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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Husbands secret debt

253 replies

Beckixox · 29/08/2020 07:10

Apologies in advance for the long thread.

So I have a major problem, Ive found out that my husband has got himself in to a lot of debt through various credit cards and loans. I was already going to meet my mum, I couldn’t look at him let alone talk to him so went with the boys to meet my mum. I told her everything. When we got back to hers and having a cup of tea, my FIL rings and says how depressed his son is and that he thinks he’s “going to top himself” and that he’s “worried about HIS son” He then said don’t tell him I’ve rung. he wouldn’t do that, he’s just shitting himself because he has been found out.
I went to work the next day, just before leaving he remembered about another £5k on a card and while I was at work another £800 was remembered. I do genuinely think he had forgotten about it as his head was everywhere but not making excuses for him.

He’s been going to his parents house every day since then and have since said that he did it with the “best intentions”
I threw the book at him and said they are enabling you and you didn’t do it with the best intentions as you have nothing to show for it, it has literally been spent on nothing.

I found out because I was sorting though what outgoings we had to get a bigger mortgage. We have separate bank accounts and all bills etc come out of mine so that’s why I had no idea about it all. My parents have offered to help us as much as they can and we are meeting with them to help us look at everything to see what the best options are. His dad has quite serious health issues to the point where he is bed bound at the moment.
I want my marriage to work through this and I’ve told my husband that all the debt needs to be sorted before we can work on us and that it’s going to be a long road and I can’t guarantee the outcome. He’s terrified of losing his family

AIBU to tell his parents exactly what’s going on and that this could cost us the marriage

AIBU to not talk to them at all.

AIBU to leave the family home to make him realise that I’m serious.

Any advice or anything would be so appreciated.

OP posts:
notapizzaeater · 29/08/2020 10:52

30k is a lot if he's spent it on nothing, how much does he earn?

ThePluckOfTheCoward · 29/08/2020 10:52

Your husband needs to be prepared to be fully honest and open with you about how he got into debt, if he is really serious about saving his marriage - you really need to stress this to him and that if it happens again, that will be it.

I think your DH must be the one to find a solution to clearing the debt and should be looking at getting a second job working evenings or weekends, selling anything of his that isn't essential. If he is prepared to do the work necessary to clear the debt, then you could look at marriage counselling. I think your marriage can survive this, but only if your DH does the work needed to clear it.

purplecorkheart · 29/08/2020 10:53

A lot of this is probably interest but you need to find out what the money was spent on. You need to see all the credit card statements. Go through each one with a fine tooth comb. Look at the dates as well to see if there a pattern. Say lots of money taken from ATM on Saturday afternoons when out with the guys watching a match at the pub etc or is it times that you are away etc.

Is he a gamer?

NoSquirrels · 29/08/2020 10:53

2 cats = 2 cars

Cats are much less expensive! Grin

TitsOutForHarambe · 29/08/2020 10:58

Cats are much less expensive! Grin

Not in my house they aren't... Blush

You should see her cat tree. My living room looks like a bloody Go Ape centre.

GabsAlot · 29/08/2020 11:03

@GlummyMcGlummerson

I don’t want them to turn him away, but I don’t want them to wrap him up and say it’s ok, don’t worry and not actually come up with sensible solutions. There first and option option was an IVA without looking at any figures or statements

You can't dictate how they behave with their son. They're trying to be supportive, as would you be if it was your son.

People REALLY misunderstand IVAs, definitely don't go down that road!

why not me and dh done an iva cleared alot of debt nothing was taken from us and our credit score was back to what it was 6 years later
doodleygirl · 29/08/2020 11:06

I think you are being incredibly naive and illogical. You can’t sort this out as it’s his debt. He can’t really stop it happening again unless he knows what the money was spent on.

Whatever he is telling you will only be partially true. Unless you want to end up in this position again open your eyes and start probing.

FilledSoda · 29/08/2020 11:18

An iva could be the best course of action imo.
Why are posters advising against this ?
Your home will be safe , the debt will be seriously reduced and you'll make affordable payments over 5 years . You credit score will be crap for 6 years I think .
The other option is that you can pay the debt comfortably yourselves, I'm assuming that's not the case .

JudgeRindersMinder · 29/08/2020 11:19

I think you can only move forward from this with complete transparency. You need to now how he’s ended up in £30k debt. Ok a lot of that may be interest, but there was still a debt to start with.
I know you asked him about drink/drugs/gambling and he’s denied it, so if it’s none of them, what was it?
No one can bail him out of this, he has to take responsibility for working out how to go forward. If he’s financially naive, then he needs to get educated, as do you so you can work out a way forward. As others have said, Money Saving Expert is a great place to start

Blackbear19 · 29/08/2020 11:21

Op I would tell his parents so they know what's really upset him.

