My partner has quite a few DCA letters to deal with, for which I'm dealing with for her. I will make a few statements first. We don't own a house, we rent - I have a car on finance, in my name only. We have no savings and she does not work, only gets benefits and some of the debts are benefit related. Firstly; DCA ask for household income - one of them ask for partners income - can they legally ask this and does she have to give it? I'm not named in any of her debts, so I was under the impression what I earn has nothing to do with her income. What would be classed as "low-priority"? Most of these are catalogues but one is related to Child Tax Credit overpayment, which is now with a DCA. We have arrears for Council Tax and Water rates - rent is all up to date. We sent a letter off asking for the amount to be written off as she doesn't earn anything and has very little income but most have replied with a big fat "NO" and Robinson Way were downright rude (and also weirdly the letter dated 25/12/14 - yes Christmas Day!). While we're on the subject of Robinson Way - their letter dated Xmas day - they have messed up as it says " Amount Due: £.00" now this is obviously an error but can I make their life equally as difficult by now disputing this as their data processing is inaccurate? Next step is to write to them offering £1 a month as the only feasible option left. I'm more concerned with the question about whether these DCA's can take what I earn into account - or for that fact, what either of her sons earn (although one is only part-time, the other is out of work). Many thanks

Partner and i are due to rent a property. They have told me that my partner would be 100% responsible for the rent as he earns more than me. Despite this they have told me as i have a CCJ i would need a guarantor who has a proven income of £22,000?? My partner is earning all the money to pay for the rent (3 x what the they need for minimum amount) yet they say i need to fin someone who is earning £22,000? Why do they need someone earning over 22,000 for my share if the contract has my partner down for 100% of the rent?? Can my partner be my guarantor? Another thing the estate agent told me that experian make the decision and they have now *closed the case* ........i called experian they said they provide the reports that's all they do not make decisions like that. Is it just me or does this seem odd?

I have a joint Halifax account with my ex which is still open but not used. I have highlighted £100's of charges in my statements (mostly missed DDs), going back to 2006. Can I reclaim these without his consent? If awarded a claim I would lodge the cheque in this account. Also, we separated 2 years ago, have 4 kids , and £1,000s in debt in credit cards (paying an agreed £50 per month) , and unsecured loans (which are in my name). He contributes nothing to the upbringing of his kids, and I am left to pay the mortgage and insurance etc. do I state these reasons of "Financial hardship"on my claim letter, or just claim that I believe these charges were "disproportionate"? any advice welcome.

I am in receipt of ESA Support group with severe disability premiuim. My partner, who lives elsewhere is on ESA work focus group. If he moves in with me, can I just add him to my claim? I understand from a freind who has gone through something similar, that she got Income Support for her partner for a short while, but it was stopped and he had to sign on, but as my partner is already in receipt of ESA Work Focus, would this still be the case? I'm very confused about the entire DWP set up, as I'm sure they are too!

need some legal advice on current situation. me and my partner spilt 3 years ago, we have a 3 year child together. we moved into a rented council house while i was pregnant and as he used to be in the army the british legion paid something towards the white goods, washer, oven and fridge and towards the carpets. after we separated he left the home and was very happy for me to keep the goods as they were necessary for his daughter. now after 3 years.. (he is now engaged and living with his new partner in fully furnished home with his 2 other children) he has had his solicitor contact me stating that he wants the goods back and to arrange when he can come to collect. this then would leave me and his daughter with no carpets, fridge or cooking appliances. Can he legally do this?? i am on benefits so i would not be able to replace these things. i have to reply to this letter myself as i do not qualify for legal aid anymore so any advice would be grateful.

Hi Everyone , This site helped me massively before and Thank everyone here . Recently I set up a Ltd company with a colleague from my old employment. He had the funds and I had the contacts and he spent about 2 K the company failed. I resigned last week well was partly forced to as he wanted money. Basically he was not committed to it threw some money in and went on holiday . Came back when it was not looking good he just continually give out negatives and every time I thought I ad a chance he would shoot it down. The issue is this. When we set up the business he purchased 2 laptops indicated he had about 10K in savings and would do everything possible to make it work. He paid the set up fee about £75 also the accountant and some business cards and some other expenses. I did purchases too paying for website etc and probably spent a similar amount overall. When he purchased the laptops I agreed we would pay him back for these as the business generated an income. Last week before I resigned he was asking me to pay him some of the company costs and the laptop and he would have the business approx. £600. Then he said if I would take the business off him ( we were both 50% directors) he would accept £2K . He knew when we started the business I had only enough funds for living expenses for approx 2 months as a result I resigned from the company. Then he has emailed me stating I said I would pay for the laptop in May and he is giving me 45 days . I do not have the funds to pay him and offered to return the laptop . He is emailing from his personal email and states he rejected the offer as the laptop is now 4 months old and he will extend to 60 days time to pay. We also had agreed we would be employed by the business but as no income of course we have not been paid . I am now on benefits and do not have the means to pay him . The letters are structured to try to paint a picture that is inaccurate and is designed to get at me as I resigned the business and he cannot operate without my contacts. Some of the emails came from his business email as a director then the last 2 emails from his personal email and without the older emails attached as they showed he was seeking personal payment for a limited company expenses. Any advice on what to do next would be great.

