Bank account question

[TorianaTollywobbles]

Friend of DH's round tonight.

Has been stitched up by ex-wife. They had a joint account for which she ran up an overdraft without his knowledge. She has been paying off a very nominal amount but recently stopped paying this.

Of course as it is a joint account, they have chased DH's friend for the money. First he knew about this was when his card was kept by cash machine.

Basically the bank closed his sole account, cleared all money from it, in order to meet the default on the joint account. Both accounts with same bank. He is now left with no bank account and no money.

He says the bank gave him no warning that they were going to do this, or gave him any opportunity to come to an agreement re payment.

Now I understand that with a joint account, both parties are equally liable, but surely they can't close his sole account with no warning can they?

He is absolutely stuck now with no money and no account, in tears here earlier.

Can anyone offer any advice on this? He also needs to open another account asap for wages, direct debits etc. but because of default this is very difficult. Anyone also know where he might be able to open another account with this history?

I have in my mind Post Office accounts can be opened by people with low credit ratings. Id this right?

They will go for which ever had money in it.

He can open a basic bank account, the coop are good. They don't do a credit check for this, he just needs ID. All banks offer these accounts but he needs to chose one that isn't connected to the current arseholes bank.

As far as I am aware, they are both liable as they are both on the account. He needs to seek legal advice.

Thanks Belle

Will tell him about co-op one, sounds good. Thats all he needs at moment, a basic account.

Have told him to get some advice, but he is just very down at the moment.

Understand they are both liable, it was just the way they went about it

Banks are like this, an overdraft can be recalled at any time and if there's funds in another account then they will use this. It's nasty.

There will have been warning. If his wife ran up that big an overdraft without his knowledge she could easily have hidden any letters or statements that arrived regarding the problem... redirected them to another address, for example. If I was your friend, I would contact the bank and ask for copies of the letters. If there are no letters, of course, then the bank is at fault.