In 1997 my wife divorced her ex-husband and we moved to Britain for three years. As part of the settlement he agreed to pay any matrimonial debts, which included a line of credit with HFC. She wrote informing them of the position, and requested the account be closed. Instead of closing the account, they allowed him to continue using it and the balance increased substantially. In 2001, we discovered through her credit file that there were arrears and these were reported on her credit too. They say that as he didn't want the account closed at the time, they couldn't do this and both parties were jointly liable for the balance, and further advances. We contacted HFC in 2001, and the manager informed us that if the account was paid he would ensure the derogatory entries were removed. This was verbal, not in writing, but after the account was paid the file was deleted. Now it has been reported again and they will not delete. In fact they don't respond at all. We had disputed three times with all the CRA's and it is being verified each time. The manager from 2001 has moved on. What would the credit gurus do now?? I am thinking some kind of court action is in order here. Thanks in anticipation Neil
Unfortunately, when there is a divorce settlement, oc's do not need to comply with that agreement. They can still go by the original terms of the account, despite what the divorce court orders. Unless you have HFC's agreement to remove the derogs upon payment in writing, it will be your word against theirs, which will get you nowhere. The only real action you can take would be against the ex husband for violating terms of the decree.
Unfortunately divorce decrees DO NOT superceed contracts. This I was told by my lawyer in my divorce in 97. Luckily most our debts were not joint and he took his and I took mine. The joint one I took had to do with a kitchen remodel and I paid it off faithfully in full. The only thing I see that you could do would be small claims court (you didn't state how much the debt you paid was). Take the divorce decree with you showing he should have paid the balance and hopefully you'll get something out of it. It just doesn't sound like he will pay you anyways so court may be your only option. Next time get any agreement in writing! Then it's not "he said she said" stuff. I wish you lots of luck!
HFC: Suggestions Please! Today we struck gold with them. I faxed a three page letter to the branch manager which basically set out the various ways they could expect to be sued, and requested copies of everything over the last six years. A little later I received a call from the "Credit Dispute Analyst", a person who's name is worthy of note as she seemed to be the only person I have found at HFC with a double digit IQ - Sissy Boan Tel: (757) 523-3604 Fax: (757) 523-3221 Within two hours I had a letter confirming the ammended Universal Data File had been sent to all 3 CRA's, UPDATING THE ACCOUNT AS PAID/NEVER LATE, which was much better than deletion as it goes back to 1991 and had a balance of over $15k - called up all 3 agencies and to my surprise TU and EQ were willing to accept this by fax and deal with it - Experian being as helpful as useful, claimed no to have a fax number..... With this gone that will be 29 derog's removed in total. I guess it's time to get out of the credit repair business for now.
