Hi all, new to the sight, and indeed, to debt.
Had a look around here this morning, and I'm quite frankly overwhelmed by all that is concerned with debt and debt resolution, so please, bear with my ignorance! I'll try to keep this as concise as possible also.
Full time employed home owner/mortgage,
one active credit card with my bank which I over pay on religiously (£2k balance) so no issues there.
No HP/credit, and no defaulted utilities.
Wife left Dec 2015 (not divorced yet),
I remain in the house and the mortgage is in my name.
I'm also a lone parent to 2 boys, 6yrs and 9yrs.
In Jan 2016 I got a letter from PRA stating 'my' account had defaulted on 'my' debt (from MBNA credit card) of £10278.34 and advising me I had previously to that point been paying £80pm against the amount.
I had no knowledge of this until the letter landed on my mat.
As you can imagine...
It's come to light that my estranged wife had, over a number of years, been using one of my cards without my knowledge.
The first I knew of this debt was the letter from PRA.
At the time I was left financially devastated, and have spent the past 20 odd months getting back on an even keel (hence the £2k balance on my current credit card). As such, during this time, I kicked this £10278 debt 'into the long grass' as it was not my priority.
Wife also owes other debt held by PRA and a number of other debt companies, and has 'bumped' many of these payday loan companies.
I get regular mail in her name from people chasing her for debt. Quite the girl.
I have received several more letters from PRA (last one Aug 17th 2017) advising me the matter is with their litigation/investigation/collections team, and an offer of a 'one off' discount allowing me to pay only £9250.51.
They've also predictably been phoning me (assuming estranged wife gave them my number...),
and also phoned daily by what has been described to me as a 'hunter' for PRA to establish if I am resident at my address.
None of these calls I have answered.
I am expecting a doorstep knock, as this 'hunter' is only 20 miles away.
I was at the point last week of phoning them and saying, "I can give you £100pm...." but thought better of it.
As I am seething that the debt I did not accrue is in my name, but yes technically it is my debt.
I have no way of disproving this.
I spoke to a solicitor last year who advised they could likely establish the debt was not accrued by me, but it would probably cost me £10k in their fees.
As it stands then, wife had been paying £80pm to Activ Kapitol (the only thing she did concede),
and stopped paying when she left in Dec 2015 (they should have knowledge her paying it over the years as it would have to come out of her account).
Obviously, the status of the debt is 'defaulted'.
I've paid nothing to it as I wasn't able to during this period.
The only thing I have done (last week) was fill in the assessment form on PRA's website.
Gin has a lot to answer for...
What's my situation?
What's likely to happen next?
Will I end up in court/CCJ?
Do I have to pay this?
Should I just pay this and get on with my life?
Again, please appreciate I'm all new to this.
And yeah, I know, ignorance of the debt is no defence.
Many thanks, Jason.