i am being persued for money i dont owe

[msjax]

my husband took an iva in august this year and two of the debtors are trying to persue me for the money. they say that they can do this because, my husband asked for my name to be taken off these acounts because the debt was his, the people doing the iva said i would go in as a contingency debtor for one pound and they forgot to do it so now these people can persue me for £12 of his debt. also, the iva company has today sent a letter telling me that i have to sign a form saying i will not sell the house for at least 5 years, and if i do then the money will have to go to husbands debtors. its a long story but my credit rating has been blackened, i am being persued for money i dont owe, and they tell me i have to sign this document for the house to appease his debtors. all this bearing in mind the iva has been running for 3 months. i need advice

[MelanieGiles]

Hi jacqui and welcome to the forum

I assume that you mean creditors are pursuing you rather than debtors?

Were you jointly liable for these debts? If so then they are also your responsibility - I do not understand the advice you were given about entering his IVA as a contingent creditor. That does not seem to make sense!

With regard to the property - is this jointly owned? And does your husband's IVA provide for him to raise equity from the property during the fourth or final years? If so, then you will need to give your permission to this, and this should have been sought before he entered into his IVA and not after.

Get him to show you the IVA documents and read through them to see what he has actually agreed to.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

[msjax]

hi melanie and thanks for the reply. yes i do mean creditors, sorry. what the joint situation is that 6 years ago we opened a joint account. it had an agreed overdraft of £100. i never used the account because i have my own account. he has repeately got the overdraft increased without my knowledge until it has reached £2500. i was not aware this debt was there. he asked the bank to take my name off the account because it was all his debt ( he is a gambler). the bank refused but he told nobody. this amount entered the iva, with my name still attached, without my knowledge. the bank then started to persue me for the debt. when i spoke to the debt company they told me that there should havebeen some contingency built in for me with regards to this amount, and i should have been notified, but they didnt do it and nobody notified me. when i have looked through his paperwork today i see that they have entered him for only £908 instead of the £2350. with regards the house, it is jointly owned. they sent him a form in august for him to sign regarding his equity in the property and he signed and returned it. there is a clause built in to say that he has to get a property valuation in year 4. but they have now sent another form saying that the land registry wont accept the restriction without both names being on the form so they say i have to sign it. they tell me if i dont they will just go to bankruptsy for him so i will lose the house anyway. they tell me i have no choice. none of this has been explained to me before now and i am very worried. i dont know where to go next. this is all making me ill with worry. i have spoken to your advice line today to a woman called racheal who was very helpful and she gave me a few pointers and more importantly a bit of hope. how can they attach a restriction on my share of the equity if i dont have the iva, and because my name has gone in on this debt, do i have an iva.

[Storm]

The debt appears to be joint and several and the bank is likely to persue you for the full debt even if you didn't receive notices / spend the money etc at some point you entered into a legal agreement with the bank - it is probably worth asking them to send you a copy of the original and any subsequent agreements that they are looking to enforce...... if they can't do this they can't enforce the debt.

[Adam Davies]

Hi
Well you do not have to sign the restriction if you do not want to.However the danger is that they will fail your husbands IVA and he could be made bankrupt but as long as he pays the IVA I doubt that this will be enforced.
Are you aware of the equity release that your husband will have to make in year 4 ? It's likely to be 85% of his share of the equity.
Regards

Andy Davie
IVA.co.uk Spokesperson

About me:
http://www.iva.co.uk/andy_davie_profile.asp

IVA Helpline: 0800 197 4838
http://www.iva.co.uk/iva_helpline.asp

[MelanieGiles]

This should have been discussed with you prior to the IVA being put forward. I suggest that you and your husband arrange a face to face meeting with the IP involved here, so that you can get some explanations and then understand your position. It might also be sensible to take some legal advice before you sign the RX1 form, which does require both signatures to be valid - a point which your husband's IP would have been very well aware.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

