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DP secret debt - help

519 replies

Headspangle · 12/09/2026 22:39

Named changed but been ok here for years. Possibly outing myself with this thread but I am in desperate need of advice.
Been with DP for 7 years, 2 very young kids plus one teen each from previous relationship.
since the birth of our first baby together we have had the usual common issues of being distant, life imbalance, resentment, just general trenches of having young kids. However despite our difficulties and arguments I still held onto hope that once the kids got a bit older then things would get easier etc.
well long story short I’ve found out only once pushed that he has secretly got himself into £25k worth of debt. I went for an affordability meeting as we had been talking about moving and upgrading etc so when I had to ask him about any debts i was dumbfounded with what he told me. In fact, initially he said it was £15k which was bad enough but actually turns out it was much more. He said it got out of control and was using credit cards while money was tight and that although it’s a lot he’s on top of it - I’ve seen the credit report and his score is good but it’s still a huge debt and means all plans for the future and savings for holidays etc are out the window while he pays it back - for what he said is ‘only 4 years’ …
im livid and heartbroken and don’t know what to do. We have a mortgage but are not married. I love him and want our children to have stability but how can I trust him - he was always going to try keep it from me. On the one hand he has said sorry and it was wrong etc but then when I was crying and saying how heartbroken I am he said nothing and has made no plan for how he is going to rebuild my trust etc. he even got angry when I said I can’t believe he’s done this to our family and stormed out.
move also been a single parent for years with jy eldest and I can’t bare to go through it all again and uproot our lives - I’d be forced to relocate and lose my job I’ve worked hard for as couldn’t afford where we live now slone and have no support near me.
thoughts? Please be kind.

OP posts:
ilovebrie8 · 13/09/2026 08:58

That’s not okay he’s making excuses and doesn’t want to show you what he’s spent on.
Before you can do anything you need to see the credit card statements.
I’d not trust him based on that message.
Re UC you can’t claim if you have over £16k in savings is what I was told at the job centre.

SueFlay12 · 13/09/2026 08:58

Headspangle · 13/09/2026 08:34

Thnk you all your responses are helping a lot. I wouldn’t be able to claim UC as my deposit is in the tens of thousands and so I’d have to piss it all away on renting somewhere that will provide us with no stability

Again, your financial knowledge is limited. I say this respectfully, but it is. What you say is not true if you ring-fence the savings for a home

You are trying to find reasons and excuses to stay with this useless man
Why?

Doggymummar · 13/09/2026 08:59

This post really affected me and I'm so sorry for you. I divorced due to my ex's drinking causing arguments and erattic behaviour. He has run up over £100k of debt secured fraudulently on our house and when I saw his bank statements as part of the divorce disclosures he was spending £1000 a week at the local pub. This was mostly on gambling and takeaways. When the divorce was sorted it took me ten years to clear the debt that I was found responsible for with an IVA so I say nip this in the bud now, get it all out on the table because it will eat you up if not. If you choose to break up then I guess you will never know as you aren't married.

chirrupybird · 13/09/2026 09:00

I had a zero interest credit card that I didn't need to pay off for 6 months, I didn't get it for that reason but since I had it I just did all the basics on it. I was shocked by how much was on it at the end of the 6 months. I could afford to just pay it off, but I can easily imagine people ending up in serious debt like that.

Dandeloosha · 13/09/2026 09:02

Headspangle · 13/09/2026 08:04

message he sent me this morning -

I’ve said this many times, but I am sorry for the hurt and stress that I’ve caused you. As I say, there weren’t any wild spends that led to this, just stuff building up over time and going out of control. I was foolish and made a mistake, but I’m managing that mistake. I’m still paying it and it will end over a certain period of time. I didn’t feel comfortable showing my statements, but I showed you the most recent to give you a picture. I’m trying to resolve this situation financially now. Going through all of my statements over the last few years isn’t going to solve anything. It’s not possible to go through it all anyway. My goal now is to resolve the situation I’ve put myself in as best possible. If I could go back in time I would, but I cant. Wherever you stand, I’ll respect. If you don’t want to be with me, then I understand. If it’s too much to continue or too much has happened, I get it. There’s no point in living with with resentment or living being resented

so he’s not going to show me…

So he’d rather blow up the relationship than show you the statements?

