Divorce is supposed to be a clean break, but some people leave ties behind for their own convenience. Her ex-husband refused to take her name off their joint bank account, and when she was faced with a nearly $1,000 bill for his negligence, she severed the final connection.
Is it so terrible to shut down a man’s automated life on the eve of his vacation, or is it just the inevitable consequence of treating an ex-partner like an unpaid insurance policy?
This woman and her ex-husband got separated more than five years ago, and their split has been nothing but draining physically, emotionally, and financially.
During their marriage, they did have a joint bank account, and they put money in there for all of their expenses. After they separated, she asked her ex to take her name off the account, and he mentioned he didn’t want to close it, since he was still doing a lot of banking from it.
Her ex used their joint account to pay for his car and receive his paycheck. But anyway, he has not removed her name from that account, and it’s been years of her and her lawyer asking him and his lawyer to make it happen. Most recently, she asked him two weeks ago, and he kept on denying her.
“Yesterday, I received a text message and phone call from the bank where the joint account is held, stating that the account was in overdraft totaling -$949.99 and the balance needed to be paid instantly,” she explained.
“I immediately texted and called my ex-husband to have this rectified, as this was going to affect my credit score. Once again, he refused to attend the bank to have this completed as he was ‘too busy.'”
She was in the city where the branch of that bank was located, so she went down there herself to see what she could do, as she was worried about it negatively impacting her credit score.
The bank told her she could pay the overdraft fee and close the account, or she could do nothing (and that wouldn’t help her credit score).
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She chose to pay the money and close down the account. The money she had to shell out, she worked her heart out to save, and she was planning to use it for her kids to participate in extracurriculars.
“My ex told me that he was leaving on a three-week vacation to Italy starting March 31 (this all happened March 30). I chose the second option to pay the overdraft and close the account (with all fees, the total was close to $970),” she continued.
“Now, all of his debits (vehicle payments, bill payments, etc.) are expected to come out of this account while he is away. This means that this gives him one day [to] open a new bank account and change all payments coming out of the previous joint account
“So [am I the jerk] for closing the joint account (that he has had five years to remove my name off of) the day before he leaves for vacation?”
No, he had plenty of time to take her off that bank account, and I don’t think he did because he was holding her credit score hostage or something.
Her ex was well into overdrafting the account by a lot of money, and I’ll bet he intended to make her pick up the mess he was making.
I’m also failing to understand why her ex booked himself a vacation to Italy if the bank account he uses to pay his bills is that under water. Sounds like he was absolutely planning on wrecking her credit score while snapping selfies in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
What do you think?
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By Bre Avery Zacharski
Hi, I'm Bre, Chip Chick's CEO! I have a degree in Textile/Surface Design from The Fashion Institute of Technology, and... More about Bre Avery Zacharski
