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Husband resents me for debt

999 replies

wishes1111 · 02/02/2021 14:35

Hello

I'll try and explain as briefly as possible.

I was raised by my grandparents and lost them both within 3 years or each other to cancer (in their 60s). I've also had 6 miscarriages during and since.

I have been on antidepressants since age 14 and have a history of anxiety too.

My coping mechanism was to spend, I took loans out, ordered clothes, things I didn't need and racked up nearly £8000 in debt, exchanging my utter sadness and despair for temporary happiness.

After 2 years of paying the minimum payments, I realised I couldn't hide it anymore, interest was rising and I was struggling to cope and was losing the battle of keeping my head above water.

I earn £24,000 a year, my husband earns £40,000.

I admitted it all during a breakdown, he was angry and sad that I'd done this and especially since I'd hid it from him. I fully understood this and took responsibility for my actions. I entered a payment plan with stepchange and have kept up with payments over the past couple of years and it's slowly but surely reducing. I'm paying this myself, as well as £550 for my half of rent and £30 for my phone. The rest, I use for birthday presents, diesel, car insurance and tax and I'm left with little per month. I've also cleared my overdraft in this time.

I have taken no further loans out since entering my plan with stepchange.

My problem is, my Husband resents me for this. He is a saver, he won't spend unless he has to and he saves what he can (which is a good thing). I've tried my hardest to turn my life around and take responsibility.

He said he will resent me until it's all paid off which will be another couple of years. Some days he is lovely, others it's like he's punishing me for my mistakes. Digs here and there, cold towards me, brings up what I did.

I can't even explain how much I regret doing this but I can't live like this. If I have £10 left for the last week of the month and I need to get something such as tampons or some lunch stuff for work , he tells me to sort it out myself. I understand I'm not his responsibility but this is wearing me down.

He has more than enough in savings to clear my debt. I don't expect him to do that but know in a heartbeat I would do it for him if I knew it was weighing on his shoulders, adding anxiety to his life and and he'd made an effort to change.

I feel I can't go on this way, but when he's in a nice mood I love him so much, when he's in his resentful mood he makes me feel low and like he'll never move past it.

I'm waffling, I don't expect people to think he's in the wrong, I get it.

I guess I'm just hoping for a hand hold whilst suffering my latest miscarriage, dealing with a resentful husband and trying my hardest to not fall back into a deep depression x

OP posts:
GeeIneverthoughtofthat · 02/02/2021 17:12

I think you have done INCREDIBLY well to get to this point. To have stuck to your repayment plan and to be on track to repay it all despite your health issues and depression. A massive well done!

It’s a shame that your husband does not recognise this. He is not having to pay more because of your debts - so he can keep his judgemental remarks to himself!

Flowers for you.

combatbarbie · 02/02/2021 17:14

OP do you know the combined amount of ALL bills including fuel, food shopping etc. If not I'd be wanting a conversation with him about his resentment but he is quite happy to emotionally (and possibly financially abuse you)

shitinmyhandsandclap · 02/02/2021 17:14

Let's also not forget that HE cheated twice early on in their relationship, he's lucky OP forgave him

WagnerTheWehrWolf · 02/02/2021 17:16

@luxxlisbon if her salary is £24,000 she'll be taking home approx. £1650 per month. Not £2000. Big difference.

RedLlama · 02/02/2021 17:17

I can’t believe he won’t help you out with tampons. What would he rather you do, shoved a flannel in your pants?!

Akire · 02/02/2021 17:17

After the initial shock I’m not sure why he is so anger and resentful. It’s not like you have been saving for a house and you both had to find £20k and you spent yours.

It’s £300 a month that pre covid you could have spend on hair, gym, clothes eating out. So it’s not like it would have been saved anyway. Unless there was some joint plan that you paid half of a holiday every year of £3000 and this means he can’t go. What plans does he have for the money when it’s paid back??

MrKlaw · 02/02/2021 17:17

Did you rack up the debt during your marriage or before?

I know this from hard experience but its so easy to put your head in the sand and hope it goes away. Obviously it doesn't but it can feel so horrible you don't want to acknowledge it at all.

But you have, and you're addressing it which is a huge step forwards. You have a payment plan in place which you're sticking to, and you haven't built up any new debt. This are really important steps and you should be proud you've stuck with them so far, and use that to encourage you to see it out to completion.