Thing is, of course, if it was all spent on food and bills then he’d have no problem showing you - indeed, he’d be eager to show you the lengths he went to, to support his family when times were tough. It’s hard not to draw the conclusion that there’s something there he doesn’t want you to see.

Holidaymodeon · 13/09/2026 09:04

I still don’t understand how all this happened under your nose but without your knowledge. It’d make more sense if it was his own personal debt , hence keeping his statements secret but your posts read as though this is household money, household spends and household debt, if it is, how did it get this far without your knowledge?
have I misunderstood @Headspangle ?

MaggieMop · 13/09/2026 09:04

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

NoPinkPlease · 13/09/2026 09:04

I work in this area and it’s incredibly common that people feel such shame that they don’t tell their partners. It’s not ok but I’m just saying you’re not alone. I think it comes down to how he behaves now - is he willing to share all the details, be open about all his finances in the past and going forward, ideally that’s how a couple should operate anyway so it’s not unusual to be able to see each others bank accounts etc. If he’s secretive I would bet that some of the money went on things he feels even more shame about - gambling, addiction, binges - so that would take a lot more to work through. Good luck. And if you get to the point of needing debt advice or want to help then look here - govt website directing you to the best place for you: https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/money-troubles/dealing-with-debt/debt-advice-locator

DwarfPalmetto · 13/09/2026 09:05

Headspangle · 13/09/2026 08:40

He said he’s told his mum now. That it was eating him up etc. shall I message her and saying he won’t be transparent ? He might be angry at me getting her involved. I don’t know what else I can do

Don't message his mum. Understandably, she is always going to take his side because he is her son.

Choose someone you trust to talk to about it and tell them everything.

Needtosoundoffandbreathe · 13/09/2026 09:08

He's lying and twisting things to make it look as if you would be unreasonable to keep asking him to come clean. He's also said he's okay with you ending the relationship if you won't accept his half-arsed apology. He's a liar, a coward and a manipulator.

WinterSunglasses · 13/09/2026 09:10

You seem to have done a lot of the everyday spending needed yourself. You've posted about paying half for the kids' clothes even though you earn a lot less, and you've had to go into your overdraft to pay for food. If he's been using all this money on everyday expenses, why haven't you felt the benefit of it more? Looking back over the past year, when you've bought anything bigger than normal, who's paid? What do you actually have to show for his excessive spending? What was on the month statement that he did show you? Can you find any statements?

Icedvanillacoffee · 13/09/2026 09:10

Huh, what does he mean about not being able to go through " all of it anyway". You certainly can go through a lot of statements.
It helps to have them printed out and the use of a highlighter! I had to go through a decade of my mother's bank statements after her death for her lawyers. It actually only took a few hours, the big payments stand out immediately as do repeat payments. I only had current account statements not credit card as well but they are the same format.
Your partner argues like a weasel, maybe he couldnt go through his statements because he is too lazy. But its not hard or particularly time consuming. Revealing though.

Holidaymodeon · 13/09/2026 09:13

Ref ring fencing savings over 16k for a deposit: this is only allowed by DWP if the money can be explicitly proven to be from the proceeds of a previous house sale.
you cannot claim if if you have over 16k in ordinary savings, you cannot ringfence anything.
@Headspangle please get proper welfare benefits advice, don’t take it from here

Silverbirchleaf · 13/09/2026 09:13

DwarfPalmetto · 13/09/2026 09:05

Don't message his mum. Understandably, she is always going to take his side because he is her son.

Choose someone you trust to talk to about it and tell them everything.

I agree. Mum may take his side, and just try to brush it off as nothing serious. She may even offer to pay it off, but even if she does you still need full transparency, as it doesn’t solve the problem. Yes, it removes the debt, but not is attitude to spending, lying, and hiding the truth.

