Paying/Not Paying CC debts when moved abroad?

rydenliveve

Hello

I moved to Canada from England in May'07. Since then i came to an agreement with the Lloyds TSB to consolidate my overdraft and platinum card, paying off my just over 5k debt at around 50 pound per month. With my Canadian bank exchange rate and appliccable fees, this costs me around 70 pound however.
On my latest call to them i advised i couldn't increase the monthly payments, i have 2 small children including a newborn and for now, only 1 salary coming in. The representative on the phone replied "that's OK, we're just happy youre paying. Most people who move abroad seem to disappear and dont pay the money back."

What would the implications be for this? Ive already asked them to sell the debt to a Canadian company and they refused. My payments are going nowhere, it costs me an arm and a leg to make them, and ive recently moved, so they have neither my address or phone number. Ive already paid thousands in interest since i had my account with Llds TSB.

My main concern is if i cant come to some kind of agreement with them, and fell behind on payments significantly, would i be arrested at a UK airport when returning on holiday? I know i'll never be moving back.

Thanks for your help.

ShelfStacker_3

The bank have said that they're happy you're an honest, decent person, as many people who move abroad aren't. So, because they've said it's possible you couldn't be an honest, decent person, you've decided you don't want to be.

You would most likely be arrested on returning to the UK, and they might use overseas agents to track you down.

ICan'tStandIt

You do owe the money and you never know you might want to come back one day, even if it was just for a longer than usual visit.

The chances of you being arrested as soon as you get off the plane to visit family here are remote (we don't take people who try and escape debt that seriously unfortunately), but it's still not worth the risk.

Maybe ask Lloyds to consider freezing/reducing the interest for a period ? After all, you're not trying to escape the debt so you're saving them a lot in them not having to chase you.

Would they take a settlement for, say, 75% of what you owe ? Could you take a Canadian bank loan out to clear it ?

PROLIANT

You cant be arrested for not paying your bills, if it was a matter of fraud then it would be different but as long as the debt is in your name, there is nothing they can do to you other than wreck your credit rating, if the debt was secured debt then they can take material items like a car or a house but if it is just standard unsecured debt then dont let it worry you.

Addendum;
Anybody who has told you that you may be arrested for non payment of your debt are lying to you, if that was the case two thirds of the people on this web site would be locked up!

NickX

Non payment of debts is a civil matter and the creditor has a right to take legal action against you, however they cannot involve the police or have you arrested.

However fraud and theft are criminal matters which could result in arrest. However, the creditor would have to supply evidence that you had behaved in a fraudulent manner, for example lying on a credit application to deceitfully obtain funds, or taking out a loan with the pre-meditated intention of not repaying.

I have never known anyone arrested simply for getting into financial difficulties.

Paul_Herring

2nd question like this I've seen recently:

What would the implications be for [not paying off my debts]?

Those of us who aren't as selfish and can be bothered paying off the money we borrow see an increase in our interest rates.

juliusceasor

My understanding is this:

If someone were to abscond and not pay back their debts, the creditor has to contact the debtor and make attempts to contact the debtor if they are unable to do so and 6 years elapses during which time no contact between the parties is established and provable the debt is un-enforcable. This means there is still the debt but the creditor cannot chase it further legally although they may try to. Or they will sell the debt to not very nice companies who will try to recover but again they can't legally recover that money only intimidate you into it.

Needless to say your credit rating would be nil you would have to start again.

Please feel free to correct that but that's the general idea according to my understanding. As Paul Herring said it affects us all eventually and in the original posters situation it wouldn't be hard to track you down in Canada as they know you are there and where you once lived.

benf90

A search on google revealed this article:

http://britishexpats.com/articles/finance/debt-and-moving-abroad/

To quote it;

"Germany and Canada have reciprocal agreements with the UK when it comes to tracing debtors and debt collection practices."

"A reciprocal agreement in the UK means a UK Court can enforce a CCJ (County Court Judgment) using the legal system of the other country."

It was last edited in January 2006 so things may have changed. But I'd guess that in todays current financial climate banks will be more determined to chase debt than they perhaps could have been before.

In regards to the charges for sending payments from abroad. Do you have any trustworthy family or friends in the UK that are able to send a BACS payment to Lloyds TSB every month on your behalf?

Then you could repay them by making a payment through paypal or perhaps something like Western Union. Although there would still be charges but if you looked into alternatives like these you may be able to find a cheaper option to an international transfer using the banks.