I have left my partner this year and we filed correct tax credit forms, he was only allowed to bring £1200 in per month because of arrears in CSA to children from his previous relationships. I have a 2 year old daughter who relies on these credits for her nursery fees and I have just recieved a letter saying that he had contacted them and said instead of the £33,000 he earned he actually earned an extra £20,000 on doing home jobs. This is totally untrue but the Tax Credits office are now saying that due to this new information I have to pay £6,000 back and they will stop my credits now meaning my daughter will no longer be able to attend nursery and I will not be able to work the hours I do. Without any evidence which he cant produce as it is not true can the tax credits office just demand this. He is currently being prosecuted for harrassment and this is another way he is destroying my daughter and my life. Where do I stand Please please help as I am on the verge of bankruptcy

Hi, My partner already has a mortgage and a well paid job and are lookin to get a house together but my credit is poor, what are the chances of us getting one together or am i like to get knock back. i'm in full time work earning over £20,000?

A friend of mine has a business and is in partnership with with his wife, he has decided to sell his share of the equipment to his wife in order that if the worst comes to the worst the equipment would not be seized as payment for a debt which he has in his own name and not the partnership's, how does the law stand on this. The partnership is forming a limited company but he will still owe the debt in his own name up to the point of the incorporation. Cheers

Hi I'm trying to help my partner, who's been living with me but has ignored debts of approx £10k for a minimum of 6 years which accumulated before my partner arrived in my life. My partner with encouragement has tried general counselling but it wasn't long enough time spent to get to the root of the problem. Is reluctant to seek further help. With a MH condition I'm wondering if it might be possible though to get MIND to help.... Doesn't want to file for bankrupcy though. Been out of work, then my carer so can't afford to pay loans back. Is there a risk at my home of bailiffs? Are there any other options I can steer my partner towards? Any ideas are appreciated, thanks.

hey guys, back in march me and my partner broke up. she started a single claim with an income for 2014-2015 is £6000 she was awarded 70wtc and 115ctc. we have 2 children. however i want to move back in, my income is £16000. now if we live together we are entitled to no working tax but 90 ctc. how does this work? as soon as we start the claim will we recieve the 90pw or will it be less because of how much she has already recieved this year? also does anyone know how long we will go without money when we make new claim

Hi, I am a bit in the dark when it comes to these things and I was hoping somebody may be able to shed to light on the issue I have at present. My partner and I have split up and she is going to go bankrupt. The house is our joint names and I still live at the property. We have switched to interest-only repayments around 15 months or so ago, so there are some arrears already. There is no equity in the property and whilst I have a few financial (work) struggles myself I hope to be in a position to take on the mortgage in full shortly. Reading other posts it sounds like if there was equity in the property, it would have to be sold to repay creditors, but it is unclear what the options are when there is none. In the worst case scenario of enforced repossession what sort of time scales am I looking at before I am evicted or have a chance to come up with a solution/agreement with the mortgage company (NRAM)?

Hello, I'm new and apologise of this repeats. My wife gets ESA and she is in the Support group. I was made redundant and was claiming JSA Contribution based which has now expired. My wife filled in an ESA3 form and claimed for me on her claim (now IB). It's all processed now and we are receiving the joint amount. My Jobcentre advisor phoned me to say I do not need to sign on now as my JSA claim has stopped. It seems that due to joint claim I am now classed as on ESA - but I am not ill. Does anyone know what happens now for me re interviews, work programme etc? My previous JC advisor just said 'speak to the ESA department if you need any help with looking for work. Just for reference my wife and I are 61. Thanks for any help.

hi all im looking for some advice for friend of mine her ex partner ( been split up for 4 years) has made an application for child maintenance payments against her despite him not having the child. she herself does not have the child the child was placed with her father (granddad) about 4 years ago but this s not the first time he has done something like this when the child was first placed the granddad he claimed child tax credit despite the child living with him the granddad has a residence order for the child but the ex keeps making these applications for child maintenance . after speaking to the CSA yesterday they said as the letter was addressed to the mother she is the one that has to send in all the relevant documents to show the child does not live with her and is with the grandfather which they can do that's not the problem. but the ex still chooses to keep on doing this the csa said they will investigate it again once all the documentation has been sent i but she will have to start paying him CSA as from next month even though the child doe snot live with him is there anything they can do legally to either stop him doing this or get him prosecuted ? any help would be gratefully appreciated thanks guys