Imdunfer · 13/09/2026 09:27

Headspangle · 12/09/2026 23:28

He is swearing to me it was just spent on household stuff over last 2-3 years. But the lying ? Even if he was worried and ashamed . How can I trust him ?

You can't. You need to know exactly what that money went on or your relationship is built on sand, that fluffy kind of sand you can hardly walk through.

So sorry 😔

TinyGingerCat · 13/09/2026 09:31

Gently OP you don’t sound very financially savvy yourself. You don’t seem to have a grasp on what your household costs to run and you seem to have blindly accepted paying 50% when you earn less. Joint expenditure should be split by percentage earned - so if you earn 30% of the total you pay 30% of the joint expenditure. If you were having to dip into savings to buy food why didn’t you both sit down then and up the amount going into the joint account. He could have a gambling problem or he could just be living beyond his means but given you don’t understand what your out goings actually are it’s all guesswork on your part. Even if he won’t show you what he’s spent it on you need to sit down work out your entire monthly outgoings including the debt and see what that leaves you. For gods sake don’t drag his mum into it - he’s an adult not a child.

Boomer55 · 13/09/2026 09:34

Headspangle · 13/09/2026 07:16

We have a joint account for our shared bills and mortgage- he was paying it from his normal current account so I was none the wiser. I knew roughly how much he earns and believed it was enough although towards end of mat leave I had to increase my own overdraft as my small income wasn’t enough to cover food

If it was spent on household stuff, then you are both living above your means. You’ve got an overdraft, you’re dipping down savings, and he’s got this debt.

It really is better to do household accounts together - it should be a shared thing, even if you’re not married . 🤷‍♀️

ExplodingSmittens · 13/09/2026 09:36

Can I just ask how you know that you haven’t missed any mortgage payments. Is it because he’s said you haven’t or gave you seem the mortgage statement for yourself?

BeenThereBackThen · 13/09/2026 09:37

TheKindnessProject · 13/09/2026 08:43

I think there is something really unpleasantly slippery about this message, because although it reads as apologetic and reasonable, he is setting out his version of what happened as established fact while continuing to withhold the information that would allow you to establish that for yourself. He tells you there were no “wild spends” and that it was simply things building up over time, but given that he successfully hid the debt from you, I’m not sure why you should now be expected to accept his reassurance about what the statements contain while he refuses to let you see them.

“I’m managing that mistake” is doing quite a lot of work too, because he has decided what the problem is and therefore what resolving it looks like. In his account, the problem is the debt, he has a plan to pay it off, and looking through the statements will not “solve anything”. Yet the much bigger problem now seems to be that you have discovered he is capable of seriously deceiving you, so you understandably no longer know whether what he tells you is true. Seeing the statements might help you establish whether his explanation stacks up, whether you now know everything and whether there is any basis for rebuilding trust.

He's positioning your need for that as unreasonable, even coming up with shite like "I can't go back in time", like you literally asked him to time travel and I'm just being oh so reasonable and, I mean, I can't time travel".

I find the ending particularly disturbing, especially given what you have said about him becoming angry and storming out when you challenged him. “Wherever you stand, I’ll respect” sounds very reasonable, sure , but then he moves to understanding if you don’t want to be with him and finally to “there’s no point in living with resentment or living being resented”. I find it very difficult not to hear an implicit threat in that, because that's how he wants you to feel.

He has done something which has given you extremely good reason to resent and mistrust him, yet he is already introducing the possibility that the relationship cannot continue if you remain resentful. He knows you feel stuck there with small children, and he's outright threatening your safety and security by blackmailing you to shut up. "If you stay like a naggy old shrew about all this, I'm going to make you scared I'll leave you" would have been a more honest read of that part.

There is an entirely legitimate position in which you choose to stay while remaining angry, asking difficult questions, requiring complete transparency and taking however long you need to decide whether he can be trusted again. His message leaves bugger all room for that. He has a plan, he cannot change the past, looking at the statements supposedly achieves nothing, and if you remain resentful then the relationship is over.

