I am sure that if he signs your name that is Idenity theft.

If he forges your signature, it is bank fraud AND identity theft and you could press charges.

Can you give us an update?

you might could apply for a bunch of credit cards. Usually to much activity is suspicious and he'll get denied. Or just have a lawywer freeze your assets.

Call the bank and tell them what is happening. Given the circumstances the bank may deny the loan. The home may be in both you names, but the home equity loan doesn't have to be. If you haven't started divorce proceedings, I suggest you do. You are still married and his debts are yours too.

Is your name on the title of the house? If so you would have to sign the papers for the home equity line of credit. Don't sign the papers and if you have a lawyer get the paper you got in the mail to him ASAP. Contact the bank and tell them what is going on. My stbx applied for a loan with my name on it. Problem was he was working at the bank where he applied for the loan. Luckily I got the tattle tale letter. I called the bank and wrote letters stating that I would not be a party to any loan or line of credit with the stbx and that they must request ID when there were any dealings with my name on it. My fear was that he would have the OW come in and pose as me and have her sign the papers Or his being an employee they would allow him to take the papers and not have them signed on the premises. He was pissed but it worked. No loan was given.

Update: I called the number on his loan application and i raised hell. I talkd to the Fraud Department and do you know what they hell they told me?! They said that It was totally legal for him to open a home equity line of credit because they check into it and he use HIS name only, and HIS SS# only. I told them about the divorce and they didn't care. I told them that I read their pamplet and that it clearly stated that THE PERSON APPLYING FOR HTE HOLC MUST LIVE AT THE RESIDENCE. I said he does NOT live here and I can bring them his recent mail the post office forwarded it to another address. They told me, "Well that is illegal but its not fraud. They said the quity is community proberty but they are not divorce lawyers and to contact a lawyer. I was sooooooo pissed.
Called my lawyer and they scheduled me to come in the next day.

If the house is in both names, he needs both signatures. however....once you file....he cant do anything....Everything freezes.

File ASAP to freeze all assets!

Filing does not "freeze assets" People who have extra money can get an ex parte order or something like that to freeze assest. I dont have the money to pay for extra orders only for a divorce.

if the house is in both your names he cant refinance without you signing

I got another letter in the mail from the Bank my Stbx went to for the Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC).
The letter read: Dear Mr.Backstabbing,no-good,broke when she meet you,lieing,cheating,poor excuse for a human being. After reviewing your application for a Home Equity Loan we regret to inform you that we have denied your application.
Thanks to him spendin thousands of dollars on his whore and running up his credit cards, he is screwed.
Haaaaaaaah!

Woo Hoo good for you Shadow.

I WAS going to ssay that if he DID open a line of credit against the community equity, it would come out against his share of the settlement anyway, I would think.

Call your lawyer and call the bank right away. Get the lawyer to file for temporary orders so he can't do these types of things.

Contact Equifax, credit report agency, and put fraud alerts on your account. That way if they try to open credit cards, etc. in your name, you will know about it and be able to stop them.

Stay on top of this; credit can be ruined in a blink of an eye.

Okay,here I go again. Here's the story.
My STBX tried to get a "Home Equity Line Of Credit" or "Home Equity Loan" He applied for it in HIS name and under HIS social, but he was denied, not because I was not there but because he had bad credit.
I think what you guys are trying to say that IF he HAD been given the HELOC/Equity loan then the bank would FIRST have to appraise it, then WE would have BOTH had to sign for it????? Is that it????

Shadow,
I'm glad to hear he didn't get the loan... but from my experience, I think he can get a home equity loan in his name only (if he was approved). Filing for a divorce does not necessarily freeze all assets, my X used to tell me that too as a diversion, but it didn't for us.


Lee