form that they will not be able to question House keeping payments made to my wife? Nearly all of my wages are direct debited out of my account and into my wives for her to pay bills ect.Will they have to accept that Im left with approx £20 A week after ive paid my bills?

-- nope (no@no.com), May 08, 2002.

Anon and Chris..the situation is not the same if you are married. Joint assets and those where the husband has a "beneficial interest" can be taken into account. Argue the toss obviously, but at the end of the day they may distrain upon jointly owned assets if they so wish. Once you are married, the law is quite clear on this point. Sorry.

-- Too scared to say (iwasduped@yahoo.com), May 08, 2002.

My solicitor advised me to keep everything in separate names, even after we get married. Jointly owned assets can be chased as the person being chased for the shortfall then owns part of something which could be financially viable to the lender. However anything in the name of a person who has absolutely nothing to do with the shortfall claim, i.e. this happened many years before as in my case, cannot be asked or chased for their assets.

-- Chris (chris@anon.co.uk), May 09, 2002.

I was told by a solicitor that as everything we own was in my wifes name then i should consider going bankrupt as it cant affect our belongings

-- nope (no@no.com), May 09, 2002.

I wouldn't consider going bankrupt except as a complete and utter last resort. When I met my other half he was being telephoned at work on a daily basis, had over 25 letters threatening to take him to court and each letter was demanding a response within 7 days. After a search I came across this website and began following the advice. The first few letters had a response quickly, same request for 7 days. I finally hit them with the letter asking for the long list of stuff, took them 6 months to answer and they came back short of it all. Responded again re-requesting and it is coming up to 4 months and we have still not heard. The 12 years expires in 2005, at this rate we may, or may not only have to do another 3 or 4 letters and they could be out of time. Also it has gone from threats of courts, to very polite letters and now 14 days to reply, the telephone calls have ceased as he asked them not to call him due to the seriousness etc. I still have not asked them for copies of invoices and receipts for all charges, so once I run out of questions that will be my next letter for him to send. This site has been a tremendous support and help, it is good to know we are not alone and I feel as much involved as my fiance even though this was many year's before we met. Good luck to everyone fighting and I hope we all get through to a successful conclusion.

-- Chris (chris@anon.co.uk), May 10, 2002.