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My son who is presently signed off by his doctor and without a job relies on me to fund any untoward expense. His wife recently left him but opened two mail order accounts using his name and address. Recently Bailiffs entered his rented house demanding £1147. outstanding accounts which his estranged wife had defaulted on. I was forced to transfer the money for him to pay or the Bailiffs would have taken furniture to settle the debt.Can I do anything to reclaim this amount or take the mail order companies to task for opening the accounts in the first place . Thank you Michael Poole
Hello Michael my name is ***** ***** I will help you with this.
For now please let me know whether this was reported to the Police as fraud?
no I have done nothing until now
Ok, I would do that, because it may be fraud.
But if you know where the ex lives then your son should issue proceedings for the debt.
You need to write and set out your losses and request a refund within 14 days or say you will go to Court within 14 days. You should make sure you send this signed delivery and keep a copy.
If they do not refund you then you can issue proceedings in the County Court. You can either do this online at: www.moneyclaim.gov.uk or by completing form N1 http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/n001-eng.pdf and take it to your local County Court.
The Court will then issue a claim which a copy will be sent to the Defendant who will have a limited time to defend it, if not you can enter Judgment and enforce.
If the claim is for £10,000 or less it will be a small claim so you will not need legal representation. Over this value you would need representation for trial.
Can I clarify anything for you about this today please?
do you mean I should write or my son to his estranged wife . how will this affect his relationship with his 2 children who he sees at present most weekends for a few hours
Well she is liable for the debt. You have a choice - report it to the Police who may or may not do anything about it or issue a civil claim for the debt
Can I go for the mail order companies as they do not investigate the details of people asking for an account to be opened
No sadly they are not required to investigate. They act on an application being made which is why the Police may help if it was fraudulent
can I go for the companies as they do not investigate applicants properly. and does my son or myself issue a civil claim for the debt