I Was Divorced and Debt Free, or so I Thought. – Cheryl

Cheryl

“Dear Steve,

I was divorced, debt was paid in full when the house was sold, divorce papers show debt was to be paid and all accounts closed, but Bank of America left if open after it was paid in full, and ex went back and used it up again, without my knowledge, when i did have knowledge he asked me not to close it and he kept paying.

Now he quit paying and they are suing me for the amount of 70 thousand which i never got, its BOA. I sent them a copy of my divorce papers and told them, they don’t care.

I am remarried have been for 5 years and we are trying to dig out of our own hole, our own debt has caused us to move from family to get employment and now this, we have not filed bankruptcy during this time but we have let two of our houses go.

What shall I do?

Cheryl”

Dear Cheryl,

Your situation is common. One key fact that people don’t understand when they get divorced is that you can divorce your spouse, but not your creditors.

The divorce agreement is an understanding between you and your ex-husband. It has no power over your contractual obligation with Bank of America. If we could turn back the hands of time it would have been a good move for you to send Bank of America notice to close the account and have proof of delivery. It is also a good move after divorce if there are or have been any joint debts to monitor your consolidated credit report for any activity.

At this point I think your options are to sue your ex-husband for repayment and/or for you to look at bankruptcy to discharge this debt that you obviously can’t pay. Please talk to a local bankruptcy attorney about what bankruptcy would mean for you. And when you do meet with the bankruptcy lawyer I’m sure they will have other similar stories they can share with you. As I said, it sadly is not a rare occurrence.

As far as any of this being fair, it’s not fair but that does not change the fact that you appear to still be contractually on the hook for a Bank of America account that was never closed by one or both of you when you got divorced.

I would urge you to get a copy of your consolidated credit report and make sure there are no other surprises out there you don’t know about as well.

Steve Rhode Debt Coach and Author

Steve Rhode is the Get Out of Debt Guy and has been helping good people with bad debt problems since 1994. You can learn more about Steve, here.

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