[msjax]

hi and thanks for all of your advice. i have been to the bank today with my husband and asked for copies of anything that has been posted to the house and copies of any agreements with my signiture on it. they have agreed that they will "try" to get them. i have also visited the cab with the letter regarding the equity. the company tried to tell me today that the form may read that i am putting a restriction on my quity but i am not. they say the form simply means that i am aware that he has done this. the solicitor at the cab told me that this was rubbish and they were putting the restriction on my equity as well. in year 4 he does have to release up to 85% of his equity. anyway, i have insisted on a face to face meeting with the comapny and his ip tomorrow so hopefully they will give me answers. the cab say that somebody has clearly made a horrendous mistake, but we need to concentrate on resolving the situation now, and we can deal with who was a fault later. i thank you all for your help because this is all making me ill wih worry. the company told me today that if i didnt sign then they would put him in default and then the house will have to be sold. the cab say they want a transcript of this conversation, and the company say they will "try" to get it for me. its all such a mess, i had a cancer removed just 8 weeks ago and i feel worse now than when i had the cancer. its frightening. i appreciate all of your kind advice

[MelanieGiles]

Good advice there from the CAB to sort the problem out and then allay blame at a later stage if this is necessary.

Good luck with your IP meeting tomorrow and do let us know the outcome. And try to not let this affect your recovery - our health is the most important thing we have.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

[msjax]

hi all, have just returned from the meeting with hy husbands ip. she refused to attend and in fact they tried to cancel the meeting until friday when there solicitor could be there. they clamed that my husband never informed them the account was joint, that they never advised him to take my name off and that he said i knew about the property issue and that i agreed to pay this debt off. he denies it. i have asked them to provide the transcripts of the converstaion and they tell us they cant because of a technical issue but they would try to sort it out within the next two weeks. they even denied saying things that they have said to me!!!! at this stage i am not much further forward but te man i met today looked very uncomfatable with the whole issue. he then turned things round and said my husband did not actually say it but they assumed thats what he meant!!! they also acknowledged that they did e mail the bank and told them i would pay because they assumed what my husband meant when they asked him the question" can your wife deal with her own liabilities". when he said yes, they took it to mean that i would pay this £12k!!! still all a mess but feel a bit better now i can chat with you folks because you have been very helpful. i need to mention again racheal on your iva helpline. she gave me fantastic advise and i am indebted to all of you. hopefully will have a more positive update in a week or so. xx

[msjax]

forgot top say. the company said that the contingency they talk about is the personal allowance. he explained that normally both incomes are taken into account, but because my husband said i could deal with my own liabilities, the didnt put my financial details on the form so no personal allowance was needed to be built in for me.

[MelanieGiles]

This is all a bit of a mess, but you have made good progress and ensure that this firm continue to assist you to resolve matters. It is clear that there have been communication issues between your husband's IP, himself and yourself, but the onus is on the IP to prove that they properly researched your husband's case, and that there was an agreement by you to assist with equity release. Without this, then you have a case to challenge the outcome of the IVA - but be careful as this may completely worsen your position. It may now be the time to take legal advice - because at the end of the day this affects your home!

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

[JulianSampson]

Jacqui, you seem to be handling this admirably and with great speed too. Keep the tempo up and keep following the good advice you have picked up from the contributors here and the CAB.

Do not sign the Restriction form and continue to press the Bank to provide evidence of your joint liability. Even it is a joint debt you may be able to argue that any increase in the overdraft was unauthorised and this will depend on your mandating arrangement- I would be trying to suggest that the original liability may be a shared obligation but any increase would be solely that of your husband. See what the IP suggests- at the end of the day this sounds like a hole he/she has to dig themselves out of and they will either react by trying to get you to bail them out (resist!) or by conjuring up a workable solution. It is surprising how well your brain works when you are in professional trouble!

Stick with it.

Julian Sampson
Solicitor
Wright & Wright LLP
www.wrightandwright.com
See my article in Clean Slate magazine

[msjax]

two weeks, just under have now past and I am no further forward. The bank has now shown me 3 months in arrears on my credit report. The bank have written bank to me with a bit of a lukewarm response denying any liability at all. The insolvency company have not contacted me so i rang them today and they say they are still having problems with the audio so they still cant let me have a copy of the conversations. They have agreed to respond to my questions in a letter within the next 2 weeks, but say they cant provide the audio and its not their fault. They then told me that it doesnt matter anyway because it is mine and the banks problem and not really anything to do with them. Any advice most welcome!!!!

[msjax]

I dont know if it helps any but the bank concerned is the Halifax and the IVA company id Debt Free Direct. He has had various IPs dealing with him to include Richard Savage, Nicola Teader, Andrew Redmond and Derek Oakley

[MelanieGiles]

First of all you do need to establish whether you are actually liable for the debts. This can only be confimed by Halifax. Secondly, this is a matter which your husband's IP needs to assist you with, and you should therefore continue to press them for a response.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp