Credit Card in wifes name - no income

[scarednow]

Hi,

My wife has a credit card in her name and her name only. I used to have a card of my own, but was unable to resist the temptation of using it like a gift card that someone had put 10k onto for me, so closed the account down 3 years ago. This was a completely seperate account to my wifes and we have never had a joint credit card.

Like many many posters (and non posters i'm sure) our family income has dropped by over 10% in the last 12 months. My wife is a stay at home mother and I am the sole earner.

For the past 8 months, we have been paying the minimum payment on my wifes credit card (balance circa 10k) and are not making any inroads into the actual debt.

I am wondering the best approach to MBNA with regards to my wife infoming them that she has no income and cannot afford these payments. We are not looking for the balance to be written off but my wife would offer a token monthly amount.

My three questions are :

1) Can my income be taken into account?
2) What is the best way to approach this by letter? What details should she give etc?
3) Has anyone else expereince of similar?

Your help is much appreciated
Thanks

 

[truthseeker]

You refer to your

family income

yet you refer to your wives credit card debt as though it is her debt alone. Why is that?

Im not sure what the legal position is but I would imagine if it went to court that your wifes lack of income would not be looked at in isolation, but the family income would be whats looked at.

If it was the case that your wife was viewed in isolation then surely social welfare payments would not be means tested on spousal income also? And speaking of which - are you entitled to FIS or anything else that would help boost the family finances?

Can your wife get work?

You might be best of filling off the money makeover template and seeking advice on how best to manage your finances to allow you to make some inroads into this debt.

 

[scarednow]

Sorry let me be clear.

Credit Card is in wifes name yet we took the decision for her to stay at home and mind our children for one main reason, wanted the kids to have their mother at home while they are growing up. Obviously the second reason is the cost of childcare for a two parent working family.

In isolation, my wife has a debt of 10k and no income. We are very much together, but are struggling meeting other loan repayment simply due to overborrowing.

I'm just looking at all options before we put a letter together. I've heard of cases of handing the card back and saying freeze interest and I will pay a fixed amount until balance is clear. My point is that I have no problem paying say 100 per month, but is there any likelyhood they will accept.

Thanks for your quick response

 

[niceoneted]

It might be an idea for you to complete the money makeover section for additional help.

I would write to MBNA and ask them to freeze the balance on the CC based on the lack of income

 

[ACA]

You could look to transfer to 0% interest on another card and pay a little more to reduce the principal, then transfer again once the 0% time is over... keep doing that until cleared off .

MBNA from what others have posted aren't particularly helpful in aiding the reduction of the principal, and can (again from what others have said) turn very nasty.

 

[fobs]

I don't think you can be held liable for your wifes debt but any shared assets could be claimed against i.e charge against your house. Not sure if credit card company would go down this route for such a relatively small amount.

I would write to MBNA outlining your wifes circumstances of no longer being in work etc... and offer either an amount to be taken as full and final settlement (will effect your credit rating) or agree a monthly amount.

From listening to a friend who has trouble with MBNA they are open to settle for a lesser amount but only if you are defaulting and not being able to pay the minimum amount. They don't seem to want to settle if it seems you are able to keep paying the minimum balance.