For me, the debt is almost secondary now. The bigger issue is what he has shown you about his trustworthiness and what he does when that trustworthiness is questioned. He concealed the debt, became angry when challenged, still refuses to provide the information that would allow you to verify what he is saying, and is now beginning to position your reaction to his dishonesty as a potential problem for the relationship. He seems to want you to trust him again while denying you the means of deciding for yourself whether that trust is warranted, and at the same time is already setting limits around how he expects you to feel about what he has done.

This was a shitty thing to do, and it's not about the debt. It's about how he'll lie, turn any legitimate feelings you have into an implicit threat to leave you, and make your feelings the problem. I wouldn't stay for this one. You only get one life. I've watched a colleague live through this and it broke her over time.

This is an excellent analysis of what is going on and so true

momager22 · 13/09/2026 09:40

Going against the grain here, unless he racked up £25k in debt in one year, I can see how it’s accrued with normal ‘living above his means’ and careless spending over a period of years plus the interest. stupid yes but do able.
providing it’s not gone on only fans or a drug habit (ask for statements) I’d agree on a way forward. Perhaps all income goes into a joint acct, then you can see what’s going in and coming out, agree on a fun spending budget and debt repayments.
His attitude to sorting this out would be key for me wether I stayed - although he’s likely being defensive and in denial if it’s very early days. shame makes people behave very badly.
I would tell him the above, it’s the only way you will stay - try to stay matter of fact.
Can you increase your income op? Do you work part time currently or just in a low paid job ?

2chocolateoranges · 13/09/2026 09:43

For me debt is a relationship breaker. Dh was told lies, cheating or debt and I’d be gone.

however you obviously don’t want that so he needs to be fully transparent and let you see bank statements, credit card bills etc so you can see for yourself where this money has been spent and you need to take full control of all family money. He needs to be totally honest or here is no way forward for your relationship.

of he wants to stay with you then he needs to do this.

snoopywife · 13/09/2026 09:47

this happened to me 12 years ago. I was pregnant at the time. He left and went to stay with a friend and maybe it was shock/hormones but I was ok about it. But he came back, just walked back in one day, I felt I had to let him back as he had nowhere else to go, we were financially screwed so he couldn’t get a flat or anything, I was worried about the kids, plus baby was due soon and I didn’t want to damage his bonding with her. But I still question whether I did the right thing for me, and I can never fully trust him again. If you can separate, my advice would be to do it.

ExplodingSmittens · 13/09/2026 09:48

TheKindnessProject · 13/09/2026 08:43

I think there is something really unpleasantly slippery about this message, because although it reads as apologetic and reasonable, he is setting out his version of what happened as established fact while continuing to withhold the information that would allow you to establish that for yourself. He tells you there were no “wild spends” and that it was simply things building up over time, but given that he successfully hid the debt from you, I’m not sure why you should now be expected to accept his reassurance about what the statements contain while he refuses to let you see them.

“I’m managing that mistake” is doing quite a lot of work too, because he has decided what the problem is and therefore what resolving it looks like. In his account, the problem is the debt, he has a plan to pay it off, and looking through the statements will not “solve anything”. Yet the much bigger problem now seems to be that you have discovered he is capable of seriously deceiving you, so you understandably no longer know whether what he tells you is true. Seeing the statements might help you establish whether his explanation stacks up, whether you now know everything and whether there is any basis for rebuilding trust.

He's positioning your need for that as unreasonable, even coming up with shite like "I can't go back in time", like you literally asked him to time travel and I'm just being oh so reasonable and, I mean, I can't time travel".

I find the ending particularly disturbing, especially given what you have said about him becoming angry and storming out when you challenged him. “Wherever you stand, I’ll respect” sounds very reasonable, sure , but then he moves to understanding if you don’t want to be with him and finally to “there’s no point in living with resentment or living being resented”. I find it very difficult not to hear an implicit threat in that, because that's how he wants you to feel.

