Getting out of a joint bank account.

[CK61938]

Hi guys.

This isn't for me. But for a friend of mine who has left her boyfriend recently. Without going into too much detail, he was a grade a douche who treated her like crap for the 7yrs they were together.

They have a join bank account and she wants to get her name taken off it. The problem is, he's not willing to help and to make matters even worse, he's not only allowed the account to have a huge overdraft (£5,000 to be exact), he's taken all of the money out.

Therefore the bank will not let my friend leave the account with a simple letter with their signatures on. Her options are she pays half the amount and he pays half. Or she has to pay the whole thing just to get out of it. I know for a fact he won't pay half. The house they were both living in (she now lives with her uncle) is in his name. She could let the bank repossess the house, thereby leaving him homeless. Frankly that's more than he deserves. But she wants to be out of his life for good.

Can anyone advise of any other way she can get her name off the joint account without having to pay anything at all? Or is she well and truly buggered? She has a separate bank account of her own where her wages go into, so it's not all bad. But she is really worried about her credit rating, which will be hit hard for sure.

Thanks in advance guys!

 

[Kemik]

She will be jointly liable for the overdraft. Her quickest way to do it is for her to pay off the £5k (obviously not easy), close the account, and then take him to small claims for the amount.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Let the bank chases him?.....he won't be homeless, he will just pay the £5k back to the bank to stop himself to be homeless. If he had 2 brain cells.

 

[Mat]

First thing she needs to do is to put a stop on the account. I believe only one signature is required for this (at least it used to be). She could potentially dangle the repossession issue over the guy as an incentive for him to pay up and deal with it that way (?)

 

[Ayahuasca]

Don't be that white knight.

 

[Mat]

Don't be that white knight.

I don't think asking for advice on behalf of someone is being a white knight, I think it's usually referred to as being a friend.

 

[chanjy]

Having read the OP, my thoughts were similar to Ayahuasca's tbh.

Also your friend is jointly liable, nothing you can do about it.

 

[platypus]

The bank will chase both of them.

First step has to be to speak to the bank and stop all further transactions.

 

[Ascendancy]

It's a joint bank account. Joint responsibility, not "joint responsibility while you still like the other person".

 

[Haggisman]

I love how asking some advice for a friend is now seen as being a "white knight".

What sad, miserable lives some people must lead

 

[CK61938]

I don't think asking for advice on behalf of someone is being a white knight, I think it's usually referred to as being a friend.

Yes it is. Thank you!

I had a feeling she would be totally screwed but didn't hurt to ask.

Don't think taking him to a small claims will help either. He's gotten himself into so much debt it's not even funny. He's taken out loans and credit cards all over the shop. So I can't see him paying out for a small claims.

Don't know if she can put a stop to the account. But I will ask her.

 

[skyripper]

Get her to run a credit report to make sure he hasn't taken out loans or cards in her name.

 

[Ayahuasca]

I love how asking some advice for a friend is now seen as being a "white knight".

What sad, miserable lives some people must lead

I love how serious some people take everything they read on the internet.

What sad, miserable lives some people must lead

 

[CK61938]

Get her to run a credit report to make sure he hasn't taken out loans or cards in her name.

Oooh. That's a good point! Thank you.

 

[Mr Badger]

I love how serious some people take everything they read on the internet.

What sad, miserable lives some people must lead

More importantly, why has no one asked the OP to post pics of the girl to see whether she is worth white knighting for?

 

[Haggisman]

I love how serious some people take everything they read on the internet.

What sad, miserable lives some people must lead

Lol, trolling 101, backtracking and claiming you weren't serious when someone calls you out on it.

 

[Ayahuasca]

Lol, trolling 101, backtracking and claiming you weren't serious when someone calls you out on it.

No, I wasn't actually serious, but thanks for your concerns about my life due to 1 post

 

[Squink]

She's pretty much stuffed. Could bump the overdraft to 10k, withdraw the 5k and then put a hold on the account, though there are several flaws in this plan that would complicate an already messy situation.

 

[Admiral Huddy]

I can see the banks point of view otherwise anyone could falsely administer the same scenario to exit an account with debts. I'm not saying she is doing this but the banks have to vigilant. The same thing happened to me many years ago. My ex-wife closed the account taking the available funds just above the overdraft but when her direct debits and OS cheques came through, it left the account in debit. It wasn't settled until my divorce came through 2 years later.

She needs to see a solicitor.

 

[Haggisman]

She will be jointly liable for the overdraft. Her quickest way to do it is for her to pay off the £5k (obviously not easy), close the account, and then take him to small claims for the amount.

I think this is probably the best option to be honest.

Alternatively, does he owe her any money and can she prove this?

If so and it's more than £750, could try threatening to bankrupt him (https://www.gov.uk/apply-to-bankrupt-someone/overview). That way he would be forced to sell the house to pay off the debts.