Husband has stolen my identity

[SewMumSew]

Hi All,

Hoping someone with knowledge in this area can advise me

I've just discovered that my husband of 10 years has taken out various unsecured loans/credit cards in my name to the tune of £27,000. I had no knowledge of these debts and certainly didn't give my consent for any of it. I am currently on UC as not working. He appears to have been servicing these debts up till December 22 when the relationship with his business partner broke down and he left the company they were both directors of. I am in arrears with all of them as a result of this. I have asked him to leave and he is looking into his options. We are joint tenants of our Housing Association property. I have a 13 year old daughter from my first marriage who will obviously stay with me.

I have contacted all these creditors (4 in total) and they have started fraud investigations on the accounts. Do you think it'll be possible to get them written off since they were taken out fraudulently, or is my best option to go into a DRO or other debt solution?

Please be kind, I'm absolutely fucking heartbroken

Thanks

My husband did this, he had loans, cards and buy now pay later debts. Over £50,000.
He died.
Absolutely no way to prove I didn’t know.
I am still paying the debts more than 30 years later.

He apparently had a secret relationship I knew nothing about but am still paying for.

Could you get him to admit what he's done via text? Then you'd have it written done somewhere rather than a he said she said? Also did he provide emails or phone numbers to the company that are his and not yours? Might strength your case against you not knowing

OP I agree with everyone else, you need to go as hard as possible down every route available to you including pressing charges. This is a heartbreaking thing to happen and many emotions will be involved. You have to protect your and your daughter's future. You cannot be left with this debt. If your soon to be ex H loves you and feel any remorse he will be wanting to step up and take the consequences. If he doesn't want to take responsibility, you will have to force it.

A dear friend of ours is 70 now. Her ex husband who left her in the 1980s left her with tens of grand of his gambling debts and lost their home. She has never recovered financially. She's lived in cheap private rented flats ever since and never again afforded a car or anything. Of course he swanned off and remarried scott free. Please please go hard and don't take the consequences of his crimes.

That's horrific!! How did you find out?

on Saturday morning (April Fools ironically) I got up early with the dog. Just as I was coming back in with him, the postie came with a big stack of mail, mostly addressed to me. I thought this is a bit odd, got a coffee sat and opened it all and nearly had a coronary. Worse, I phoned Step Change on Monday and they ran a soft credit check for me and I nearly keeled over when I heard the total balance.

You have to pursue them as fraud and that likely means being willing to declare your husbands crime.

You absolutely need to let him deal with the consequences of his choices. It is too much money to allow the debt to attach to your own financial history.

It’s down to proof that your not complicit and that’s hard to prove

This is awful though! OP I am so sorry you are in this position.

It shows something very wrong with a system where you have to prove you didn’t know. Surely it should be down to the bank or credit card company proving that you did know. How can you prove a negative?

I would formalise it and report him to the police for his fraud.

Definitely report it to the police and get a crime number as suggested.

Unfortunately because you are married it's joint debt. You can't commit fraud against a spouse.

If you divorce him though, it would be one of those circumstances where you could get all the debt put in his name. Unless he spent the money on the family and to generate the family income.

With regards to the joint tenancy, this counts as financial abuse, so you may be able to get him taken off the tenancy.

You've done the right thing to contact the creditors, and I agree that if you contact the police and report it as a crime, then it is likely the creditors will take it off your credit record.

I'm so sorry this has happened. OP you most feel so betrayed.

Unfortunately because you are married it's joint debt. You can't commit fraud against a spouse.

Are you sure? Where did you get your info?

You have to make a gain or cause another's loss to commit fraud by false representation. Marital assets are joint so no such gain is created using a spouse's name.

That doesn't mean other offences haven't been committee, or that there are no civil remedies.

My advice would be to pursue the bank for failing to adequately perform identity checks rather than the husband for fraud.

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decisions-case-studies/case-studies/a-consumer-complains-about-a-loan-her-ex-husband-took-out-in-her-name

Women's Aid may be able advise. This is financial abuse. I would also be careful when you report to the police, as he may become aggressive.

He sounds like an absolute cunt, I hope you manage to get him out of your life soon.

@Bookworms77
"This exact thing happened to my friend.She is now divorced from this prince but is still paying off all the debt"
Thankyou for sharing, unfortunately this happened to my DD too, a fraudulent mobile account in her name and 3 high interest money lending companies, remember Wonga? She is only now nearing paying it all off, 10 years later, despite crime numbers etc from the police. It was before there were laws re co-ercive/financial abuse. She also faced emotional blackmail from the fraudster's DM, "please don't report him, it will affect my job".

Sorry to hear that, similar situation to yours. These stories should go in a book to give out to all women thinking of getting married! The law in this country has to change

What change would you propose though?
If the partner (women do this too, not just men) have access to the other person’s personal info, they can easily set up accounts in the other person’s name.

The only way to keep a tab on this stuff is to watch credit files like a hawk and report any changes you’re not expecting.

pinkyredrose you are wrong. Identity theft and the resultant gain is the same whether you are married to the person or not. It's very definitely illegal regardless of your relationship with the person. I know this from bitter experience.

One of my Dad's friends remortgaged their home without his wifes knowledge. She only found out after he died. She did get some life insurance but she ended up having to use a lot of it paying her mortgage off again.

It could open a can of worms legally to call this financial abuse. Plenty of people have increased limits on credit cards in joint names on the sly without partners noticing for example. I'm not sure the courts would want to deal with that as financial abuse, especially if the extra spending has been on things like trying to keep a business afloat, family holidays or the like.

Indeed. Plenty of stories of women increasing joint credit card limits and maxing out the cards in divorce. First thing my solicitor advised was to get myself off all joint accounts because it was so common.

I was quoting another poster. I agree with you.

She won't be responsible for paying off debt in his name. If she gave prove (will be tricky) that this was fraud and she knew nothing about it, the op will not be responsible for this debt.

I'm pretty sure this is untrue. You can't take out credit or loans in a spouses name without their knowledge or permission. It is still fraud. Proving it might be more tricky.

I agree too. The fact that assets and debts may be shared in a divorce is entirely different to the situation the op has described. It is never legal to take out debt in another person's name, married or not.