I think you need to go through all the cards and statements to see exactly where the money has gone. Unlikely but check for fraud too.

Only you can decide how you go forward. Depending on his reaction to going through the accounts with a fine tooth comb will determine how willing I would be to hang around.

IndieTara · 29/08/2020 11:23

OP in the nicest possible way you are burying your head in the sand here.
This could have serious repercussions for you, your kids and your home.
The debt you have found out about could be the tip of the iceberg.
It could actually ruin your life.
You cannot believe anything your husband is currently telling you

Winter2020 · 29/08/2020 11:24

Hi OP,
I have read your posts (although not all posts).

I think why the debt accumulated is very important. £30k can be built up by overspending just over £400 each month for 6 years. That's without a penny of interest.

How much do each of you earn? Do you pay the same amount into bills? Do you have the same left over? Is his money after bills just for him or does he pay for holidays, clothes, food, birthday and Christmas presents for all. Joint socialising? If you find this debt is not related to gambling or anything sinister then I think you need a family approach to all finances rather than separate. Perhaps your other half has been saying yes (to socialising, holidays, xmas presents, days out - not just with you but with friends perhaps?) when he should have been saying no.

If the money has been spent by your family living slightly beyond your means for a long time you need a joint approach so you are fully informed of your family finances and working together to pay it back. You need to slowly turn the ship around so that you (as a family) are no longer overspending but living within your means and able to start paying the debt down. I suspect family overspending because I think if your partner was purely overspending on himself you would have noticed a stream of new gadgets/clothes/sports equipment or that he was always in the pub or away with mates.

If my husband ran up debt trying to give the family a nice lifestyle (while that would be foolish) I would support him. Even better to have transparent finances so any decisions to take on debt are taken together.

LonginesPrime · 29/08/2020 11:25

An iva could be the best course of action imo.
Why are posters advising against this ?

It's too early for OP to be thinking about how to solve the problem when it's not even clear to her what the problem is or how it arose.

There are so many unanswered questions here that OP shouldn't even be thinking about how to address the debt yet.

Fluffycloudland77 · 29/08/2020 11:26

If nothing else an Iva stops him doing it again straightaway.

Namealreadyinuse1 · 29/08/2020 11:28

I had this with an ex many years ago. It was gambling. Check phone bills and for secret phones as that is how my ex was gambling. He actually left his job and pretended to go to work each day. His parents who had been mortgage free for many years sold their house and downsized taking on a mortgage to pay his debts. As far as I know nothing has changed.

MrsSmith2020 · 29/08/2020 11:29

@Beckixox hey Op, firstly sending you a huge hug.

I was married to a man like this.
Secret debts appeared all the time, I stuck it out for 6 years after I found out. The scale of debt was enormous. He had no remorse or intentions of fixing it. He had every kind of CCJ/credit mark/he was blacklisted from lenders and I knew nothing. I was stupid and naive and too young to know better than to have these type of discussions before marriage. Once I knew about his problem; our problem (as we were married) he turned into a monster.

His addiction turned out to be second hand cars, he had nice car taste but old banger money. Riddled with debts and kept it all hidden. He would just arrive home from a "weekend at a squash tournament" with a different car. In my case at least I could see the (albeit stupid and idiotic) source of his debt, I can't imagine how worried you must be not knowing the source or reason why.

Each car would turn out to be a mess and need to be sold or written off as he couldn't repair. He once turned up with a very old and tired Range Rover - that had a crack in the engine block and repairs would cost more than the car. I drove a 1ltr corsa for our entire relationship.

I tried everything, suggested counselling and debt charity, he refused to talk about it and I only knew how bad the deceit was when we came into some inheritance (finally a chance to fix it and start fresh) and an ex girlfriend of his from before me, placed a deed of Interest (long time ago and I may not have the correct term here) on the property, via a solicitor. She filed evidence that he owed her £12k and that he had been promising to pay her for years (during our marriage)

Anyway, the house sale was about to go through so he had no choice but to pay her to make it go away.
I knew then that I could never trust him. The web of lies went deeper and further than he could admit himself- let alone to me.

He then decided he wanted a baby, so I suggested we look through his money and establish what of £30k at the time salary was actually available for us to afford to live and childcare etc after paying rent and his creditors.

