Is it possible to track down debt?

[princessofdarknesss]

Apologies, this is long but I wanted to put in the detail.

My partner had lived with his ex partner from 2018 to the start of 2025 when the relationship broke down irretrievably. He left the property and moved into temporary accommodation, which unfortunately meant he couldn't use it as an address so post continued to be sent to his ex's house. This was ok he thought as he saw his DC's several times a week and the exdp always passed on his letters.

2 weeks ago he was on his feet again enough to start the process of renting a small flat. Credit checks were run. It then transpired there was a CCJ in his credit file from February 2025 for a utility. He had no knowledge of this at all and some digging revealed it wasn't quite his name, but "first name first name" rather than "first name surname". He'd never seen a single letter in regards to this debt so approached his ExDP who admitted she'd thrown all the letters away because 'it wasn't addressed to him. He thinks it was some misguided attempt to avoid paying by putting the name like that.

Looking at the credit file there are several soft searches for gambling companies, he has no clue about gambling whatsoever so putting it all together we think the ex was probably gambling at the time. She also had full access to his bank accounts and email at the time Partner transferred money to his ex monthly for bills and she'd seemingly decided not to pay them and to hope it all went away. Tellingly, the day after he changed his email passwords he received an email from William Hill telling him he had balance. He thinks she was probably going in to his account and deleting emails.

Still reeling from this he collected his children at the weekend and was handed more post, this time it contained a parking fine of £170 which had escalated from £30. Again, no letters had been received by him, and we think this one only got through as it was in a plain envelope, so again we can only conclude she had binned them to make things worse for him.

He's paid the fine and set up a payment plan for the CCJ, but is now wondering what is next. It seems to be a period from 2020 to 2023 where bills hadn't been paid and he has no idea if there are any other defaults waiting to go to court in his name. He's spoken to his boss now and arranged a re direct for his mail to his work address, but is there any way to find out if there are more of these in the pipeline?

It sounds as if you haven’t known him for long so be careful about accepting all of his explanations as absolute truth, especially the stuff about him having no knowledge of gambling!

I would say the easiest thing is to check his credit report as any negative reporting and debit balances will be on there.

He can do this by logging onto Experian.

Also, you mention a utility bill he has taken responsibility for.

Do you know what arrangements he made with his ex at the time of leaving the property, regarding whose name went on what bill etc?

I have, I've known him for several years before we got together. He's no clue. He isn't English so has been a bit confused by it all. He asked me a while back to explain what 25/1 meant when a gambling ad flashed up so I've no doubt he's telling the truth.

@Iocainepowder
this is partly the issue. His experian is clear, Trust is clear. Because the CCJ is in "first name first name" it only actually appears on one credit check site, Equifax. We can't see anything else nefarious on there, but its concerning that it didn't show up

The property was rented in the ex's name, he was not on the tenancy for some reason as thats how she wanted to do it. The bills were initially set up in her name in 2018 but in 2020 one of the utility bills was changed into the fake name. We can't find out what bank account this was linked to but it wasn't his. In 2023 the account was then put back into the ex's name.

Ok. Well he needs to stop being so trusting of other people and make sure his ex has no access to any of his personal stuff going forward. Sounds like a nightmare.

If the account was put back into his exes name in 2023, how come he’s now receiving bills from 2025?

He's undoubtedly been extremely naive. I really feel for him at the moment because although he knew his relationship had issues he feels like he's not really known this person at all. It has really upset him.
Made all the more difficult with English not being his first language so I've had to help him through a lot of it.

All passwords are changed now, new bank card etc so hopefully thats it. It's just whats lurking in the background thats the worry.

I think I've not phrased it well.

2018 - 2020 Ex Name
2020 - 2023 Fake Name
2023 - present Ex Name.

It's the fake name that went to court in February of this year. He's never had a bill in his name at the property. As far as he knew at the time everything was in her name and he was transferring wages over.

While I am sure he is being completely honest with you OP please be cautious

I work in utilities and am struggling to understand how he has been made responsible for this.

Sounds like it could have been an admin error by the company when making some adjustments or system upgrades (it happens). However, if the ex was paying it before, does this mean the ex just ignored the letters and didn’t pay for the particular utility for 3 years? And then didn’t accept responsibility when it went to court?

Believe me the guy I spoke to last week was also very very confused by it all.
He could see the account was changed into "first name first name" in March 2020 and no bills were paid after that. The service was then changed to her name once again in 2023 after being 'cut off'.
He could see letters were sent out to "first name first name" about the non payment. Debt was then passed on to collections, who also confirmed many letters had been sent to the property.

When confronted, Ex laughed and said 'well, thats not your name is it, so I binned them' and seemingly thats what she did for several years.

As I said he's not English so his first name is incredibly distinctive, I dont believe there are more than three of them in the UK to start with so it was obviously post for him that had been disposed of to hide the fact the bill wasn't being paid.

Please be sceptical, OP. Please…

Again, thanks for all the concern but this is someone i've known well for a while and I absolutely know he is telling the truth here. He's just very guilty of being far too trusting.
I've gone through years worth of his bank statements etc as we've checked through every detail, nothing. He wont even stick a pound in a fruit machine in the pub and rolls his eyes if I do. A gambler he is not. An idiot, absolutely.

He should have updated his address and should have been aware of utilities whilst he lives with his ex. Did he think bills were her responsibility? From an outsiders perspective this man is a walking red flag.

He was at the address with the ex, listed there just not on the tenancy.
he’s been living in a hotel since January and unable to use that as an address, however never thought for a moment the ex would be disposing of post.

He actually thought the bills were his responsibility given he worked full time, however she insisted the house and bills were in her name. She refused a joint account and so money was sent every payday to cover the direct debits he believed she was paying.

This really isn’t about whether people believe he’s a walking red flag or not, it’s about actively trying to track down other debts associated to him before they escalate. Something a ‘walking red flag’ probably wouldn’t be as keen to do as he is.

This is all very new for you to be getting so involved.
Don't care you've known him a long time.

No one falls in love quicker than a man in need a bed.

Again. Thanks for your input but I’m here purely for legal advice.

@princessofdarknesss I think he would benefit from talking to an advisor at Citizens Advice. It's commendable that he's taken on the utility debt, but I question whether he needed to do this, as it wasn't in his name!

One other thought, check with DWP whether anyone has claimed benefits on his name, using his National Insurance number.

You've done a great job helping him, just double check you've covered everything by talking to an advisor.
Also, check with the other main credit reference agencies, Experian is not the only one.

I agree. He shouldn’t be quick to agree he owes anyone money until he’s gone over everything with a fine tooth comb.

Can I suggest you visit this website? You can get good advice on the legality of debt matters and other money matters. They gave me way better advice than the citizens advice bureau.

https://nationalconsumerservice.co.uk/forum/63-welcome-to-the-national-consumer-service/