He has done something which has given you extremely good reason to resent and mistrust him, yet he is already introducing the possibility that the relationship cannot continue if you remain resentful. He knows you feel stuck there with small children, and he's outright threatening your safety and security by blackmailing you to shut up. "If you stay like a naggy old shrew about all this, I'm going to make you scared I'll leave you" would have been a more honest read of that part.

There is an entirely legitimate position in which you choose to stay while remaining angry, asking difficult questions, requiring complete transparency and taking however long you need to decide whether he can be trusted again. His message leaves bugger all room for that. He has a plan, he cannot change the past, looking at the statements supposedly achieves nothing, and if you remain resentful then the relationship is over.

For me, the debt is almost secondary now. The bigger issue is what he has shown you about his trustworthiness and what he does when that trustworthiness is questioned. He concealed the debt, became angry when challenged, still refuses to provide the information that would allow you to verify what he is saying, and is now beginning to position your reaction to his dishonesty as a potential problem for the relationship. He seems to want you to trust him again while denying you the means of deciding for yourself whether that trust is warranted, and at the same time is already setting limits around how he expects you to feel about what he has done.

This was a shitty thing to do, and it's not about the debt. It's about how he'll lie, turn any legitimate feelings you have into an implicit threat to leave you, and make your feelings the problem. I wouldn't stay for this one. You only get one life. I've watched a colleague live through this and it broke her over time.

I too think this is a very good summary of what is going on OP and you should take heed. It’s not an apology at all, it’s a threat and you deserve better than being with a debt ridden liar and manipulator.

Headspangle · 13/09/2026 09:53

TinyGingerCat · 13/09/2026 09:31

Gently OP you don’t sound very financially savvy yourself. You don’t seem to have a grasp on what your household costs to run and you seem to have blindly accepted paying 50% when you earn less. Joint expenditure should be split by percentage earned - so if you earn 30% of the total you pay 30% of the joint expenditure. If you were having to dip into savings to buy food why didn’t you both sit down then and up the amount going into the joint account. He could have a gambling problem or he could just be living beyond his means but given you don’t understand what your out goings actually are it’s all guesswork on your part. Even if he won’t show you what he’s spent it on you need to sit down work out your entire monthly outgoings including the debt and see what that leaves you. For gods sake don’t drag his mum into it - he’s an adult not a child.

Sorry for clarity, we do split bills on percentages urned so he pays a bigger chunk into our joint account. His debt is his own but he says it’s onky been spent on household stuff. The things we pay half for are extra bits like birthday presents, clothes, holiday, MOT etc

OP posts:
Soontobe60 · 13/09/2026 09:53

If you absolutely want to stay with him, then think very carefully about your next steps. First of all, do not discuss this with his mum, or even your own mum. It is between the 2 of you. If he still will not show you what the money has been spent on, then you should tell him that because of that you have no trust in him at all as you’re imagining all sorts - if he comes back and says you should just believe him, point out that he’s proved to already be a liar by keeping this from you for so long.
Sadly, I have been in his position. When our DD was very little we ended up in quite a lot of debt but as I was the one dealing with all our finances I kept it from DH and tried to manage it myself. Eventually I had to admit it. I guess the difference was that he knew that the debt was built up because our outgoings were exceeding our income. You have to decide if you can accept that he’s not going to tell you the details of his spending, or not. That will determine your next steps.
If you decide to stay together, then what you need to do as a couple is to sit down and complete a full financial plan of your income and outgoings to see where the excess spending is happening. You need to draw up a tight budget that both of you stick to, bearing in mind that he will have to include his debt repayments as part of it. You mentioned that you use your overdraft - that is also a debt that can have high interest charges and is a clear indication that you’re living beyond your means. I would want to be able to have access to his bank account in order to see that he’s not racking up further debt - I’d advise against having a joint account though. Think this through calmly with a view of what you want your future with or without him to look like.