Joint Liabilities

[roberto]

HELP!
I`ve been in an IVA now for 12 months. It came to light in July that one of my debts was jointly in my wife's name as well as mine.
I did declare this on my application for an IVA, but during the initial period of applying, it was misplaced as a sole liability to myself, which went completely over looked. I did not realise, and still find it hard to believe, that although I am paying for this debt through my IVA, my wife is still responsible for it too. Since July my wife has been receiving letters off the Court which I have passed on to my IVA Provider, I have been asking for advice on how to proceed, and for support, but as yet just seem to feel abandoned.
The last letter from the Court is very threatening, and states that they intend to send in Bailiffs. I called the Courts, for some sort of direction, and they just said to get legal advice, which I will do this morning via the CAB.
Through all this my wife's health is suffering terribly, she has panic attacks, and now she really is struggling to hold down her part time job.
I just don`t know what to do, and prey that the CAB can advise me.
Can anyone on this forum relate to my problem?

[Broke of London]

It is always the case with joint debts tha when one party enters an iva the other solvent party will assume full liability. It's not crazy when you look at it from a creditors point of view. In any case, your ip should make allowance in the household expenditure for your wife to service the debt. If it is not possible to include this expense and return an acceptable dividend to your iva your wife will need to seek a debt solution of her own - could be dmp, iva or br. This is standard practice and I'm surprised your ip is dithering.

[Adam Davies]

Hi
What an oversight by your IVA provider !
How much debt is joint ? How much is your debt including joint ? and how much are you paying each month into your IVA ?

Regards

[roberto]

Andy, the joint debt is &17,000, total debt £50,000, and I am paying £355 per month.

[Michael Peoples]

You should speak to your IP who should be able to help. If your wife was mistakenly not given an allowance to repay this debt it may be possible to have your IVA payments reduced so she can make an arrangement. It still may not stop the creditor from moving to secure the debt but after your IVA is over you can clear the balance together. Your own IP should certainly be spoken to rather than the CAB.

[roberto]

Thank you Michael, I will email them directly.

[MelanieGiles]

As I am the IP in this case, I feel I should respond, as I understand Roberto is in touch with members of my staff who are actively trying to deal with the situation for him and his wife.

The paperwork we examined carefully when preparing the IVA, made no mention of Roberto's wife as being a joint creditor - although Roberto did list this as a joint debt in our initial interview with him. We also independently verified the balance with the creditor concerned, who again did not confirm that it was a joint debt. My staff treated it as a sole liability, and it has taken an age for the bank to provide us with a copy of the actual signed agreement.

Unfortunately for Roberto, this process has caused much stress for himself and his wife, however we are finding it very difficult to find anyone within the lender who will make a decision as to how much they expect Mrs Roberto to pay. Once we have this information, I will be happy to amend the payments or call a variation meeting.

Whilst I can see that my team followed every procedure that we normally do, I would like to publicly apologise to both of them for the angst caused whilst we have been checking this out, and give them my absolute assurance that this matter is firmly up the list of my priorities and we will find a solution which will suit all creditors, and importantly Mr & Mrs R.

[roberto]

Thank you Melanie for your reply. It`s the waiting, not knowing, and Court orders arriving that are really giving us stress. We really are in a state of despair, and communication from yourselves is most comforting.

[Michael Peoples]

I am sure it will be resolved Roberto but this does not remove the worry. You have the best team working for you and there will be a successful outcome. Easy for me to say but trust in your IP and try not to worry so much.

[roberto]

*****UPDATE******
Court date was received to register a restriction on our proprty, 17/02/11.
16/02/11, call from my IP, ongoing talks and discussions between IP and Nat West had concluded. Nat West agree to drop case, we are to pay court costs !
So happy! The last 6 months or so have been a real dark time.
Just want to take time to thank Philip, Melanie, and Liz, in fact all the team for their help.
Maybe now we can start to concentrate on the future, and putting our finaces back on a level footing.

[Shining]

Roberto I am so pleased you can start to concentrate on your future and getting your finances back in order. Well done to Melanie and team too. x

[roberto]

Thank you Lesley

[MelanieGiles]

On this occasion my co-director, and very best friend Philip Gill - who I have now worked alongside for over 12 years really deserves all of the credit. He has personally dealt with this issue, and through a lot of hard work with negotiations with the bank concerned - which at times appeared to be completely uncommercial on their part - has managed to resolve the issue in a sensible manner.

He doesn't really get much credit for the good work that he does behind the scenes in our group of companies, so on this occasion I am happy to say "Well done Phil!".

[roberto]

Thanks to the whole team, you really came through !