There was next to nothing left, at the time we lived off around £15 a week for food shop (no joke, I even supported his 3yo step son). I had a good job and benefits but I knew I couldn't support me, DDss, him, our animals and pay his spiralling repayments.

It still took me a few more years to leave him, the divorce was awful and he went after everything I had (pension basically). He was a parasite and still to this day I know he has unfathomable amounts of debt. He went on to have a second baby with a friend of mine..lord knows what kind of life they live but I wish them best and I rest at night knowing i did what was right for me. Just wish i did it sooner.

The advise you've been given is good, seek help from charities, full disclosure from him on where his money goes, do a credit check on both of you (set up monthly reports) so you know the full picture.

I admire your loyalty to him and your vows - you sound lovely - but right now he has lied to you and you need to protect yourself and your children from possible further damage and further deceit.

Try and think with your brain first and your heart second in this scenario. I know it must be heartbreaking.

Most importantly and lastly if your parents do bail you him you need to make sure a solicitor oversees this and prepares a deed of trust so that if he does do a runner they would would be able to take him to court for the money. This is what my ex did.

Sorry for the long post, i've never shared anything about this before!

NoSquirrels · 29/08/2020 11:31

I think why the debt accumulated is very important. £30k can be built up by overspending just over £400 each month for 6 years. That's without a penny of interest.

What Winter2020 says. I often see posters horrified at how ‘secret’ debt has built up, but it’s so easy to overspend per month if you’re not looking at finances as a family and totally on the ball. An extra meal out here, a car repair there, a weekly ‘top-up’ shop and a takeaway, birthday presents or a cheap holiday once or twice - it’s nit always gambling and drugs and tech equipment.

seayork2020 · 29/08/2020 11:31

If i was in this situation I stay but on certain conditions

  1. I need to be told the whole truth
  2. He has every right to talk to whoever he wants to about same as me (if i wanted to) but I will not be spoken to by anyone else about how I am handling it, that is for me to decide so no 'my son needs this' (not that I could imagine my actual inlaws doing this
  3. He would need to get proper financial help not some dodgy pay day loan type thing
  4. All credit cards/saving accounts and all accounts are joint
  5. He would need to accept he was in the wrong and not blame 'pressure/stress' or anyone else

And it ends now

liveitwell · 29/08/2020 11:33

I think you're being naive. £30k doesn't just get spent on nothing. Clearly it's gambling or drugs. Probably not drugs and you'd probably notice his character change but probably gambling.

You say you've looked through statements - the answer should be there in black and white what it's spent on.

alreadytaken · 29/08/2020 11:38

I have experience of helping a family member with debt - but it was only when we stopped that their problems ended. You have to cut off his route to credit so he needs to default on payments or have an iva. DONT pay off debts without ensuring first he cant do that again, because he will. He should only have the most basic bank account, no provision for an overdraft.

Alwaysinpain · 29/08/2020 11:39

Sounds like cocaine/crack or gambling.

Interest can mount up pretty fast but not from a small initial spend.... What I mean is, you don't get £29k of interest from a £1k spend! Not unless it was left unpaid for 5+ years on a bad credit card with an inhumanely high interest rate and the bailiffs had multiple unsuccessful trips to see him, resulting in stupidly high fees added on, followed by a CCJ + fees. Even then, I'd find it pretty far fetched

comingintomyown · 29/08/2020 11:39

I too think you are being a bit naive. As far as I can tell you have just said you asked him if it was drink, drugs or gambling and he’s said no and you have accepted it. If the money didn’t go on those things where did it go ? Even taking into account interest £30k is a lot of money and surely it would be fairly straightforward to work out as this would be itemised on card statements. If I were to be persuaded the money just got frittered I would need to see entries on statements for branded clothes, gadgets, restaurant meals, things for the house that do accumulate hugely.
I wouldn’t go to your parents before sitting down with him and trying to work out next steps and I certainly wouldn’t go and give them the answer to the inevitable question of where did the money go “don’t know”

SchrodingersImmigrant · 29/08/2020 11:41

If I couldn't find anywhere where it could have been spent, I would look at basic household expenses. Do you live within your real means as a household? Combination of couple hundred quid a month and interest can easily amount to this debt.
Or he is lying and he knows what he spend it on. Anything is possible but if there is no proof of anything, I would suspect basic expenses

LittleMissnotLittleMrs · 29/08/2020 11:43

@Beckixox how much does he earn?

Alwaysinpain · 29/08/2020 11:45

@TitsOutForHarambe

Cats are much less expensive! Grin

Not in my house they aren't... Blush

You should see her cat tree. My living room looks like a bloody Go Ape centre.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🐾
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