On Sat 12th April my husband was tragically killed in a motocycle accident. We had been together since 1991 and were married in 2000, although we never really lived together (long story). When going through some paperwork i noticed that he was claiming single person discount on his council tax. I know this is ok as he was living in his house alone as I lived at my parents with our son, but I am now going to move into his house with his son. What I am worried about though is, if the council question that he was married, (because im not sure if they know or not), and they suspect that I have been living with my husband all the time at his house whilst he was claiming this discount. There is nothing at all in my name at my husbands house, and I am not on the electoral role, but I cant help worrying. All I want to do is move into his house with our son and carry on paying the council tax as before. Does anyone if I can do this? i.e. would the council question as to what right I have to move into his house, etc.. .....I have got enough to worry me in the next few days that are coming up, and I dont want this to be another one. I have been told by a very dear friend of mine that the council wont be concerned about why im moving in etc, all they are interested in is getting their money every month for the council tax.... .so she doesnt see it being a problem. any help please:sad:

Hi folks i have been recieving various letters from a DCA and their in house solicitor for about 18 months for a debt belonging to my ex partner and today a claim form from northampton. I have just ignored all their letters. We shared a house together for many years but split up about 7 or 8 years ago and i moved out and into a new address. We split on good terms not hating each other but i have not seen him for a couple of years and he certainly has never lived at my new address, not been on electoral register, applied for any credit at my address or anything like that so i dont understand why they are chasing him at my address. What should i do ??? I dont know how to contact my ex any more (i think he has moved from the house we shared) although we are not together any more i dont like the idea of a DCA getting a CCJ against him without his knowledge and not being able to defend himself. Should i contact court/DCA/Solicitor ??? Are they obliged to stop the claim with the information i give them which shows he has no idea whats going on. Thanks.

Hello everyone I lost my job soon after Christmas and now have had to claim JSA. Problem is i have a partner living with me since September 2013 who is from Romania. I'm British. So far I've avoided claiming as a couple because i thought it would be a waste of time and be automatically rejected anyway. Problem is, I'm now really starting to struggle supporting the 2 of us on single persons JSA and was wondering if i could claim as a couple until i find work again. I've heard the habitual residence test is tested on the claimant, which would be me and not my partner?

First of all, it's great to be a part of this community, and its brilliant to see the help and advice given, so I appreciate any advice you give. Apologies if some of its not in the right place, so feel free to move it, or advise me to make a separate thread. First off, a bit of back story. I'm a 22 year old student, who managed to rack up £5k+ of debt since 2011, and have been struggling like hell to pay them off. Finally, yesterday (28/02/14) a family member paid them all off in their entirety. A breakdown is shown below, also with a copy of my Noddle credit report dated just before they were all paid. As you will be able to see, I defaulted on the Capital One debt, and also on the Barclays Partner Finance. However, with the charges and god only knows what else they were adding, there was no hope for me to pay them, and unfortunately I defaulted on them both. My question to you all, is, is there any possible way of getting those 2 defaults removed from my credit report? If so, I would appreciate some pointers, and secondly, is there any way to claim back any of the charges I had to pay? If so, how is it calculated and does it include interest, etc? I don't have any of my statements for any of them (although I have letters with the account numbers, etc), so how would I go about getting them, and the other necessary information to arm myself appropriately? Up until the day it was paid, I never acknowledged any of the debt, but surely paying it is acknowledgment enough? I don't know the legal ins and outs, hence why i'm here! And what are my first steps (if any) I need to be taking? Much appreciated in advance, and hope this is enough information! Shown here is the amounts I paid when clearing all the accounts: Barclays Overdraft - £1560.99 (limit 1420) Barclays Partner Finance (this was for a Macbook, if relevant?) - £929.96 + £283.52 to a DCA (bad I know) (total amount 1600ish) Barclaycard - £1677.20 (limit 1200) Capital One - £663.35 (limit 500) EE (formally Orange) - £666.37 (however, this was a balance paid to Moorcroft, I have since cancelled with Orange, so is it best to leave this one?) Obviously I would have been charged to holy hell on the Overdraft, Barclaycard, Partner Finance, and Capital One, so i'm looking at attempting to get some of it back, and ideally the 2 defaults removed. So again, what advice do you give, and what first steps should I be taking? Thanks! EDIT: 16:05 28/02 - I've just been reading through the Wiki, and assume i'm gonna have to send off an SAR, my question is, with regards to the 3 Barclays related ones, do I have to enclose a seperate request for each thing with the £10 fee for all 3, or just one letter with all 3 accounts and £10? And what address should it go to?

