My wife took out a joint endowment mortgage with her ex nearly 20 years ago. She left the property in 1997 and advised Halifax of her new address, but her ex refused to take her name off the mortgage. The mortgage fell into arrears and the house was repossessed in 2007 selling for £12,000 less than the loan. Now Halifax is chasing her for the shortfall.
We also discovered the mortgage had been changed from an endowment to repayment. Her ex had forged her signature on the application, and Halifax has acknowledged it does not match my wife’s.
When we discovered the fraudulent signature in 2013 and alerted the bank we thought the matter was over because there was no contact for around 18 months.
The ombudsman will not look at our case because it is more than six years since the repossession.
Can my wife be liable and is Halifax culpable for not checking the signature and ID when the mortgage application was received? NH, Yorkshire
Ordinarily, if you are one of two names on a mortgage deed you are jointly responsible even if you’ve left the property and the partner.
But the fact that the mortgage appears to have been transferred with a forged signature changes things. Halifax claims that statements, including details of the change, were sent to your wife and she could have raised any concerns when the house was repossessed. It therefore says she is liable for the debt.
This ignores the issue of the forged signature and that this only came to light six years after the house was sold.
When I point this out, it performs a startling U-turn. It insists the repayment mortgage was signed by both borrowers, but suddenly decides it will exonerate your wife from the debt without admitting liability.
It does pay to be vigilant about paperwork. If your wife did receive the statements she should have checked them. If she didn’t, she should have chased, as her name was on the deeds.
And if, as in this case, a bank fails to respond to a complaint within eight weeks you can contact the ombudsman. If you’d done so in 2013, when you raised the issue of the forgery, you would have just been within the six-year deadline.
If you need help email Anna Tims at your.problems@observer.co.uk or write to Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include an address and phone number.
