Finance meltdown

My wife has been gone a few weeks and our finances which were never very good are falling apart

I was going to go to the bank to discuss but a friend warned me that if i do they will freeze our joint account as soon as they know my wife has left me - is this true?


Prime

Hi prime
Yes it is true, when I went into the bank they took my credit card from me in the middle of the room infront of everyone. My ex had frozen it and not told me.

Most Banks will freeze an account if they get a whiff of marital problems/divorce.

So perhaps it might be as well to open another account switch everything like DD and standing orders then you will have an account in your name.

No doubt someone else might give you some more tips on this.

But generally they are jumpy about marital problems and their accounts.
zara

Thanks


now not really sure what to do

Hi prime

You could always contact the National Debt Helpline - 0808 808 4000 or visist their site - www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/

they can offer you free, impartial adn confidential advice.

Ruby

Hi Prime,

This seems to be quite variable..I have heard of differences between branches as well as banks.

My bank has been fine with it (LloydsTSb), and told me they operate all sorts of joint accounts but they would put a tag on the account to warn that there was a divorce in progress. They send duplicate letters etc and we have had no problem so far.

It would seem a sensible precaution to open an account in your sole name in any case, though it surprised me just how long that took ! (3-4 weeks for the account to be active, up to 12 weeks for DD to be transferred)

finding

I'm with barclays and they've been fine with me, they know we've seperated and going to be divorced. They even say if the joint account is in credit I could close it without his permission!! (This is branch dependant, one said not, the other said yes!).