Good afternoon all you employment gurus. My daughter is 23 weeks pregnant and has had to be admitted to hospital with Labour pains. Her partner has had to take time off work to look after the other kids as they cannot get other help as yet. He has to take tomorrow off work and his employer is demanding that HE find cover. Now, he has had a few days off with sickness (this is in part due to his job working with adults with severe learning difficulties) and the manager wants to convene an absence meeting. The main issue is that he is being penalised by his employer for taking urgent time off. Anybody know what his rights are. He has only been there just over a year.

Hi, I am helping a friend sort out a problem he has with his council. He left his wife and started a new relationship a few years ago. This didn't work out and moved back in a separate room. For the last 6 years he has hardly been able to work but has not claimed any benefits etc. The council have looked over their housing benefit claim and are saying that he can't be a lodger as the he had been in a previous relationship with his ex-wife. They had put that he was living there and ticked that they wasn't related. I have looked at the tenants handbook and on the net and cannot see that there is any guide lines for what is and what isn't a lodger. Any advice would be appreciated. JJ

my daughter and her ex partner have a joint mortgage plus a secured loan totalling £90k. He has just been released from prison for theft. He has told her it will be in his best interest to declare himself bankrupt, leaving her with the debt. He is being fined for proceeds of crime. There is no way she can take on this on her own, she has 2 young children who are his. She has been paying the mortgage herself but interest only for the past 2 years while he 'sorted himself out' She knew nothing about the theft, it turned out he was living a double life with another family. The house is already in negative equity, probably worthless, due to next door being converted to probation flats full of rowdy young men. I cant help her financially. All complicated and none of her doing. Please can anyone suggest where we turn first. If this is in the wrong section please advise, this is my first time on here. Thank you

Hi guys. I have taken the time today to come to my senses and attempt to arrange all of my finances once and for all... I will create a separate thread, in the relevant section for each creditor. For now though, I currently have an ongoing debt with Barclays Partner Finance, this was previously Clyesdale Financial until BPF took over. I have a remaining balance of £314.77 and currently paying back at £1 per month due to my previous job coming to an end and now in receipt of JSA. £1 a month is all I can afford to make at this moment in time. I have never ever thought of the previous charges on this account until coming across the statements again today. Date of first movement on this account was 28 Jun 2006. I used the spreadsheet template to tally up the charges applied to this day a nd using the interest rate on the agreement, would see me only having to pay back a few pounds before cleared.. . however using the 24.9% rate, BPF would then owe me money it would seem. I tried to access the prelim charges letter as I was hoping to integrate the hardship status I am currently in also. . but I dont seem to be able to access anywhere. Please can anyone help me, to advise as to which route I should go down with charges and how to approach given my current financial situation. Thanks in advance. davetherave87

Hi, my ex-partner has amassed a pile of debts, in the thousands, on credit cards. It's looking like he may go bankrupt very soon and is doing nothing about it. Head/sand interface. He hasn't contributed anything towards the mortgage, the bills or anything for over a year, apart from the minimum amount of child support. The problem is that the house is in both our names and I'm worried to death about what will happen if he does go bump as I have a young son to support. I'm a full time student at University so I'm not sure if I can buy him out or not or what my options are under the circumstances. Can I buy him out? Can I take his name off the mortgage? If the creditors come after him how will it affect me? DizzyGirl

Hi, I was in business with a friend and it was set up at a Ltd Company. We took out a 3yr lease on a retail shop in personal names. However our working relationship broke down I could not longer work with her. I agreed to sign my shares and profits in the business over to her upon her agreeing to take on all liability including the lease. However it has been over a year since I left and my name is still on the lease. My ex business partner has not been paying the rent on the shop since Decemeber 2012 and the Landlord is now chasing me for money. I want to know if I have a case against my ex partner to get back the money the landlord is trying to recover from me? I have it in writing that she was prepared to take on all liabilities including the rent? Your advice please. I have come to an arrangement with the landlord to pay back the sum on a monthly basis but why should I be out of pocket when it was not my fault.

Hi All I am new to this website, but found some useful information and thought I would post my dilemma and hopefully get some advice. I am moving to the USA in 3 weeks time with my long term partner as his job has been relocated over there (for 3 years). I will be moving over on a visitor visa, therefore I won't be working (although I intend to look for work once I get there). My issue is this, I have debt of about £10,000 here in the UK that I have been paying off (I have never defaulted or had to freeze payments) for many years, but obviously I am about to be unemployed, with no idea when I will be working again and don't know what to do about paying my debts. Has anyone got any advice? Is it worth me simply picking up the phone and explaining my situation to my creditors? Unfortunately my partner cannot afford to pay to look after me and my debts!