Please also use this as a learning opportunity for the future - once paid off and you are 'used to' that money coming out of your account, try and save as much of it as possible (within reason) and build on that positive move forwards.

I can see a small part of your husband's point of view if they are a big saver then your situation may be very alien to him. However now you have plans in place and are following through, I would have expected him to be more supportive to help you close this out.

Sorry I don't have anything concrete to suggest on that front - but please please please take comfort from the way you're dealing with the practicalities.

pallisers · 02/02/2021 17:18

I guarantee that in two years he WILL find something else to resent you for. Because he's enjoying it. What's the plan for finances if you do conceive?

This. Your husband is not a nice man. He is enjoying having you on the back foot and it won't end when your debt ends. Yes he is sometimes nice to you but anyone who tells you that he plans on resenting you and reminding you of your "crime" for 2 years is not someone you can have a happy marriage with. Anyone who tells his wife that he won't buy her a packet of tampax when she is bleeding ... seriously? I'd buy that for a stranger.

As a matter of interest I think you should write down everything you pay for and everything he pays for - tot both up and see what it looks like. you might be surprised.

Feedingthebirds1 · 02/02/2021 17:19

I'm inclined to agree.
So far the bills are
rent 550
council tax 170
pet insurance 25
food, lets call it 200
running costs of car 150
phone 30

Lets say the stepchange payment is 200, that still leaves nearly 300 left after everything is paid

The problem with that calculation is the let's say/let's call it.

You could easily feed a couple on £50 pw, but is that all they spend on food?

We don't know what the stepchange payment is, but it only needs food to be £400 and the debt payment £300 to leave her with £238 out of a take home pay of £1,663.

Which I admit is still more than the OP says, but maybe the debt repayment is even higher.

Bluntness100 · 02/02/2021 17:19

After the initial shock I’m not sure why he is so anger and resentful. It’s not like you have been saving for a house and you both had to find £20k and you spent yours

How do you know this? How do you know they weren’t saving for a house and he then found out about the debt and it meant a house was off thr cards for many years because of the debt?

Some real assumptions being made here.

ElizaLaLa · 02/02/2021 17:20

Tell him to get fucked. What exactly does he resent you for if his money is his and yours is yours? It's nothing to do with him.

Personally, I'd leave him. I couldn't stay with someone so selfish.

WagnerTheWehrWolf · 02/02/2021 17:20

Some real assumptions being made here.

Yes. Many by you.

visitorfromtheplanetzog · 02/02/2021 17:20

@Idontknowausername

I think he’s entirely within his right to resent you. You’re lucky he’s stayed with you tbh. I don’t think many women on here would stay with their husbands if the roles were reversed.
Nasty.
RaisinforBeing · 02/02/2021 17:21

Aswell as a debt plan have you thought about generating more income to go against your debt? I used to spend a lot on clothes / bags / shoes / cosmetics etc. I made a lot back by selling these mainly eBay but I know there are other routes now. It may help and can provide a bit of a buzz seeing what things go for.

I’m surprised your DH didn’t realise you were over spending and I think he sounds awful.

Hagotcha80 · 02/02/2021 17:21

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss

Why would you want to be married to man that would not buy you tampons

Likewise why would you want to be with someone who spent lots of money they didn’t have, hid it from a spouse, only pays half the rent due to it rather than their share of all bills and feels the debt should be cleared by him?

The latter indicates recklessness, poor money sense, mental health issues. Possibly downright selfishness.

The former is cruel and malicious.

Chickoletta · 02/02/2021 17:23

He sounds like an abusive arsehole.

CherryBlossomTree7 · 02/02/2021 17:23

You have been very unfair and deceitful to not tell him about the debt before you married. For me (if I was your DH), it's not how much you owe or how you've accrued the debt, it's not being truthful about something that would impact his life greatly.

Of course he should forgive you though. You have clearly been in a very dark place. If my DH had debt, then I would view it as our debt. I wouldn't think twice about paying for it out of my savings. When you're married, debt, earnings, outgoings are both of yours. I know that this isn't the way everyone sees it and I find that hard to get my head around. To see you struggle mentally daily with the burden of the debt and not help when it is well within his power is not the behaviour of a loving husband.

