Firstly, my sympathies, in what seems to be a horrible situation...
crabbymadge:My husband has bi-polar disorder and suffered a major episiode in December 2007, spending thousands on various credit cards and spending all our savings. All but one of the creditors acknowledged the reasons and the implications for us as a family and agreed to hold off charges and agreed settlement sums. One Major bank did not acknowledge this at all in any way even after they had been notified by me by phone and in writing. When I started divorce proceedings they were asked (with my husbands agreement in writing) to corresond with his brother and social worker who were acting for him, but instead continued to correspond with my husband direct even whilst he was in hospital after being Sectioned! the bank subsequently put a charging order against the house and the first I knew about it was a letter from their solicitors - after the charging order was already made, because they had corresponded direct with my husband and he of course, because of his condition, had hidden the papers.
There are some regulations that allow for correspondence with a customer, even under conditions where his mental health may be questionnable i think, i think you need to ask an attorney to review the interpretation of the MHA. The bank may not be in the wrong for continuing to correspond with him, and also if he is menatlly unstable to consent to give authotity to someone else to deal on his behalf, then unless his right to communication is seized, then under the DPA, i believe they may still be obligated to deal with him.
We have been to court and I challenged the order, from the point of view of the value (they had allowed further sums to be spent on the card after notification from me to freeze it) and the charging order has now also affected my credit status. I can no longer get credit in my own right and this is now impinging on my attempts to get a mortgage or a credit card for my self and move on with my life. We have been to court again and they now appear to be willing to settle, but what can I do to redress my credit - I wanted to affect a 0% balance transfer on a new card from my old card to give me some breathing space during the divorce and to give me a chance to put down a deposit on a new home, which will now probably have to be rental as there will not be much equity when this place is sold.Any advice out there ?
crabbymadge
You can probably get a correction on your credit status dependant on the sympathies of CRA's and whether the bank that has settled with you is willing to accept liability for what you would have to claim is an error on their part to have put a charge against your property, for which you may have sign a non disclosure agreement agreeing not to sue or make any of this public, thus speaking about it now may pre-emptively be scuppering your chances of getting out of all this.
That aside, you will likely need a formal letter of disassociation too, but that may not be possible as and when divorce proceedings are in proccess, which is usually the rule of thumb that CRA's take into account (unless you have seriously mitigating circumstances, like he is in prison or going to be headed there etc or has abused you and are seeking sanctuary from him etc) but after the proceedings are finished they may well be able to expedite it through. (Bizzare i know, given the fact you need it now, and then it may not be neccessary or even too late). But for that you will need to get rid of all joint accounts, joint lending facilities you may have, joint insurance policies, phone contracts and on and on. If it is against the name of that house you have no equity in, you will need that to be notified on your report too.
If the debt is joint, that adds in further complications, even with settlements.
As for getting a new place, i would have to say sadly, that rental may be your only choice unfortunately. Sorry, but until this all cleared up and maybe for some time after that, your credit may still be in trouble.
If you can afford it, try talking to your lawyer or attorney and see what they can do for you, they may best be able to help.
Incidently (not wanting to worry you even more) a lot of letting agents and real estate agents credit search potential tennants unfortunately, before allowing them to move into a home with one of their landlords, for specifically this sort of reason. You may need to consult with the Agencies and explain all this.
A lawyer or attorney who specializes in this really is your best bet.