Hagotcha80 · 02/02/2021 17:23

@Bluntness100

After the initial shock I’m not sure why he is so anger and resentful. It’s not like you have been saving for a house and you both had to find £20k and you spent yours

How do you know this? How do you know they weren’t saving for a house and he then found out about the debt and it meant a house was off thr cards for many years because of the debt?

Some real assumptions being made here.

Well that’s daft. It’s an anonymous forum. To some accept to have to take the OP at face value.

Otherwise it could be... “well we don’t know if the OP beats him about the head with a frying pan every night and verbally abuses him at every opportunity, so unfair to criticise him”

Bluntness100 · 02/02/2021 17:26

@WagnerTheWehrWolf

Some real assumptions being made here.

Yes. Many by you.

I may have got my earlier numbers wrong, but this is factua

She built this debt uo whilst they were together as they were together as teens
He married her and she didn’t tell him her financial situation
She deceived him for years
The numbers do not add up. Either she has more disposable income than is being stated here or the debt is higher.
Step change wouldn’t give anyone thirty quid a month to live on. So something is wrong in what’s being presented.

Smallgoon · 02/02/2021 17:26

There are people in this thread who are OBSESSED with money. We have no idea how much they spend on food etc. OP may have a car on credit too which is being paid off. All of the "this doesn't make sense" - well guess what, my mortgage is taking me 25yrs to pay, and I'll end up paying double back all in all. Guess that won't make sense to most in this thread too!

OhCaptain · 02/02/2021 17:27

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss what is it you're trying to achieve here?

You stated unhelpfully that you wouldn't stay in a relationship if this happened. How is that relevant? He chose to stay. OP hasn't asked if you would leave a partner with debt.

Your posts are doing nothing but getting digs in at a woman who's in the middle of a miscarriage and being emotionally abused by her husband, who is too resentful to buy her tampons, but not too resentful to have sex with her.

And you've decided that your contribution to the thread will be saying you wouldn't stay in his position. Why post that? For what reason?

ChangeyNameyTimey · 02/02/2021 17:28

I’m sorry to hear about your grief and miscarriages. It sounds like you’ve had an awful few years. Please stop trying to have a baby with this man though. Your relationship sounds fragile at best and outrightly abusive at worst. You do not deserve years of walking on eggshells not knowing if he will be kind and loving or cold and spiteful and living like that will not help your depression. You did wrong and you’re fixing it and he should not be using that as an excuse to emotionally abuse you.

luxxlisbon · 02/02/2021 17:29

@Feedingthebirds1

I'm inclined to agree. So far the bills are rent 550 council tax 170 pet insurance 25 food, lets call it 200 running costs of car 150 phone 30

Lets say the stepchange payment is 200, that still leaves nearly 300 left after everything is paid

The problem with that calculation is the let's say/let's call it.

You could easily feed a couple on £50 pw, but is that all they spend on food?

We don't know what the stepchange payment is, but it only needs food to be £400 and the debt payment £300 to leave her with £238 out of a take home pay of £1,663.

Which I admit is still more than the OP says, but maybe the debt repayment is even higher.

But then you can't spend £400 on food which is ridiculously high for a couple and then say you have no money and can't afford tampons. Obviously those aren't exact figures, but the point is OP herself is making a lot of assumptions about her money and where it goes and maybe that is what is causing the resentment to drag on for the husband.
If she unnecessarily spaffs 400 on groceries in a month for two people and another £100 here one one thing and £100 there on something else and is then constantly complaining she has no money for essentials at the end of the month then that could be difficult for the other spouse.

If my partner wasted a few hundred over the month and by the last week was always asking me to top him up I would feel resentful, particularly after just hiding thousands of pounds of debt.

JasperHale · 02/02/2021 17:29

I didn't read the whole thread, but I know that if it was my DH, he wouldn't even think a second to pay my debt, and put money back into savings together. I'd do the same for him.

MessAllOver · 02/02/2021 17:29

OP, based on what you've said, I think you should end the relationship. I don't say this lightly. You made a big mistake but it really does sound like he's planning to make you live the rest of your life as his whipping-boy and heap petty humiliation after petty humiliation on you. That's not the sign of a kind and caring man who loves you. You'd do far better to cut the rope and live a happier and freeer life on your own where you're not being emotionally abused.